All the surgeries are finished

Going on medical trips is a hard thing for me to do. I do not like going to hospitals at the best of times and when you have to sleep in the hospital it is even worse. In China the parents have to be with the children 24/7. I do not usually eat well and I am not always in the best of moods because I am so sleep deprived. BUT...I do it because when I come back you have babies who have been helped and healed. It is such an emotional experience in total and in particular the time you wait for them while they are in surgery. When they come out of the OR I am so in awe of the doctors, the medical staff and they abilities they have to help the babies. So in the last few weeks Christopher, Erica and Cailean have had their Spina Bifida surgeries. Rose had her hemangioma surgery and Nathaniel had his boy parts fixed. So I will not be going anywhere for a while and sleeping in my own bed.

I am so grateful to all the people who help me so much. The doctors and staff from the Shanghai Children's Medical Center, I am beginning to feel at home over there. People call me by name which is a little weird when you do not know who they are. In particular, I would like to thank Dr Lisa Buckmiller and Dr Bao. On a daily basis I get to live with their skills and talents. Dr Lisa has now operated on three of my children and so has Dr Bao. My thanks also to the whole LWB medical team who so willing come to China to do the surgeries. Also, to the hard working LWB Chinese team who prepare the way and make it looks so easy. I continue to learn from Tingting and the awesome job she does to daily give her time to the babies. To the management of the Motel Faulkner. I love being with you and the feeling of family that you have in your home. Thank you so very much for all your help. The women of Shanghai who provide good conversation, delicious foreign food and the use of their drivers. Thank you so much. Last but not least to Kay and Christine. Thank you so very much for all your time in taking care of Cailean and Nathaniel and for being so willing to help them. Being with them in the hospital and helping them through their surgeries is such a wonderful gift to them. It shows love in action

The others who need my most grateful thanks is all the people who have donated to the surgeries. I could not accomplish any of this if it was not for your generosity. So many people have worked together to make sure that all the cost for the surgeries were taken care of long before they were even scheduled. You cannot believe how much stress disappears when from my shoulders when I do not have to worry about money. I love making the surgeries personal so that you know exactly who you have helped and to know that because of your thoughtfulness there is now a child who has the chance at life without their personal disability. I guess in many ways I want the world to be more fair for them. If you want to contribute to a medical fund please look on the website and click on the donate button.

I would also like to thank the board of the anonymous foundation, who have have been just awesome. Thank you for making it so much easier to take care of the babies. You help me make such a difference and I am so extremely grateful.

At home we continue to move at a hectic pace. We are preparing for another adoption. Angel's family is coming to China with in the next few days and so will be having our fifth adoption. I am so excited for this really special time and I hope that you will join me in praying that her little heart will grow to love her new family really quickly and that she will leave China bonded to them and not to pine for us here at Starfish.

I am also happy to tell you that I have heard from two more families who have been matched and when the time is right I will introduce them to you. Hopefully the adoption bureaucracy will have no snafu's and everything will run smoothly for them.

I love the idea of Thanksgiving. I love the simplicity of it. No big presents, no cards, not much of anything really. Just the joy of giving thanks for all that you have and sharing a meal with family and friends. My kind of thing. So to all of you who will be celebrating thanksgiving next week and especially to the three little people who will be eating Thanksgiving dinner with their families for the first time: Amanda, Flower and James, you are some of the many reasons I am so thankful for the blessings I have.

Thankful for having Life, Love and Laughter,
Amanda

Starfish Foster Home
http://www.chinesestarfish.org/
http://chinesestarfish.blogspot.com/