The Kids, Lemonade and shoes

Monday:  Tracy needed to spend some significant time with her friend from past years, a 19 year old orphan who looks and acts more like 12.  She is very bright and thoughtful and says her goal is to come to the US to study English.  So, that meant that I got charge of little Simeon (who has been renamed Grace).  She didn't look great.  Everytime we make progress and then come in the morning and she has regressed.  I took off her clothes and held her for a while in the window to soak up some rays.  Then I gave her her first bath. She had never really been clean from her birth.  She didn't like that at all and cried the tiniest cry I have ever heard.  It was like music because it meant she was improving.  I then fed her formula with a little hard plastic syringe.  She took about 5 ccs at one time and kept it all down!  She's pooping too!  By the end of the day her color was much better, the swelling in her face was down a bit and she spent a long time awake and looking around.  So cool!
 
The other success was Heng Heng.  He is about 4 or 5 years old and probably weighs 15 pounds.  I don't know what his diagnosis is but he is wasting away.  They don't seem to give him any attention. Toni got him up the day before and he was laughing so I got him up Monday and he did the same.  The nannies said I was magic because he is never responsive.  I don't know if they have given him a chance.  Most of the nannies seem to care but they just don't understand some of these children.
 
Tuesday...What a day!  The morning flew by and then we left for lunch and shopping for things the kids need.  Britta had identified 4 kids who could probably learn to walk if they had shoes so she measured feet, picked out some sturdy shoes at the mall and Katie and Andrew's lemonade-stand money bought shoes!  I was fighting back the tears.  We went back to the kids and took pictures.  Little blind girl (we finally found out her name is Bao Xin - Precious Heart!!!) loves her new shoes and spent some time in the walker.  Too many stories to tell! 
 
Britta has been amazing!  She has gone through all the equipment we have, John has fixed/modified it.  She is working on posters so anyone who comes in in the next year will know how to use the equipment.  She is taking pictures of every childs therapy routine and is making personal books for them.  She's unbelieveable!  And she just finished school!
 
The other person God sent us is Sa.  We met her at the Chaoyang airport.  When she found out what we were doing she wanted to come.  She has been here everyday and is making changes we couln't imagine.  She is getting her masters in global media in Finland.  Her mother is a doctor and her father is someone important.  She has developed a plan to encourage the local university to use the orphange as part of their community service program.  The administrator of the university is very interested but suggested that since they were working with foreigners that they should clear it withthe general government.  Sa was not happy.  She gave them a few hours, got the right officials contacted but it was taking too long so she called her aunt, a high ranking official.  She told Mark, "I tried to do it the nice way but this needs to happen now!"  She's incredible.  The aunt is working on it and Sa and Mark will have a meeting today or Thursday!
 
I wondered how a short term mission to an orphanage could help anything in the long run and God is showing me!
 
Here are a few more kids to pray for.  I may have mentioned them before.  It's hard to keep track...
 
Yong Yong - 6 year old healthy boy who was brought to the orphanage last year bc his mother died.  she had left the father bc of abuse but since there is a father somewhere he isn't adoptable.  Please pray that they can find a loop hole.  He needs a family.  He knows what he is missing.  He is truely beautiful!
 
Jo Jo- 3 month old boy who has a problem with one eye.  The staff thinks he has limited brain function so they wont put him on the adoption list but he does everything a 3 month old is supposed to do.  He smiles and laughs and tries to focus but he just can't see well.  SO cute!!  Please pray that we can convince the  director to put him on the adoption list.
 
The little group of toddlers... They are so cute!  Some of them have special needs but they are relatively minor.  Wai Wai is the cutest little 2 year old buddy with deformed hands and the sweetest disposition.  He can do anything with those hands.  Isaac has a beautiful face and is the peacemaker.  Jesus (we named him that because he looks Mexican!) is Mr. Fun.  Jacob toddles around following the others. 
 
The ring-leader/diva of the orphanage is Jing.  She is about 5 and will soon be on the list.  Pray for a VERY strong mommy to adopt her ;)
 
More later- gotta take the kiddos to the park and then to KFC - our first American food of the trip and the only American option in the whole city.  Yum?

God Provides

God made Himself very well known yesterday.  The team has been praying for a physical therapist and this year God provided Britta, just out of school and eager to help.  We walked in the first day and she was overwhelmed with the need and the responsibility.  She had tears in her eyes on the bus at the end of the day.  She made a list of equipment that she needed and equipment they had that needed repair.  Yesterday, Mark went up to the attic, opened a crate and found almost everything on the list!  So, a little boy who never gets out of his crib took a walk outside in his new wheelchair.  The little blind girl who can't walk or talk has a new walker.  Lauren and I taught her how to use it and she smiled and hummed the whole time.  We were all crying!  Many more children will be able to come out of their cribs and start to build muscle and get mobile!

There is a brand new baby here, just a few days old.   The nannies are sure she is going to die so they aren't doing much for her.  She is only 3-4 pounds, doesn't cry, barely eats.  Our team member Tracy has "adopted" her and named her Simeon.  She said that she needs a strong name to survive.  She carries her the whole time we are there and tells her that there is a reason to live.  She said no one should die without ever being held.  Yesterday morning she was so swollen, her lips and nose were blue, her cheeks were bright yellow with jaundice and she was unresponsive.  By the end of the day, Tracy had coaxed her to eat, her color was much better and she even opened her eyes and seemed to hear Tracy's voice!

There are so many stories!  I will tell more later. Last night we went to church and met two people who speak English who may be willing to help with the orphange after we leave.  Mark has been praying for this for a long time, that the local church would get involved.  He was giddy last night.

We are moving to the other hotel this morning!  Then back to the orphanage where we belong.  Lauren is so in her element.  After the first very difficult day, she leaned her head on my shoulder and said "Best day ever."  Thanks for all your prayer!  Keep them coming!  We love you all!

Lauren's Night Life

Hi everybody, it's Lauren.

Last night we went to the town square place that's around this old pagoda. This is where everyone hangs out every night. It was crazy! There were people swing dancing, break dancing, and slow dancing, and some other people marching around the pagoda because they say that if you go around 1 million times you add 1 year to your life:) The thing with Chaoyang is that they don't usually get white visitors so we're a big deal to them, it's really funny! We were just walking around and people kept stopping us and asking us to take pictures with them or forcing their kids to take pics with us. We were also handing out glow sticks and silly bands to the kids and they love them! Today was a great day at the orphanage but mom is going to write about that in the morning. Goodnight!

Orphanage

We spent our first afternoon at the orphanage.  After hearing some of the stories about the condition of some of the children we were pretty nervous but we had a great day!  The conditions are sad.  The staff does a good job but they have their hands full.  Many are severly handicapped.  They have a nice, clean facility but the children aren't clean.  Lauren immediately had one handicapped blind girl in her arms.  The girl wouldn't let her go and Lauren held her for about an hour.  Lauren is amazing.  We have complete freedom to take the children from room to room. We held a blind infant girl for a long time; she fell asleep in Lauren's arms.  They haven't named her but the staff calls her Jo Jo.   By the end of the day I had a little guy following me around. The team calls him Luke.  He's about 2 and has deformed hands.  It doesn't stop him from doing anything and those chubby cheeks are irrestistable. There are too many precious children and stories to tell just from our first day.  We will try to introduce you to  a couple each day.

We got here this morning and found out that we are not at the usual hotel because the communist party is having a meeting and we got down-graded to the "Motel 6."  It's a bit rough but doable. 

Travel and hitting the wall

We made it! The trip here was very difficult.  We had many delays.  Got into Beijing at 2am, hotel at 3:30, sleep by 5, up at 8:30.  We are beat.  Mark, our group leader, is wonderful and very easy going but we wish he would hurry things up.  He wants to have devotions tonight but hasnt set a time.  We just want to go to bed!
 
We've had some struggles today with smells, food, culture shock and climbing the great wall. Lauren climbed it and got to ride an alpine slide down. She has a great attitude but Im having to encourage her to eat.  Remember that nothing smells like food? Good thing we brought lots of snacks.
 
Last night the group was doing a lot of reminiscing about previous trips but today we're getting to know them--they're really great. We had a good day but we are looking forward to heading to ChaoYang in the morning.  Although, we aren't excited about the 5:45 call time.

Thanks for the prayers!  We need it!  Earlier, the team was talking about some of the kids that we'll meet at the orphanage and it sounds like we will be facing many special needs that will be difficult to see.  Pray that we will have soft hearts and strong spirits!

The Plan...

So my mom and I are leaving for China on Wednesday to work in an orphanage in Chaoyang. While we're there, we hope to be able to update our friends and family at home about our trip. However, there is a good possibility that Blogger will be blocked. In that case I will email our posts to my dad and have him post them here. Hopefully this works! 

Lauren