Yesterday morning we were up bright and early to catch the bus to Battambang. By 7 AM we were all in the lobby along with all of our luggage, which was about 20 bags!! We thought the bus was coming to the hotel to pick us up but apparently someone didn't communicate that to the bus driver. After about 30 min. of phone calls and discussions hotel staff, a van showed up to pick us up and take us to the bus stop. Problem is you cant put 8 people and 20 bags in a van....not even in Cambodia!! So Tim and the bags went to the station while the rest of us waited for a second van to pick us up. Needless to say we were the last ones on the bus and the bus was a little late in leaving....not unusual at all here. Cambodian time is definitely different than Ohio time. After a 3 or 4 hour bus ride with multiple stops along the road to pick up and drop off people we finally arrived at Battambang. After checking in at the hotel we were off to see the kids. All six of the orphan homes came to the Battambang "campus" where BB1, 4 & 5 and the pavilion are located. It was pretty cool to get to see the pavilion which is the result of the first Team Hope marathon in Cleveland. Thank you Diane for your obedience!!!!

Each of the six homes performed a dance for us, the kids all sang together, the sound of these kids singing is the most beautiful sound I have ever heard!! After the show was over the kids, and the team were treated to 2 boiled eggs and a can of pop. It was a very interesting combination but the kids were very excited about it.

Things were then rearranged and the dance and fireworks party began!! They turn the speakers up as high as they go and dance, dance, dance. Tim had his own personal dance instructor who really tried hard to teach Tim some moves, Tim gave it his best effort! While we were dancing there was also fireworks, which the kids loved.

When the dancing stopped the kids all went to their respective homes and the team crawled back into the van hot, sweaty, tired and very happy. We came back to the hotel restaurant, several of us had ice cream for supper, yum.

This morning we went to BB2 and painted some swing sets and around the base of the house. It's pretty interesting to paint with 20 kids hanging around. This afternoon it was off to the water park with all the orphans...that's almost 200 kids!!! Oh my, Oh my, what chaos that was! The kids had a great time.

Tonight we are off to BB6, the newest home, to visit with those kids for a while. Can't wait to see their happy faces when we pull up. When the van door opens eager little brown hands reach out to grab us and hug us, it's awesome. We get to experience this over and over each time we visit a home.

Will try to post pictures later tonight.