Amy & Karen in China

Sunday in Beijing

The flight to Beijing went by so quickly and before we knew it, we were standing by the luggage carousel waiting for our bags. Both Karen and I commented that this felt like such a quick trip and neither of us could fully comprehend that we were standing in China. As our bags came off, the people around us were smiling and laughing at the size of our bags and one man asked if we were moving to Beijing! Karen turned around and said, “no, just spending one week!” and off we went with about 400 pounds of donations while the man’s mouth was on the floor.

Robin Hill from the Hope Foster Home was waiting right outside with his son, and they quickly loaded our bags into the van and we were off to visit Hope. It is amazing to see how many new trees have been planted for the Olympic games…..everywhere you look there are new trees. I knew we were getting closer to Hope as we got more into the countryside…..at one point we had to wait for a young woman to herd all of her sheep out of the road as we passed.

Soon we pulled up to their complex, and I was amazed to see the LWB special care unit completely built on the outside. The last time I was here it was just beginning. Robin took us on a quick tour and we were able to see the rooms where the babies will sleep, the ICU area, the physical therapy room and then the guest bedrooms for people who wish to intern and volunteer there. They have already started painting the rooms their designated colors. We also saw the large bathroom facility which will accommodate children in wheelchairs. I know the facility will allow us to touch so many babies with critical medical needs. I am so grateful to everyone who helped support this project. Sometimes when you are at Hope, it is easy to forget as you look at each beautiful and happy child that all of these babies were so critically ill at one point. How wonderful that even more children will be able to receive the daily medical care they need.

After touring the new unit, it was on to the fun part….playing with the kids. First we went to the main play room, where some of the kids we love so much were playing.



Little Rebekah and Teresa were all giggles and smiles.

Oh my is Rebekah smart! I would take a photo with my digital camera and then she would run over and switch my camera to “review” and then scan through the pictures. She is quite the techie. She insisted on taking many photos of her friends and I was loving it as she and some of the other kids posed for me.
Aurora, one of the babies we helped with heart surgery, was looking so cute in her little red dress, and she would smile when I pointed the camera at her, but if I tried to get any closer than that she would shake her head, “no no no”. She is a real “aunty’s girl”. Karen was getting a work out putting Teresa upside down over and over and over….she loves to look at the world from that angle!

We got to see the two beautiful babies from Hunan whom we sent to Hope for club foot casting. They are beyond gorgeous and just so sweet. We just found out this week that one of these angels is missing the bones in her lower leg, and she will most likely need to have that leg amputated and then have a prosthetic made. We all are hoping that her file makes it quickly onto a waiting child list so that her medical treatment can be done by her family. She is absolutely lovely and Dr. Joyce says her personality matches that as well.

We also got to see ChenChen, who just had biliary atresia surgery. While she still looks yellow, she is doing well and the surgeon feels like it was a successful repair. They will do monthly bloodwork on her for the next six months to make sure all is well. She is SO tiny….her little fingers are so delicate and tiny. She was sleeping peacefully when we went into her room and I didn’t want to disturb her so we just let her keep dreaming. J

We got to see Parker, who recently had his facial surgery in Australia. He is such a spirited little boy who immediately ran up and took my hand. He also was a ham for the camera and loved the “review pictures” part the best. Robin Hill was the one who took him on the long flight to Australia for his surgery and we all had a great laugh after watching him run nonstop around the room imagining how that plane ride went!

There is a new boy with complex heart disease who has just recently arrived. Oh he is so blue…..his oxygen levels at times are only at 40-50. I hope he can get heart surgery as quickly as possible. He is BEAUTIFUL…..but obviously very ill.

It was so great to spend more time with Joyce and Robin Hill. Their dedication to these kids is so inspiring. They never give up on any child. They have been offered the fifth floor of the Luoyang orphanage to do a special needs/palliative care unit and I am just so happy that they have decided to move forward with this project as I know they will give tender loving care to some kids who have true medical needs. The total facility will be over 8000 sq feet and they believe that 50 children will be able to live there.

All too soon it was time to say goodbye to the kids and head downtown so that we could get checked into our hotel. Tomorrow will be a busy day and we actually will be in another province to sleep! Better sign off so that we can get a few hours rest.