Do You Want Rice With That?

Yes, only full day number two here in China, and I think I would be ecstatic if I never saw white rice again. Meals are, um…well, quite unique here. When I follow the blogs of adoptive parents, I usually read how true Chinese food in China is so much better than our Americanized version. Not quite so here. Yesterday’s introduction was cauliflower in some sort of sauce, cooked celery in another kind of sauce, and rice. Today, both meals were stewed tomatoes with cooked egg in sauce, potatoes, peppers, and I-ate-it-but-still-don’t-have-a-clue-what-it-was in sauce, and rice. Oh, there was also some cabbage-y dish that I did not try. Exotic indeed. I really don’t want to complain, but I’m ever so thankful I packed peanut butter crackers, Caribou bars, and assorted snacks! (And don’t forget the instant coffee, of course!)

One of the founders, Robin Hill, had us volunteers and staff over for dinner last night (saved from the cafeteria!). The Hills have a beautiful home next door. It was interesting as we discovered we had a bit of a United Nations at the table, as we had two each from the U.S., Philippines, China, and the UK. A woman from the UK and another from China discovered they were both working for the same organization. They were both representatives of Love Without Boundaries, a wonderful organization that helps orphans throughout China get surgeries, provides formula to numerous orphanages, and has education plans for orphans as well. The Chinese woman is being trained to run a new Heartbridge Unit in Hangzhou. The Heartbridge unit here is an 18-bed step-up/step-down unit for children who are preparing to have surgery, or children who have just had surgery and the wing is funded by LWB. The woman from the UK runs the foster program for LWB in a particular province and was here to check on a child. Sadly, this child remains in a hospital, sick in cycles; one year old and only weighing 12 lbs…and no one knows why.

I will add that I did learn I may openly name my location to be Hope Healing Home. Now the mystery is over for my non-local friends. I’m glad to know I may speak openly, as I hope that this blog might draw more people near to these children. I may not be able to upload many photos while I’m here, due to the speed of the uploading, but I hope you will visit Hope’s website to find out about the wonderful work they do here and the children they help. I will be certain to upload additional photos when I’m back home.

I started today out with a visit to my pal, Jennie. She was the first to reach out to me to pick her up yesterday. Me, a total stranger. For some reason, her picture had stood out to me on Hope’s website before I came, so it touched my heart that she was so willing to come to me. She has complex congenital heart disease, as Justin does. Oh, so sweet! And she just loves to clap!


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Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

I worked on an office project for part of the morning. Part of the supplies I brought included a new map of the U.S. so they could create a bulletin board showing where each adopted child has gone. I know my heart will break when I say goodbye to these children Saturday before they go to bed; I can’t imagine how the permanent staff are able to watch them go.

I continue to work on scrapbooks for the children, as well. There are a few more that will be adopted soon, so they want to get the books finished before they are returned to their orphanages prior to adoption (Chinese policy). I was excited to work on the scrapbooks of two children whose parents-to-be I’ve met online recently. I love scrapbooking any time, but it’s just amazing to think that a page I created will go with a child to a new family…a family who has had to miss those early moments and memories. There are pages for “Notes from Friends” in some of the books, and I can’t wait to fill in my own words in Justin and Benjamin’s books later in the week.

I spent a chunk of my afternoon in my favorite place – the “Bouncing Bunnies Room.” This is the playroom where Justin & Benjamin spend most of their day. Boy, are those boys rough! It makes me so nervous to have the hard, wood floors when they jump on my lap, bend backwards, and shove and kick each other backwards. They are also two of the biggest boys, so my back is getting quite the workout. The little comics were at it again with their antics with me as their new pung yo (friend).

from yesterday's preschool playtime

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Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart as children

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My camera is cause for much attention. I want to keep it with me, yet it’s a fight between those two boys as well as another feisty boy to get at it. I played back the pictures for the boys and they kissed the display when their photos came up! What characters!

snack time

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This is precious Anna. She has spina bifida and is paralyzed from the waist down, but she can sure get around. She’ll get herself across a room in no time flat. I think she’s going to have quite some upper arm muscles in a few years! She generally won’t come to me, but will grin and tilt her head when I do the same her way.


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It’s a very odd, complex feeling to be here and see the children. In a way, it’s hard to grasp that they are orphans. It seems much like having your children in daycare with caregivers assigned to various children. It seems odd to hear them call their ayis “mama,” and yet they have three “mamas” throughout the day. What does that term really mean to them? Will they understand the difference if they get a forever mama? They can’t understand the concept of a home with a mom and a dad. This is all they know, except for, perhaps, the orphanage from which they originated.

It might be tempting to think these children are fine right where they are, being well-cared for. Yet, this Home is not a forever home. I believe the oldest child in the outreach (foster care) program is perhaps four or five possibly. What happens when they become too old? But the sadder thought is – what about the children who don’t get to come here? Who remain in orphanages with lesser medical care? What about them?

It might be easier for me to tug at your heartstrings were I in, say, Rwanda right now…or Ethiopia where children are alone in the streets, both parents dead from HIV/AIDS or war. The children that you see on the World Vision or similar commercials, eating a cup of rice a day and wearing rags. Yet all of these children need the same thing. A family. Love. A future.

Places like Hope can’t exist without people like us. It takes a great deal of money to run an operation like this; upwards of about $50K USD a month, if I remember correctly. Then you add on top of that the surgeries that are needed by all of the children here. Hospital stays. Daily medication. I think you get the picture.

We have so much in America and in the other more developed countries of the world. So much to offer, so much to give. And me, complaining about two days of rice and strange-looking food.

If you could only hold one of these children in your arms, you would understand what I feel if you do not already. Just one smile, one wave, one peal of laughter would be all that it took to change your world forever.


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books


One tear on one little cheek, one look of pain would be all it took to move you into battle for each and every child.

These are just some of the faces for which we must GO NEAR.