Sunday, May 9, 2010
Friday, May 7, 2010
18 days left! ...Oh my gosh!!
It's movie night tonight!! Every Friday night (well most Friday nights) we get to watch a movie on the comp and we all sit in the kitchen and hold babies while we watch a movie, it's lovely :) And we pull out our stash of popcorn and then ice cream and candy depending on what we have, it's a nice thing to look forward to during the week. So real fast I'm going to give a quick update. Here are some pictures of recent activities!
We got another day out!! This Wednesday Jen Jen came with Tanya and so the girls and I decided to go for a bike ride. The elementary school that the kids go to was suppossed to be fairly close and a pretty ride so we went looking for it... it was quite an adventure! We failed to find the school for about 2 hours and ended up on some long side, country rode following these Chinese signs we thought were pointing to the school....umm yeah we were wrong. Not sure why we thought we could guess at Chinese characters but it ended up being a beautiful ride anyway. Then finally we asked directions once got back into town and we finally got there! So here are a bunch of pictures from along the way. We stopped at a candy store, Taiwanese style of course, and a tea shop, and then a lady's house for lunch :) And the pictures are in the wrong order so they happened time wise from top to bottom just fyi :)
Black licorice-Jess' bike
Dorothy-Katie's bike
Blue Wizard-My bike
It was delicious!
The school...finally!!
A Taiwanese scarecrow...I loved it, it cracked me up!!
We thought we had found the school, but it ended up not being it. It was a neat looking building. We pulled up and it looked deserted so it was honestly kind of creepy and there was a big dog so we left really fast and decided that wasn't it. lol It was funny :)
Jess and one of the little ones. He makes the funniest faces :)
Katie and I taking babies out for an afternoon walk :)
I thought this was the most precious thing ever! These are our 2 newest and smallest babies.
Baby Update- They are doing very wonderful at the moment :) We have one that leaves tomorrow. The parents have been here all week and thankfully they have been wonderful! Our count as of tomorrow then I believe is 21 with no news of new babies coming in. We have been working a lot with them on standing and sitting and it is adorable! They are all getting so BIG! We only have 2 in newborn diapers and we used to have like 7. There is a whole group of them that used to only lay on their backs but now they can lift their heads really well and are getting good at balancing when we help them sit. And another on baby food. I fed her both times today and my goodness I now think spoon feeding is quite an art. It took me a minimum of 30 min to even get it all in her mouth and that doesn't mean it got swallowed. Talk about a good lesson in patience. There are a bunch of them finding their fingers and thumbs. One little one actually put her whole fist in her mouth!! That scared us to death but she pulled it right out and then just stuck 4 fingers back in. lol And a couple are noticing their tongues, there are 2 or 3 that you walk by and you just see their tongues hanging out of their mouths wiggling around and occasionally spitting. It's very funny when we're not trying to feed :) I'm starting to dread leaving them. I thought after so much baby time I'd be ok, but now a few hours without them and I'm dying to hold one again. It's just really amazing to watch them grow. I know everyone says that but now I know why and it's so true! Well that's about all for that....
Katie, my room mate who is the Aunt to one of our baby girls just found out today that her brother(the one adopting) get's to come in this Monday!! That was such exciting news!! Grace is the precious girl's name and she will get to go home soon :) Unfortunately so does Katie :( She leaves Thursday morning and I am not looking forward to loosing my room mate :( I'm going to miss her soooo much!! However Jess may move in with me and I love her so that would be fun :) Starting this weekend, or sunday I guess, things will be getting really crazy. We have a family come in Sunday, another Monday, Katie leaves Thursday, another girl comes in Wednesday or Thursday, then another staff member who has been on furlough in the States come back the 19th, then I leave the 26th and in between then there could be more families coming but we won't find out until AIT-the court- gives a court date or something along those lines. Those should be coming soon then the families book flights within a matter of a few weeks or less. So things will start to change quite a lot over the next few days but I think it will be fun.
Well there is lots more but i'll have to try to update again soon, i think that's enough for now. lol Love you all!!
We got another day out!! This Wednesday Jen Jen came with Tanya and so the girls and I decided to go for a bike ride. The elementary school that the kids go to was suppossed to be fairly close and a pretty ride so we went looking for it... it was quite an adventure! We failed to find the school for about 2 hours and ended up on some long side, country rode following these Chinese signs we thought were pointing to the school....umm yeah we were wrong. Not sure why we thought we could guess at Chinese characters but it ended up being a beautiful ride anyway. Then finally we asked directions once got back into town and we finally got there! So here are a bunch of pictures from along the way. We stopped at a candy store, Taiwanese style of course, and a tea shop, and then a lady's house for lunch :) And the pictures are in the wrong order so they happened time wise from top to bottom just fyi :)
Black licorice-Jess' bike
Dorothy-Katie's bike
Blue Wizard-My bike
It was delicious!
The school...finally!!
A Taiwanese scarecrow...I loved it, it cracked me up!!
We thought we had found the school, but it ended up not being it. It was a neat looking building. We pulled up and it looked deserted so it was honestly kind of creepy and there was a big dog so we left really fast and decided that wasn't it. lol It was funny :)
Jess and one of the little ones. He makes the funniest faces :)
Katie and I taking babies out for an afternoon walk :)
I thought this was the most precious thing ever! These are our 2 newest and smallest babies.
Baby Update- They are doing very wonderful at the moment :) We have one that leaves tomorrow. The parents have been here all week and thankfully they have been wonderful! Our count as of tomorrow then I believe is 21 with no news of new babies coming in. We have been working a lot with them on standing and sitting and it is adorable! They are all getting so BIG! We only have 2 in newborn diapers and we used to have like 7. There is a whole group of them that used to only lay on their backs but now they can lift their heads really well and are getting good at balancing when we help them sit. And another on baby food. I fed her both times today and my goodness I now think spoon feeding is quite an art. It took me a minimum of 30 min to even get it all in her mouth and that doesn't mean it got swallowed. Talk about a good lesson in patience. There are a bunch of them finding their fingers and thumbs. One little one actually put her whole fist in her mouth!! That scared us to death but she pulled it right out and then just stuck 4 fingers back in. lol And a couple are noticing their tongues, there are 2 or 3 that you walk by and you just see their tongues hanging out of their mouths wiggling around and occasionally spitting. It's very funny when we're not trying to feed :) I'm starting to dread leaving them. I thought after so much baby time I'd be ok, but now a few hours without them and I'm dying to hold one again. It's just really amazing to watch them grow. I know everyone says that but now I know why and it's so true! Well that's about all for that....
Katie, my room mate who is the Aunt to one of our baby girls just found out today that her brother(the one adopting) get's to come in this Monday!! That was such exciting news!! Grace is the precious girl's name and she will get to go home soon :) Unfortunately so does Katie :( She leaves Thursday morning and I am not looking forward to loosing my room mate :( I'm going to miss her soooo much!! However Jess may move in with me and I love her so that would be fun :) Starting this weekend, or sunday I guess, things will be getting really crazy. We have a family come in Sunday, another Monday, Katie leaves Thursday, another girl comes in Wednesday or Thursday, then another staff member who has been on furlough in the States come back the 19th, then I leave the 26th and in between then there could be more families coming but we won't find out until AIT-the court- gives a court date or something along those lines. Those should be coming soon then the families book flights within a matter of a few weeks or less. So things will start to change quite a lot over the next few days but I think it will be fun.
Well there is lots more but i'll have to try to update again soon, i think that's enough for now. lol Love you all!!
Sunday, April 25, 2010
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!!
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!!
Sunday, April 18, 2010
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.
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.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
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 :)
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 :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)