how bout them puppies?!

Just a little update on the little puppies we found a few weeks ago....

They are all alive and doing well. One has been adopted and we are still trying to get the other two homes...in other words, your time is running out if you want one of these little guys!






Don't worry. I am not bringing one of them home with me. If I bring back something with me, it is going to be....


These little guys!!

Joy (Ting Ting)

I know I said I would try to feature a kid and day, and I realize that was a couple weeks ago, but this month has just flown by! My birthday completely snuck up on me, and the month is nearly over. It is hard to believe that I have already been here as long as I was here last year total.

Firstly, I am happy to report that Mei Mei is doing much better! She is still a very weak little girl, but she wanted to try to walk the other day so we tried. It made her so happy!




AND NOW IT'S TIME TO MEET ANOTHER KID!!!!
Today I want you to meet Ting Ting. Here English name is Joy, and that she is full of for sure, but I prefer to call her by her Chinese name.



Ting Ting was abandoned at the gate of Lang Fang Children's Village (the location of PHF before Shepherd's Field was built) on July 27, 2005. A passerby had discovered her at around 5 a.m. and knocked on the door of the sleeping quarters. Joy was wrapped in a red blanket with a hat covering her face. Inserted in the fold of the blanket was her picture that had her Chinese name, TingTing, and her birthday, January 26, 2005 written on the back of it. Somebody just turned 3!

Joy had cerebral paralysis and received surgery in November if 2005. Before this, she could hardly see. When she was abandoned here, her head was huge due to hydrocephalus. They inserted a shunt to help drain the water in her brain. She has such light hair for a Chinese person, and lighter skin as well. She is very smart and loves to count the tiles on the Hands of Hope wall outside. One of her favorite things is playing outside.

25 on the 25th!

That's right. I just turned 25 on the 25th. Apparently this means that this year is my golden year. What does that mean exactly? I don't have a clue, but I am looking forward to finding out! This is the second year in a row that I have celebrated my birthday in China, and it's fun because it's pretty much my birthday for 2 days. Aww yeah.

Last year we went KTVing (Karaoke). And my bestest friend Samantha was here and it was close to her birthday too! Sadly, Samantha did not come along for the adventure this year, but I did have some fun people here to hang out with. You become friends with people pretty quickly here and it's awesome because you immediately have China and an interst in orphans in common. In case you somehow missed the photos from last year, here's a taste of what the big 2-4 looked like...




If you know me at all, you know that I love music, so I decided to go to the Hard Rock Cafe in Beijing for my birthday dinner. There was live music (yay) and they even made the TV screens say Happy Birthday and beat on pans and sang Happy Birthday in Chinese really loud. AND to finish it off, they smashed some of the cake on my face! Good times.




Then we went to the movies and saw a Chinese film called "Red Cliff." Don't worry, there were subtitles, but I totally could have understood the entire movie without them ;) This movie was actually really good and was part one of a 2 part epic. January 2009 the epic continues. Basically, this movie was the Chinese version of the movie 300, in my opinion. Check it out below...





So I had a great birthday here. Thanks for all the ecards and birthday wishes! Love and miss you all!

Golden year, Here I Come!

4th of July Video

Here is a short video from the 4th of July here at PHF. Unfortunately, I ran out of battery while taping this because it was the same day I taped another event, so there wasn't very much footage to work with.

I GOT SEOUL.....Korea

This past weekend I had to take an unplanned and unexpected trip to South Korea for visa purposes. Usually you can renew your visa in Beijing and Hong Kong, but because of the Olympics they are not currently allowing this. I am on a 60 day visa, which means that I am going to have to leave the country every 60 days. I decided to go to Korea because it was the least expensive, and also because I wanted to see where my sisters came from. Korea was a great experience and I will for sure go back there many more times.

My roommate and I got our tickets to go on Thursday, and left on Friday morning. If you have ever wondered if you could plan a trip that quickly, knowing very little about your destination, and having no plan as to where you are going to stay or what you are going to do, I would just like to report that it can be done! It definitely makes it more of an adventure that's for sure. I looked up some hostels before we went, so we at least had options as to where to stay. After we found one that had an available room, we found some brochures, a subway map, and a map of the city and planned a few things to do there. Simple as that. :)

I LOVE KOREA! The people that we met along the way were all so nice and helpful. We had no plan once we got there, nowhere to stay, not even a map. We took a bus from the airport to the middle of Seoul and obtained a map. Once we had that, all we had to do was pull it out and the locals would ask if they could help us. At least 6 people in the first hour asked if they could help. Now, would that ever happen in New York City, or any city in the US?? I don't think so! My impression of the city is that it is very clean and not nearly as polluted as Beijing. The traffic wasn't too bad at all, especially since it is the most populated city in the world. Many people ride motorcycles and the subway system is amazing and so easy to use. Seoul is much more Westernized than Beijing, and honestly, it would be much easier to live there. But, for this time, I am where I am supposed to be...right here in China.

While in Korea, we got to do a Taekwondo class at Kukkiwon, the Taekwondo capital of the world. This was really fun. I even kicked a board in half! We also found an interesting tour where you can go to the demilitarized zone at the border of the two Koreas. This isn't really the safest thing to do, but it was way cool! I didn't realize there were two different tours, and there is actually one that takes you a little closer than mine did, all the way to "the bridge of no return." My new Polish friend Peter I met there had to sign a "If death shall occur, nobody is responsible" paper before going on this tour. Next time, I will go on this one. Dad, I think you would have enjoyed this :) The story of the Korean War is much more traumatizing than I had realized, with the divide sudden and numerous families separated and unable to have any contact. On the tour I also got to see the Freedom Bridge that links the two Koreas, fenced off. This is a location where families have recently been allowed to visit, once a year. They can only reunite at this spot and the mini-theme park right next to this bridge. To my understanding, they cannot leave this area. I also got to walk down a tunnel that North Korea built for "Peaceful purposes" called the 3rd tunnel. They built 16 tunnels like this one, and only 4 have been found. In this particular tunnel, 30,000 troops could fill it within an hour. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take pictures inside the tunnel.



Freedom Bridge

Amusement Park

Living in America, I don't think many of us realize how great it is to be free. We have the oppotunity to be, say, do anything we want. When I got on the plane to come to South Korea, I thought it was going to be much like China since it is also an Asian country. To my surprise, it was quite different. Immediately upon unboarding the plane, I noticed a difference. There was something different about the people and their attitudes towards life. They were not an oppressed people, but they were free people. And you could just tell. They could do what they wanted to do, travel to where they wanted to go, own property (making everything much cleaner because people take better care of things that they can have ownership of), have children without penalty, practice religion of their preference, and just simply live. It was a night and day difference that I wasn't expecting to see, maybe because I didn't realize how something as simple as a freedom that I have always known can affect everything so drastically. This is something I am really wrestling with now that I am back. I don't really know how to put it into words, but I hope that someday the Chinese people can feel that freedom.


Luckily, I didn't have any problems getting back into China and am now back into the swing of things here! I am now inspired to learn Korean in addition to Chinese. I think it would be so much easier to learn than Chinese. For one thing, Korean is phonetic and has an alphabet. Chinese does not. Korean is not tonal, Chinese has four tones. Will I want to learn the language of every country I visit, or am I just drawn to Asia? I guess I will have to visit France someday to find out!


Islands flying into Korea.

Street food we ate.

Me and some of the Korean Taekwondo Black Belts. Yep.

Changing of the guards.

Traditional Korean clothes!

LOVED Piano Street.

Korean kiddos having fun.

Poisonous Korean bug?

Bout time to renew the ole visa...

In less than 7 hours I will be on a plane to South Korea. My roommate and I got tickets today to leave tomorrow. This whole process was a random adventure that I will have to write about when I return. We are having to leave the country after 60 days of being here, because our visas are multiple entry 60 day visas. Never did I ever think that a trip could be pulled together so quickly, but that definitely makes it more of an adventure. This is exciting because this is where my little sisters are from!

A lot of people have been having problems with visas getting into China as I'm sure you have probably seen in the news due to the upcoming Olympics. Please pray that we will be able to get back into China when we come back on Monday. There is still so much I need to do here!



So, tomorrow it is. Early tomorrow.

Mei Mei

In an effort for you all to feel like you can know the kids here like I do, I am going to start featuring a kid a day on here, so that you can meet them all. I want to start with a very special little girl who is in need of much prayer.


This is Tiffany, also known as Mei Mei (pronounced May May).




She has very severe medical problems primarily dealing with her heart. She has one ventricle instead of two, and a number of other heart problems that cause her to have perfect posture, usually something a kid wouldn't have. She has a hard time breathing if she is not sitting up straight. Her fingers are also very long and thin, but they are bigger where the nail is. This is another effect of her condition. Numerous doctors have said there is nothing they can do, and she is considered to be a hospice situation. Many are saying that it is a wonder she has lived as long as she has.

She has had a fever the past few days, and the doctors thnk it is a temporary sickness, but please pray for Mei Mei that she will quickly recover, as she is already very weak, and that her heart will be miraculously healed.

Farewell Cadence and Jackie!

Two of my favorite little girls here left PHF today to go back to their home orphanage where they will remain until their families come to pick them up. Cadence and Jackie are from the same orphanage, and are going back together. Jackie's family will be here in 10 days, and Cadence's will be here in 3 weeks. I met them both here last year.

Unfortunately, the families will not be coming to visit PHF like I had hoped they would. The rules are getting tighter with the Olympics quickly approaching and they don't want adoptive families flying out of Beijing anymore. We had 2 boys adopted two weeks ago that were able to be picked up here, and that was really great because the families got to see where their children have spent the majority of their lives. They could always come back and visit another time, but it's not the same. If they came now they could meet some friends of their child, but there's nothing we can do about that now.

It is a very special thing to see a mother and father meet their child for the first time. It is usually quite emotional for everyone; the parents, the child, and of course...the nanny that took care of the child since his or her arrival here. I have seen a few nannies have to do this, and it comes with the job description, but it seems like it would be so hard to do. One nanny recently had to say goodbye to all 3 of her kids within a short period of time. And then she will get more kids and start the process all over again, knowing that she will also have to say goodbye to them as well...the way they typically do the "hand-off" is the parents will be waiting in the office area and the nanny will carry the child into the building. There will often times be another nanny that will be the inbetween person who will take the child from it's nanny and hand him to his parents. I suppose this method makes it a little easier for the nanny rather than for her to have to pass the child to the parents herself. Though, it seems to upset them either way.

I was really looking forward to meeting the families of these two girls. They are two of my favorite subjects here to photograph and I have probably hundreds of pictures of them. I was told that Jackie's family has a blog with some of the pictures I have taken on it, but I don't know the address yet.


Cadence


Jackie

Blue Skies in China really do exist!!

I know there are a few of you reading this that have been to Beijing recently, and noted the heavy pollution in the city. I just want you to know that the sky was BLUE today in Beijing! Not gray, not smoggy or foggy, but crystal clear blue. I felt like I was in Florida! They recently stopped allowing trucks into the city within the last few days, but I am not sure that would have made such a drastic difference so quickly...I have seen one other day like this a couple weeks ago, and it was also a Sunday. I would guess that there is a 98% chance that tomorrow it will be back to it's normal overcast color.

Because the trucks are no longer allowed in the city, they are for some reason camping out on the sides of back roads, like the roads close to me...

Check out the pics!


PHF with a blue backdrop.


Look! The sky is blue in Beijing!


The awesome "toothpaste tube" building in Beijing.


Trucks waiting until they can go into the city again.

Great times, Great friends.

China is a place so far away from home that you don't expect to get to see anyone that you know here...so I was excited when I recently got to see some friends from Nashville that were going up to the same orphanage I went to in Hohhot Mongolia last year! I took a taxi into Beijing to meet up with them, and it took me a while to find them because I thought by taxi driver and Lily, their tour guide (who is the same one I had last year) had communicated on where to drop me off so I could easily find them, which was apparently not the case. After what I think was about an hour, I finally found them! We went on a tour of the Hutong alleys in Beijing. This is one of the oldest areas in Beijing that used to be very poor, and now very wealthy people live here. It has been fixed up a lot in the past few years. We rode rickshaws through the alleys, and got to go inside a local's home and learn how to make dumplings. This was an interesting tour that I have never been on, and got to experience twice because the Washington team that was here went on it the next day. The tours were not the same though. The second day we went to the top of the drum tower, inside another local's home where we met a bird that kept saying "Nihao", to a tea tasting, and through the "happiness tunnel." It was great to see them and I know they had a lot of fun in Hohhot!


Eve, Me, and Shannon at the BICF


The Bell Tower and Hutong Alley of Beijing


The happiness tunnel in the Hutong. Look at how happy it made me!


More Hutong.



I was also excited when I got to see my friend Andrew from the states last weekend. He lives in Texas, but is working in Shanghai for a bit, so we got to hang out. I went into Beijing on Friday night, and my taxi broke down once I got into the city, so I had to get another one. In China you just never know what’s going to happen. We did the tourist thing and went to Tiannamen Square, Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, CCTV tower, Olympic City, the Great Wall, and an Acrobat show. I got to ride my first subway ever! We learned how to tell taxi drivers that they are good drivers, when, in fact, usually they are not. They just like you better if you say that. We learned a few more random phrases, and I realized that I would learn the language so much faster if I lived in the city. At the end of the weekend, I somehow successfully managed to buy a train ticket back to Lang Fang, get on the right train despite EVERYTHING in the train station being in Chinese, get off at the right stop, and tell a taxi to take me to Shepard's Field.


Olympic City.

Temple of Heaven.

Some men singing at the Temple of Heaven.


Andrew and I on a cable car at the Great Wall.


It was really foggy that day, but the Great Wall is always awesome.



So who else wants to come visit and have a China adventure?

The Washington team has now left and things are very quiet around here. Since they have been here the past 2 weeks, it was an emotional good-bye. When you come to a place like this, you are affected forever. How awesome for Tim, the man behind the operation, to see so many people come in and be affected by all these kids. Many of them will return for another visit, but it is still hard to leave the kids behind when you bond with them.


The Washington team about to leave on their bus.



Last night we found 3 teeny tiny puppies outside the door of the inn. They look like they were just born. We couldn’t just leave them outside to die, so we looked up how to take care of abandoned puppies, and they are very high maintenance! They have to be fed every 3 hours, kept pretty warm, plus you have to make them go to the bathroom.

It would seem that some people have started dropping of puppies and kittens in addition to the children that we are initially here to serve. We already have a dog named Stevie that randomly showed up and follows me everywhere I go, and an older puppy that came at the beginning of this week. Carrie, one of the therapists here, has saved many of the animals that have been left here. So we told her we had a present for her, and her reaction was priceless...

“NOOOOO!!! NO MORE!!!!”

Still she can’t say no, so we have all been taking care of them.

Anybody want a puppy? The adoption process should be significantly shorter…


Right when we found the puppies outside our door.

Did you know I am going to be the next president?!

This has nothing to do with China, but did you know I'm going to be the next president??