From My Journal

July 16, 2007
...the kids came today around one o'clock. It was kinda emotional seeing these vehicles drive up and kids piling out -- kids who have never had a chance to experience something like this before.
My two girls are Elianna and Hope. They are pretty quiet, but absolutely adorable...

July 17, 2007
So I forgot to mention last night that we found out 9 kids snuck into camp that were not orphans. So about 17 more real orphans came this morning. We had a 5 yr. old boy join our group. He is so cute and so tiny. I named him Mattie, short for Matthew. I fell in love again...
...On the way down [from the Great Wall], Mattie was getting tired so Sam the Australian guy offered to carry him. He let him pick him up, but Mattie wouldn't let go of my pointer finger he was hanging onto. It was so precious.

July 18, 2007

I never thought it would be this hard. I never thought it would hurt like this. I knew i would leave my heart in China when I go home, but I didn't know it would be like this...

July 23, 2007
The day the kids left was the hardest day of my life -- well, in the top several -- I cried a lot. I miss them so bad.