Priceless day spent with the orphans...

What does it take to put a smile on a child's face whose worldly possessions fit in a box?

The answer is simple...your attention.

Throw in a special day of fun and you've totally rocked their world!!

Since our first visit to India we found that it really doesn't take much

 to make the children here happy;

 a piece of candy, a handshake, or even simply waving at them

 is enough to make them giddy with excitement.

So imagine the fun we all had when we could actually pull them out of their 

regular routine and take them on an adventure!! 
Rejoice, Rejoice, and again I say Rejoice!!!

We started by loading into 5 rickshaws,
 picture the clown cars at a circus and that's what we were...

It took about 1/2 hour to drive through the city of Kakinada before we hit the beach. 
The laughter within the individual rickshaws was contagious
 as we each raised to take the lead. It reminded me of driving go-carts, 
but on a slightly larger scale, not to mention dodging the cows...

Arriving at the beach brought on a whole new level of energy; 
the children were ecstatic as they crossed the sand 
heading for the Bay of Bengal in the India Ocean.

Within moments the young "shine brites" had the older "shine brites" 
by the hand and were rushing into the waves...

It wasn't long before Pradeep had Russ by the hand and was leading him in...

I must say the mother in me was a tad anxious as the waves pummeled over
the small children; but for them there was no fear only fun...

Beach Buddies!!

Look what Novahu found!

What a wonderful gift for us all to spend this time laughing, playing, 
and holding each others hands!!

Our time at the beach was followed by dinner at Yatis with the whole gang...

The fun continued as we patiently waited for food to be prepared for all 50 plus of us.  The children never complained that they were hungry or bored, they simply entertained themselves with clapping games, guessing games, or contentment in snuggling into our arms.  Although we were all weary with exhaustion from a long day, our hearts were energized with the love that surrounded us.

We all give thanks for the opportunity we had today to spend time with this delightful group of children and feel at the end of the day we were the ones who were blessed.

Fun fact...
For all of us to take the auto rickshaws to and from the beach; $50
To feed all of us dinner and ice cream; $150
To spend time with these precious children; priceless!!

And the cherry on top of this ice cream sundae day...

Russ's luggage arrived!!

Namaste'
~Jenny