The children of Rising Star

No matter what kind of day we are having, no matter how down one of us might be, or how sick of Indian food or ants and geckos we might become (actually, I was sick of geckos on first meeting them!), there will always be one thing that will make it worth it to be here...

The beautiful children of India! 

They are so much fun. Every day, we have playtime with them for an hour. They are energetic, bright, and most of them are VERY friendly.  (Some of them are too friendly and can be a little pushy, which has really been overwhelming for Cohen.)

One funny thing about them is they are endlessly curious about our freckles. They ask so many times if we have freckles all the time, not just when we are in India with the sun. ; )  The times that the Indian adults have seen us put on sunscreen, they are all so very curious about what it is and why we are rubbing it all over our faces, necks, and arms.

In America, we get to hear the geneaology of red hair in each random stanger's family. Here, the children each want to show us their own "freckles"...which are normally moles. It is quite humorous.

I thought I would introduce you to just a few of them today. There are over 200 of them and I have probably only learned about 40 names so far...but here are a few of their sweet little faces.

There is Sudha.  (SOO-duh)  She is obsessed with Brooklyn. If Brooklyn does not come out to playtime, then Sudha is so sad and begs us to tell Brooklyn to come out tomorrow. She is also the first child that can name all of the people in our family. She is a sweetheart and so fun.

And Shalini.  (SHAW-li-nee) 
Seriously, I love this little girl. She has spunk and loves to laugh.

And Roseline. (RO-zuh-leen)   I just barely remembered her name today, though I have asked her many times. I always know which kids I have already asked for their name, so I always say, "Tell me your name again." I have said that to her for the last week and finally, just today, I was able to pull up her name out of my brain. ;). I have honestly been praying for the ability to remember their names.

This is Vignesh.  (VIG-nesh)  He got so excited last week when I showed him what his sponsor had sent...Gummi Worms! He can't wait to get them from the Star Store. (They are put in there with his name on them and he can purchase them with points earned by good behavior, punctuality, and such.)

And this is the beautiful Abineya. (a-bi-NAY-yuh) On the first day I met her, she seemed like she could be a bit of a troublemaker, but then something clicked with her a few days later and she is just super sweet with me now and I adore her. She has the cutest smile ever. And I love her little haircut.

And this little cutie is Maria Catherine, whom we have been sponsoring for the last year. She was so shy with us when we first met her, but now, she runs up and gives me a hug every day. Today, she and her friends in the 2nd standard were all playing hide and seek with Cohen and Avery. It was adorable and so fun for him to finally be playing and laughing with the kids without being overwhelmed by them.

These are just a few of the beautiful faces that we get to see every day. We feel so blessed to be here and know that in 10 months, it will be these little people that we will miss the most!

In an upcoming post, I will show you the brand new UKG kids (it means upper kindergarten). They are so tiny...all about 5 years old, but Indian children are so much smaller than our average American children. They are so adorable and each of them need sponsors to support them in the coming years. Be prepared to fall in love!  : )