update from the African ground

Jambo from AFRICAA!!!!
I am soooooo beyond happy to be back with my sweet Kenyan babies! There are so many new faces here, so the whole "knowing almost everyone's name" has gone out the window. But, I have a full heart from loving on my babies from the past two years!
I am going to try to sum up the past two days in just a few short paragraphs, so here goes nothing:
On the day we arrived at the orphanage, everyone was so excited! It took what felt like forever to drive from Nairobi to here. but, once we got here it was worth EVERY second. The kids ran out to greet us and ran by the buses for a long time, yelling our names and holding our hands. Seeing their coffee-bean colored faces again almost made me tear up. I could go on and on about what it felt like seeing them again, but I'm trying to keep this short.
The focus for this year's team is to have all the kids go through a dental and medical check-up. As you know, most kids are terrified of the dentist in America...and guess what? That's a universal thing! I have been helping out with the "waiting area" (five plastic chairs in a circle) of the make-shift dental office (three chairs sat in the back of the dining/worship area). There, you see it all. Kids smiling, kids shaking from nervousness, and everything in between. But, one sweet girl stuck out to me.
She has only been at the orphanage for about two weeks and she's 7 years old. Let me tell you, she was TERRIFIED of the dentist. While we were sitting and waiting, she had already started crying just thinking about the dentist putting those sharp tools in her mouth. I tried to get her mind off of the dentist, so she sat in my lap and watched the video of the Fiwagoh kids singing at the Day of the African Child. (because we got to go this year! part 2 for me!!) After watching that video, we went through all the previous pictures I had taken and we played with the "chicken" (a blown-up medical glove). Then came the hard part, it was her turn to take a seat on the dentist's chair. We made it about halfway to the chair and then she figured out that it was her turn in the seat. so, tears started flowing. I was holding her hand and when she realized we were headed to the "dental office" she let go and refused to go further. Normally, a waiting room helper didn't stay with the kids while getting worked on, but there was an exception made for this sweet girl. By the time we reached the chair and she sat down, tears flowed and she refused to open her mouth or lay down on the table. So, we just had her check-up sitting up straight. You would think the hard part is over EXCEPT she had a cavity. And that meant she had to get a shot of anesthetic and had to lay back on the chair. After a solid 15 minutes of screaming crying and trying to hold her down to get the shot, we got it done. At that point, I thought she was going to hate me forever because I was the face she saw while all this was happening. I have to admit, it was so hard watching a child you love go through pain. But, I had to continually remind myself that this was for her benefit, no matter how much it hurt. And from there, it was a breeze. It took about 20 minutes to drill more holes on her tooth and fill them in with paste. Then, when she thought she was done, she still had to get her teeth cleaned with the toothpaste and stuff. After all that was over, she got off the chair and actually held my hand and hugged me. To add to that, she also came up to me this morning and stayed with me and played with my fingernail polish.
This is just one of the million memories I have made here and I wish it could be more in detail where you could actually visualize how it felt and what it was like. But, I don't have that kind of time or talent. This sweet girl has left an imprint on my heart and so have the other 200+ here. I just really love it here.