Day Three

On Sunday October 2, 2011, my Dad and I went to the orphanage together to see my new baby brother! Joe and Maddie were feeling really sick, otherwise they would have gone too. The day before I stayed "home" with Joe and didn't go to the orphanage, so it had been a day since I had seen him. We arrive to the orphanage after picking up some meds for Joe at the pharmacy.

We waited a few minutes and then saw an older boy bringing him up the little hill around the corner, which they always do. Miles was dressed in a yellow and orange outfit… very handsome. My dad picked him up and he cried, but only for a good minute. Then he was his quiet, reserved, and stoic little self.

We talked with him and tried to interact. We pulled out the book to read, and he watched pretty well. We showed him some of the family pictures we brought. He likes the picture of our beagle, Ella Bella. There was another couple outside and we didn’t want any distractions, so we decided to go in to the little waiting room and sit with him.

As he was sitting on my dad's lap, he continued to look out the door (for the sisters no doubt) and didn't pay any attention to anything that we were going inside. My dad put the car out to offer it to him, but he moved his body away in rejection. OK. We put it on the table in front of him, so he could take it if he wanted to. I just happened to adjust the cross necklace my boyfriend Adrian gave me to wear on the trip, and I saw that Miles noticed it. So I moved my body to the right, and his eyes followed, and then to the left, and he followed again. I took it off and put it on the table in front of me and slowly moved it closer to him. His breath sped up, but he didn’t touch the cross or the car.

After a few moments, he moved his hand up as if to touch one of them, but like lighting, stopped himself. The wall was still intact.

I began to move my hand, wiggling my fingers opening and closing my hand. And then we looked and noticed that he was beginning to copy my hands with his.

We visited for a while, but soon it was time to go. We rang the bell to call the sisters. One came, but didn’t really seem to want to take him from us even though it was after visiting hours. During the visit we could hear drumming and singing. The sister asked if we wanted to join a celebration. We walked down a few steps and into a room about the size of an elementary school classroom. The beds had been moved to one side to create a dance floor and there were kids dancing everywhere, singing and clapping. We put Miles down and he went off with his little group of kids his age. The sisters invited us to sit and watch. Then a girl with special needs came over to me, grabbed my hand, and insisted I go to the middle of the room to dance with them. So I did! I followed along and clapped with them. The songs were so pretty (in the Rwandan language) and all the kids (young and old, about 25 of them) new the special beat to each song. They smiled and danced. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever experienced. I loved seeing their smiles and watching their little personalities. The older girls (about 10-11 years old) wore white dresses and had wraps on their heads. They all knew the words and the dance moves very well. Each had their own sassy attitude when they danced.

During this little festivity, we watched Miles clap to the beat. One of the older boys got Miles up and led him through the kids to us. When he approached, he went to my dad to hold him! That lasted a minute. He soon got down but didn't leave. He just wanted to be a big independent boy and sit in the chair next to my dad. Moments later, he stood up and danced for a second. One of the nuns noticed and went "Oh look at Ignateous! He's dancing!" He looked up and gave her a big smile! It was the first time we had seen it. He is so sweet!

At the end of the party, one of the nuns brought out a huge basket of little candies. The kids ran and jumped at them! They were so excited.

Soon it was time to go. I was speechless with what I had just experienced. I had prayed to God before we went that I would be able to see his work and do his work. I prayed to have experiences that would change my life. I tried to hold back tears as we left, because to see all these children dancing and joyous touched my heart. The fact that I was able to share this celebration with them was something that I will never ever forget.

We gathered our stuff and walked to the door. When we looked back, I waved real big, like I had done earlier, and said bye to Miles. He lifted his hand and gave us a big strong wave goodbye.