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!
Friday, April 16, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
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!
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!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
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!
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!
Sunday, April 4, 2010
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!!
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!!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
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
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
Monday, March 29, 2010
Well as you can see by my lack of updates, things have gotten BUSY! I was told the weekend would get crazy and I thought i was prepared, but yesterday, whoo, a few minutes after I woke up I couldn't wait for the day to end! That sounds terrible for me to say but it was just such a hard day, i was running on little sleep, and was a little homesick. But i've decided after today that you just always have days like that no matter where you are. This morning i wanted so badly to just go home, but then i thought realistically I have days when I am home that I wish I was gone somewhere else. So I decided those days you just have to get through by finding something positive to focus on, pray for strength and when it's over just forget about it. Because then today was one of those days when I was like this is so much fun, I love it, I had gotten plenty of sleep cause I went right to bed after the long day yesterday, and just tried to ignore the bad day. It was funny this morning the song "Bad Day" by... what was it...Howie Day... maybe? From a couple years ago, popped into my head and I just kind of laughed and sang it for a little bit. So anyways there is a little bit of honesty for you. I didn't think sitting around feeding babies would take that much energy but something does, there is just so much more that goes into it, but I finally do have proof that it is so worth it!!! Because....
Today one of our bigger boys left with his sweet sweet adoptive family from California!! They came in yesterday and i think it is one of the top most exciting moments of my life, i don't want to think about them all at the moment but it sure ranks up there! The mom bawled as she walked in the door and picked up her baby in her arms, while the dad video taped and the fam followed behind. They just hugged him and laughed and cried and ahh it was just so sweet, i just stood there feeding a baby and watching the whole scene play out as they walked in and met everyone who has been taking care of their sweet boy, they were so excited! They jumped right in (they had come in the middle of the craziest feeding time) and asked us to show them everything about how he was cared for, how he was feed, how he was bathed, how he was changed, where he napped, what to do when he cries. It was so cute to see them so eager and happy!! And so neat to see Lucas start smiling and laughing when they talked to him. And today when they came back, we got to talk to them about him, about themselves, about their life. It was so wonderful to find out what a good home he was going to and what kind of life he would be living! It was neat to see things unfold and see what a blessing baby Lucas was to his parents AND what a blessing they are to him. I hadn't gotten to spend a whole lot of time with him so I think it was less sad for me this time and more exciting, cause it was pretty sad also for some of the other girls, so we'll see how it goes later on, but for this time, it was just the neatest, most exciting experience!!
Umm... i've decided I need to make sure I'm getting more sleep which means limiting computer time. So when my responses and updates become slower and fewer know that it why, but i love love love talking with you all and i will get to it!
I don't have a whole lot more energy left tonight but I'm trying to think of other things to update you on over the past few days. I kept a list but I'm too tired and lazy to find it right now. Umm... the babies have all been doing pretty good, the little ones had some cold stuff, and it's still slowly going around so we really want it to just go away! But it isn't too bad right now. We do still have 1 of the little ones in the hospital but one came back. We've been reading books and singing songs to this kids worship CD and the babies seem to really like that. It's adorable some of the big kids from the other side come over to peek through the door during playtime. I will admit, we are pretty goofy with the babies during playtime, very expressive and loud and silly, so we look a little ridiculous and they love to come watch us and just laugh hysterically at us and mimic us and make fun. But they keep coming back and one little one even joined and helped us so i think they like it. At one time we looked up through the window and 4 little boys were huddled there staring and pointing at us while laughing, it was so cute! I've really started to enjoy trying to talk to and get to know the older, little ones as well. I wrote this one sweet girl a thank you letter in chinese the other day because she gave me this magnet she had made and so a bunch of the other girls did the same, so now i'm trying to write them all letters in chinese, which i actually love! And one of the boys was working on his english by reading a magazine, and asked me to come listen to him, so i got to help him and it was so fun, they are just so cute! They make such a great effort to speak to us in english so i'm going to try to learn some more chinese, i've learned a song and game in chinese so far and am working on some speaking phrases and answering the phone, so we'll see hopefully it'll be a quick learning process. Well there is a lot more i want to say but tomorrow is bath day, so i'll need some energy. So i'll say goodbye for now, LOVE YOU ALL!!
Today one of our bigger boys left with his sweet sweet adoptive family from California!! They came in yesterday and i think it is one of the top most exciting moments of my life, i don't want to think about them all at the moment but it sure ranks up there! The mom bawled as she walked in the door and picked up her baby in her arms, while the dad video taped and the fam followed behind. They just hugged him and laughed and cried and ahh it was just so sweet, i just stood there feeding a baby and watching the whole scene play out as they walked in and met everyone who has been taking care of their sweet boy, they were so excited! They jumped right in (they had come in the middle of the craziest feeding time) and asked us to show them everything about how he was cared for, how he was feed, how he was bathed, how he was changed, where he napped, what to do when he cries. It was so cute to see them so eager and happy!! And so neat to see Lucas start smiling and laughing when they talked to him. And today when they came back, we got to talk to them about him, about themselves, about their life. It was so wonderful to find out what a good home he was going to and what kind of life he would be living! It was neat to see things unfold and see what a blessing baby Lucas was to his parents AND what a blessing they are to him. I hadn't gotten to spend a whole lot of time with him so I think it was less sad for me this time and more exciting, cause it was pretty sad also for some of the other girls, so we'll see how it goes later on, but for this time, it was just the neatest, most exciting experience!!
Umm... i've decided I need to make sure I'm getting more sleep which means limiting computer time. So when my responses and updates become slower and fewer know that it why, but i love love love talking with you all and i will get to it!
I don't have a whole lot more energy left tonight but I'm trying to think of other things to update you on over the past few days. I kept a list but I'm too tired and lazy to find it right now. Umm... the babies have all been doing pretty good, the little ones had some cold stuff, and it's still slowly going around so we really want it to just go away! But it isn't too bad right now. We do still have 1 of the little ones in the hospital but one came back. We've been reading books and singing songs to this kids worship CD and the babies seem to really like that. It's adorable some of the big kids from the other side come over to peek through the door during playtime. I will admit, we are pretty goofy with the babies during playtime, very expressive and loud and silly, so we look a little ridiculous and they love to come watch us and just laugh hysterically at us and mimic us and make fun. But they keep coming back and one little one even joined and helped us so i think they like it. At one time we looked up through the window and 4 little boys were huddled there staring and pointing at us while laughing, it was so cute! I've really started to enjoy trying to talk to and get to know the older, little ones as well. I wrote this one sweet girl a thank you letter in chinese the other day because she gave me this magnet she had made and so a bunch of the other girls did the same, so now i'm trying to write them all letters in chinese, which i actually love! And one of the boys was working on his english by reading a magazine, and asked me to come listen to him, so i got to help him and it was so fun, they are just so cute! They make such a great effort to speak to us in english so i'm going to try to learn some more chinese, i've learned a song and game in chinese so far and am working on some speaking phrases and answering the phone, so we'll see hopefully it'll be a quick learning process. Well there is a lot more i want to say but tomorrow is bath day, so i'll need some energy. So i'll say goodbye for now, LOVE YOU ALL!!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Pizza, Baby Massages and Baths :)
Here is a quick update, i'll try to make it quick anyway! Yesterday was a really fun day! During playtime we did baby massages :) I watched this video from TCU about how important touch is for babies who had rough starts, meaning, spent a lot of time in the hospital getting bad touch(like surgeries or ivs and stuff) or little tough, or babies that were abused, or simply babies in orphanages who don't get as much touch. Now i think our babies gets lots of touch because we love to hold them, but prolly not quite as much as a one on one scenario, so anyways, they talked about simple rubs on the back, tummy, legs and arms can much such a difference for them and is really good for making neurotransmitter connections (or something a long those lines :) ) and it was so cute, they loved it and smiled and giggled and some fell asleep! lol So that afternoon we did a workout session to Father Abraham and they moved their arms and legs :) Again we had lots of extra sweet helpers, so lots of loving!
I learned a song in Chinese!! It's about an elephant with a big nose whose mom tells him his nose is beautiful, so we sang that a lot :)
We had a delicious lunch, they had lots of meat which i was excited about because there isn't always a lot of meat. They had this yummy fried chicken, fish and shrimp, or course it all still had bones and eyes and legs and all that stuff which is gross, but once you get past that, very good! We got to order pizza and pepsi that night too, and we just got to hang out a little bit later, of course while still holding babies but most of them were in bed so that was fun, all us girls enjoyed that a lot!
Then today was bath day :) It makes for a busy day with 25 babies, but it's something different than the usual schedule so it's kind of nice! Plus the babies all smell good and sleep good after :) We read books during the second play time today which was fun and they all actually seemed to semi pay attention. Then i read the babies the sweet letters Emily sent me from the KM kids, it made my day!! And i showed them the pictures of the kids, i don't think they were so interested but it was funny.
Katie and I found fans in our room tonight and were so excited cause it's starting to get hot!
I realized tonight, i've gotten to talk to more people that i haven't talked to in ages while i've been over here. Funny how that works huh? The less time i seem to have and the further away I am the more i talk to more people. Well i like it!! Thanks again to everyone who is reading this, i love getting to share my "new life" with you guys and I love hearing from you as well, it keeps me feeling connected! Today was one of those days when things start to sink in more and more, i think i still feel like it's camp or something and I'll be leaving in a few days, but with Alli, Mandee and Thatcher leaving on Monday and me thinking nope i'm not going, I guess it felt more real which always makes me a little sad and homesick but at the same time i'm loving things here and so Katie and I are gonna start maybe doing and planning some new activities for certain days so we can settle into a schedule and feel more at home and like we're living here cause we will be for the next 2 months. So Em those letters came at a good time, they made me cry but it was a happy cry, so thank you!!
Well i think one of our baby girls comes home tomorrow from the hospital, so i'll let you know soon if she gets too. I think that's all for now! ...So much for quick. lol LOVE YOU ALL!!
Our usual work and hang out place :)
Chinese PIZZA! ...actually delicious, it's like a pizza hut brand.
Here are the sweet letters and pictures i hung on my wall and ceiling :)
I learned a song in Chinese!! It's about an elephant with a big nose whose mom tells him his nose is beautiful, so we sang that a lot :)
We had a delicious lunch, they had lots of meat which i was excited about because there isn't always a lot of meat. They had this yummy fried chicken, fish and shrimp, or course it all still had bones and eyes and legs and all that stuff which is gross, but once you get past that, very good! We got to order pizza and pepsi that night too, and we just got to hang out a little bit later, of course while still holding babies but most of them were in bed so that was fun, all us girls enjoyed that a lot!
Then today was bath day :) It makes for a busy day with 25 babies, but it's something different than the usual schedule so it's kind of nice! Plus the babies all smell good and sleep good after :) We read books during the second play time today which was fun and they all actually seemed to semi pay attention. Then i read the babies the sweet letters Emily sent me from the KM kids, it made my day!! And i showed them the pictures of the kids, i don't think they were so interested but it was funny.
Katie and I found fans in our room tonight and were so excited cause it's starting to get hot!
I realized tonight, i've gotten to talk to more people that i haven't talked to in ages while i've been over here. Funny how that works huh? The less time i seem to have and the further away I am the more i talk to more people. Well i like it!! Thanks again to everyone who is reading this, i love getting to share my "new life" with you guys and I love hearing from you as well, it keeps me feeling connected! Today was one of those days when things start to sink in more and more, i think i still feel like it's camp or something and I'll be leaving in a few days, but with Alli, Mandee and Thatcher leaving on Monday and me thinking nope i'm not going, I guess it felt more real which always makes me a little sad and homesick but at the same time i'm loving things here and so Katie and I are gonna start maybe doing and planning some new activities for certain days so we can settle into a schedule and feel more at home and like we're living here cause we will be for the next 2 months. So Em those letters came at a good time, they made me cry but it was a happy cry, so thank you!!
Well i think one of our baby girls comes home tomorrow from the hospital, so i'll let you know soon if she gets too. I think that's all for now! ...So much for quick. lol LOVE YOU ALL!!
Our usual work and hang out place :)
Chinese PIZZA! ...actually delicious, it's like a pizza hut brand.
Here are the sweet letters and pictures i hung on my wall and ceiling :)
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