Megan (Jasmine's) Vacation

Hi Amanda,

 

I hope all is well with you and Starfish. We are all doing great. The end of June we spent a week in Orlando, FL with our friends the Pellmanns. We went to Disney for a couple of days and had lunch with the Princesses. The Princess lunch and seeing the beach/ocean for the first time were both the favorite part of our vacation according to Megan and Carly. We were walking along the beach and found a Starfish. I told Ken to pick it so we could keep it for Megan but when he did, it moved. That was so amazing - - we walked it back to the ocean and set it free. Here are a few pictures from our trip.

 

It’s been really hot here around 100 for a week so we enjoy swimming in our pool. Both of the girls took swimming lessons for almost a year and are doing well. They love going down the slide and landing in the water. We went to a carnival over the weekend and won a goldfish so now they each have an aquarium in their room. Our total pets now are 2 dogs and 3 fish.

 

About a month ago the Xian reunion/Pink Castle was held in St Louis. I know when I mentioned it to you that you weren’t going to be in the US. We went one night with the group to a Chinese Restaurant and back to a hotel. ‘Aunt Sandy’ from the Pink Castle had a slide show of various kids from the Pink Castle. There were 50 people in attendance all with kids from Xian. The girls had a blast. Hopefully next time you’re in the country, we’ll be able to catch up with you for a real Megan reunion.

 

Take care, Ken, Leslie, Carly & Megan

July 2011 Update

I thought I would write and tell you what is happening at Starfish right now. We have had six adoptions in the last few weeks.

1) Caroline became Skylyn and is now with her family in Utah.

2) River is now a Canadian and living in Vancouver with his family.

3) Cameron is still in China and will be in Canada at the end of the week

4) Anthony's new name is Angus and he is also Canadian, a Scottish Canadian judging by the name.

5) Emerson became the first child of a Finnish family who has been waiting for him for 6 years.

6)  Matilda is still in China with her family but will be home in Alabama soon. 

True to the purpose of Starfish we went soon after the adtoptions to replace the babies that had left, and came home with three boys and three girls.  Three cleft lip and palate babies, two heart babies and then a baby without formed ears (Microtecia).  They were all very weak and sick and in the first week we already lost one of the boys, Jules.  I put the rest back into the hospital again and I will hope to get them healthy and strong soon.

We have lot of babies in the hospital.  Joseph is getting heart surgery in Hangzhou soon and we hope that they can also help Luke who has some lung problems. Chris had emergency surgery for a bowel obstruction, so things are hopping in that department.

In this past week two babies walked for the first time.  Morgan gave her firsts steps and so did Ryan.  Morgan is so proud of herself and Ryan has such concentration when he walks.  It is so cute to see.

We are in the throws of organizing another medical mission. We will be doing 20 babies cleft lip and palates and this time the medical team will be an Australian team.  I am so grateful for anyone's willingness to come to Xian and do surgeries and to make such a huge difference in the lives of these children.

Another piece of news:  I will be in Utah for two weeks at the beginning of August.  I will be visiting Caroline's family and will have the honor of being at the final religious adoption ceremony for the family.

Life, love and laughter,
Amanda

At Starfish, we have taken care of 144 children to date, arranged more than 165 surgeries and had 63 international adoptions, so our little starfishes live all over the globe: the US, Netherlands, Norway, France, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Canada, Australia and in China.  Our latest six adoptions, added two more babies to Canada, one more to Finland and three to the US.  We currently have 48 babies under the age of 3 and a half at the foster home.  We have 8 babies who are matched and we are waiting for their families to come and get them, so there will be a mass exodus in the summer. Our next adoption will be to the US on July 17th.

We had two medical teams successfully completed 35 cleft lip and palate surgeries in April and May.  We are so proud of these teams and want to thank them so much for their efforts.  Our grateful thanks to the Xian Children's Hospital for being the venue and for working so well with these teams.

Starfish Children's Services

US Tax Number:  20-4682916
Xian China

Website:  www.thestarfishfosterhome.org
Blog:  http://chinesestarfish.blogspot.com
Blog:  http://chinesestarfishcleft.blogspot.com
Email: throwingstarfish0913@gmail.com
Cell: 86.1348.812.4847