We were contacted by a church group that offered to sponsor the heart surgery for a baby and so we went to the orphanage in November 2008 to go and find a baby. That day we found two babies: One heart baby, who has then named Virginia because the church was in Virginia and the other was a double cleft preemie, whom we named Sophia.
Virginia was very well taken care of. She was not your average orphanage baby and I knew immediately she was some nanny's favorite. Besides all the other things they face at the orphanage, it can really help them when someone takes a special interest in them. In the beginning Virginia was not the most beautiful child, but boy did she turn out to be a stunner. She looked very much like Breanna, who was adopted to France and people often commented on the resemblance. Right from the beginning she was attached to our famous Xiao Liu and she did not take to any one else. She would allow herself to be held for a short while and then she wanted Xiao Liu. When she began to get teeth , she had this mega watt smile. As per the doctors instructions we waited for a long while before the heart surgery took place. That only happened earlier this year.
We were all eager to see where she would go and we got no news for a long time. I thought that it was going to be a family in Europe...........but I was wrong. Virginia was adopted to West Virginia, 5 minutes from the state line with Virginia. I thought it was very apropos, she went where her name said she would go. So in July after being at Starfish for 21 months, her family came to get her. The family named her Zoey and I am not exactly sure how many older brother and sisters she has but I know there is at least one. She has already had a birthday with her new family and we received pictures. She seems to have adapted very well but I cannot imagine those early weeks were easy at all. We are in touch with the family and so there will be some updates coming.
Life, love and laughter,
Amanda
Starfish Children's Services
US Tax Number: 20-4682916
Xian China
At Starfish, we have taken care of 118 children to date, arranged more than 100 surgeries and had 46 international adoptions, so our little starfishes live all over the globe: the US, Netherlands, Norway, France, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Canada and in China. Our latest 8 adoptions took place recently and now we have a second baby in Sweden and a third in Spain and a fifth in Holland. We also have six more babies in the US. We currently have 43 babies under the age of 3 and three foster homes our count is dropping as we prepare to move to a new facility.
www.thestarfishfosterhome.org
http://chinesestarfish.blogspot.com
http://chinesestarfishcleft.blogspot.com
Email: throwingstarfish0913@gmail.com
Cell: 86.1348.812.4847
Amanda
Starfish Children's Services
US Tax Number: 20-4682916
Xian China
At Starfish, we have taken care of 118 children to date, arranged more than 100 surgeries and had 46 international adoptions, so our little starfishes live all over the globe: the US, Netherlands, Norway, France, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Canada and in China. Our latest 8 adoptions took place recently and now we have a second baby in Sweden and a third in Spain and a fifth in Holland. We also have six more babies in the US. We currently have 43 babies under the age of 3 and three foster homes our count is dropping as we prepare to move to a new facility.
www.thestarfishfosterhome.org
http://chinesestarfish.blogspot.com
http://chinesestarfishcleft.blogspot.com
Email: throwingstarfish0913@gmail.com
Cell: 86.1348.812.4847
2 comments:
She's beautiful! I was wondering when you give a child an English name are they actually called that by the nannies? Do the children learn that, that is their name?
Pam
We are a family in Colorado who first heard about Starfish through an article in the BYU Alumni Magazine. We have loved seeing the pictures of your Starfish babies. Although we are not in a positin to be able to adopt, we couldn't help but fall in love with Virginia and have even had Virginia's Chinese New Year picture as our screen saver for some time and have included her in some of our family prayers. It got to the point that our 4 and 2 year old daughters would tell people about our 'other' sister in China named "Berginia". I'm so thankful for this update on her and to know she has found her family. You are doing a sacred work. Thank you.
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