Nerves!!!

The two women at the reception are from the Compassion project and are as nervous as we are. It is the first time anyone has come to visit their sponsored child in this area. apparently the translator was up all night practising English dialog.

The hired car drops us off at the families home, i am first out the car, and there is a wierd moment as I greet the mother as we cannot realyl communicate in English or Indonesian. The father, the grandparents and the lovely Kathryn all come out of the house (it's still wierd).

Kathryn was very nervous and she has a cute little 5 year old pout on her, refusing to smile :) The morning went really well, they made is this fantastic Indonesian food, and we chatted (through the translator and the fathers broken English ) and played with their dog Manis and goats. The family dis seem to warm to us and i managed to make a frind for life by giving their 7 year old son a football and pump. We kicked it around all afternoon until the sweats got the better of me - not as young as i used to be.

They really are a fantastic family and are so thankful for our support through Compassion as it provides Kathryn as well as the family with benefits they would have never had :(

It's tough to say goodbye (you know me, i'm never good during these times), there's a chance will will never see the family again and we seem to already have a bond due to our support and love for their daughter. Its tough to see people in such need when you were brough up having so much more. All you can do is bless them with as much as possible.

We visited the Compassion project in the afternoon. This is where they feed the children, teach them and give them fun activities to do. They made a big fuss of us and even made us get up on stage for them. Once again i own the stage and that rendition of "I love you Jesus (deep down in my heart)" will be remebered longer than my rugged good looks and golden tan.

We get to spend the evening with the family at the arcade (without Gabriella the 14 year old daughter as she has to stay home with the grandparents). They have never been to a mall or arcade before which in itself is astounding, but knowing how much money they have is truly believable. The kids were in heaven, staying on the trin ride until the last millimeter of movement, playing the racing games and anyting they could fit a coin into. I played a couple of games of fussball with the dad and he loved it. Celia played air hockey with the mom and it seemed nobody wanted to leave but the kids needed to go to school in the morning so we went back to our hotel said some teary goodbyes and got some good sleep.