Many of them were so excited to see Stacey, Ashley and me. They would run up to us, hug us, grab our hands to show us things. I loved every second! There was one girl in particular who reminded me of my daughter, Madison. 
When I got out of the car, she immediately ran to me and into my arms. This two year old is a little "spitfire", as I call Madi sometimes. She has this super joyful spirit, but she has a look that tells you "No, my way". And you can tell that even though small, she has no problem holding her own. Since I don't speak Thai, I just did with her what Jacob and I often do with our own. I danced and jumped around with her, twirled her around, hugged her tight, and laughed. When I was spinning around with her, she kept saying, "again" in Thai - just like my daughter. I'm going to try and find out her rescue story, so u can share it.
Before I came here, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to connect with the kids. But that has not been an issue at all. I am so thankful.
An interesting thing happened while we were driving to the property on the main road, and it gives you an idea of how things are even for children with families. On our way, there were two boys walking along the road, probably 5 and 3. They weren't wearing shoes, which is a sign of poverty or lack of parents. These roads are not gentle and they are very hot. Yes, their feet are tougher than ours, because of this lifestyle, but their feet hurt too. Lana pulled up besides them, asked where they were going and offered to give them a ride. And they got in our truck with us. No worries. Do you see how easily these kids could get snatched?
Ashley immediately grabbed her dried fruit slices and offered them to these two sweet boys. I saw this light of excitement flicker in the youngest boy's eyes. You could tell they were both hungry. Then, they drank up the water we gave them. The reality of these boys feeling hungry and thirsty most of the time filled me with sadness that made me have to turn away so they wouldn't see my eyes tearing up.
We ended up taking them to the property with us and you would think we took them to Disneyland. They warmed up to the other kids immediately. They got to play and have fun on the playground equipment. And no, playgrounds are not something they have for kids in this area. So, you can imagine how exciting it would be. The younger boy even got to play on the zip line.
The other children ate a meal with them and gave them some shoes. No, we couldn't just keep them on our property. Life Impact isn't in the business of stealing kids. We took them back to where they lived on our way home, and that also gave us an idea if they had parents or not. They live in a construction area and it seems that their parents are the workers. And when I say construction area, I mean a tin wall, half-built "building" with dirt floors. It was hard dropping them off, because you just know their life is "hard" and that they have much to endure. You just wish there was more you could do. But, for today, we were able to give them a super fun experience, food & water, and shoes.
Today, Lana will be taking Ashley and me to the Thai/ Bhurma border, also known as no-man's land. This is where many of the children are rescued from.
God bless you and I just want to encourage you to go out of your way and do something nice for someone.
Amber
P.S. If you want to know how I got here, you can read my blog post "A New Adventure In Life". Here's the link to it:
http://amberdaydreams.blogspot.com/2015/01/a-new-adventure-in-life.html
P.P.S. I'll try to take some pics with my Ipad so I can include them in the blog for you :)
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