Hello from camp!

these are my beautiful ladies... K (my roommate) and i joined teams since all of us girls live in the same room together... Victoria & Jane (our translators) are college students in BJ. Mary, Tracy, Emma, and Lily are our girls (aged 10-13).

all the kids this week (35 of them) are from an orphanage in Tianjin and this particular orphanage is one of the best - they split the kids into small family grps of 7-10 kids, each family has a "mother," and they're really encouraged to continue their education past college. they can stay at the orphanage until they're able to afford other accomodations. each of these kids have had both parents pass away and as a result of being assigned to this particular orphanage, they are not allowed to be adopted (i think to reduce the trauma of that "hope") but it is really evident that all these kids are really well taken care of.

the funnest part is that w/ so few kids, we move as one unit to all activities and we get to spend time w/ all the kids in the pool, etc. it's been so neat getting to see all their personalities unfold as they feel safer and safer w/ us as time passes.

this is b's family (he's my teammate from PCC) he's having an absolute ball w/ his boys (who are quite the handful!)

Emma and Lily in the pool - Lily's fearless and has practically learned to swim in the last couple days!

craft time
waterpark!!
lots of singing and games!
watermelon eating contest... haha...

the wreckage from the contest...
and this is probably my favorite picture this week. this little boy has such a little attitude and this is his expression almost all the time. haha =)

and i can't believe it's all coming to an end tomorrow!!