A Love Like That
We visited an orphanage and school in Ho Chi Minh City. Picture this. Children sitting in beds, rocking furiously back and forth. Others tied to their beds because if they weren't, they would knee themselves in the head. Some wheeled themselves around in chairs. A little boy cried for minutes because his arm was stuck in a strap. Ten children were put in a circle and fed out of the same bowl with a spoon. A girl laid on her stomach and kicked her leg against a metal bed frame. What do we do with this? Well, I sang. Andrew and Lizzie played. And Andy threw a football back and forth and held the hands of a child and jumped up and down. What do you do with motherless children? Well, you mother them. And when we do, we mother ourselves. With a Love much bigger than ourselves. I am running into that Big Mama a lot lately.
Andy at the orphanage in the courtyard
Andrew and Andy trying to sign to speak to the child in the background, who is deaf
Lizzie playing with a child at the school for the deaf
Two children I colored pictures with at the school
Even after all this time,
the sun never says to the earth,
"You owe me."
Look what happens with
a love like that.
It lights the whole sky.
Hafiz
We need a Love like that. The world needs a love like that.
Jenny, I've been following your blogs along your adventure and can't believe all you have experienced already...but this one, I just can't even imagine how this time your family spent in the orphanage has changed everyone involved. The children you spent time with, your children, yourself. Nothing more heartbreaking than the image you described as these mother/fatherless babies...nothing more inspiring than the moments of love your family shared with them.
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Oh my gosh, Jenny....how did you manage this visit to the orphanage? I would have been a blubbering idiot the entire time. You are an amazingly strong woman! Love you!!!!!
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Oh my goodness! You just reached in and squeezed my heart! So HAPPY for you and your family and in awe of how much you give of yourselves! Thank you for lighting the way.
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Wow! I know in my head that there are people like you and Andy who love like this, but I cannot fathom it. I would be stopped dead in my tracks by all the pain and run back home. In my mind, you and so many others like you are more amazing than the word describes.
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