Ramblings

Hello! Another fun and busy week goes by. How is it possible that I don't have a job and no other responsibilities outside of being a mom and housekeeper and we are just as busy as ever? Outside of the many "fun" things we do to occupy our time, Travis and I are both getting ready to teach English to Chinese students, and Kaleb is lined up for a photo shoot. Being a foreigner here, there are some great opportunities to earn a little extra cash! We need to pay for our upcoming mini trips to Xian and Guilin this month and next.

I had an amazing experience this last week that I wanted to share. I had the opportunity to go to an orphanage and spend time with the children. Just a little background...this orphanage is considered to be one of nicer ones in China, so it was clean and the kids were generally healthy. The majority of the children were healthy, little girls, or little boys with some kind of handicap or deformity (cleft palates, missing arm, no fingers, down syndrome, etc). These are the children that people gave up because the parents who wanted a boy and had a girl, or had a child with a deformity and wanted a healthy child. The parents are allowed to have one child here in China to control the population.

A little more background...this orphanage does not adopt the children. The children stay there until they are about 13 or so and then are on their own. I guess there are actually very few orphanages that actually do adopt out children here. I was able to witness the nicer side of orphanages in China, but I learned so much about other orphanages here that absolutely breaks my heart. The conditions are exactly what you hear about...I can't even bring myself to think about it, let alone write about it. We would not be allowed in any of these orphanages. I guess the women in our church have been working for three years just to gain entrance into this orphanage. Absolutely no pictures were allowed (which, of course, broke my heart).

When we arrived, we started with the babies. We held them, loved them, sang to them, and fed them. There were about 15-20 babies ages 1 week to 1 year. This was amazing and I, of course, shed too many silent tears looking at these beautiful babies. They may be fed and changed well, but they don't have the love they deserve.

Next, we played and helped feed the older children. They were all precious little souls, but I found myself especially interested in a little boy about 2 or 3 years old. He had been dropped off at the orphanage a couple of months ago and they said he was just so sad...cried all of the time and never played. At first, he would have nothing to do with me whatsoever. But, one time, I reached my arms out to him and he let me pick him up. After a few minutes, he laid his head on my shoulder and just kept staring right into my eyes. He was attached to me for the remainder of the time. It was time to go and I went to set him down and he wrapped his tiny arms around me and held on so tight. I sang to him and hugged him and then had to put him down. He stared at me with tears rolling down his face with his arms outstretched. Leaving that little boy was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I got in the car and cried...not because of his conditions, but because that little boy will never know the love of a mother and father. I wanted SO bad to take him home and give him the life he deserves. I cried several times that day and night. I am going to the orphanage again this coming Wednesday. I may not be able to do much, but if any of those kids feel love and happiness from me spending time with them, than that is what I will do.

Well, I had a wonderful birthday yesterday. One of my requests is that I could go out by myself and do two things I can not do with my little ones around...browse the endless shops on the streets and photograph. So, Trav watched the boys while I went out for four hours...what a wonderful and perfect morning. When I got home, Trav made me lunch. He then proceeded to blindfold me. I fought him for about 10 minutes on this, but he prevailed. As if we don't get stared at enough around here, my family led me all around town, onto a crowded bus, and into a busy market. All I knew from behind the blindfold was people laughing at me and bumping into a few trees and walls. Trav surprised me by taking me to Yu Show Market to the tailor shop to have a dress made for me that I have wanted. How fun is it to pick out or design a dress and choose the material and have it fitted exactly to me! He is seriously the best! That night, we all went to a Chinese Acrobatic Show, which was amazing. Man, the things these people can do! What a wonderful day...here are some pics of yesterday...