Well it has been a long time since the last update. In the meanwhile things have been quite busy and a lot has happened! First of all I would like to share an experience we had in the past few months that left us greatly moved, but grieved...
The Shanxi "orphanage..." Well we had heard about a so called orphanage in the Shanxi province and that they needed a lot of help there, so we decided to drive 6 hours to go and visit them and evaluate the needs. Upon arrival we quickly discovered it wasn't a government orphanage at all, in fact I don't think it could even be called and "orphanage." As we walked in through the flimsy door a strong odor of urine and uncleanliness swept over us. At first it was so strong we felt nauseated, but continued to venture in. The first room we came across had one large bed that filled the room. In China they are common in the countryside and are called "Kang beds." On top of the bed were about 10 sad eyed children all staring at us. Their clothes were old, stained and some even tattered at the seams, their faces seemed empty, bored, and longing for love. As we began to pick up the children, some were afraid and cried, others overjoyed and beaming! Most of their stomachs were bloated from malnutrition, this broke our hearts as we looked into their sweet innocent little eyes. The "orphanage" seemed to be run by a family... An old man, his wife, daughter and grandmother. It was a strange combination but after realizing this we understood why the children did not have proper care. We continued to hold and play with the children then out of the corner of our eyes we noticed a child, alone in one of the corners just staring at everyone without a word or hint of emotion. We moved over and took a closer look to realize that this child had a chain around her ankle forbidding her to move! Oh how our hearts ached with pain for this precious little one. We quickly refocused our attention on the other children as not to draw attention to the fact of what we saw. If we showed upset feelings or that they are doing something wrong in most cases they will help you leave quickly and then never allow you back. So we chose to keep quiet to ensure our return visit. After this saddening sight there was still more to come. One of the caregivers walked in the room with bananas, all the children panicked to get some acting like they hadn't eaten in weeks! No wonder their stomachs were bloated and they looked unhealthy. I then asked one of the caregivers what they usually eat, and she told me their daily meals consist of powdered milk formula and the rare piece of fruit. Later during our visit Jennifer our "nurse" examined the children for any illnesses. In 3 of the children's mouths there were stitches from past surgeries and we noticed the stitches were also infected. Jennifer cleaned their mouths, and we bought antibiotics for them. While giving all the children check-ups we found a young boy around 5 years old with a 3 year old's body. He had and was carrying walking pneumonia! This wasn't a shock to us seeing the condition the children were in, but we knew we had to do something... But again stayed quiet till the end of the visit. Then the director of the "orphanage" took us to another location where the babies were taken care of. Again laying on a "Kang bed" there were a few babies. Jennifer examined them and found out one of them had a very fast critical heart and respiratory rate. Which was causing her to have a great deal of pain and constant sweating. At this point we talked with the director and asked him if he would agree to let us take them to Beijing to get tested. We assured him it would be free. After a lot of persuasion he finally agreed with the exception he could accompany them and be back by a certain date. (As his son was getting Married.) With it all said, it was now time to get it done... When we returned to the hotel Mom and I immediately began making phone calls and asking many foundations to support these two children. After many days of hard work, and LOTS of translating on my part, we found a foundation and hospital that agreed to support getting the tests and costs in that. So the next morning we left early with the two children to Beijing. After getting them tested the result was they both had serious Heart conditions that were life threatening, and the youngest "Hannah"also had a lack of oxygen. If these problems were left untreated it would result in heart failure. Now was the difficult part, facing the director and making decisions. The doctor said if the children didn't get surgery soon it would be too late and they wouldn't live much longer. So after many questions and information about how serious the older boy "Leo's" pneumonia was the director agreed to give consent for Hannah to get surgery. But seeing Leo's condition was too serious and was taken to the hospital too late, no one was sure that the many surgeries he would have to undertake(4/5) would be successful. But we decided to at least try. So after a lot of talking we convinced the director to agree, but first we had to heal his pneumonia first. So we offered to take both the children back to our house for the next while till their surgery, during that time we would take Leo to the local hospital to cure the pneumonia, and help Hannah to get stronger. The director finally agreed, and so we parted ways and brought the sweet two children home. The children stayed with us for 2 days but by this time the director was feeling uneasy as he had never allowed anyone outside of his family take care of "his children" as he calls them. So they asked to visit them. We met with them and talked for a while, after seeing the children they decided they wanted to take them back to Shanxi for Leo's finishing treatment for the pneumonia and when both children were healthy would bring them back to Beijing for the surgeries. We tried to convince them otherwise, but since we had no say in the situation we had to let go. Watching them drive away brought tears to our eyes, all we could do now was pray. After they left we remembered that Hannah needed oxygen, so a friend of ours helped buy an oxygen machine and we sent it to Shanxi for her. After a few days I wrote to check up on how the children were doing, and that is when we found out it was getting serious and we begged the director to let us come and get them and take them to the hospital here to get treated so they could get the surgery soon. He refused and continued saying he would bring them after his sons wedding. Like before we had no say in the decision and only could inform him of how serious the problem was. After a few more days we wrote again and told them they could come and get the surgery, everything was set up and in order. This duration of waiting ended up taking 3 weeks after the children had been taken back to Shanxi! As we waited for their reply, it didn't come. So we called... And that was one of the most difficult phone calls I think I've had. Basically the director refused to bring them until it was convenient for him. We told him we could go get them and take them ourselves, but no matter what we said he only repeated himself, refusing to put them first. Then I asked for a definite time, so he agreed on the first of July he would bring them. So we prayed, and waited. The first of July came around, and I called the director. He told me Leo still had pneumonia so he would treat him a bit longer and in a few days bring them. At the same time he also informed us that Hannah had caught the pneumonia so she needed to be treated first too. We told him the situation was now and emergency and if they didn't let us bring her to Bejing to get hospitalized and on medicine and oxygen she would die. The next morning after that phone call I received a text saying this... "This morning Jiyuan(Hannah) Passed away at 7:20, resuscitation failed ." When I read this I couldn't say anything, but inside was broken. All I could do was cry, and cry. I couldn't even utter out what the message said to those around me, I just showed them the translation and we all cried. Oh how we tried...And now in vain? Personally I have never lost anyone close to me, so this was the first time. I remember holding precious Hannah all the way from Shanxi to Beijing, and could only look at the pictures of her as I pictured her cold lifeless body in a Chinese hospital. God comforted us though, reminding us that she was in a better place now...As for Leo, his condition at this point was now too severe to do surgery, so not only did we lose one... But two dear little ones. We realized something that broke our hearts even more... No matter how hard we try, there will always be a situation or circumstance we can't change or help. This was hard to learn, especially the hard way.
The Shanxi "orphanage..." Well we had heard about a so called orphanage in the Shanxi province and that they needed a lot of help there, so we decided to drive 6 hours to go and visit them and evaluate the needs. Upon arrival we quickly discovered it wasn't a government orphanage at all, in fact I don't think it could even be called and "orphanage." As we walked in through the flimsy door a strong odor of urine and uncleanliness swept over us. At first it was so strong we felt nauseated, but continued to venture in. The first room we came across had one large bed that filled the room. In China they are common in the countryside and are called "Kang beds." On top of the bed were about 10 sad eyed children all staring at us. Their clothes were old, stained and some even tattered at the seams, their faces seemed empty, bored, and longing for love. As we began to pick up the children, some were afraid and cried, others overjoyed and beaming! Most of their stomachs were bloated from malnutrition, this broke our hearts as we looked into their sweet innocent little eyes. The "orphanage" seemed to be run by a family... An old man, his wife, daughter and grandmother. It was a strange combination but after realizing this we understood why the children did not have proper care. We continued to hold and play with the children then out of the corner of our eyes we noticed a child, alone in one of the corners just staring at everyone without a word or hint of emotion. We moved over and took a closer look to realize that this child had a chain around her ankle forbidding her to move! Oh how our hearts ached with pain for this precious little one. We quickly refocused our attention on the other children as not to draw attention to the fact of what we saw. If we showed upset feelings or that they are doing something wrong in most cases they will help you leave quickly and then never allow you back. So we chose to keep quiet to ensure our return visit. After this saddening sight there was still more to come. One of the caregivers walked in the room with bananas, all the children panicked to get some acting like they hadn't eaten in weeks! No wonder their stomachs were bloated and they looked unhealthy. I then asked one of the caregivers what they usually eat, and she told me their daily meals consist of powdered milk formula and the rare piece of fruit. Later during our visit Jennifer our "nurse" examined the children for any illnesses. In 3 of the children's mouths there were stitches from past surgeries and we noticed the stitches were also infected. Jennifer cleaned their mouths, and we bought antibiotics for them. While giving all the children check-ups we found a young boy around 5 years old with a 3 year old's body. He had and was carrying walking pneumonia! This wasn't a shock to us seeing the condition the children were in, but we knew we had to do something... But again stayed quiet till the end of the visit. Then the director of the "orphanage" took us to another location where the babies were taken care of. Again laying on a "Kang bed" there were a few babies. Jennifer examined them and found out one of them had a very fast critical heart and respiratory rate. Which was causing her to have a great deal of pain and constant sweating. At this point we talked with the director and asked him if he would agree to let us take them to Beijing to get tested. We assured him it would be free. After a lot of persuasion he finally agreed with the exception he could accompany them and be back by a certain date. (As his son was getting Married.) With it all said, it was now time to get it done... When we returned to the hotel Mom and I immediately began making phone calls and asking many foundations to support these two children. After many days of hard work, and LOTS of translating on my part, we found a foundation and hospital that agreed to support getting the tests and costs in that. So the next morning we left early with the two children to Beijing. After getting them tested the result was they both had serious Heart conditions that were life threatening, and the youngest "Hannah"also had a lack of oxygen. If these problems were left untreated it would result in heart failure. Now was the difficult part, facing the director and making decisions. The doctor said if the children didn't get surgery soon it would be too late and they wouldn't live much longer. So after many questions and information about how serious the older boy "Leo's" pneumonia was the director agreed to give consent for Hannah to get surgery. But seeing Leo's condition was too serious and was taken to the hospital too late, no one was sure that the many surgeries he would have to undertake(4/5) would be successful. But we decided to at least try. So after a lot of talking we convinced the director to agree, but first we had to heal his pneumonia first. So we offered to take both the children back to our house for the next while till their surgery, during that time we would take Leo to the local hospital to cure the pneumonia, and help Hannah to get stronger. The director finally agreed, and so we parted ways and brought the sweet two children home. The children stayed with us for 2 days but by this time the director was feeling uneasy as he had never allowed anyone outside of his family take care of "his children" as he calls them. So they asked to visit them. We met with them and talked for a while, after seeing the children they decided they wanted to take them back to Shanxi for Leo's finishing treatment for the pneumonia and when both children were healthy would bring them back to Beijing for the surgeries. We tried to convince them otherwise, but since we had no say in the situation we had to let go. Watching them drive away brought tears to our eyes, all we could do now was pray. After they left we remembered that Hannah needed oxygen, so a friend of ours helped buy an oxygen machine and we sent it to Shanxi for her. After a few days I wrote to check up on how the children were doing, and that is when we found out it was getting serious and we begged the director to let us come and get them and take them to the hospital here to get treated so they could get the surgery soon. He refused and continued saying he would bring them after his sons wedding. Like before we had no say in the decision and only could inform him of how serious the problem was. After a few more days we wrote again and told them they could come and get the surgery, everything was set up and in order. This duration of waiting ended up taking 3 weeks after the children had been taken back to Shanxi! As we waited for their reply, it didn't come. So we called... And that was one of the most difficult phone calls I think I've had. Basically the director refused to bring them until it was convenient for him. We told him we could go get them and take them ourselves, but no matter what we said he only repeated himself, refusing to put them first. Then I asked for a definite time, so he agreed on the first of July he would bring them. So we prayed, and waited. The first of July came around, and I called the director. He told me Leo still had pneumonia so he would treat him a bit longer and in a few days bring them. At the same time he also informed us that Hannah had caught the pneumonia so she needed to be treated first too. We told him the situation was now and emergency and if they didn't let us bring her to Bejing to get hospitalized and on medicine and oxygen she would die. The next morning after that phone call I received a text saying this... "This morning Jiyuan(Hannah) Passed away at 7:20, resuscitation failed ." When I read this I couldn't say anything, but inside was broken. All I could do was cry, and cry. I couldn't even utter out what the message said to those around me, I just showed them the translation and we all cried. Oh how we tried...And now in vain? Personally I have never lost anyone close to me, so this was the first time. I remember holding precious Hannah all the way from Shanxi to Beijing, and could only look at the pictures of her as I pictured her cold lifeless body in a Chinese hospital. God comforted us though, reminding us that she was in a better place now...As for Leo, his condition at this point was now too severe to do surgery, so not only did we lose one... But two dear little ones. We realized something that broke our hearts even more... No matter how hard we try, there will always be a situation or circumstance we can't change or help. This was hard to learn, especially the hard way.