Day 51

Well here is a quick update! There are a few pictures at the home with a couple babies :) And then from the past 2 outings I've already mentioned. I finally got them off Katie's camera, mine had died both times.

These are 2 of our big babies that just turned 6 months. When they turn 6 months they get baby food, so this was their first time eating baby food! It was so funny watching them figure out what the spoon was doing in their mouths and what to do with the food and decide whether they liked it or not. It's been just over a week and they are very good eaters now!

Baby play time! It was beautiful outside!

I thought this was so precious! They are just so small and cute!

More baby feeding. The little girl had just learned to spit so that made baby food very interesting and messy! lol

This was our outing to the beach. Katie made a lovely turtle!

Gwo Whay wrote this in chinese for us. I thought it was such a cool picture! That says love in Chinese.

Jess and I getting all-natural facials ;) It worked, our skin was actually much softer after!!

haha before the picture...

Katie, Gwo Whay, Jess and I all at the beach :)

Jess and I just getting into the ocean :)

Katie, Jess and I in our new lovely sunglasses :)

The beautiful shoreline

Katie and Jess in one of the stores while were shopping in town a few weeks ago, it was so much fun!

In the taxi we took home :) We started singing songs to the taxi driver in english...he had no idea what we were saying and we laughed the whole time but he just kept looking at us in the rearview. So we made sure to tip him well for being so annoying, but i think secretly he thought it was funny ;)

All of us walking along the street. It's hard not to get run over by mo-peds, they are everywhere!

We almost got them ;)


Well things have pretty much been relatively the same from day to day. Our oldest boy left Monday morning after his family had come in a week ago. Again, such a sweet family! We loved getting to know them and it's sad to see him go, we still check his crib and make too much baby food but know he is having a wonderful time with his family and that's what we want! We got a new baby today, she is 11 days old and so precious! So we went from 22 to 21 back to 22 in the past 2 days. It seems like the number keeps shrinking so much! Tomorrow a family comes to get a little boy who is 3 and lives on the other side. Then a mother comes to visit her baby this saturday I believe. She isn't taking him home but she has to be here for a meeting so she's coming to see him! And she's a pediatrician so she's gonna look at the babies :) Then another little boy, I think our next oldest is leaving sometime between now and the end of next week, I'm kind of confused on the timing but it's soon! And my room mate Katie who's brother is adopting from here heard wonderful news that that her little niece can go home now!! They had the court date today and everything went smoothly. The court date is a very important part of the process, it is when a lot of things can basically end the adoption so the court date is a big deal. And 3 more of our little ones got their court dates which means they are almost done! It will still take at least another month probably but it's exciting because they are almost finished!

The babies are doing well. Sickness is starting to go away for the most part, which is wonderful! They had a wonderful playtime today. All of them stayed quiet through 4 whole books! I can not tell you how amazing that is! I got a sample to show you, this is what it typically sounds like during the end of playtime when they are hungry again...


I just want to take a minute to thank all of you for your prayers! I really appreciate them more than you know! The first couple weeks here were really tough and some of the new situations have been very trying. However I noticed the other day that I am enjoying everything so much more, I have more energy and just overall feel like I have been able to adjust really well to everything... I even look forward to the food each day! And I know without a doubt I couldn't be doing this without God's help and I've noticed him helping me daily through everything but also part of that came from remembering you guys are praying for me, knowing that always lifts my spirits :) So thank you thank you thank you!! It's the end of my 51st day and I couldn't believe it when I realized it, only a little bit longer here, so bittersweet! When I first got here I tried not to count the days because it felt like it went so slow and that it'd be forever but now I can count them because it gets me excited about going home but even more makes me more conscious of being sure I really enjoy and take advantage of my time here. ...I'm not there yet though so enough of that for now :) Well I will try to post more again soon, love you all!!

VIDEOS

These are some videos from random parts of the trip so far. I wanted to show you guys some video cause I think it gives you a much better, more realistic picture of what everything looks like and what it kind of feels like to be here :) Enjoy!



This is a lot like what the area of Lo-tung looks like. Whenever we go for walks we walk by the rice fields and houses that look like these. In fact one day I saw this older man out in his boots and pointy straw hat out working his field, it was so neat!

This reminds me of a cool story. A few days ago I went to take a nap. Through my window I can see into the neighbors backyard. They have what I would call a large garden or small field of plants and food that they are growing. The house they live in isn't a super nice house and the shed honestly looks like it's falling apart. But the dad and his little son, who looks about 10 to 12 years old, are both out there working away together. We always keep our windows open so I could hear them and even though I can't understand them from watching them and listening to their voices they sounded so happy and were working so hard. It just made me think that even though they don't have a whole lot they work hard and seem to me to be very happy and content. So it made me think twice about all I have and was just a reminder to be so thankful for the may ways God has blessed me. I thought that was a pretty cool thing... and a nice thing to fall asleep thinking about :)

I haven't gotten to tell you this yet, but at the beginning of last week we got to go out for the afternoon and we went to the BEACH!!!!! We had so much fun! Again one of those moments like the one in the rain that makes us really appreciate where we are and what we are getting to do. I never would have thought I'd be on the other side of the Pacific!


Finally, I thought this was really cool. When we went up to Wulai, before the orphanage, we went to a tea house. And it was so much fun, it definitely made me feel like we were in a totally different culture. So we ordered our tea and he brought it out in a pouch and it was just tea leaves. There was all this stuff on the table that we had no idea what to do with and we realized they expected us to make it ourselves. So we tried and when we got started he came back and asked if we knew how to do it. We showed him what we'd been doing and he laughed then made it for us so I video taped him. I've never seen anything so complicated! But at the same time it was pretty in an old world type feel.

Pictures!!

Here are pictures of kids, helpers, animals and other random things that I've been promising to show you! ENJOY!
A really really long worm we saw while walking around the lake, i thought it was a snake at first!
The monkeys!!
These are the 2 best pictures I got, I wish I could've gotten closer!
A really big, yucky snail that they wanted to eat :p
Bubble tea! It looks disgusting but it is just tea with milk and sugar added and then some starch balls are put at the bottom. At first I thought it was fish eggs or something. It takes a few times to get used to but now I'm addicted!
This is Jess and her momma Mrs.Annette. Jess is the helper I've mentioned and her mom got to come visit for 2 weeks and then take a baby home to the states. It was so fun getting to know her!
This is Grandma Wynema, another wonderful helper :)
This is an old taiwanese decor set up.
Jess and Jenna
Jess with a mustache. We do fun things when we get bored ;)
My wonderful roomie KATIE!
Sweet Su Hwa :)
Me and babies :)
And again, don't you love her hair??
Katie!!
Katie and Jess on the swings at the playground.
Outside playtime!
In front of the main building.
Yay for sunshine :)
Our bottle making and medicine giving station.
All of the bottles about to be microwaved.
Katie and her soon-to-be niece!
Me and En Lou!!
A few of the wonderful helpers that come on weekends! We love them and really appreciate them!
The first boy that went home while I was here. His grandpa is on the left and that's his daddy holding him :)

Spitting :p

Hello All!

I don't have a whole bunch of time, it's getting late here and the weekends are crazy so I've gotta get some sleep. It's been so long since I've update though, so I'm dying to write!

Well I was sick yesterday, there is just something that won't stop going around! But I slept the whole day and night and felt much better today, thank you Lord! And I was kind of upset when I got sick so it was a tough day but then I got a package from my sister and "my little girls" Sheeka and Gi and I got a package from my friends Bekah and Katie and their sweet mom and it totally made my day! God worked out that timing just perfectly!

Well as far as the kiddos go, the weather went from hot at the beginning of the week to cold and rainy the past couple days so a cough and fever are starting to spread :/ We're praying it quits and doesn't keep spreading! But despite that they are doing good! No one is in the hospital, so that's wonderful! We had a new baby come a couple days ago that we had been waiting on for a month! He was tiny and a drug baby but he is doing so well now! So I think we're at 22 for the moment. We have a new family coming in on Sunday to get a little boy and are really excited about that! One of our families that came about 2 weeks ago is still here and we are really enjoying getting to know them and spend time with them. They are also very good help with the babies so that's nice for us ;) We have lots of good help right now which is always so great for the babies because they get held and played with more. We had 2 groups come in this week. We did a lot of sitting up and tummy time and we also worked on their grip by hold and shaking toys :) It's so neat to see ones that couldn't do that when I got here learn to do that. I just started noticing the past couple days how much they grow in 1 months time!! We have some babies who used to be in car seats move up to big baby beds and it's like aww they are growing up!! Some of the little ones have started moving in to play time with the big babies. We are starting to noticing personalities with some of the younger ones too. Usually they just eat and cry and sleep but now they will coo and a few have started laughing! Even the older babies are growing more!(well obviously I guess they don't stop lol but we notice more) Like one is starting to crawl, another has learned to spit. The spitting is cute when she's happy, not so much when she's upset or trying to eat! hah

Anyways there is a little update and hopefully I won't wait so long till the next one! Love and miss you all very much!! ...I was thinking a lot about coming home this week, which I shouldn't do, I'm stopping now, but I was so excited for it! ...I even had the outfit planned that I was going to wear home, pathetic huh? Well I really am enjoying it here, I'm glad I'm staying longer and at the same time can't wait to see you all again! I guess that was what I was trying to say :) lol Well till next time!

To Be Continued... A Marriage Proposal

So I said I would finish... It's now the end of the day and the internet works in one corner of the house. YAY :) Here we go...

So a few days ago it was the end of the day and we(Jess, Katie and I) were all so tired that were "slap happy". We had just put the babies to bed and it was raining outside. Usually we just go on to bed or get on the computer but all the sudden we were like, "ahh I just wish we could go out in the rain". We laughed and then stopped and kind of looked at each then ran upstairs grabbed towels and clean clothes and went out the back door and down the stairs. We started running around and jumping in puddles and swinging and it was just so nice! It was one of those moments when your like I can not believe this real. We all were like, we are actually half way across the world dancing outside in the rain surrounded my mountains. Jess asked this question, "Did you think 6 months ago you would ever actually get to do this?" Just thinking about that fact so puts things into perspective. What a blessing, God is just so amazing, His plan really is wonderful. So anyways right after that convo we heard shouting and looked up, all the older kids on the other side of the orphanage had gone to the windows to watch us and were all laughing and calling us crazing and asking what we were doing. It was hilarious! We went back in after that. The next day when they saw us they all started jumping and saying "we saw you, we saw you". It was pretty cute.

Hmm...I have 3 new foods to add to my gross list.
1. Pigeon Eggs
They were actually good, it just sounds gross. They cooked them like hard boiled eggs and if you put plenty of salt they tasted pretty much the same.
2. Shrimp Chips
They were ok. It was kind of like a puffy Cheeto that tasted like shrimp. They were dyed bright yellow, orange and purple. So it was strange but not terrible.
3. Squid Strings
They looked a lot like onion rings except they were shredded pieces of squid. Not the greatest. lol

Two nights ago I got to go over to devotions for the first time! Every night the big kids on the other side of the complex have devotions in Chinese. They hold the big babies during devotions and we stay with the little ones but that night we brought the little ones with us and went over. It was so neat! They start with music and that night our adoptive families were in and both the husbands play piano so they played for the kids. (A lot of the kids play the piano and they are really good, so it was neat for them to see Americans do it as well) But I just love it, it was kind of the same thing in Mexico, but hearing a whole group of people who speak different languages all speaking the same words and worshiping the same God, it just gives me chills. It was beautiful! We didn't understand the message but it looked good to me ;)

So as I've mentioned 2 adoptive families are in right now and we are loving having them! They are so sweet and it makes us so excited to give the babies to such wonderful families! Watching the babies start to smile when their mommies talk to them and watching the dads learn to change diapers, it's just SO cute!

And we got to go out on the town fir the first time yesterday!! It was so much fun! Us 3 girls walked around Lou-dung and shopped at all these street stores and found some really cute things! Then we got to eat at McDonalds! We were ecstatic to get a coke and fries and ice cream :) So while were eating this older man came and sat at the table next to us and we were of course the only people who were speaking english. So he started talking to us in English just asking where we were from and why we were here, casual conversation. ...And yes we were careful about what info we gave! So anyways he went on to ask us if we were Christians and he told us he was too. he told us a church to go to and just very nice stuff. Then all the sudden he said something and I didn't quite understand him, so I asked him again and he repeated himself. I looked at Jess thinking surely I heard him wrong. But as he goes on telling me how old he is and that he was probably too old that pretty much confirmed it. He had been asking, "would you marry me?" I looked at Jess, smiled back at the man and said I'm sorry I don't understand you, we grabbed our stuff and left. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my goodness! I was freaking out! ...So big news, I got my first "marriage proposal" in a McDonalds. Definitely a first and not quite the romantic moment I had in mind.... EWW!! I'm still grossed out just thinking about it. So hence the name of the blog.

Well I'm going to head to bed now, that's all for now! LOVE YOU ALL!! Please continue to keep the babies and staff in your prayers there have been some difficult situations going on, thank you!

Letter Calendar

So, the days here go together and I start to forget what happened which day and what I've told everyone and what I still need to tell you about. So my sweet friend put together a package of letters and each one has the date, day of the week, and how many days I've been gone. So I started writing down the events of the day on the envelope. So now when I start to blog I pull out the all the envelopes since the last day I blogged to remind me what to tell you guys :) The letter's have been a life saver to me! lol Otherwise I'd never know what day it was! Thanks Meg :))

So today is Thursday April 8th. I have been gone officially 31 days, or one month. This is my 32nd day.

Isn't that crazy? It feels like it's flown by but at the same time feels like forever! I started thinking about things that I missed the other day and things that I haven't noticed have become normal. Here is the list...
1. Chopsticks- I pretty much eat every meal with chopsticks, I haven't noticed that I never really use silver wear anymore. (Except for soup or yogurt, they do use spoons) When I first came I was so irritated because I couldn't eat with chopsticks well and so it took way to much effort to eat 1 meal. haha Now I don't even notice, so i think i'm pretty good :) A couple people still laugh occasionally if there is something I just can't pick up but very rarely now which makes me proud ;)
2. TV- There is no tv on the american side. So we don't watch any tv. I really hardly notice anymore, probably because we have so much going on all the time. I do wish occasionally that I could watch Idol, but instead I read the internet updates on FOX. And I miss What Not To Wear, but I don't dress up or shop much here so it's probably better that way ;)
3. Car- I do miss my car! The other day I told the girls while I was homesick that I missed my car... an dI actually started crying! How awful is that! It was embarrassing but it's kind of funny now. Anyways.. It's been over a month since I've driven. Taxi's have become my friend, I love trying to get one! lol And hopefully soon a motorcycle will be too! (Although we don't go very many places) Most people here ride little motorcycle/scooter things. On our next "time off" we(Jess, Katie and I) decided we want to learn to ride one, but we'll see.
4. Fruit and Rice- We eat fresh fruit and rice at pretty mush every meal! The fruit is delicious! I'm going to be so spoiled when I get back to Midland when it's not so tasty. lol The rice is good as well, but I must say it does get old every once in a while.
5. Soda- We don't drink soda's except when we go into town, miss those but it's not too bad actually! ...Because we do get coffee :)
6. Windows- There is no heating or air conditioning so the windows are always open. I love that! We wake up in the morning with our windows open and can hear lots of birds chirping and all sorts of noises from outside. Quite frequently rain as well, that is one of my favorite things about living here.
7. Shey Shey- This is "thank you" in Chinese and one of the few words I know so I use it all the time. When I come back I will probably at some point tell each of you, shey shey.

Well that's all I can think of at the moment. I feel like I'm forgetting something but if I think of it I'll let you know! Nap time for the babies is almost up, so I'm going to go. Tonight I will try to finish telling you about what has been going on the past couple days, I have my list :) Love you all!

MONKEYS!

So our internet isn't working on laptops at the moment, but hopefully they will be working again soon, until then here is a quick update from the main comp(which we are all sharing now :p lol)

It's been a busy past couple of days with it being a holiday weekend. They had a bunch of college kids come home to the orphanage for the weekend. They had some other visitors and we have adoptive parents coming tomorrow!!! So lot's of prep with eggs and activites for sunday. And some cleaning to do at the apartments for the familes coming to stay. I'm so excited about the families coming, they get to stay for a couple days and then our 2 sweet boys finally get to go to a home with their new mommies and daddies :) It's just precious seeing them bond, so looking forward to that! And it's nice nice to have other Americans to talk to :) Sometimes I miss that. lol It's weird to go for so long knowing that so many people are talknig around you and you have no idea what they are saying. Kind of intimidating at first but i've gotten pretty used to it I guess:) lol

Today was bath day again! And we officially gave all 25 babies a bath. They are all home from the hospital! Thank you Jesus! And thanks for the prayers :)
We now have 4 more babies allocated, which just means they have been assigned parents now. But that is so exciting because they start getting new english names and getting ready to leave! It's been weird having to remember to call them theri new name, but it's cute at the same time. We now have a Jackson, Kaili, Gavin and Eugene. Which makes 2 jacksons and 2 kaili's now, so it's a little confusing at the moment!

Despite the busyness though, we get the occasionaly break to go for a walk and stuff like that, SOOOOOOO... the other day I was out with Carolyn, an older lady who has stayed for about 2 weeks, and we were walking around the lake that is right by the Home, she noticed these 2 guys taking pictures with these big camera's and was like i wonder what they are taking pictures of, so we went to look, THERE WERE 3 MONKEYS IN THE TREES! We were so excited and took a bunch of pictures, so as soon as my laptop internet works I'll post them! It was so crazy casue I had just been telling her how I wanted to see some so I could take a picture and show it to my KM kids but i didn't think it would actually happen and literally minutes later we saw them! So that was way exciting!
The other day Katie and Jess, the other girls who help out here, and I (were prolly way over tired) but were feeeding babies and made a baby band out of burp rags and diaper bags and sang a song using them. It was pretty comical at the moment, we have started finding random things like that to entertain oursleves during the day :)
Well nap time is almost up and babies are begining to cry, so that's all for now! LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!!

Adoptions!!!, Octopus:p and Friends:)

Hello!
I was trying to think of some of the most exciting things that have been going on to tell you about because I think I've missed some of it. So...
1. A few days ago we had to take 7 babies to take passport pictures... quite an experience! We got lots of looks. lol We each had 2 babies in our arms holding them the whole time, and surprisingly it went very well!!
2. Since 7 need passport pictures I'm sure you can guess we have a lot that are about to leave. So I told you already about Lucas who left, and this Tuesday 1 boy goes home with my friend Jess' mom and while they are at the airport leaving we have 2 adoptive families coming in to get 2 more boys!! So it'll be absolutely insane but oh so exciting, because I've decided as much as I love them(it doesn't take long to completely fall in love with each one) it is SO much more exciting to see them get to go to a wonderful home and get al the love and attention they deserve, we give them all we can but a one on one ratio will just but so much better for them, and it's just so fun!!
3. Which brings me to #3, we may have a bunch leaving BUT there are always more coming in, we got a sweet new girl 1 or 2 days ago(I can't remember the days kind of mush together lol) And there is still the small baby in the hospital waiting to gain weight to come see us, and our little boy who is still in the hospital and we hope and pray he comes home soon, he is still having a hard time though, so extra prayers would be appreciated!!
4. We had outdoor playtime with the babies today, it was a nice temp, outside but the sun was behind the clouds so they all got to get some fresh air and go for stroller rides and all that good stuff, they really love it, it's so cute to see their faces :) And we enjoy the nice outdoor break as well :)
5. I ate octopus the other day...! I need to quit asking what I'm eating, I was told at first it was fried tofu, nope. And right in the middle of eating I found out if was octopus, and it had been tasting good, so I had to down the last 2 bites cause once i know it doesn't taste so great. lol So that makes my new food list grow, first-shark, second-frog jelly, third-squid, fourth-octopus. ewww!! Oh and today we found snails almost the size of your palm, well like a smaller women's palm and someone came by and said oh save it we'll fry it and it and we screamed, i think i'd have to draw the line at snails that we actually found outside in the yard!!
6. We have a new helper coming tomorrow, another elderly lady.
7. My chinese is coming along! Well i think so anyways... the kids don't. lol Katie and I stayed for dinner on the big kid side tonight, and were taught a lot, I can count, almost sing 2 songs, I know the parts of the face, a few conversational phrases and the names of a lot more children and Eiyes(or house mothers/aunts) :)

Umm... I feel like I'm forgetting lots of stuff. As far as stuff with the babies, they are all wonderful! We've found a baby praise CD and everyone knows every song by now, we are now trying the find and burn new music. lol But that's been fun! We found some more toys and they are starting to be able to hold and shake them, the older babies can anyways. We've been doing some good book reading and supervised tummy time to get them moving more. We sang christmas and veggie tale songs the other day. And we acted out a play of the bible story Daniel and the Lions Den. lol Katie had the brilliant idea so we talked for the babies and got it on camera to make a video out of it. (that was prolly more entertaining for us than them, but they enjoying the moving around :) lol ) The weather has been sunny and warm but with a breeze, so it's lovely, there has been a lot of fresh fruit and tea brought to us which has been wonderful!
Umm... I'm really beginning to enjoy the company of everyone here, not that I didn't before but it's just a lot of fun now. It just takes a while to get comfortable with everyone. And I am starting to feel much more "at home" and comfortable in the home and surroundings and with the schedule, again that just takes time. So thank you all for your home sick prayers, they help so much!! I feel very blessed, the girls that I work with here are wonderful, we have gotten a long so well, and are starting to really get to know each other. We had a fun night talking and being silly during dinner outside a few nights ago, and just little things like that are really starting to help :) So Katie and Jess, if you're reading this, I love you guys and feel so blessed that I get to be here with you guys! And Sho hwa, and Carolyn and Mrs.Annette, ya'll are wonderful, I love being around you guys, and getting to talk with you!
Hmm... I think that's mostly it for now, I can't believe it's April! Megan, I'm on my second package of letters, can you believe it?! It makes time feel like it goes by fast, today was the 25th day i've been gone. That's over 3 weeks! So we were talking today and decided the days feel long and slow but the weeks just go by so fast! Anyways, as much as I'm starting to enjoy it here, I still miss you all at home very much and think about you all the time! I can't wait to see you all again!! MUCH LOVE <3
Ellen