WE MEET BENJAMIN!!!

Zechariah 7:9-10—“Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.”

We have been reading through the whole Bible this year and it is amazing that today’s reading was from Zechariah, who was very concerned about social justice for widows, orphans, and foreigners.  I read this passage while we were traveling to an orphanage in Nantou County, Taiwan to meet Benjamin.  I have never been to an orphanage before so it was quite an experience to see the many children who deserve so much better, to have a mom and dad to love and take care of them.  To see the look on some of their faces with their arms outreached, longing for you to pick them up.  It was quite an emotional time, especially when you consider that this situation could be played out in millions upon millions of children around the world who do not have parents to care for them.  We wanted to bring them all back home with us.  Just think about your children and how you would do anything to make sure they were cared for, wanting the best for them.  Many children have no one to fight for them or care for them…it’s one thing to read about them, it’s another to actually see their faces…

The name of the orphanage.

Here is a picture of his room.

This is Benjamin's bed and the pictures Bryce and Elise sent him.

It took about 4 ½ hours to get from Taipei to Nantou County, due to the long distance and there was also a lot of morning rush-hour traffic.  When we arrived at the orphanage, they took us to a side room and Benjamin’s care-giver brought him in to us.  There were many people in the room taking pictures and staring at him, so he was very scared and shy.  He looked at us very cautiously and did not want to engage at first.  He started to cry and clung to his caregiver.  We were prepared for this reaction and were actually pleased that he has someone in the orphanage that he is bonded to, which will be good for the long-term, but will make the short-term somewhat difficult. 

He's a little scared of us!

We moved to a “play-room” and played with some balls that we brought for him.  He really enjoyed playing with Bryce and Elise and they were great with him.  They gave us a tour of his orphanage to allow us to know more about his living situation.  Then we all played for about 45 minutes and then got ready and went to lunch.  We are in the middle of the country and where do we go?  McDonalds!  It wasn’t our first choice, but what kid doesn’t like a happy meal from McDonalds?  We ate lunch and played on the indoor playground for about 2 hours.  We were thankful for the indoor playground due to the extreme heat outside.  We had a really fun time with Benjamin and the we think the bonding has already began.   Benjamin did repeat some English words and phrases, but it was so hard to have him talk to us and we had no clue what he was saying!  I would love to know what was going on in his little head!

Ronald McDonald in Taiwan.

Being silly

Everybody loves ice cream!

After playing, we returned to the orphanage and met with the caregiver to ask questions and learn more about Benjamin’s routine and his likes/dislikes.  They seem to know him very well and were very helpful.  His primary caregiver told us that he is very well-liked by all of the children in the orphanage and is very independent.  His caregiver was very emotional and sad to see him go, and we could tell that she loved him very much.  The whole place was very hot, the only air conditioning was in the children’s room which was probably only on when they were sleeping.  After playing and spending the day there, everybody was wiped out.  It was very emotional to see and discover more about Benjamin’s life.

Overall, the day went well, and we appreciate all the prayers.  Tomorrow he will be brought to us in Taipei and will officially be ours.  We are anticipating some difficulty with communications, so pray our hand signals and charades work well!!