2016 Blog - Trip to China - Post #1
I have never traveled anywhere by
myself. And I’ve always had Megan Konyn to lead me around the airports on our
trips to China and as a roommate on these trips. This year Megan couldn’t join
us on the trip and I was the only one coming from Nashville, so I traveled by
myself. (we all miss you so much Megan!)My brother and sister took me to the
airport at 3:30 in the morning and I navigated the airports myself. A two hour
flight to Chicago, and then an hour long delay on the plane from Chicago to San
Francisco. I thought I was going to miss my flight to Hong Kong (I only had an
hour and a half layover) but I made it just in time to start boarding. I
brought the most luggage of course J if you know me I am an
over packer I learned that from my mom. But I have gotten pretty good at
limiting the things I take for myself. I brought a pretty big suitcase and it
was completely filled with donations for the sweet kiddos. Thank you to
everyone who donated! Everyone from my church, Shannie Hornsby and Lynn
McKinney. The kids look adorable in all of the clothes and hair bows. And I
cannot wait to do all of the crafts and activities with the kids.
On Sunday Shannon and I were awake
at 4 am, and could not go back to sleep. We found out that in the wee hours of
the morning is the best/ only time to get good WIFI. Our first day at the
orphanage was a lot better than I expected. Last year we were so shocked and
heartbroken at the condition of some of the kids. This year we were so happy to
see that there was not a huge decline in the kids! There is a new general
director, and they had a “welcome party” for us when we got there this first
day. There was fruit and water waiting for us in the conference room. We sat at
the huge table where we made dumplings with the nannies on the 2013 trip, and
listened as the new director welcomed us, and thanked us for coming from far
away to care and love for these children. She told us the kids have great
feelings for all of us, and that the staff and directors want us to all be a
family. We already consider ourselves family but we are so excited they think
so too! This new director is very sweet, and we can tell she cares so much
about the kids. After this we went upstairs to see the babies. We went into the
baby playroom and started loving on the kids, they were a little shy at first
but then they opened right up and played. I went into all 3 of the baby rooms
to see who all was there. Loved on them, picked up Lola one of the blind
babies, she is one of the happiest babies, just kiss her cheeks and hold her
and she will have the biggest smile on her face. Then I went and played with
little Sam a boy with down syndrome, he is always giggling and just wants
someone to hold his tiny little body. After I played with him I took this tiny
baby into the playroom, I found out she is actually 7 months old but she looks like
she is 4 months. Before I took her back to her room one of the nannies gave me
a bottle to feed her. After I laid the sleepy baby in the crib I went into the
playroom again and then I saw her, a baby that looked just like my baby Emma
from last year. She has gotten so big and she’s so cute! If only I was old
enough to adopt. They said they will start her paperwork to be adopted and two
other babies’ paperwork in July. They are all about 16 months old.
For lunch we tried a restaurant that was on the way back
from the orphanage. The food was amazing. The food in China is amazing and I
crave it all year long when I am at home. Chinese food in the states does not
come anywhere close to this food. Oh I also tried a chicken foot, it definitely
was not the best, but I tried it because everyone else did (except Amy) and
also because no one thought I would.
We read a devotion before we went to see the big kids in the
afternoon it was from my Grace for the Moment devotional by Max Lucado. It was
titled “A Work in Progress”
“God is not
finished with you yet. Oh, you may think he is. You may think you’ve peaked.
You may think he’s got someone else to do the job. If so, think again. “God
began doing a good work in you, and I am sure he will continue it until it is
finished when Jesus Christ comes again” (Phil. 1:6). Did you see what God is
doing? A good work in you. Did you
see when he will be finished? When Jesus
comes again. May I spell out the message? God ain't finished with you yet.
It was to remind us that this is all a work in progress. We
are all a work in progress. And God is NOT finished with us yet. We needed to
remind each other that no matter what we might see at the orphanage, what the
condition of the kids were, who was still there and who wasn’t. Staying
positive and joyful is sometimes difficult when it is blazing hot and there are
so many kids screaming and running around. But that’s the whole point, we are
being love to them, we are showing them God’s love and mercy. Some days are
really tough but this is what we were called to do. It is easy to love on
babies, but there are so many more big kids with severe disabilities and it is
a lot to handle. I have learned so much on these trips every year and these
kids have helped me improve on my patience.
We got Steve to ask the nannies about Chi the older boy that
was there last year that Adam pushed around in a wheel chair, the nannies said
that he passed away in December.
Before dinner we walked to this bridge in Chenzhou. It
lights up at night and it is very pretty along the river. As soon as we got
there, there were older Chinese ladies dancing. One looked more traditional and
the other seemed more upbeat. Shannon said all of the under 25 year olds had to
go dance, so the 6 of us attempted to follow along to their dances. Then we walked
along and saw a bunch of seafood restaurants and various shops and walked up to
the bridge. For dinner Shane saw a dumpling restaurant and we decided to try
it. They only had dumplings, so Steve ordered pork and vanilla, pork and leek,
pork and onion, beef, shrimp, pork. They were all so delicious, except for the
pork and vanilla. They were all thrown into bowls at random so you never knew
what you were going to get.
Monday:
Today was the second day at the orphanage.
Today we gave little Nathan the package from his parents. He
is the shyest little boy I don’t think I had ever seen him smile but he
completely lit up and had the sweetest smile the whole time he was looking at
the picture book of his family. Steve was translating for his nanny Liz as she
was pointing out who each person was to him. She would say “mama” and “baba”
and he was just grinning from ear to ear. That little boy cannot wait to meet
his family.
The kids were a little bit calmer but boy was it HOT. We had
them in the playroom at first then we took them outside. We played with
bubbles, chalk and stickers. These are some of the kid’s favorite things to do
when we are there.
For dinner we went to the same barbeque place as we did last
year where you cook the meat in front of you. It is not my most favorite place
as I do not eat very much meat. But I did eat some bacon, one shrimp, duck, and
chicken. There were a lot more interesting things that I decided not to go for.
There were also vegetables that you could cook as well.
Tuesday:
I walked into one of
the baby rooms to love on two of the blind babies, Lola and Haven. I looked
over into one of the other cribs and there was a teensy little baby. I’ve never
seen a child that small.
We think she weighs between 1 and 2.5 pounds. This little
one had come in the middle of the night. The police had brought her at 1 a.m.
It’s amazing that baby was alive, she couldn’t have been more than a day old.
It is amazing to see God’s miracles so up close. Shannon named her Shiloh after
the mountain in the Bible that Hannah prayed for Samuel on. The nannies said
the incubator was broken so they had the baby on a heating pad and bundled up
in clothes. They said she would go to the hospital that afternoon with the
other little babies that are already there in the ICU.
Gracie was adopted yesterday! Her and her new family came to
the orphanage to say goodbye today and she was such a happy girl. On Sunday she
kept telling us, 1 more day, 1 more day and couldn’t wait for her parents to
come. She also got a new sister who they adopted as well. We all had lunch at
the orphanage this afternoon and it was sooo good! The orphanage always cooks
us the best local foods. We had fried chicken wings, corn and nut salad,
mushroom soup, fried rice, broccoli, spicy beef and hot peppers, beef with
onions and peppers, egg soufflé type thing, and green beans with eggplant.
I am trying to remind myself every day that patience is key,
and that it doesn’t matter how exhausted or frustrated I am. My job while I’m
here is to BE love to these kids and the nannies. The nannies do this job 24/7,
and let me tell you it is a HARD job. There are so many kids, so many special
needs, all want special attention. And there’s only so many of us, but there
are even less nannies. They do tremendously for the task they are given. They
hardly get breaks, and if we can be that for them then that is what we will do.
Today they asked us to help decorate the orphanage for National Children’s Day
tomorrow. We will have a party, the kids will perform, we will perform, and eat
fruit and cake and celebrate each other as a family.
How could you ever be that mad at someone that you would do
that to a child? We saw a child in the hyper mart whose body was so severely
burned. Steve asked the grandmother what had happened to the child, and she
said that the grandfather and his brother got into a bad quarrel and the
brother got so mad that he burned the child with sulfuric acid. Again I ask,
HOW COULD YOU EVER BE SO MAD AT SOMEONE THAT YOU WOULD DO THAT TO A CHILD? This
child, possibly blind, no hair, scars covering its body. This child was
innocent, innocent in the crossfire.
Today was a hard day. A lot of
hard things happened. A lot of the team was emotional and the reality of
everything was just hitting us hard. First the new baby came in in the middle
of the night and she’s so tiny, only about 2 pounds, who needs all the prayers
she can get. And then Gracie with her new family. Then this poor man on the
street on the way back from the orphanage who did not have fingers and looked
like his face had been severely burned. I am not even sure if he could see. The
afternoon was tough, the kids were wild with energy and there was only one
nanny who was with the 5 of us part time in the playroom with about 25 kids.
Some kids were climbing the rails, eating paper running around, pushing people
down, screaming, throwing blocks, trying to take stuff from our bags. Then
other kids were sitting quietly with their paper, crayons and stickers and
creating some really great pictures. I grabbed a boy that we named David and
pulled him into my lap. He makes these noises I’ve never heard anything like
it. It’s like a deep grunt/growl and he constantly does it. He is the most
rambunctious one and does not want us to love on him. And honestly I was scared
of him.. we all kind of are. I hugged him tight and made him sit with me for a
minute then he got up and was a little less wild. A little bit later I held him
again and rocked with him he loved it, but then was up running around again.
12 year old girl
There is this girl. She is 12
years old and has been at the orphanage for less than a year. She is perfect,
there is nothing physically or mentally wrong with her. Yet her parents
abandoned her. Her parents divorced, her mother married a foreigner and left
and her father remarried and had a baby boy so the grandmother was raising her
but she passed away. She was found at a long distance bus station. She is so
smart, and she is very sweet. She helps take care of the other kids and is
extremely creative. My heart breaks for her that she is in the orphanage that
she does not have a family. She is so sweet and the other kids look up to her,
she loves on them, and they are sweet to her as well. We decided her name would
be Shaylyn, because it sounds a lot like her Chinese name. We did crafts and we
think we may have offended her because we were giving the kids pipe cleaners
and fruity cheerios to string on the pipe cleaners and they LOVE doing this and
it helps their fine motor skills. We gave her some, and she said no and asked
for more pipe cleaners and I just gave her a bag. She began twisting them and
making the most creative bracelets. This girl is so creative it is unreal. She
wanted to paint next while the other kids were coloring/using markers and
pastels. She painted the most beautiful picture and then added stickers. She
also made a heart wand out of paper and the pipe cleaners. This girl NEEDS a
family. She needs to get out of this orphanage she deserves so much more. The
resilience in these kids amazes me.
Wednesday:
Today was national children’s day.
The orphanage invited us over for a celebration. Some of the kids performed, it
was adorable they were all dressed up in outfits and all had makeup on. And the
other kids who were in there were wearing their matching Team Chenzhou red
shirts like we were wearing. There were a lot of performances, there were a few
kids that were not from the orphanage that danced, and recited poems. We also
were asked to perform… yesterday. We sang the song “God of this city” and the
kids were all giving us thumbs up and smiling so big. The nannies and directors
were all videoing and watching us so closely. You can tell the love they all
have for us and how excited they are that we are there. Steve said we should
have practiced more singing the song and we would have sounded better but that
it was okay J.
It brings me to tears every time we sing
in front of them, seeing their faces so happy and excited, Steve translates
what the song means so that they have an idea of what we are singing and it
just makes me emotional to sing about Our God, and why we are there to them. We
were also asked to dance. So six of us did the cupid shuffle, we got a little
ways through and then we ran down and got the kids to dance with us. They
absolutely loved it. At the end we cut the cake, we bought a huge cake for the
celebration and all of the kids were stuffing their faces. They devoured the
cake and fruit, and were licking their plates clean. Oh how I wish they could
get a treat like this more often.
Thursday
Today we were on a mission to
figure out exactly what babies were on the list to be adopted, who would be on
it soon, and who were they “waiting to see if they progress”. Shannon, Makenna,
and Steve talked to Helen and figured out exactly what each baby in the
playroom was diagnosed with, their Chinese name and their birthdate. It is
imperative for us to do this so that we can properly advocate for the children.
We take hundreds of pictures and videos of these kids so that we can get
everyone to see how amazing they are. The team knows, and God knows but that’s
as far as it goes. It is so difficult to know that some will never be picked…
Some will never get their file done which means they won’t ever be adopted.
Shannon asked how they “pick” who gets their file done, Steve translated and
Helen said that they decide based off of who will be the most likely to be
adopted the quickest. The ones who will have a harder time getting adopted; the
ones with more severe, time consuming special needs. It breaks my heart that
there are so many kids. Tomorrow we will get all of the bug kids birthdays,
special needs, Chinese names etc. We made sure that we got every single baby
out into the playroom at least for a little bit today. I love seeing Tyson who
never gets out of his crib sit in that room playing with toys, making his legs
stronger in the exersaucer. The blind babies; Lola and Haven get to roll around
on the floor. Sam the happiest little guy. Johnny who has the same problems as
another baby Carson, its something with the skull not forming correctly. Albert
who has hydrocephalus, Sampson with CP. Each one of these kids needs and craves
love and we give that to them. The nannies do all they can and we are so
grateful that they are there all the time to take care of them, that they were
chosen by God to do that. They all have more patience than anyone I know and
they are superheroes to me.
We ventured to KFC for lunch
today, and no I did not eat the chicken. Chinese fast foods like McDonalds and
KFC are not the same as they are in the states. They have a lot more typical
Chinese food, so I got French fries, mashed potatoes, ice cream and a coke.
Healthy, I know. I’ve actually been a lot more adventurous trying foods than I
have been in previous years. It’s crazy I am remembering how to get places from
previous years, this city is small in China, compared to Beijing and other
large cities, but it is very large and everything looks the same, it’s a lot of
shops with the same or very similar items. We got KFC togo and walked back to
the hotel. Today was the day for prayer stations. We set up two prayer stations
in the five rooms. So there were 10 stations total. This is my favorite
devotion day, Some things are geared towards prayer for the kids, some towards
the team, some towards ourselves and looking deep into us, there was another
thanking and praising God for all that he is doing in Chenzhou because trust me
he is doing GREAT, BIG things here and I am so happy that God led me to be a
part of it. One of the prayer stations we picked a child from the stack of
pictures of older kids to specifically pray for throughout the year. I picked
Paul, he has Down syndrome and is such a sweetheart. He has much improved from
just last year, and is doing pretty well. I picked up his picture and realized
he has the same birthday as me, only 14 years younger. I wrote a lot about him
on my first trip in 2013. He is now on the list to be adopted and is waiting
for his forever family. I cannot think of a more deserving child of God. He
would absolutely thrive in a loving home with constant love, understanding,
patience and support. Every single one of these kids would, but not all of them
have a chance at that life.
This afternoon we walked in and
the kids were getting haircuts. We think a company came in and donated this to
the kids, along with some snacks. The team split into 2 groups and I was with
the big kids first, downstairs in a craft room. We brought fruity cheerios and
pipe cleaners and had the kids stringing the cheerios on them. They all did
such a great job. There were a few that just ate them but there were a lot more
that did the activity than we thought would do it. They are all so proud of
their work and want to show us and want their picture taken with their finished
products. The next craft was coloring pictures, the kids used crayons, markers,
oil pastels and paints. It is unbelievable their excitement and they all want
our approval and a big thumbs up… every two minutes.. J There were a few kids
running wild in that room, who either didn’t have the patience to sit there, or
who wanted to eat paper, or who just wanted to sit and play with stickers.
After about an hour and a half the other group came down and took the kids
outside. I stayed and cleaned up and took more supplies out to the kids for fun
things to do out there. Then I went upstairs to the 6th floor the
big kids floor and got to hang out with the kids that usually just sit on the
potty chairs, or the benches and we had them in the playroom rolling around on
the matted floor. As soon as I walked in I smelled urine, someone had peed on
the floor. Right before I walked in little Ella had had a seizure, and we didn’t
even know she was epileptic. Then 15 minutes later John threw up for the 3rd
time all over the mat and I helped the nanny clean it up. The boy Damien who is
always grunting/growling was being so good! He wasn’t making any odd noises, he
was laughing and playing and was not very wild at all. He let me pick him up
and spin him around and love on him. Then I decided to give him a treat and
extra attention for being so good, I gave him this dried fruit, kiwi, mango and
pineapple and he smelled then ate every piece. After I gave him and a few
others some he started getting wild. I didn’t want to give him too many so I put
them away. He kept trying to get into my bag that was high on the shelf, and
then was basically wrestling me for the bag. I was chasing him around because
he kept ripping it out of my hands and then I finally got it back and hid it
and he opened the cabinet and stole a bunch of snacks out of that and ran. The
nannies didn’t seem to mind, and then I found another spot where someone had
peed. Let’s just say I was ready for a shower after this hectic day.
It is Sad to me that we ask warily
about kids we no longer see, we know the answers but have to ask anyway. The
responses are so non- chalant, he died…. She died… In my career as a social
worker it will be easy to become numb to difficult things because of everything
I will see, hear, and experience and the frequency of it all. It’s the same way
for the nannies, they do this day in and day out, it is not easy for them, they
get sad, and they love on these kids, and watch them grow every day. They have
to say goodbye eventually and I don’t know how they do it because my heart
breaks every time I come and have to leave. But we are only here for a short
time. I pray for these nannies, their hearts, and their pain. I pray that God
will not allow me to become numb to these excruciatingly painful things. To not
allow me to forget these faces, names, hearts. Give me a heart of love,
patience and kindness. And help guide me to understand His plans.
