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Trip to China
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Wednesday,
June 13, 2007
“I often think of the intersections of our lives--those that are
planned, and those that occur by chance. I think of how those
intersections have the potential to change us, our characters,
our circumstances, our hopes. I think about how they add to the
unfinished story of our lives.”
~ Amy Tan
Apart from the adoptions of our children, I feel as if my life
has been forever changed each of the three times we've traveled
to China.
On our first trip, it was when we were visiting an orphanage
(not even Kaylee's orphanage). There were wall to wall cribs,
with several tiny babies in each crib, and only one or two
nannies to take care of a roomful of kids. The babies were all
bundled up under layers of quilts, with only their eyes peering
out. I knew then, if we ever had a second child, we would again
be adopting from China. Any desire I had to “have” my own child
(biologically) was completely washed away, and has never once
returned.
On our second trip, I was strongly impacted by a woman who
worked in a bathroom at the Great Wall. When I was walking in
the bathroom, another adopting mom (not from our group) offered
to hold my coat. She told me I definitely didn't want to take it
in there and try to hold it up. The toilets in China are “squat
pots”--and in this case, it was literally a hole in the floor
with a trench connecting one hole to the other hole. On the
floor, you walked in and stood in about an inch of water, urine,
and mud. As you can probably imagine, the smell was horrible. By
the sink, there was a lady mopping this urine water around, as
she apparently did all day long. She looked so incredibly sad. I
couldn't help think about my bouncy, giggly, full-of-life 3 year
old Kaylee, and wonder if that might have been her future if she
had stayed an orphan in China. I wondered if anyone would have
ever discovered her bubbly personality, and how much joy and
life was inside of her--and, of course, I couldn't help thinking
of what her future would have been. I couldn't help but think of
how much joy and potential was lying in cribs all day long, all
throughout the world. It was there, on top of the Great Wall,
that I had another one of those life-defining moments. I knew
then that John and I needed to be doing much more to help these
little ones. We had been incredibly blessed by our daughter
(soon to be daughters) …and I knew that we had so much to give
back and share so that others could experience more joy in their
lives.
So we started talking and praying about different things that we
could do. John very much wanted to build an orphanage somewhere,
and I very much wanted our focus to be on China. For a long
time, I didn't think it was possible to do that type of thing in
China--so we kept searching and kept praying. Late one night
when I couldn't sleep, I discovered the website of the Philip
Hayden Foundation. I was so excited, that I went in and woke
John up. As he looked at the website (the next day!) he said he
thought he had seen something about the very same place on TV
months earlier and taped it. Sure enough…it was the exact same
place. We really felt, just as God had hand-picked our children
for us, that this was also a path He had selected for us.
So we learned more about the Philip Hayden Foundation, and about
the new Shepherd's Field Village they were building. Philip
Hayden is an organization that helps special needs
children--often the special needs children that orphanages
aren't equipped to deal with. Orphanages send these children to
Shepherd's Field (or nearby Lang Fang Village, also run by the
Philip Hayden Foundation). There, they receive the medical
treatment and surgeries they need (often to save their lives),
so that they can then be adopted. Some of the children they have
are unadoptable--either because they have already reached the
age of 13, or because they have a particular special need which
makes them “unadoptable”. It's all designed to be a very
family-like setting, as opposed to the typical orphanage/
institutional setting. There are several children's homes, a
very low nanny-child ratio, a large playground, thick grass and
beautiful flowers--it's truly like living in the middle of a
park. As we mentioned in our Christmas letter, we are so excited
to be building a children's home here. It is a beautiful,
loving, warm, nurturing place--and we're excited to be playing a
small role in helping these children have happier lives. |
Shepherd's Field Village
The nannies walking the babies back home,
after playing outside in the morning.
The Hands of Hope Wall surrounds the children's homes.
Our tile on the Hands of Hope Wall
(Now we need to get another one for Jenna!)
Kaylee and Madison were
SO excited to find their names on the wall!
The future House of Promise (and two other children's homes)
should have children living in them by the end of this year.
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This time, without a doubt, I am
forever changed by what I've seen here today at Shepherd's
Field. When we visited, it far exceeded my expectations. It is
truly impossible to find the words to describe the love and the
warmth that you feel here--instantly. We were told that the
director “feels that these kids--more than anyone--deserve the
best of the best…and they're getting it.” The grounds are
beautiful--5 ½ acres of carefully manicured lush green grass (a
rarity in China!), flowers galore, winding sidewalks with
pictures made out of stones, Chinese-style architecture
buildings, all beautifully decorated on the inside…a playground
that rivals Westside Park….surrounded by the Hands of Hope Wall,
a wall of tiles that adoptive families have purchased in honor
of their kids and in support of orphans that have yet to be
adopted.
Donations for Shepherd's Field Village have come from over 30
countries--the architecture plans, the cement, the paint, the
wood floors, the roofing tiles…the playground was donated and
built by a group of people that goes around the world building
playgrounds in impoverished areas. They brought all of the
supplies and a team of 40 people, and spent a week putting it
all up. The land (5 ½ acres) was purchased for 1 yuan (12
cents!)--unheard of. And as much as you can own the land in
China, they do. (It's actually a 90-year lease). The grass was
donated by the man that's building the new US Embassy in China.
His workers come out and volunteer here--as do many others. In
addition to the low nanny/child ratio (1 nanny to 3 or 4
children), there are teams of people that come in all the time
to volunteer. These babies are held and loved and played with
and given tons of attention--and it shows. These are very happy
babies.
When we arrived today, there was a team of 10 people from a
church in Louisiana staying for a week. Tomorrow Joni and
Friends (Joni Ericson Tada's group) is bringing a team of
therapists to do assessments on all of the kids, as well as
wheelchairs for several kids here with Spina Bifida. They are
booked solid with groups every week from April to August.
Everyone who comes to help stays on-site, in the “Inn of Eight
Happinesses” -a 20 room inn beautifully decorated in
Asian-style. It's kind of like a Bed and Breakfast--they have a
breakfast room downstairs and they bring lunch in for everyone
from a local restaurant each day. You eat together on tables
under a covered porch in the back.
I've never been at a place where I felt so at home. This place
is just overflowing with love--and you feel it everywhere you
go. So far, they have Samaritan's House--which has a medical
clinic on the first floor, and houses the most fragile babies
upstairs--many of them heart patients. Two doctors, a married
couple, sold their medical practice in southern California and
came here two years ago to volunteer. They make rounds every
day, work extensively with the most sick and fragile babies, and
establish relationships with doctors all around the world so
these babies can get the surgeries they need. Next door to
Samaritan's House is the House of Peace and the House of
Blessings. Next to that, you can see 3 more children's homes
that they are just starting to build--including The House of
Promise, the one that we sponsored. Kids should be moving into
these three homes, hopefully by the end of December. All of the
houses are beautiful on the inside--hard wood floors, furniture
and decorations that look like they came out of the Pottery Barn
Kids catalog. (They actually showed their workers that catalog,
and they built all kinds of beautiful furniture--wall units,
armoires, doll houses, etc.) Downstairs is a living room, play
area, kitchen, and a dining room lined with brightly colored
high chairs. Upstairs is another living room area with couches,
rugs for the babies to play on, lots of toys, 5 bedrooms, and a
bathroom with three bathtubs. Each bedroom is painted and
decorated differently, and truly looks like a page out of the
Pottery Barn catalog--from the furniture to the wall colors to
the drapes. These babies couldn't possibly have a cozier
home-setting.
Each bedroom of kids (2-5 kids) has their own day-time nanny and
their own night-time nanny. The kids are very attached to their
nannies. They've been trained to play with the kids using toys.
They play on the floor with them, talk to them, and pick them up
often. They are very loved and cared for. It was interesting to
watch one of the nannies move in and out of the living room
upstairs. She walked into another room to get a basket of
laundry, and the two boys she takes care of started crying. When
they would see her again, they stopped. Then again when she
walked into the bedroom, they started whimpering again until she
was back in sight. They were playing in a room with 3 other
nannies and several other kids, but they still noticed when she
left. They were obviously very attached to her.
Watching them, when they were out at the tables on the back
porch, playing out front, or sitting on the floor upstairs, it
reminded me of a bunch of moms and kids in a playgroup. These
children are so blessed to be here. Their medical needs are
taken care of, they are played with interacted with, they are
fed and held and loved, in an absolutely beautiful park-like
setting. You can feel that God has his hand on each one of their
little lives.
“For I know the
plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to give you hope
and a future.”
~ Jeremiah 29:11 |
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myadoptionwebsite.com
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