Three. That's the number of times I've visited the orphanage in the last couple weeks. Still blows my mind that I have the time and resources to keep going back. Thank you to all of HS's donors who are making this summer (and beyond!) possible. Whether you have just started following my blog or have been following every post (hi Mom!), I know that it is impossible to remember details of each kiddo that I talk about. Orphanage days are crazy, and I come home exhausted each time. It's hard enough for me to keep track of their names and personalities! So in this post I wanna try something different, to give you a little glimpse of a few of them more closely. Max is quite the little stunner. His huge, inquisitive eyes melt me with every look. Of all the kids, Max is one of the most calm and reserved. He's never said a word, but seems to understand a lot more than he lets on. I am always surprised by how interested he is in everything I do, despite his quiet nature. Whether I am making balloon animals, or passing out paper and markers, or even taking selfies with groups of kids on my phone, he is right there in the thick of it. Quiet, but definitely a little extrovert in his own way. I heard him laugh once last week... it was surprising and wonderful. I pulled out a new toy, called the Sound Machine. You press buttons on it to make different sounds like clapping, laughing, a drumroll, or a whistle. I let them take turns (not as easy as it sounds) pressing the buttons and picking the sounds. The first time Max got to press the button, a little tiny laugh bubbled up out of him. It was the sweetest sound. Without fail, every time he pressed a button, the same little laugh came out. Looking forward to getting to know this little dude even better over the next couple months. Much love little guy. Little lady Maisy. Really, the pictures of little lady do her no justice. She laughs so easily, at any tickle or smile in her direction--so much so that we first started calling her "happy baby." Maisy is about 6 months old, and spends most of every day in her crib in the baby room. Every once in a while, she gets to sit up in a roller chair that is put into her crib. Maisy has reached the majority of the developmental milestones that she should have at this point (yay!), such as rolling from back to front, holding her own head up, and grasping at things she is interested in. And yet, the more time I spend with her, the more I notice the little gaps in that development; even though she can hold her head up on her own, it is still quite weak and "jerks" up and down when she goes from horizontal to vertical or vice versa. Maisy is definitely a favorite among the nannies. This works in her favor for now, as she needs the attention when she cries or fusses. Nevertheless, she still gets fed a bottle of formula in her crib propped up on blankets, rather than getting bottle fed by a physical person. I was able to give her her bottle yesterday, and hope to do that regularly when I am around. Love you little lady Maisy! For better or worse, the first word that comes to mind for Josiah is SASSY. This kid has so much attitude it is hilarious and horrible all at once. We didn't even see him the first day we went to the orphanage. So, on the second day we were there, when he came waddling in with enough attitude to capture anyone's attention, we were quite surprised. He hopped right in next to the kids, took the entire bag of crayons for himself, climbed up ON to the table, grabbed someone's paper, and sat down to color. Needless to say, he is quite capable of making a scene. At three years old, he is small for his age but makes up for it with his big personality. Emotions come easy for him, happy and sad alike, and being around people is his favorite. When Josiah discovered that we were facepainting, he stuck his little hand right into the middle of the group of kids and said, "Do mine!" (in Chinese of course). And when we were blowing up long balloons, he got a hold of two of them, walked right up to Liz, handed her one, and started fighting her with his own.
I have no doubt Josiah will make waves in this world. My hope for him is that he will use his fire and strength for good, in a community and world that so desperately needs it. Love you buddy.
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On Tuesday, I had my first meeting with our Chinese nonprofit partner: CRDF. We have partnered with them to make HS a reality in Chengdu. They are a registered nonprofit of Sichuan, and will help us with administrative things, accounting, Chinese liasion-ing (can that be a verb?) and more; through them, we have official, legal standing in China. Sara and I were so excited about the potential of partnering with them, and it all became official just a couple months ago when Sara signed the official paperwork to become partners. Yay! Up until this summer, neither Sara nor I have lived in Chengdu consistently. So we haven't had the chance to really solidify this partnership or reap the benefits. On Tuesday, it all began! The director, HS's new project manager, accountant and I all sat down together to hash out all the nitty gritty details of what this summer will hold. I have to say, it was such an amazing feeling to be surrounded by other people who are also working towards making HS a reality. It is no longer just Sara and me. Blows my mind. Believe it or not, the day got even better than that. After our meeting, they gave me a detailed tour of the office. It's a wonderful place, and a great community of people. At the end of the tour, Candice (one of my coworkers and a new friend) showed me MY DESK. Yes everyone, I have a desk. Maybe I'm being just a little silly for getting so excited about that, but I was pretty much freaking out in my head at the prospect of having a desk in an office. Candice said, "Feel free to work at your desk for a little while now, and we hope you join us all for lunch in the break room at noon." I sat at my desk for about an hour before lunch, just reveling in the moment and soaking it all in. After lunch I went home, but Candice called me almost right away. She invited me to join CRDF at an event hosted by the Rotary Club of Chengdu. Talk about jumping right in. Some of you may remember, Sara and I presented HS to the very same Rotary Club two years ago. They were impressed with our project, but encouraged us to find a supporting organization to back us up. Cue: CRDF. I had no idea that in the last year CRDF and the Rotary Club have worked closely to do charitable work in the surrounding area. What a divine set up, that HS is now partnered with CRDF. Someone upstairs definitely enjoyed putting those pieces together. I joined five other CRDF staff members that evening, at a Rotary banquet in the Crown Plaza Hotel downtown. It was wonderful (albeit, nerve wracking) to mingle with everyone present and continue making connections with people. A couple Rotary Club members recognized me and were very glad that HS is now working with CRDF. Victory.
Thanks to everyone for all the encouraging little notes and comments in the last week! Keep checking back... the saga continues. Two days ago, I arrived in Chengdu, chasing the sunrise from the US to China, to begin my exciting summer with HS.
It took me 41 hours to get here... with flight cancellations and lost luggage and plans getting thwarted. As a general rule, I don't enjoy the travel time to China. But even despite all of the problems, I had a sense of peace the majority of the trip. Ironically, the only thing I got nervous about was landing in China. Yes, you read that right. This girl, who has wanted to live in China since she was nine, who has dreamt up every possible scenario of how this summer and the following years will look, who wishes every day that HS would have opened yesterday... I got nervous. It was a weird moment, sitting alone on the plane, looking at the Chinese soil below me, and realizing that I was afraid of what lies ahead. Perhaps it was the mystery of it all, perhaps it was the fact that I won't be able to follow Sara around this time, or maybe even the reality that even when I return to the US end of August I won't be going back to my day job. From now on, HS is what I do full time. It's all coming true. Everything I have wished for and more is happening, and it all hit me in that moment before the plane touched Chinese soil. It's been about 48 hours since that moment, and I have recovered--for now at least. I've just been settling in, with not a lot of focus on HS or orphan care yet. I got my phone set up with a Chinese SIM card (never had that before, exciting!), I moved into my room with the family I am staying with, bought shampoo and toothpaste and other essentials at the market, and had authentic Sichuan barbeque (shao kao). YUM. Then today, I went to some garage sales. Who knew I'd ever go to garage sales in China... not me. The friend I'm staying with invited me to go with her to a few different apartments of expats who are moving back to the states, and having garage sales to get rid of some of their stuff. Much to my surprise, I ended up buying a few things--paper, stickers, crayons--to bring to the orph with me. Next week, things will really pick up. I have a meeting with CRDF, will hopefully visit the orph at least once if I can find someone to go with me, and then my best friend arrives (she'll be staying for 3 weeks!!). Those will merit much more exciting blog posts than this one! |
A note from Rebekah...If you've ever wondered what it would be like to start a nonprofit from the ground up, to open a home for ORPHANS with special needs in Asia, you've come to the right place. Archives
August 2019
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