An amazing trip.....

Well, the 30 hours of travel for us to get home was an exhausting end to our journey. However, Michele, Erica and I are all at home with our families back in the USA! I thinks our hearts are full of hope for the orphans of Mongolia. I think we were pleasantly surprised by many positive changes especially in the government run facilities. A wise woman once told me that the very best orphanage is still an orphanage.....it cannot compare to being in a family. As we get our thoughts together, we will share more of the trip with you. We are already making plans for next year and hope you will be part of this again. Looks like we will have room for 8 to come next year. We will start raising funds and organizing in July 2010.

A few thoughts for those who sponsored children: All of the gifts were removed from the pretty gift bags and place into Walmart bags with the childs name for packing and travel. However, once we got everything o Mongolia, several gift bags had no names on them and some toys had to be switched around because of germs. For example, a 3 year old girl needed a doll that could be washed so I switched it out with another and gave the older girl the doll with yarn hair that could not be washed. Also, some children received winter coats and ski pants so their items had to go into a larger bag than you had probably sent. Be assured that the items you sent were a blessing to maybe not just one child but 2 in some cases. We evened out the gifts the best we could with the older children getting a few more clothing items as they have nobody to share with. I managed to catch some of the kids in their new outfits/slippers or playing with toys....will be sorting and posting those pictures shortly.

More to come,

Stacy