She's Gone to Warp Speed

It's hard to believe how fast Madeline is changing in a short amount of time.  Her muscles get stronger each minute, and she can now sit up on her own.  If she happens to fall over, though, she cries for help.  She still really hates being laid down for diaper changes and cries big crocodile tears that break my heart.  She smiles a ton, and today she played alone for longer chunks of time.....alone meaning she would sit on her own and we could sit a couple feet away.  She ate great again today, and is really digging the new bottles we got.  She is so very in love with her daddy, and I am thrilled as some of the other babies won't let their daddies near them, won't even let the daddies look at them.  I think she loves me too, but she is definitely a daddy's girl already.  Watch out Kevin!

Today we had a moving experience, one I'm not really sure how to describe.  We met our group at the usual time and loaded on the bus.  Our guide said we were going to a school, like a preschool really, and we would be in a rural area 10 minutes out of the city.  Once we were near the town, we stopped and were encouraged to buy 10 gifts each from each family for the children at this "school".  Then we drove a little further, parked and got out.  What we saw next I will never forget.  Cement houses are built in rows on heaps of dirt in this three street town.  This is the country, so animals roam freely, but as all the streets are clay and mud, all the animals are covered in mud as well.  A drainage system runs along the sides of the roads, and there are piles of brick and rubble in empty lots between houses.  As we walked up the desolate looking streets, I assume we are headed toward a school somewhere, but soon elderly men and women, mothers and children were popping out of their homes to wave to our large group of parents and strollers.  And these families, not children in a school after all, were the ones we were to share our quickly purchased "gifts" with.  Here I was in a convenience store buying bags of chips, little combs and mirrors, things I think little school children might enjoy, and really these gifts are for families with needs I will never be able to comprehend.  I could not stop myself from crying and had to turn my face away each time I held my measly gifts to desperate hands.  Then, here is where I was really moved.  I noticed that they did not seem sad, in fact they smiled and thanked us all so genuinely that I knew they must posses gifts greater than money can buy, gifts many others might take for granted.  They have their family all living on one street, and a life of simplicity that does not allow them to be distracted from the things that are most important.  They grow plants and raise animals and use skills that I could only clumsily attempt in order to bring their families together for meals and celebrations.  My first reaction was to feel guilty for having what I had when they have so little, but I soon realized that feeling guilty for a situation that I didn't help create only took away from appreciating that there is more to life than being comfortable and having my own needs met all the time.  I was reminded to look outside myself and see all the amazing stories around me behind the different faces I come in contact with every day.