Adoptions 25 and 26

In 2009 we had eight adoptions at Starfish. This year, we have already had two and it is not even the end of January! The great news is that we have six babies matched and we are waiting for the families to come and get them. I think it is going to be busy this year, which makes me so happy for all the babies that will get families.

Cailean was first up. He was adopted by a Dutch family. Cailean did really well. I was not sure how he was going to handle it but he seemed to accept the situation. It was so funny when he got to the hotel he got a wet wipe and started cleaning the hotel room. I send them to their new families with lots of skills. They often clean up after themselves. The next thing is that he will be doing the laundry and putting clothes in the dryer. He loved doing that here. Cailean whose new name is Jian, has an older brother who loves Star Wars and a sister who is also adopted from China. I loved spending time with the family and helping Cailean get through this period of adapting to a new family. He came to visit at Starfish which was really interesting to watch. He went a little crazy for a while hugging people and rolling on the ground. On the last day, we all had lunch together and when I left he held his mom's hands and waved goodbye to me. He was so brave!!! His family needed to wait in Beijing for 10 days before they leave for Holland on February 2. I will definitely see them when I go to Holland in March. Jian will be getting baptized and I will be there to see it. I am very grateful for the honor to be invited.

A week after it was Heather's turn. Out of all the babies I thought she would have the hardest time. We had talked to her a lot before her family even arrived and she handled it like a pro, loved that. The Civil Affairs Office was exploding with people. Heather had just woken up and I think the other babies stressful cries really affected her. That is the only time she really cried. That was so wonderful for me because both Cailean and Heather fell asleep in my arms on the way to the adoption office. I just loved sitting in the back of the taxi, having the opportunity to cuddle with them a last time, driving through Xian. Ellie (Heather's new name) came back to visit and it was just to cute. She made a run for Rose and loved on her so much. We had gone to visit Ellie's family at the hotel and Rose and Ellie played together and made crowns with Lynda. We also got to celebrate Ellie's birthday a little early but she was so bashful while we sang happy birthday to her, while the other babies rioted by banging on their high chair tables. It is a sight to behold.

The nannies watched all of this and the commented that they could see in the eyes of the parents how much they loved their children. It soothes us all when we get to watch these adoptions and when the families come to thank the nannies for their vital part in their children's lives. They do such an important job and it is so sad when they are not acknowledged by the families. I love it when everyone is happy and there is not drama when the babies leave us. I am grateful to the parents who put the needs of their children first and work so hard to make the transfer as smooth as possible.

As is usually the case, more things are waiting for me. We have had five surgeries since the beginning of the year and we are sending four more babies for cleft lip (3) and cleft palate (1) surgeries next week.

We will prepare as much as I can for the next six babies who will be adopted and soon we will "replace" the two spots that are now open. Our purpose to save medically fragile babies continue. Off to the orphanage I will go to help more babies get a chance to be adopted.

Life, Love and Laughter,


Amanda

Starfish Children's Services
US Tax Number: 20-4682916
Xian China

At Starfish, we have taken care of 106 children to date, arranged more than 74 surgeries and had 26 international adoptions, so our little starfishes live all over the globe: the US, Netherlands, Norway, France, Spain and in China. Our latest two adoptions were to the Netherlands and Virginia, USA. We currently have 53 babies under the age of 3 and a half at two foster homes. Recently we learned that 6 babies have been matched and we are waiting for their families to come and get them.

http://www.thestarfishfosterhome.org/
http://chinesestarfish.blogspot.com/
http://chinesestarfishcleft.blogspot.com/
chinese.starfishthrower@gmail.com
Cell: 86.1348.812.4847

Starfish friends and family

Cailean and Dad

Cailean and his family

Cailean and his Dad

Cailean and his family

Cailean

Heather and Cailean

Heather, Rose and Kara

Rose and Heather


Ellie (Heather) and her family!

Mei-Li and Norah Play in Holland!

A Mini Starfish Reunion in Holland

I love it when I hear that the Starfish babies have seen each other and are spending time together. Luckily Holland is very small and it is easy to drive a few hours to each others' houses. I am going to write another post soon about our most recent adoption: Cailean who is also going to be in Holland. He and his family are in Beijing right now. I will be traveling to Holland in March to go and do some fund raising, meet a Dutch medical team that wants to come to Xian and do cleft surgeries and see the babies from Starfish. I am really looking forward to that. I hope that it gets warmer there soon. Jet said in one email that it was -14 Celsius which is about 7 degrees Fahrenheit.


Dear Amanda,

I'm so glad Norah and Mei-Li can meet regularly. If the time between visits is too long they will ask for each other! Every time the families meet we have a great time. We all have become good friends! Yo-Lin and Robin enjoy spending time together too. I'm sending you some pics. I think they will show you how much these girls love each other...

Love,

Jet

Life, Love and Laughter,


Amanda

Starfish Children's Services
US Tax Number: 20-4682916
Xian China

At Starfish, we have taken care of 106 children to date, arranged more than 74 surgeries and had 26 international adoptions, so our little starfishes live all over the globe: the US, Netherlands, Norway, France, Spain and in China. Our latest two adoptions were to the Netherlands and Virginia, USA. We currently have 53 babies under the age of 3 and a half at two foster homes. Recently we learned that 6 babies have been matched and we are waiting for their families to come and get them.

http://www.thestarfishfosterhome.org/
http://chinesestarfish.blogspot.com/
http://chinesestarfishcleft.blogspot.com/
chinese.starfishthrower@gmail.com
Cell: 86.1348.812.4847

Mei-Li Skiing in Austria

I cannot believe how well traveled out Starfish Alums are!!

Dear Amanda,

We went to Austria for 2 weeks and Mei-Li went skiing for the first time. She did great and it was so cute!

Enjoy the pictures.

See you soon!

Danielle

Mei-Li Takes to the Slopes!

Can You Believe It Has Been a Year? A REBECCA Update!

Hi Amanda -


Well, lots of emotions for me today, January 11, as we celebrate our one year anniversary and blessing of little Rebecca joining her forever family. I can close my eyes to this day and still picture you and her walking into our hotel in Xian and so well remember how scared she looked but so obviously trying to be brave. I still too remember that first night waking up to the sounds of her trying to leave, presumably to come home to you and then me holding her while we both bawled our eyes out.

So many times leading up to the adoption you told me that when Rebecca loves, she loves fiercely. Today, I can easily agree with you and can add that my heart is so pleased to know that she now loves us so fiercely. It took a while and that love and trust had to be earned but here we are a year later and the love we share is a love beyond measure. Emma always like the chance to go run an errand with her papa but given the choice Rebecca always chooses to stay with me. It makes my day when just out of the blue she'll walk up and hug me or if she's sitting with me she will kiss me and then tell me she loves me.

Her favorite things are still to play mama with her babies and you can tell she was taught well there at the Starfish Home how to care for a baby because she treats her baby dolls with tender loving care. She's also easily drawn to babies and she'll quietly go over and love on them or try to hold their hands. Our little Rebecca, a tender heart she has. I know I send you many stories about her and I hope you always enjoy that, but as I've said so many times - she has the kindest, purest heart imaginable. She also loves horses and seems to have a natural instinct on caring for them. I'm hoping that in the next year or so I can get her signed up for riding lessons.

I just wish you could see her and Emma playing and singing together, it's a site for sore eyes. They are most certainly two little peas in a pod and are pretty much always in collusion with one another. One will start off on a song and then the other will join in. Them singing "Silent Night" together would certainly bring tears to your eyes.

Oh, and not sure if I shared this story with you but Rebecca's favorite book to read lately is "The Crippled Lamb" and she can easily quote bits and pieces of it. In the story, the little lamb was born with a leg that didn't work. The other lambs made fun of him but he had a special friend, a cow named Abigail who was always very nice to him. Joshua ends up being in the stable the night Jesus was born. A very, very sweet little book. Rebecca's favorite part of the story, and the part she now knows verbatim is "She would spend hours with Josh, telling him stories. When Josh got sad because he could not run and jump and play in the grass, Abigail would say "Don't be sad little Joshua. God has a special place for those who feel left out". She has that part down!

What a blessing she is Amanda, what a blessing.

Thank you so much for all you have done for Rebecca and the other little starfish. You are making a difference!

Blessings,

Carolin Hunter

Life, Love and Laughter,


Amanda

Starfish Children's Services
US Tax Number: 20-4682916
Xian China

At Starfish, we have taken care of 105 children to date, arranged more than 66 surgeries and had 23 international adoptions , so our little starfishes live all over the globe: the US, Netherlands, Norway and Spain and our latest adoption was to a local adoption to Beijing. We currently have 54 babies under the age of 4 at two foster homes.

http://www.thestarfishfosterhome.org/
http://chinesestarfish.blogspot.com/
http://chinesestarfishcleft.blogspot.com/
chinese.starfishthrower@gmail.com
Cell: 86.1348.812.4847

Starting the New Year

It has been a wild time over here at Starfish.

First, let me share a video with you.
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n4JKHjrU8k
or if you are in China: http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/FVXfiREyNM8/
Carlotta took our Christmas pictures and then she made a video of them. Five minutes of Starfish babies at their cutest.
Second, my Christmas presents arrived in a bundle of five. The Siew Sisters, our returning Australian volunteer family, and I went to the orphanage and instead of getting one we came home with four. Three boys and a girl. The boys Harrison, Emerson and Marcus went into the hospital soon after they got here and received some great care and are now recovering well. We hope to have them home soon. Sally, who has spina bifida will be going to the hospital soon for her surgery. At the same time Dr Siew saw a baby with cataracts, and after I made some arrangements, we got Chloe and I flew with her to Shanghai. She is staying with a foster family in Shanghai and will go to the hospital in a few hours to prepare for her surgery which will be on Thursday China time. So I am now the proud mom of 55 kids, the crazy proud mom. I have to say that Starfish is rocking on its foundation!
Third, on Christmas day we had a very unexpected adoption. The day before while I was grocery shopping I got a call to tell me that Teresa was getting adopted to a Chinese family that very same afternoon. I was not at home and so they delayed it to Christmas Day. It was a really weird adoption because for the first time all the nannies were there to meet the family. They are from Beijing and there are some things I cannot explain. Teresa was the baby that was abandoned at a garbage dump. A really beautiful child, who had surgery in Shanghai with Dr Larareff recently. Soon after Christmas we got word that we will have another two adoptions before the end of January, and both the kids are from Yulin orphanage. Cailean will be first and he is going to Holland, our third baby there. He has an older brother and sister. The next adoption a few days later will be Heather. She is the oldest child at Starfish and she will be going to Virginia and will have two older brothers and a sister. We are preparing them as much as we can for their new families.
Fourth, I saw an open apartment on the first floor and I decided that the price was right and that we could use another space for the kids. Soon after we got the perfect handyman in Christian, a volunteer from the UK, who has been helping us so much. We are almost ready to move the babies in. I hope we will get that done before Christian leaves for his next adventure. He is traveling around the world, while he works and in our case volunteers. I have had a lot of fun shopping ( bought 15 cribs at once) I will be sending some pictures soon.
Fifth, my new years resolution: I want to work everyday at finding a hospital for us to do surgeries. I have been struggling with this for 14 months and I still have not found a place in Xian.
Finally, we are going into surgery mode again. I am sending 5 babies to Operation Smile for surgery in Hangzhou, and we have to do another seven heart surgeries for Dr Li also in Hangzhou,  and there are another few surgeries I am trying to arrange. The second group of spina bifida babies are in Hong Kong and they will have surgery this coming Saturday. I am going to try and get as much done as I can before Chinese New Year which falls on February 14th this year.

I am so grateful that is spite of the chaos that reigns at Starfish, the children are being helped and loved. I guess I could have an orderly foster home where there is peace and quiet, but if it is at the expense of not helping some really fragile babies than I choose the chaos. We are also gearing up for a lot of volunteers who will be coming for the winter vacation in China. I am so grateful for your support and for the encouragement I receive from you.

Life, Love and Laughter with a heavy touch of insanity,


Amanda



Starfish Children's Services
US Tax Number: 20-4682916
Xian China

At Starfish, we have taken care of 105 children to date, arranged more than 66 surgeries and had 24 international adoptions , so our little starfishes live all over the globe: the US, Netherlands, Norway and Spain and our latest adoption was to a local adoption to Beijing. We currently have 55 babies under the age of 4 at two foster homes.
http://www.thestarfishfosterhome.org/
http://chinesestarfish.blogspot.com/
http://chinesestarfishcleft.blogspot.com/
chinese.starfishthrower@gmail.com
Cell: 86.1348.812.4847

Lily at Christmas

Hi Amanda



I thought I would write you and share some pictures of Lily and Rose at Christmas. I am sending along a picture of Rose and Lily in their Christmas dresses - what cute girls I have!! I found matching dresses for them and oh, how beautiful they looked. They love to match - I wonder how long that will last!!


Rose and Lily were also asked to play Angels in a play at Church - the play is the Christmas miracle of the birth of Jesus and both girls were so sweet. What cute Angels they were!! They received a big "AHH" when they walked into the church to take their part in the play!!


Rose woke up VERY early Christmas morning (5 AM) but Lily wanted to sleep!! She was ready to get up at 6:30 and we all came downstairs to open presents. The first thing Lily said when she looked under the Christmas tree and saw all the presents was "Too Much!!" It did not take her long to get into tearing open presents - she was so funny - she sang as she opened her gifts. Santa's reindeer made quite a mess on our porch - we fed them carrots and apples. Lily was quite disgusted at the mess and looked at me and said "We need to clean that up Mamma!!"


We had a wonderful first Christmas with Lily!! My niece became engaged on Christmas day and the first call she made was to Rose and Lily - she wants them as flower girls in her wedding - with names like Rose and Lily, I think she made a good choice.


Love to all!!


Donna

Life, Love and Laughter,


Amanda

Lily and her sister

Update on James (Jonas)

 Happy New Year. I am so sorry it has been so long since I have written. Jojo is doing so well. He is all boy. He loves to play with his cars, trucks and puzzles. He attends preschool 5 days a week. It's hard to believe that next fall he will be in kindergarten already. He is very independent, always wanting to do things himself. He loves to eat noodles and has a sweet tooth. He doesn't eat many vegetables - won't touch anything that is green on his plate. He is always running somewhere or jumping around. He is talking really well but needs continuous speech therapy. We love to hear about all the news at Starfish.


Sincerely,

Cindy

Life, Love and Laughter,
Amanda

James (Jonas) pictures!