Walking into a room and seeing this sign would make anyone’s heart melt.
I’m up early. I shouldn’t be. But, that’s what jet lag does–it makes you feel like you are so exhausted you will fall asleep in seconds (which you do) only to wake before the sun and the old ladies who dance in the park do. I know it’s not going to help me to be awake so early. It’ll be more hours than I care to acknowledge before I can be back in this hard bed. But, it does give me time to think, time that I don’t seem to get during the day.
I’ve been pouring through pictures from our day yesterday. I felt like a took so many and yet I’m wishing I had taken more. They aren’t the post photos. There’s not enough space or the coloring is too dark or something is not in focus. Yet, there’s something I see in all of them, something warm.
We had no idea what the day would be like. But, we woke up to a warm morning and went. Everywhere we went, there was warmth. In the laughter when I tickled the neck of a 6-month-old baby under all sorts of puffy blankets. In the pleasure of the ayi practicing her English with Ashlyn and encouraging her to practice her Chinese. In the Director of Adoption and Foster Care’s eyes when she told me she’s bringing her own daughter tomorrow to be with us. In the laughter and friendship between our group and their’s when they offered us chicken feet soup and took food off their own plates and put it on Ashlyn’s to make sure she had enough. In the initiative of a team member to support a child who couldn’t stand so she could still play the game the others played. In the rush of an ayi to tend to a baby crying and hearing his crying cease as soon as she scooped him up. In the WeChat exchange late last night with the Director of the children’s department, before I collapsed in bed.
(note: I don’t think when she said something that translated to “sleep early” she meant that I should be awake at 4am.)
Every bit of the day felt warm. And, I bet today will be even warmer.
#ohhappyday.