Picture Day!

Today was picture day at GLA! Every month, the kids all get a nice picture taken to be sent to parents and sponsors. If the parents have sent their kids outfits, they get their pictures taken with these clothes.  Each baby is taken up from the nursery, changed into cute and clean clothes, the snot and spit up is wiped off of their faces, their chubby little legs get coated in baby lotion, and their picture is taken with an appropriate background (this month's theme was back to school). This is no trivial task, especially as some of the toddlers are very much against their photo being taken in such a manner. I loved every moment of it, though, because I got to know some of the other kids besides my own seven. It was also quite the exhausting operation – carrying dozens of babies up and down stairs, changing them out of their play clothes into their picture clothes, then changing them back into their play clothes and bringing them downstairs again is no simple task. What GLA does here is very valuable, though. For the adoptive parents to receive a photo like this every month is so special. I still remember quite clearly how important it was for us to receive pictures of Ben and Josiah. I only remember getting one of Ben and two of Josiah. But those one or two photos came with us everywhere. The monthly photos come with updates of the kids – stories about how they've grown, what they have been doing, details that parents want to know about their child. When the families come to pick up their children, GLA gives them a disk with all the pictures of their kids. I have a lot of respect for GLA's dedication to this kind of communication with the adoptive parents.

In other news, I was somewhat sick today. Just a little on the queasy side all the day long. Hopefully it will pass by tomorrow...

Pictures from the day!