Hugs and Laughter

Looking down at Amman from the Citadel

The warm greeting I received at the orphanage today was the perfect beginning for a very hot day. The outside temperature reached over 100 degrees F today. But that's another story. Choruses of “Selina!” greeted me when I opened the door to one of the activities rooms. Along with that came numerous hugs from some kids who settled for hugging my knee and others who were able to reach my waist. Every hug was wonderful though. Children are blessed with an amazing capacity to love and trust others. I can't imagine how hard it would be to walk in their shoes, but they do it with a smile. It's fun to see how the simple pleasures in life can bring such joy into their lives. Paper airplanes, paper frogs that actually jump, a hug, a story, doing a puzzle, and many other simple things are enough to bring a light into their eyes, a smile on their faces, or even laughter. In the baby room, causing laughter is a game. So many of the babies are always smiling and seem to be on the brink of hysterical laughter without actually falling over the edge. I'm not always successful with getting them to laugh, but after being successful a time or two, I have decided that the laughter of a child is one of the best sounds in the world.