Polk's Posts: Rwanda -Summer 2012 Part 1

There are SO many pictures that have SO many memories attached to them and I want to post them all. But since there are literally 2,070 I have attempted to choose a "few" favorites to let you see this beautiful county, these beautiful people, and just a glimpse of our time there. We had a wonderful trip, God used us in ways we didn't even fathom, and we are confident that we accomplised the mission that He had in mind for us. It was not all without trials, but it was worth it...every single minute. I'll start with the beginning of our trip. The second we landed in Kigali (after a grueling 47 hours of travel) we headed up in a van for the 3 hour trip to Gisenyi to visit the Noel Orphanage. I couldn't wait to share this special place with my kids, the Weavers, and Tori. We had an amazing time there!

There are around 600 kids at this orphanage and of course you want to give attention to them all! I was so impressed with the kids just trying to love on each and every one!

This sweet boy was in the infant room but to me seemed to be around 4. I don't know what his special need was, or why he wasn't in the special needs building but Parker just immediately started playing with him and loving on him. It was precious!

Someone had the task of shoe washing that day and they did a great job! Here they were all lined up to dry in the sun.

This is one of the boys dorms

The girls got a kick out of the Justin Bieber poster in the girls dorm!

This is one of my favorite pictures of the whole trip! Sweet Patty just loving on these kids and they could feel it!!

This is one of the kitchens- it is SO hot in there!

The kids walking out to play in the field

Parker with kids wanting to go 2 different directions!

The direction to the pigs won out! They wanted to show us all the pigs- all the kids tried to chase them!

Here are some of the older boys clearly enjoying every minute they get to spend on the His Chase basketball court! Thanks to Mark and Chelsea Jacobs, Chase left a legacy even all the way on the other side of the world!

Watch out for giant cows whilst playing soccer!:)

The girls talking about many different African countries

The sweet ladies wrapping on a precious baby to Chandler's back! It was a highlight of the day for sure!

Even though I have a TON of laundry to do after 3 weeks in Africa, it is much harder to complain about it after seeing their never-ending amount

For lunch, we got to walk down the road to Tara's house and see the No. 41 sewing school in action! The older girls from the orphanage get to come learn how to sew and make the neatest bags and jewelry!