Wednesday, August 05, 2009

Happy Homecoming

Coming home after being away for almost a month, there were so many changes, I was so surprised. I guess that when you see the children everyday you do not realize just how they can change.
The biggest difference was the fact that Sean was not here. As you know, he got adopted, which was two days before his birthday. I asked that we celebrate his birthday before he left because he just loved singing the birthday song and I know he would love to have a birthday party with us. I was so sad to hear that he stopped eating before he left us and was not sleeping well. His family did not bring him back after the adoption, but they did come and see us without him. They were too scared that he was going to cry. Crying is a part of adoption and the more time you spend with us the more secure they will feel in the long run and the less they cry. I have had some parents tell me they were sad that they did not spend more time at Starfish. Sean has an older sister who is also adopted from China. His new name is Baptiste, a very French name.

I am so happy to tell you that Heather has been matched with a family in Virginia and that she is taking about 4 or 5 steps on her own. She has been working so hard on walking. She is such a lesson in determination and tenacity. Lucas is the second baby who is walking. He also has a way to go but he is also giving a few steps and I am sure he will be a dynamo when he runs.

For all the Breanna fans, I have happy news for some and probably sad news for others. We called the orphanage and was told that she has been matched with a family from France. So we will be sending another Starfish to France. We have no other news than that. Emily has also been matched as well! I am sure there are more babies that have been matched, but we do not know to where they are going.
While I was gone four babies, Joshua, Joseph,Sophia and Faith, learned how to sit up. th. I love this four-in-a-row picture. Callum is walking on all fours when he is in a hurry. It is so cute to see. He is also happy to walk behind the walker and I am sure he should be walking soon. Joseph also went to Hangzhou and Operation Smile to have his lip repaired, which is healing very nicely right now.
I am so grateful for every who helped while I was gone. It takes an enormous amount of work on a daily basis to get to some improvements. I wish it was a quick save that takes a few minutes or maybe some hours of your day, but it is not. We have to work very hard 24/7 over many months, to be able to help the babies. I was so happy to come home and to see that there were improvements with each one of them. I was so happy to see them and I got mobbed by the older ones on the fifth floor. I am happy to be home but I am swamped with work. The most important thing I have been working on is the adoptions dossiers of 13 babies. What a job to get all the the requirements taken care of! We are then working on the next 8 and after that there will be 14.

Life, Love and Laughter,
Amanda
Starfish Children's Services
US Tax Number: 20-4682916
Xian China

At Starfish, we have taken care of 92 children to date, arranged more than 55 surgeries and had 21 international adoptions, so our little starfishes live all over the globe: the US, Netherlands, Norway and Spain and our latest adoption to France. We currently have 49 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

2 comments:

Lori said...

So excited that children are making such GREAT progress and some are finding their forever families. Breanna is such a little cutie! ALL of them are just gorgeous. Thanks for all you do for these precious children.

RDwannabe said...

Happy to hear so many little ones on their way to finding their forever families. Of course it must be also sad for Starfish for letting go of someone you love and care for so much. I am a Breanna and Emily fan, and thoughts keep running in my mind of how their lives will change forever. Thank you all at Starfish for doing such a great job in caring and loving these children.