Back from Luoyang

I have arrived safely back in Beijing! I sucessfully took at 10 hours train ride both ways and made it back in one piece! I am so glad that I went too. While there, I met some amazing people doing amazing things for the orphans of this country. Here are some photos of my adventure and the rest will be on facebook soon...


This is the outside of Maria's House of Hope. Funny story about this paint job. Basically the director of the local orphanage has a room painted like this in his building, someone told him that it looked nice, and he decided to paint this whole building to look like that room, a big blue sky with big puffy clouds. Hehe.




Inside Maria's House.



Sweet girls. The one in the orange didn't have an English name, so I named her Melina b/c her smile reminded me of my little sis Melina! The one on the right is Lane, who was already given an English name by Michael.



My new friend Michael with some of the kids that he works with.

Off to Luoyang

I didn't think I was going to have time to pull this off, so I had pretty much decided to not go. Last Saturday, I walked into a travel office just to see how much tickets were, and since they were so much cheaper than I thought they were going to be, I walked out with one :)

Am I really as random a person as I sound? Probably so.

So tonight I am leaving on the night train and will arrive in Luoyang early in the morning. The plan is to see Maria's House of Hope and a local orphanage there. I'll be back early Saturday morning!


While I am here and am thinking of it, let me ask you a few q's....

-what are some things that you would want to know about living here?

-what would you ask a nanny if you were here?

-if you could ask a child in an orphanage anything, what would you ask them?

-what perceptions do you have of China?

-if you could travel to China, where in China would you go?



If you are reading this, please consider these questions. I want to tell you all I can about this grand place!




P.S. Sweet little Drew fell asleep on me the other day :)



P.P.S. I bet that all of you thought that I was over in China, but actually I have been in Nashville the entire time!

It's a Small World After All

Remember how I was saying what a small world it is???


Well in case you have forgotten, let me add another story to further confirm just how teeny tiny this world is.

How I ended up in China the first time is kind of a long story for another time, but the first time I came to China was the summer of 2005. During that trip I met some great new friends, one of whom is my best friend Samantha! On this trip I also met a little girl named Anna. Anna was at that time matched to a family in New York.


A few weeks ago a woman named Dawn from New York arrived here to teach. She is also my new roommate. Throughout the last few weeks she has been talking about her friend Marilyn that has a little girl from China named Anna. I saw some pictures of her two daughters from China that Dawn had brought with her. There are so many kids in China and kids adopted from here that my mind didn't even think of these children being ones I may have met before.


Today as we were playing with some of the kids in the House of Blessings (my fav house!), there was a little boy named Nick in there. Nick has a deformed ear that has caused his hearing to be less than ideal. Dawn then mentioned that her friend Marilyn's little girl has an ear similar to Nick's. And then a light came on in my head.

"Her name is Anna right? And she lives in New York....what orphanage is she from...? Hmmmm........I KNOW HER!!!!


I am continually amazed at all the random connections that have unfolded throughout this trip! And there are probably more that I don't even know of yet! Dawn thinks this means that I am supposed to work in or do something with adoption, which I would like very much to do, so if you know of anything, anywhere-let me know!!


Anna is now 5 years old. This is us in July 2005.

ALREADY OCTOBER?!

Wow...I can't believe it is October 1st today! Do you know what that means?

That means that I only have 23 more days here. That is crazy. So much to do in such little time.


I wanted to share with you 2 short videos that I recently uploaded of Jamison and Grady singing. Check em out!!!


Jamison




Grady

Follow-up photos of haircuts :)

Here are some of the children after their haircuts per request!

















At least it will grow back fast!

Cuttin' Up.

Most kids don't enjoy haircuts, which is probably why so many of them decide to take it upon themselves to cut their own new 'do. Don't worry, the kids here at Shepherd's Field didn't try to cut their own hair, but some barbers did come in to give them some trims. I love shaggy hair on boys, so I was sad when they started shaving all their heads, and little Drew was clinging to me as if he was saying...

"Save me, I don't want to be bald!"


I tried my best to stop them...


They kicked. They screamed. They didn't want it done, and I don't blame them, but it happened anyway. Look below to see how much they didn't like it!


Moses is very animated all the time, but this picture cracks me up!



Poor Cole REALLY didn't like his haircut.



Christopher just looks really angry!



Mei yo tofa! (no hair!)




Lucas is the only one that actually enjoyed his haircut!

Abandoned and alone.

Around 3:30 on the morning of September 13 there was a little baby girl that was left at the gate. 6 days old with a cleft lip and palate, her parents left her with blankets, a piece of paper with her name (Jin Qiu) on it, and 200 RMB, which is about 30 US Dollars, and quite a bit to most village people. Most likely they just couldn't take care of her and were probably too poor to pay for her surgery. She was only with us for 3 days and was then taken to the local orphanage because of new rules regarding child abandonment in the area. Hopefully she can come back to us. Isn't she beautiful?



Another thing was left here recently that is becoming all too common... more puppies. Yes, you read that right. 2 days ago, somebody decided to leave 3 puppies yet again. These are at least a little older than the first bunch and aren't quite as high maintenance.

Drew

When people come here to see the kiddos, typically one or two will stand out to each person. Throughout the time that I have been here, I have seen people drawn to every kid here. Last year when I was here, the child that immediately caught my eye was baby Drew. Baby Drew is no longer a baby this year.







Of course, you probably already know that I love this little boy! Drew just turned 2 at the beginning of this month. Since I first met this little guy, I was completely crazy about him. Drew was born with clubbed feet, and has already had surgery to correct this. I believe that he may have to have another surgery at a later date. I am just tickled that Drew and so many of the little ones here have loving Christian homes waiting for them in the States and in other places in the world. When Drew is adopted his name will be Andrew Hayden Anmin Shelton. A beautiful name for a beautiful little boy!

To learn more about Drew, see one of my earlier posts! Isn't he just the most precious?



Drew waving with his ayi.




What can I say, I love him!

Olympics Video!

As I am sure you have noticed by now, the internet is extremely frustrating here. Without fail, every time I try to load a video, I lose the connection half way through. Most videos take about 4 hours, or longer to load here.

With that being said, yesterday I was finally able to load the PHF Olympic video that I have been trying to post for quiet some time. You can view it below :)




Meanwhile, I am sitting here right now watching something about AIG being bailed out with 85bil from the gov. I also heard that gas is nearing $5.00 a gallon and oil prices just started going up again... Yikes! Do I really need to come back there??


Also, I know many of you have been following the Irwins as they are adopting, but for those of you who are unaware there is a family from Franklin that is adopting a little girl from southern China right now. She is very sick and is in the hospital on oxygen machines and previously had a bubble over her head. The hospital conditions are less than ideal and really don't sound too good at all. They are having problems with the adoption, getting custody of her, and many other problems because of her condition. She needs to get medical care that she just can't get here, but they can't convince the right people that she needs to leave. Please pray that they will be able to get her out of the hospital ASAP, get her paperwork filed including her visa and passport, and most importantly that they can get legal custody of her and get her to somewhere that can care for her properly.

Grady

The last few posts I have done have been about kids that have families waiting for them. Today I want to feature a child that does not yet have a family and is running out of time, so I feel that it is necessary to tell you a little bit about him. Today I have decided to feature Grady.




Grady is very persistent in asking when he is going to get a family. He is thirteen years old, and according to Chinese law will age out of the system and will no longer be eligible to be adopted in a year. The cutoff age is 14. Grady really wants a family that can help him fix his back. He has scoliosis which has caused his spine to grow crooked, which makes him have to walk bent over. This has also caused him to be much shorter than he would be otherwise. All of his weight is on one leg, and I have been told that he cannot feel that side of his body. He walks with crutch-like canes and can get around pretty well, but longs to be able to run around and stand up straight like the other kids. He desperately needs to get adopted because the surgery he needs cannot be done here.

It is believed that his family used him for begging on the streets because of his condition before he was orphaned. I was very surprised to learn this. He isn't a selfish child, or one that hoards his belongings like I would expect a street child to do because they grew up with nothing. He shares everything, even small pieces of candy that are given to him. Grady is a very smart child and is learning some English in school. His favorite phrase is "See you tomorrow!" I will tell him "See you tomorrow" in Chinese, and then he will say it in English. When he first sees you he will say, "Hallo! What es yo namuh?" He also loves showing people the watch on his arm, and telling them that it is a watch. If you know anyone that is interested in adopting an older child, please tell them about Grady!


Doesn't he have the BEST smile?






Grady and Elijah are great friends. This is them at the Olympics.

Vira

I am back from Hong Kong! It was a fun time, got the visa all straightened out once again, and got to experience another great city. Of course, someday I will go back as there was way too much to see and so little time.

The next family that contacted me was Vira's family, so I will be featuring her today.



Vira is a little girl that I also met here last year. She was born with a condition called congenital limb deletion, meaning that she was born with part of her arm missing. She doesn't seem to miss it though! She carries on just like the other kids and loves to play outside. I remember last year she would crawl around on the floor using her arm just like a hand, and this seemed to concern the nannies, but she thought nothing of it. And this year she is running around just like everybody else! When she is adopted her name will be Grace :)

This is a picture of Vira and I last year.



Vira at the Olympic celebration at PHF (on the left).



Getting in trouble for playing in the water in the plants :)

Time for another adventure....to Hong Kong!

Hello All!

I am going to have to make this brief as my computer battery is about to die and I need to go to sleep anyways. I am not a fan of getting up early. Never have been and never will be. But tomorrow I get to go on an adventure, and I will get up anytime of day for an adventure. I have to travel for my visa one more time during this trip, so tomorrow morning I am leaving for Hong Kong. Seems like a pretty cool looking city so it should be fun...it is, after all- "Jackie Chan's city". So how could it not be cool?

I will return in a few days hopefully with some fun stories of Hong Kong!

I will be without internet until Tuesday, but will respond to my emails when I return!

Shia

I couldn't decide what order to feature the kids in who's parents have recently found my blog, so I thought I would feature them in the order that I heard from them. That makes little Shia the first one!

I hear that her name will be Kate when she is adopted :) She looks like a Kate to me already.



I met Shia (Kate) when I was here last year. She arrived during the last month of my trip. I went over to the House of Peace to play with her often and push her in the swing. This is her in the swing last year.


When I saw Shia this year I was so surprised because she looks so different! I had to do a double take! You see, last year when she arrived she had a hamangioma (mass) on the left side of her face. This year the mass in nearly completely gone! She has not needed anymore treatments since March and is doing great! She is a very quiet, sweet, and reserved little girl. Hopefully she will meet her family shortly as I know they are very anxious to meet her!



My next feature will be Vira, so I will leave you with a few pictures of Vira and Shia together. They weren't too excited about this little photoshoot, so we'll have to try again later ;)

This is awesome...

The past few days have been pretty cool. And why, you ask? Because in the past three days I have had five adoptive families contact me via email and this blog, four of whom have kids right here where I am! If this isn't exciting enough, one of them is the family of my sweet Drew!

They say there are 6 degrees of separation between everybody in the world. In other words, you know somebody, that knows somebody, that knows somebody, that knows somebody, that knows somebody, that knows "X" person. And the whole human population is connected in this way. Sometimes I wonder if it is in reality even a 6 degree separation, and not a 3 or 4 degree separation. Maybe this is because I can't meet somebody in Nashville without having 5 friends in common, or maybe I have just been there too long. But I have even met people in China that know people I know in Nashville and in other places in the states...and that is just weird to think about.

It is so awesome to hear from these families that are all connected through PHF and adoption agencies and blogs about the new and anxiously awaited additions to their families, to hear about how God moved in their lives, and to hear their stories of how they came to be the parents of Shia, Vira, Jackie, and Drew! Another family from Tennessee has contacted me and is traveling this month for their little girl, as well as a family from my church who is adopting an older girl from Luoyang. I can't wait to see them and to hopefully meet all of these families.

With all of this, I found it only fitting to feature these kids next in my blog so stay tuned for info on these precious children!

On another note, (well not really another note but I couldn't think of a good transition), if you are an adoptive mom, dad, family member, etc and are reading this I would love to hear from you!

Joseph

During August the older kids here at PHF got to go to the Olympics. I got to take Joseph to volleyball.

This is Joseph. He is 9 years old, though he told some people that we met at the Olympics he was 12...A lot of the older boys will try to tell you that they are older than they actually are, but they don't realize that age is not on their side, for they age out of the system at age 14. Joseph has more time than some of the others here, but even still, older children are harder to place in families.

Joseph has a heart condition and has already had one surgery. At this time, his second surgery has been postponed and he is being followed closely by the heart surgeons. He continues to do well, though he is somewhat pale and frail looking. He also has a problem with his voice due to Velo-Cardio-Facial-Syndrome. The little hangy-ball at the back of his throat is not long enough, which causes most of what he says to sound like mumbling. He has a high pitched nasal sounding voice. He can get a surgery that will correct his voice problem, but it cannot be done until after his second heart surgery.



He was hungry, so we stopped at KFC before the game.



Riding the subway.



Outside the venue.


Joseph and I at the Volleyball matches.





End of a long, but fun day.

A little more Olympic fun...

Do you know how proud China is of their Gold medals? I imagine you do unless you have been living in a cardboard box...I stumbled across this in the Sanlitun area of Beijing, which is one of the more "Western" areas of Beijing. I joked that there must be somebody waiting inside the Adidas building (the awesome black glass building behind the "gold medalist") waiting with the next number to dart out and change it, basking with pride and joy as he adds yet another gold medal to China's medal count....this joke, I soon realized- is probably not too far from the truth. With their obsession of accumulating Golds, this should be no surprise.



At this point, the count was at 45. I wonder how many of those little numbers they made...?




Regarding all sporting events, I have found that there are generally 3 kinds of fans.....


The SUPER cRaZy kind that go all out. Everybody knows why they are there, who they are cheering on, and where they are from ....I'll give you 1 guess where this guy is from!



The ones that still get into but aren't quite as crazy. They might not paint their faces lime green, but you still know who they're rooting for....



And those that are more conservative and not so flashy. These people like sports and want to showcase who they would like to win, but prefer not to draw all the attention onto themselves. They are content with a t-shirt...



Aaaaaaand, one more thing about the Olympics....I still think the Fuwas are weird. Only China could have gotten away with these mascots.