Today has been overwhelmingly positive. I took Taupe to the eye doctor to have his eye with the cataract examined. The pupil still dilates so his vision can be fully restored with surgery! I am getting a second opinion in the morning because this Doctor wanted to charge me $250. Hopefully I can do a little better than that and save any extra money to fill him with fried food and pizza. Thank you for rooting for this little boy, he needed it!

We bought them all brand new pillows a few days ago but have been waiting to hand them out. The problem has been removing the old, parasite infested pillows. They hid them from us.You try and pry a handful of pillows from a gang of orphans and tell me how easy it is. They only have a few pillows amongst them but it is the only single comfort item they have. It took me two hours today to explain and gather all the old ones. The language barrier was not helping. They brought me a few and hid the rest on the roof and in a narrow alleyway. I found their stash, threw the pillows off the roof and exterminated the alley of the offensive sleep aids. I made them put them all in trash bags, which they did happily...I was suspicious. When I left to grab lunch I loaded the tuk tuk with all the old bagged pillows, the kids were now devastated. I know their plan was to dig them out as soon as I was around the corner. I even drove them clear across town and away from the neighborhood dumpster, it was a mission.

We couldn't get back there fast enough with all the brand new ruffled pillows. Our tuk tuk was filled to the top and we had pillows tied to the roof. We kind of looked like we belonged in a really bad parade for a questionable holiday. The kids screamed and jumped for so loud, so long...we couldn't stop laughing or taking pictures. Once they were assigned their new pillows they danced around with them and threw them in the air. It was one of the greatest things I have ever witnessed. To most of them this was their very first pillow. The rest of the day we played games and ran ourselves into the ground doing so. My cheeks hurt from smiling.

This country is poverty stricken, filthy and desperate. These children are beautiful. We have seen so much growth in each and every one of them and they are really taking pride in their home and themselves. Their cuts, infections and lice are clearing up. Their hearts are wide open and I think they are slowly regaining their hope. Thanks to all of you for helping us every day make the lives of these children more tolerable. Make today great.

Lots of love,
LM