Welcome Rose and Matthew!! New Additions at Starfish!!!

Welcome Rose and Matthew!! New Additions at Starfish!!!

Today was a day I will never ever forget. There seems to be a lot of those days lately. I was able to go to the Child Welfare Institute in Xi’an today with Amanda and Cindy, another volunteer.

Ok I can’t hold it any longer…we got to take two babies out of the orphanage and take them to Starfish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amanda had a meeting at the CWI so I was given this amazing opportunity to go with her. I will be forever grateful. We arrived and Cindy and I were able to walk around while Amanda was in her meeting. We were permitted to look around everywhere but in the baby room. We did not see very many non-special needs children. There were several special needs children. There are apparently 600 children at this orphanage but we did not see 600 children.

Following Amanda’s meeting we were allowed to go into the baby room with her. Well what a heart wrenching experience. I had to hold myself together. I have never been moved like I was today. I have never seen so many little babies all sleeping in little cribs. According to Amanda there were not that many. I think there were about 30, most of them with special needs and the majority were one to four months old. There was one little boy who was SOOO tiny. It just broke your heart. Well before I knew it Amanda was asking if we could take him to Starfish! I couldn’t believe it. I was walking around gazing and stroking all the little babies feeling so sad. When I heard Amanda ask I thought, “I am going to have the amazing joy of taking a child out of here”! I wanted to take them all and run. It was very obvious that the CWI trust Amanda because they did not hesitate in saying yes. I had the urge to just grab them and run!

Then there was Rose. She turned 1 on September 2. She has a tumour on the right side of her nose and requires surgery. Amanda met this child Rose last November and has been arranging the funding for her surgery. Heck she was on a roll so she asked if she could take Rose to. Apparently she was not able to take Rose last November. They said YES! I couldn’t believe it. We came in for a meeting and we leave with two babies!!! Amanda was just beaming! Words cannot express what it was like in that baby room. I was so excited to be a part of making a difference in two little lives. Some of the babies do not make it out of that baby room alive.

The next thing I knew I was standing in the driveway of the Orphanage holding Rose. The little baby boy did not have an English name yet. I got to hold Rose for the entire ride back to Starfish, which was not a short drive. She fell asleep in my arms. Initially she was very alert and was checking everything out. At times she would not take her eyes off me.

On the drive home Amanda asked Cindy and I to name the little baby boy. So we named him Matthew. He looks so much like a little Matthew.

As we were driving I was thinking how fortunate I am to have such an opportunity. This experience is very much like we will have with Mary Anne…basically here is your baby! I was so relaxed and it felt so right. Holding Rose in my arms I could not help but think of Mary Anne. I went through all the motions and it felt so natural. When we arrived at Starfish Amanda let me do everything. I immediately changed her as she was wearing towels as a diaper. I then fed her some apple sauce and baby cereal. I tried to give her a bottle but she not interested. She is such a perfect little angel. She must have been shocked. She just quietly stared at everything, taking it all in. I cuddled with her for 1 hour. She just stared at me and would reach up with her little hand and grab my nose, ear and poke me in the eye and mouth. We decided to wait on the bath so not to wake the other children. Later I put her down in her crib and she cuddled a blanket and independently held her bottle. I have noticed with the children at Starfish that the older ones are use to having their bottle on their own. I will have to remember that with Mary Anne. She may initially just want to be left alone to drink her bottle.

This was the first evening I have been at Starfish. When I put Rose down to bed I walked around the room looking into all of the cribs. It was so sweet seeing all of them peacefully sleeping…seeing the odd leg and arm poking out of the bars in the crib…hearing soft snores. I walked around and said out loud, “there is Heather, Sara, Benjamin, Angel, Michael etc etc…” It was the sweetest moment.

I still can’t believe the evening. We arrived at the CWI at 4:00 p.m. and did not get home until 7:30 p.m. I did not get back to the home base until 10:00. I am emotionally exhausted but still hyper. Of course I had to call Iain right away to share my exciting afternoon!!! I should be in bed but I had to write this post as it is all so fresh in my mind. It felt so good to take the two babies out of there! I hope they have a good sleep. Rose is a strong little girl and I think will be fine. Little Matthew is going to need some prayers and lots of FOOD!!!

Here are the new additions to Starfish!!!!!!!! What an exciting time!!! I am very excited that I have one more week to see how Rose and Matthew grow!

Rose (Outside the CWI):

Matthew (outside the CWI)






Well I am now going to bed...it is midnight. Tomorrow we are going to visit a local family to hear their story and how they live. I am looking forward to this.