Planting People

If your vision is for a year, plant wheat.
If your vision is for a 10 years, plant trees.
If your vision is for a lifetime, plant people.
Chinese proverb

What a great way to explain the vision I have I want to plant people. Yesterday I got my vision reaffirmed. We "planted" another nine babies. What a joy that is and at the same time what an incredible sadness because some had to stay behind. I will NEVER get used to the feeling of choosing from those children who ALL need to have the blessings of food, love, care and a family.

A group of nine descended on the orphanage Monday afternoon. It was a great time because in the morning the decision was made that no foreigners would be allowed to go to the orphanage to visit because of the Swine flu. I was suppose to bring eight babies home but came home with nine. Every one of the volunteers brought home a baby and because of that they got to name them. There was so much activity as we weighed and measured them all, bathed and fed them. We will keep the babies confined for a few days and then some of the heart babies will go upstairs and the others will stay in the cleft home, which is now also a heart center.

This was made possible by an extremely generous donation from a Chinese American foundation. I am so grateful for that serendipitous meeting that took place in Luoyang and for the part that everyone played. To me that was really a miracle because everyone there had a part to play. Thank you so much to everyone involved and for the lives that you will have a part in changing.

Last night was such a special time for me. Everyone had gone home and at 1:20am they woke me up to come and help. So I had some choice experiences down there. Jessica just reached for my hand and held on to it as I fed her twice. This morning, she saw me and smiled the sweetest smile you have ever seen and just kept on following me with her eyes. Caroline cooed at me as she drank her bottle and I cooed right back. The closer it came to the end of the bottle the less she cooed and soon she was asleep too. Holding the new babies as they eagerly sucked so early in the morning has turned out to be my favorite part of yesterday. How incredibly blessed I am to be a witness to the changes that are going to take place in their life and for the hope that it offers for a chance to have a family of their own one day.

For those following Thomas' saga, he came off the ventilator yesterday and will be released to the general ward from the SICU tomorrow. I think he is going to be in the hospital for another two weeks. Our collective prayers have been answered.

I am stunned that we now have 46 babies at Starfish. I could never have imagined this would ever be possible. That is some incredible growth from where I started with six in September, 2005.

Thank you so very much for all of your support. I could never have done any of this on my own and I am so grateful for the help, emotionally, financially, spiritually and in all other ways that I receive.

Life, Love and Laughter,
Amanda
Starfish Children's Services
US Tax Number: 20-4682916
Xian China
At Starfish, we have taken care of 84 children to date, arranged more than 50 surgeries and had 20 international adoptions, so our little starfishes live all over the globe: the US (latest adoption to North Carolina), Netherlands, Norway and Spain. We currently have 46 babies under the age of 3 at two foster homes.
www.thestarfishfosterhome.org
http://chinesestarfish.blogspot.com
http://chinesestarfishcleft.blogspot.com
chinese.starfishthrower@gmail.com
Cell: 86.1348.812.4847