We are ready to get started!!

Saturday and Sunday, September 4 and 5, 2010

Written by: Evan Boido

Message of the Day from Dan: Once a man was walking along a beach. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. Off in the distance he could see a person going back and forth between the surf's edge and the beach. Back and forth this person went. As the man approached he could see that there were hundreds of starfish stranded on the sand as the result of the natural action of the tide.

The man was stuck by the apparent futility of the task. There were far too many starfish. Many of them were sure to perish. As he approached the person continued the task of picking up starfish one by one and throwing them into the surf.
As he came up to the person he said, "You must be crazy. There are thousands of miles of beach covered with starfish. You can't possibly make a difference." The person looked at the man. He then stooped down and pick up one more starfish and threw it back into the ocean. He turned back to the man and said, "It sure made a difference to that one!"

Here we are: Team 149 – few in numbers but I’m sure we will manage very well. There are three of us. Steve has come every September for the last 12 years! He was on one of the first few teams so has seen many changes. Steve’s mother, Lorraine, is here for the first time and I’m sure the children will love her. This is my 5th or 6th visit; I’ve kind of lost track.

We had a pleasant drive to Tutova on Saturday. I saw more of it in the light than I’ve seen before. There were lots of people selling fruits and vegetables on the side of the road in the villages and towns. Some had big tables and others had just a few items in front of their houses.

We spend most of Sunday with orientation interspersed by emails admiring the new tile floor in the hotel dining room. We did have a chance for a morning walk before our meeting started. The weather is just beautiful – warm but not too hot.

Steve and I restrained ourselves from sneaking over to the clinic before our meeting started. It was all I could do to wait until afternoon to see the children. We have an almost even number of mobiles and non-mobiles. Steve will go with the mobiles and Lorraine and I with the non-mobiles, although I’m sure I’ll need to pop in and visit the mobiles now and then. It’s amazing to hear how many of the children have learned to walk or are near walking since I was last here in February. From reading the journals, they are all making progress albeit some more slowly than others.

We are ready to get started!