Lance and Kristen Baker

(Lance writing)

Tam investigating the new game

Our friend Robin informed us that Twister was available here in Da Nang.  At first, Kristen and I only joked about trying to play Twister at Promise House but then we later realized that it would actually provide for a great English lesson (hand, foot, left, right, colors, etc.)

We tried to keep the game hidden because the children are always so excited and eager to see new things but we needed them to focus on the English lesson first!  Kristen put together some sheets/posters to help illustrate the vocabulary needed to play Twister.  Once the children realized that they needed to know the vocabulary in order to play the game, they were a little more attentive.

Eventually, we rolled out the colorful mat (which was so much smaller than I remember as a child) and with the help of our friend and translator Chau, we kept the children off of it long enough to explain the game.

Listening to the instructions

It took them a bit to get used to the rules.  At first, we forgot to explain that you had to keep your hand on the declared spot until told otherwise.  Each time we called out a hand/foot and color combination, they would just casually put that hand or foot down and probably thought, “What a silly and simple game.”  Once they realized that they had to keep their hand/foot in the same place they smiled and laughed as they realized how the level of difficultly would increase with that new rule.  We played in groups of 4-5 children and soon they were stretched out, tied in knots and falling on top of each other.

Lance and Long playing

Trieu trying not to fall over

So far so good

Here is a short video clip.

It is always so much fun when we can introduce something new to the children at Promise House.  Tony, who founded Orphan Voice, was just telling me a story today about visiting one of the children’s home before they came to Promise House.  In a small one-room house, the teenage brother was taking care of his younger brother while their mother left for weeks at a time for work.  She would come every few weeks, drop off a bag of rice and leave again.  The older brother was struggling to keep them both fed.  Many days, it was just a small fish and some rice to be stretched out for two-three meals.  They were both complaining about always being hungry.  The younger boy had a small piece of broken plastic that he carried around with him as a toy.  Most of the children you see in these pictures have a very similar pre-Promise House story which is why it is so wonderful to see them laugh and smile.

Y, Dung, Nghia, and Thao learning the basic knit stitch.

A few weeks ago I was wearing a scarf that a friend made for me to Promise House. (Yes, it was that cold here… well, in the 60′s at least, but it feels that cold). Y asked me if I made it. I told her that I didn’t make that one (it was crocheted and really nice!) but that I do knit. I asked her if she wanted to learn, and she excitedly said yes!

Nghia and Lai practicing with their chopsticks

Now, I’m not a pro, but I do know the basic stitch, how to cast on, and how to cast off (and more recently I’ve learned the purl stitch). The Tuesday after I talked to her I brought my knitting stuff, she was so excited! We went up to the girls room and a small crowd followed us. I didn’t have any extra needles for them, so we just used some chopsticks from the kitchen (not as easy because they don’t have a pointed tip!). In the end I ended up teaching six of the kids (five girls and one boy) how to knit. Nghia, the boy who was learning, was actually really good and caught on fast. A few days later I bought them all real knitting needles.

Kristen teaching Lai

The Thursday after I taught them, we came to visit in the evening (as usual) and the girls we practicing their knitting in the TV room. By Saturday, Thi had finished her scarf and wore it when we went to the beach to play games.

Thao practicing knitting

Next lesson, the purl stitch! (and casting off, Thi finished her scarf her own way, but it didn’t quite work).

The two Christmas parties at the orphanages had already made this Christmas season really special for us. However, with the planning and partying finished, we were excited to have some R&R over Christmas.

Christmas Eve

During the day on Christmas eve, Kristen and I took 4 of the Brewer girls shopping so they could buy gifts for their parents and sisters. Since we can only take a total of three people on the motorbike we had to make three trips (Cindy helped us with the last one). It took us 2-3 hours to take the girls to the different stores they wanted to so they could buy presents for their family. We had fun taking them around and helping them pick out gifts. I always like driving the twins (Faith and Joy are both eight years old) because they always sing on the motorbike. It’s like having my own radio! Sometimes I start a song for Joy (to the tune of “I’ve the the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart” and I say “I’ve got Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy riding on my bike. Where? Riding on my bike. Where? Riding on my bike…” I think you can picture the rest of the song. She gets a kick out of it.

In the evening we had a special candlelit story-time with the children at Promise House. When we arrived we had all of the children go up to their rooms while we decorated one of the rooms. Once all the candles were lit, we had the children come down in groups of two and three while I played some Christmas songs on guitar. We wanted to create a quiet and peaceful atmosphere.

Once everyone was in the room together, Cindy told a story. She explained to the children how special they each are and how deeply we love and care for them. Normally our time at Promise House is lively and exciting, so this quiet time of reflection was a very unique and special time for everyone. We hugged all the children goodnight and wished them a Merry Christmas.

Christmas Day

This was the second Christmas that was just the two of us without the rest of our family to celebrate with. We each got one or two very small gifts for each other so we’d have something to open on Christmas morning.

Even our cat was feeling the joy of Christmas morning.

We also made a wonderful Christmas breakfast together. Kristen made potato pancakes and I made a scrambled egg omelet with a side of beef. After breakfast we watched a few classes Christmas movies (A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Grinch Stole Christmas and Garfield Christmas).

Normally the only two options for a Christmas tree are fake or real. This year we made a new category: make your own. Charlie Brown would be proud.

In the afternoon, Kristen went over to the Brewer’s house to get her nails done with some of the Brewer girls (for a whopping 75 cents!) I don’t think Kristen will ever be able to get her nails done in the U.S. again knowing that she used to pay so little in Vietnam.

At 5:00pm about 25 people met at the Brewer’s house to celebrate a Christmas meal and gift exchange together. I think I’ve said this before, but I think all of us foreigners who are studying or working here are so thankful for one another. I don’t think many of us expected to find a like-minded community of people when we came to Vietnam. Some of us may know each other better than others, but it still feels special when we can get together on special occasions. They are our family away from home.

I know we are a little late on this post but Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

(Kristen writing)
Sunday evening we had our 1st annual Christmas Party at the Promise House Orphanage. After many weeks of planning, preparing, buying, setting up, shopping, running errands, the party was not only a success, but a blessed time for the kids.

We began set up early Sunday  morning. We arrived around 9:30am to fill the bulletin board with colorful paper and recent pictures of the children. While we were doing that, one of the caretakers had all the children help clean the grounds. Some were sweeping, others moved stuff around in the gym, and others decorated. By the tine 10:30 rolled around the gym was beautifully set up with posters from Orphan Voice and signs that said “Merry Christmas” in English and Vietnamese. We left for a few hours and came back in the afternoon to finish preparing.

We began the evening with games. The children played a bean bag toss game, a “pop the balloon” game, and had a relay race. The balloon popping game was especially funny. We tied balloon’s to a two-foot long piece of yard, then tied the other end to their ankle. When we said “go” the children had to run around and try to pop other people’s balloons. After that was the relay game. I especially liked this game because it was so sweet to see all of the children running back and forth wearing my clothes (which were way too big for them).  The children got a kick out of this game. They hurried around, trying to help their teammates put on shoes, a scarf, a helmet, and even a hoodie that was too big for them.

Lai racing back to her team

(from left to right) Ngan, Diep, Nghia, and Trieu on one team.

After the games ended it was time for crafts. We had two special crafts planned. The first was to make an ornament. The children could color or glue decorations on each ornament. After they were finished, they took it to the Christmas tree in the gym. Another part of the crafts was cookie decorating. The children have never done anything like this.  We bought cookies at the Big C (a grocery store) so luckily I didn’t have to make them (my original plan, which would have taken so long!).  Using confectioners sugar, milk, and a little butter I prepared frosting at home. After they frosted it, they put on m&m’s, gummy candies, and even mentos to make their cookies beautiful. Luckily we bought extra cookies because many children were coming back to make a third and fourth cookie!

Diep coloring her Christmas ornament

Nam and his finished cookies

During crafts the children also got to enter our raffles. We set up six different raffles where the kids could put their name in an envelope to win one of the prizes. Some of the prizes were socks, watches, chips, pop, candy, and binoculars. Such a treat for them! Another part of the raffle was a guessing game. We had two jars filled with candy. The children had to guess how much candy was in each jar. The person who was closest won the whole jar of candy! Though only 6 kids could win, there was a lot of candy and snack to go around.

Y won a raffle

Just after this we had a lesson which Cindy helped us with. We were supposed to show a movie first, which Cindy’s lesson was based off of, but the DVD player just wouldn’t work (we even brought in a 2nd one, but still no luck). So, thankfully Cindy was able to have a lesson for the children off-the-cuff! She told the children how unique and loved they all are. She explained that if they fill their life with good things, good things will come out of them. The children were all ears. While Cindy was talking to the kids, some volunteers helped us hide a surprise gift for each of the children. The children had no idea.

We handed out gifts before the end of the night. This is Kristen giving Thue her gift.

After Cindy’s talk, we went to the gym and the children opened a gift from Orphan Voice. Each of the girls got a cute top with a beautiful hair clip. Each of the boys got playing cards and a polo shirt. They opened it and seemed very happy, but then came the surprise. We told the children that we had just one more thing for them and to run over to the library (the Promise House “library”) to find their gift. They all ran and stood outside the door. One of our volunteers stood blocking the door and helped them count up to entry: “Mot, hai… ba!” The kids ran through the doorway and all started grabbing toys. We had put names on all the toys (to keep this chaos from happening) but that was totally overlooked by the kids. Perhaps next year we’ll make sure to tell them to look for their names! We soon were able to sort out the gifts to make sure everyone got something.

The surprise gifts waiting for the children in the library.

All the children poured into the library to see their new toys.

The girls were all smiling and shouted for joy when they realized that the giant stuffed animals were all theirs. For the rest of the night they were just hold, hugging, and dancing with their new stuffed friends. The boys shouted “yay!” when they saw the cars. However, when they realized that these cars were RC (remote control) cars their “yay” became a high-pitched scream. Near me some of the boys were jumping and screaming while holding up their new RC car! Their joy and excitement was contagious. We were all yelling and jumping with them!  The boys tore open their RC cars and started driving them everyone. There are 10 boys, so 10 cars were racing around. The funny part was that every remote controlled every car, so many of the boys were teasing each other by steering the other boys’ cars. It was funny to watch as each boy wondered why his car was going without them driving it, and then seeing the laughter on the boy’s face who was actually steering it.

Lance and Lai (hugging her new stuffed turtle).

Dung and Kristen. Dung was especially happy about this gift and didn't let go of her toy all night.

It was a blessed and happy night. What a way to start off the week before Christmas. I am not a mother yet, but in a way I can imagine this is what it must feel like to make your kids happy. It’s all the joy you could ask for. Shouts and screams for joy; giggles and laughter; hugs and “I love yous.” The love I feel for all the children, and the joy and love they give us in return is worth every ounce of preparation and more.

I encourage you to find your joy this Christmas season in giving joy and happiness to others.

Merry Christmas.

For more pictures, check out the Orphan Voice flickr site by clicking here.

(Lance writing)

My parents sent a box of beanie babies that someone was giving away at their work.  They thought it would make a simple and fun gift for the children.  After waiting and waiting for about a month, the post office finally called us on Friday and told us that we had a package.  It worked out perfectly because we were planning on spending all day Saturday at Promise House with the kids.  With the help of the manager at the orphanage, we made a small production out of delivering the beanie babies.  We laid them all out on a table and had all the children sit in a large circle.  Then, one by one we would draw their names out of a hat and they would walk over to the table and pick one out.  They were so excited to have them and carried them around all day.

I can think of so many children who have huge baskets of toys that they can just dump out all over the floor in a moments notice.  In other families, there are children who are lucky if that have one or two decent working toys.  Even though I grew up knowing that, it is harder and harder for me to make sense of that difference.  We can’t help or control what family or what country we were born into.  I don’t mean to make anyone feel guilty about what they have, just don’t forget about those who are extremely less fortunate.  Even very simple things that hardly cost you anything can really impact someones life.  It’s so easy, we just have to give a little of ourselves.