I just love colors… all the various shades… the different feelings… you can have a very blue day and then a cheery yellow day, and how the color green just makes me feel alive! One of my favorite things as a kid was to get a fresh box of 64 Crayola crayons! Oh the possibilities. I am so thankful for colors. Today was a WONDERFUL coloring day. I love watching the kids choose their colors. Some are quite content to use the same one the entire time and others need a new one for each line and space.

Today I did not dance and only blew a few bubbles… today was a coloring day! The kids in the ward were more plentiful as it is now Wednesday and there have been three full days of surgery. I am amazed how quickly some of the lips are healing up… again, there were some kids who have had their surgery and some waiting.

Yesterday there was a little boy who just cried and cried and Hassane decided to carry him along on his rounds. When the ward rounds were over, he asked the nurses if he could carry him outside. When this boy’s friends who were still awaiting their surgeries saw him, they were amazed!  They encouraged him not to cry because of the transformation that had already taken place… I am hoping that seeing him caused them to fear less and be more expectant for their surgery day. Seeing the children in these various stages of healing is interesting; some are really “out of sorts,” as one can imagine, some cry loud, some just have tears, some are relieved, and some are confused. Who knows what they are all thinking, but I have to wonder as I watch them… the arms have splints to keep their hands away from their freshly stitched mouths, and they are in a strange place sleeping in a bed (which most have never done) far from home.

I had the privilege of sitting with the same peaceful boy that I held in my arms yesterday (he fell asleep while playing). He must only be two. Today he was in a much different state, looking at the IV in his hand and just waking up from surgery, crying out… how I just wanted to cuddle him… I just sang to him and prayed that God would settle him and give him peace.  Oh, I pray that each of them meet Jesus in a profound way, that they feel His touch and His love. These kids are like a box of crayons… each their different color and expression… they change day to day, and I think it is quite wonderful how God creates us all uniquely… some blues, some yellows, some greens… all shades and mixtures with the ability to change and show different emotion… I love them all… and so does HE… I know he sees us as so much more than brown & black & white & pink & peach & sunburned & tan & freckled and… well, you get the point! That is only one facet of who we are! I am sure His heart swells as he sees the amazing color display…. such WONDERFUL indigos, lime greens, fuschia, and so on… just like a Crayola box without limits!