Month #2 Romania is underway! Woot! It has been quite enjoyable thus far. One of the ministry opportunities we have is to take small groups of disabled children on morning outings. Thus far this has involved taking them to the zoo, an indoor play place at the mall, and to the city square to walk them around. We also hope to take them to the pool when it is warm (hooray!).
I enjoy children, however am not always drawn to children with disabilities, because I’m often unsure how to best interact with them. So I was not sure what exactly to expect from this experience. The first day I hung out with a little boy as we walked around the zoo. He is about 6 or 7, doesn’t talk, and occasionally just decides to let his whole body go limp. As we wandered around the zoo he had little to no interest in the animals, but he enjoyed walking. So Brandon and I each took a hand and wandered all over with him. The longer we walked around, the more he stole my heart. He is remarkably adorable and I loved every moment we had together. Plus we got to see these……
(I love guinea pigs!!!!)
Another day I hung out with a little girl at the indoor play place. There were slides, toys, ball pits, and all kinds of other fun things. The little girl I was hanging out with seemed fairly uninterested in most of what was available for her to play with, except for one thing. She LOVED the trampoline area of the play structure. So, I spent most of the morning sitting on the edge of the trampoline holding her hands while she jumped. It was by far the cutest moment I’ve had on this race. She didn’t talk or make any facial expressions really, except one moment of pure joy as she rediscovered the trampoline and started bouncing with the biggest smile I’ve seen for a long while.
We have now had the chance to take the same children to different locations, and I am amazed at how much they bless me. The way my heart feels for these children is evidence of how huge God’s love really is, for it is certainly not on my own that I can love them like I do.
