Roller blading in China

I gave my talk today in sacrament meeting. I spoke about "Friends" from the strength of youth pamphlet.

I thought I got up at 6:00 this morning, but it was really 7:00 and so Amanda thought I was late to meet her and grab a taxi, but it was just a blonde moment for me.

Morgan is here laying on my pillow at this moment while I create my blog post. She was crying while I had to help feed Ethan and so she was all alone. In my talk I explained that one of my most favorite people is my sister, she is my best BEST friend and that is why I named her Morgan. After only a week, we have realized they have all fit their names perfectly. I was going to name Morgan "Joanna." I am glad I didn't.

Yesterday morning I woke up at 4:25 and I went to the basketball court to roller blade and (of course) play with my new basketball. Many people that walked by were only up so early because they were going to work, or they were exercising. One man made his dog go where he was going just so he could just stand and stare at the weird American girl.

I could understand why people would just stop and stare. I was very blonde. I had straitened my hair the day before and it was very shiny and wavy. I was also in very nice roller blades that went very fast around the court and so it must have looked very strange to see such an athletic blonde head on a basketball court, rollerblading so early in the morning in China.

Now it is Sunday in the afternoon and Eathan laughed at me. I got a picture and even a video of it. he is starting to get a little more comfortable here, and so am I, a little too comfortable. :)

Mat

Hospital Visit

Here at Starfish I have witnessed a large number of problems people have had to work through. We are low on volunteers, the babies are getting sicker and two are in the hospital, but the sun comes up and we all get through the day. Some day's are emotional, others are bitter sweet. When a child is adopted, it affects many people here, and when a child dies from a disease, infection, or hunger, it affects all of us. '

When we were told Celine had passed away, we could still tell (somehow) that this news was not true, and in fact, it wasn't true. I think there are things in life we will never explain, and will never understand. That feeling of faith and hope came from somewhere, but the question is "from where?" I believe, when a miracle happens, it comes from a heartfelt prayer, and no matter how small that prayer is, that blessing still comes. The hospital was poor. It was very large and well built, but unsanitary and ugly on the inside. There was a sense of death and sickness where ever you went. Nobody smiled, or said hello, nobody showed any sign of life, because the feeling was no more than a small sign of pain and discomfort. I was glad when we arrived on the 3rd floor to see Celine and David. I had never held Celine before, nor David. Rachel Smith (the teacher from Britain) is leaving us on Sunday to go back to her home in Nottingham. She fell in love with David the first day he arrived at Starfish. She was the only one
to hold him and of course everyone had no hard feelings about that. Both the babies will come home in a couple days.

When I held Celine, she seemed too weak to carry. Surprisingly, she was strong enough to cry in my arms. :) You may not see it on my face, but I was silently crying as she looked at me. She was too small. Over and over again I herd the words, "How can some one let this happen to a child, let her get so sick that she can not even breath on her own. We all knew sometimes it wasn't anybody's fault, but this child was abandoned and close to death because of carelessness. She was three months old and weighed only about 6 pounds. The first picture is of when we got back to the foster home, all the kids were in a line waiting for our arrival, we took pictures and said hi, but when we had to leave, they sobbed dramatically.

I love the experiences I have had while in Xian, but to see the babies in the hospital was unexpected and inhumane. We left the hospital and. I stayed home to write about the day while everyone went out to eat Indian food. Rachel also stayed. She is feeling sad about leaving David, but she said that if he makes it to his first birthday, she will be there for it.

I would give anything to be here for it too.








Mat

Tired but Happy

The first day at Starfish I realized I was going to be here a very long time. I knew it was going to be a "long" time, but I finally put it into perspective that it would be a "very" long time.Not a very long time that I would be here, a long time that I wouldn't be there, there with my family, there with my grandparents. I finally understood how much bonding I had developed with the ones I loved over all these years.

I pictured adventure as a open door with opportunities, I just didn't know that when I went through that door I would be so clueless as to how these experiences would happen, or when they would happen, or where exactly they would happen. For instance I came to take care of children, children who were abandoned, who (to many) look "ugly". I imagined the building messy, unkempt, gloomy, depressing, but all in all, an adventure. It isn't like this in any way. The nannies are experienced, funny and loving to the babies. The building is tall, old, well organized and remodeled. Amanda is strong, smart, funny, straight forward and adventurous. The volunteers are from Britain, Holland, America, Switzerland and they are all now my best friends. The children love everyone. They are optimistic and make you feel like smiling all the time. And China: Large, creative, loud with fire works every evening, and very, very memorable. Every day here his one small adventure.

Last night was a hard day. We are under quarantine with the six newest additions to the orphanage. We, the volunteers, nor the new babies can mix with the rest of the orphanage for 3 weeks to lessen the chance that the new ones could contaminate the existing children. Ethan (the small, double cleft baby) would cry more and more every chance he got. If he was tired, he fought to stay awake, if he was hungry, he wouldn't accept being fed the way we have to (through a special bottle for cleft lip babies.) I held him half the day. No one took him from me. They felt sorry for me, but each minute I felt more and more tired. He gave me these stares as if I was going to torture him. His eye's became more and more heavy. Finally, I was
able to sit down and rock him in his jumper seat. And when he opened his eyes again, I was already asleep on the couch. Then I went to bed when the other volunteers had everything under control.

I miss my family (of course) but I would do this 100 more times if I got the chance.

Mat