These are some great kids!

Fishhawk Soccer U-13 Girls Rock!

Please visit http://www.duyenvillage.wordpress.com/ to view some Thank You letters from the children. They are very moving!

Can't wait till nextyear!

Hao's Dream and the cost of a promise.

Hao, AKA Anthony, was the one kid at the orphanage who spoke some English. He is also an artist. We gave him a large artist's sketch pad with heavy textured paper, and, as is the way of these children, he quickly set about making us each an original drawing. This drawing is the one that moved us . Cynthia and I bickered and bargained and negotiated for the rights to the original.
I came home today to find that my own children had decorated the house for my arrival. What a lovely surprise! Home is a powerful place in our lives, a place to go for relaxation, love and acceptance, a soft place to fall. And, as the late great George Carlin liked to say, home is a place to keep our stuff. It is interesting to me that if you ask a child here to draw a picture of their dream, drawing a home might not occur to them. Maybe they would draw themselves singing on a stage in front of thousands of people, or slamdunking a basketball at an NBA game, or, if you asked me to draw that picture, in it I might be happily clutching the winning powerball ticket in my hand.
In Hao's picture, his dream is so simple. A small house. A home. Not a mansion, not a fancy 3 car garage. A small cottage with a cow and a sunny day to top it off. His dream fits exactly with our priorities. A home is what we all want, and fortunately, most of us have. I wonder what our dreams might be if we did not have our homes and our families? As always, I come home with a new perspective and have made some commitments to myself and my family to make sure that this experience benefits all of us. My commitments are:
1. When I go out to do fun stuff with my kids, the cell phone will remain in the car. Since my cell phone did not work there, I did not have it with me. The shift in focus to the kids was pretty remarkable. It is like removing a needy and selfish person from the group when the cell phone is gone.
2. I will consciously appreciate my home and the stuff my husband has worked so hard to provide . Ergo, appreciate my husband. It is so easy to take it all for granted.
Ok, thats it. Baby steps and giant leaps at the same time.

How many people does it take to keep a promise? Last year I made a promise. I promised those kids I would come back. That promise was kept only because my husband and kids and parents made sacrifices for it to happen. All of our family members were as involved as if they had gone themselves. Thank you!
I asked the kids at the care center if they were surprised that we came back.What was I expecting? I suppose I was fishing for some expression of gratitude to feed my insatiable ego and help me feel magnanimous. They responded that I TOLD them I was coming in April, so I was late. They were waiting for me. Ego smack down. Like I said before, I feel small next to them.
Thats all folks! Thanks for reading the blog! The blog will continue, but with product reviews and funny stories from the crazy world of PYOP.
Special thanks to K & G , Mom and Dad, the artist who donated the matte boards for the kids (they loved them!) Michelle, Stacy, Mary, Mackenzie, Zoe, and Mark, Trevor, Tuesday, and the many friends and employees who supported us and helped to make it happen! Jon, Aja, Andy-you rock!

The view from the back of a scooter

Random pics

Outside of our room at the Romana is a big pot of water, for cleaning the sand off of our feet. The flowers are an extra touch, very nice.

Meet Picza. (Pronounced Pizza) He is a secretary to the King of Thailand. We met him while looking at an old temple near Phan Thiet. His job is to assist peple when they ask the king for help, but he has to verify their requests first, make sure they are on the level. He calls the King the "Soul of the Nation", very sincerely and with great respect and love. Well, imagine our delight when he popped his sunglasses on his head! We had a kindrid spirit for him in Jenn! They have declared themselves soul brother and sister!

Coconuts, walking up the rainbow trail and river. Below is the three of us at a temple.

Above, Bonnie, Thaou and Cynthia at the hot springs park.

Above, we all pose with Jenn on a statue. Below, we all pose with our feet in hot water! Peace!

Above is our driver, Dohn. His wife is due to have a baby ANY DAY NOW! We kept telling him to let us know if she went in to labor because he would need to get home right away. He would say, no thats ok, thank you. WHATTTT! He was so wonderful! He dropped us off yesterday after taking really good care of us and keeping us safe on the really dangerous roads. Traffic is chaotic here. We miss him! He is really kind too. All of the kids know him from the orphanage and call him uncle. He has one 6 year old daughter already.

Above, meet Hang. Hang is such an exceptional human being in so many ways. Her grace and goodnes just shine. She is the best student at the care center, and helps with cooking and caring for the younger children. Hang is the person jointly selected by Cynthia, me, Thao and Mrs Thu as the best choice for attending the boarding school we looked at in Ho Chi Minh City. We have a lot of red tape to hack through, but funding, thanks to many donations is coming together. The tuition and boarding, including field trips and a small monthly allowance, is $350 per month. We are setting up (tax deductable) bank drafts for anyone who wants to be a part of giving Hang, and other hardworking kids as they qualify, a real shot at a successful future. Hang wrote me a letter a few months ago and she told me that she would study very hard so that if she ever had an opportunity, she would be ready for it. Isn't that the definition of good luck? When opportunity and preparedness meet.

Little Mai. She stole Jenn's heart. A mighty voice and spirit in a tiny little body. Her ferocity is inspiring! Go Mai!

Nyiem (pronounced nyip) is the sweetest kid. He is 14, always ready with a smile and an offer to help out. We call him Bones because at the barbecue, we heard this powerful crunching noise. It was Nyiem, eating the ribs, bones and all! I tested those bones, they were quite hard.

Meet Son. He has an american "father" that he corresponds with. The father came to this care center to adopt a child a few years back. While they were here, the father and Son hit it off and they have been writing ever since, and Son get some support from that family. He is very proud of his letters, and they are his prized possesions. He asked Cynthia to read one, and it said things like "study hard" and "be good" etc. Fatherly advice. It seems very important to the kids to have a person to connect with as a parental figure, someone who is concerned about their well being.

Random pics

Graveyard, ticket seller to the temple, view from the temple, temple steps.

Romana Resort

This is the Romana Resort. We came here after we left Binh Thuan and the orphanage. Check out what the cost of a cheap motel room in the US gets you here. Tomorrow we head back to Saigon, we will stop at the orphanage for lunch on the way out. Sunday is a scooter trip through the city with Thao (our AMAZING translator and friend) and dinner with her at her home. Monday we fly out. I will post random pictures to my blog over the next few days. Thanks for looking at the blog!

This is Thao. She is our translator and friend now. What an amazing woman! She is so organized and knowledgable, and she manages so many charity projects for people on her own time. She is truly a role model for little girls like my daughters and big girls like me too. She is well known and well loved by all of the children. She sets the bar high for them with an eye on their futures.

Scenes from the kitchen in the orphanage.

A young boy was on the beach as the sun was rising. Millions of starfish had washed ashore. He was picking them up, one by one, and throwing them back into the ocean. An old man happened along and said"Boy, what are you doing? There are so many starfish, you can't possibly hope to make a difference." The boy looked at the old man, and then threw the starfish he held in his hand into the beautiful blue sea. He said to the old man " I sure made a difference to that one."

Being generous is not a privilege reserved for the wealthy. We watched, humbled, as the children from the orphanage gave money to beggars in the market. We had to ask them to spend their shopping money on themselves, and not on gifts for us. The bisque beads we gave them came back to us, painted and heart breakingly personal to each of us.
I feel small next to them.

Lotus flower

Cynthia worked really hard to get the computers up and running. Internet, anti-viral software, language software, new cables run to the kid's new library area.

Look Zoe!

Hi Zoe! Look at this cool fountain! It has lots of little thing in it and I know you like little things. You would love this fountain!

Anthony (Hao), Phap, Hang, and Phung, the high school kids who have high scores. They will be receiving extra English tutoring for the next year.

Happy times!

Singing on the bus!

The kids sang Vietnamese songs for us on the bus. They were so cute! Cynthia had this to offer up on behalf of the United States.

Pen pal translations

On the way to the hot springs, Thao translated letters from Courtney and Kayla, some friends from Mackenzies soccer team. The kids were very interested in hearing about how american kids live. They passed Kaylas picture around and oohed and awed. I have a letter in return for you girls!

New clothes, bracelets, and beads.

Hong LOVES her new hat and jacket! She is wearing the traditonal Ao Dai as her school uniform, but proudly wearing some of her new stuff too, even though it is really hot and humid here.

Little Mai loves her new bracelet. Miss Sue bought a bunch of little easter bracelets and the little girls and boys loved the pretty colors.

Than was so proud of his long bead strand! Also, this is his new hat and we never saw it leave his head after the shopping trip. What a sweet boy he is!

Beading was a big hit with the little ones. They also have bisque beads to paint and color.

Meet the kids!

We asked the kids to introduce themselves. Here they are thanking the sponsors (those of you who donated money or stuff). Things we accomplished through donations: 2 computers, Rosetta Stone software, internet access paid for a year, tutoring for several children paid for a year, webcams, skype, shopping for every child and baby, a fun trip to a beautiful park, a big barbecue, several art projects, a dinner out with the teens, gifts for the nannies...gosh, there is so much more. We are sponsoring one hardworking and deserving child to attend a very nice boarding school, but we have to get permission from the government. More about that later.

Bottom line, these children are so appreciative of the support from all of us. I wish you could all be here to experience the joy these children feel because of your generosity. We were able to do things with and for them that they have never done before. They are beautiful and bright children and it is such an honor for me and for Jenn and for Cynthia to be able offer them such educational opportunities and FUN! Pray for them, they deserve so much grace!

Tie-dye video

Hang makes tie dye t-shirts. They turned out great!

Tie-dye!!!