I can do more. Orphanage visit.

 Yesterday... How do I put into words how yesterday went? 

You see, we went to see where Iris has lived for half of her life.  

I feel like I should give you a bit of back ground story, first. 

In China, you must pay for your medical care first, so families  without the means to pay for their child's medical needs do the only thing they know to do. They leave them.  My heart breaks for these families. 

Our sweet Iris was born a premie. We have guestimated that she was born at 29 weeks. She was only 2 pounds and hours old when she was brought to the orphanage.  

How does a premie survive in orphanage conditions? 

She survived but only barely. She was only hanging on a bare thread of life when she was transferred from the orphanage to a foster facility called House of Grace. I'm sure her cleft palate was a big part of the reason she was so tiny. She was 14 months old and 7 pounds when she arrived at House of Grace. 

House of Grace is what we visited Yesterday. 

We left at 7:30 to drive the 3.5 hours (that's in good traffic) to get there.  

Have I mentioned there usually isn't seat belts in China, let alone, car seats? We pray a lot! Lol

The drive to House of Grace is really interesting.  

It's lush and green with tall skinny tropical trees, bamboo, ferns, and big elephant ear type plants. 

The Meridian in the highways had flowers, mostly hibiscus, the whole way. 

Every once in a while the lush tropics would open up to farm land. 

Mostly rice patties but there were small patches of other crops. 

-The cool thing was that the farmers were out on the land. They had their conical hats on (which are the cone shaped sun hats) Their water Buffalo were in the fields too! I wish we could have gotten a close up picture.  But still, it was very cool to see. 

As we arrived in her town I was both excited a nervous. Iris is so newly ours and doesn't totally like us that I wasn't sure she would want to leave with us. 

We were let in through the orphanage gates and then again into House of Grace's gates. 

We were welcomed with smiles and hugs from the foster home owner, Sandra.

The foster home is part of the regular orphanage. I think there's 20 children in their care. 

The preschools children were sitting on a couch listening to music when we got there. Their beautiful brown eyes stared at us in curiosity.  We touched their hands and rubbed their arms but they were too scared for us to hold.  Oh my goodness! Such preciousness all in one little couch. 

One little girl really liked the girls. She kept shaking their hands and the girls giggles at her cuteness. 

The smaller children were eating lunch and the babies were playing on the floor.

 

We toured the facilities and saw our baby girls metal crib.  I couldn't help but cry. I know she's had awesome care at house of grace but friends it's just not a family. 

These kids lives are on pause. They need families. 

There was a brand new baby in the home. It was two days old. It was heart wrenching! 

We then brought the kids with families into the office and we were able to give them the gifts that their families had sent. 

We told them each that they were loved and that their families were coming. 

I can't wait to see how these babies will change in their families! 

Leaving the orphanage was hard to do. 

I already wish I could go back. 

There's rooms on site where vollenteers can come stay and help. Someday, I'm coming back to do just that. 

If anyone else would like to let me know and I can give you details. Sandra says they'd gladly take help from adults or older teens. 

We thanked Iris' nanny for taking care of her and asked for a picture with her. It wasn't my plan but Iris was scooped out of my arms by the nanny for the picture. 

I'm pretty sure I was holding my breath the whole time the nanny had her. But Iris reached for me! I was so glad. 

As we left House of Grace I noticed this on the wall. 

It was made by one of the vollenteers and it says, 

"Beautiful flowers grow in this garden. They are all unique and special. They are all growing and blooming a bit more each day." How fitting for my Iris. 

After we left, Iris was really fussy and she pretty much stayed that way. 

We were then taken to lunch by the regular orphanage directors' assistant. 

It was a nice lunch and I was happy to see they brought food back to the orphanage for the kids. 

We shopped for a suvenier from her home town. Yang Chun has a lot of mining. There's quite a bit of agate and Malachite found there. If I understand right Peacock rock is only found in YangChun. 

We drove a long time into very rural part of China. It had Monolith type hills sticking up across the land. At one point our guide got out to ask directions. 

I asked her, "Our we lost?"

She giggled and said "Yes" 

Haha... But she didn't seem worried and we drove on. 

We ended up in a tiny little village. 

We found the spot where Iris birth family left her and this is where I become vague. This is only for her! It's such a sacred spot and it just doesn't need to be shared. I would never want Chu or Iris to go to school and have another child say that they heard they were left by ect... Ect... Can you imagine what hurt that would cause? 

After we left there we headed for home. 

Poor Iris squirmed, cried, and moaned, most of the way back. At one point I looked at Shane and said she needs a blessing. A blessing is a special prayer given by a priesthood holder. 

Shane gave her a sweet blessing and within ten minutes she calmed down and was able to relax. 

 

It was the first time she has slept in my arms.  Don't mind the scary momma. 

I went to bed with the strangest feeling in my heart. It's like it's shouting at me! The world is not alright!  Sweet friends, these babies need families. They need vollenteers. They need donations. House of Grace is one of the better places for an orphan to live. Sandra king loves these babies and they will know Christ's love. It was so much better then Chu's orphanage. But still... It's just not a family! And this is just one place! 

There are 1,000's of orphanages in China. Millions of orphans! 

They need us spoiled rotten Americans to forget about our expensive cars and expensive clothes. Do you know how stupid we are when we think each of our children need their own rooms? 

I think about how hard I thought it was to switch kids around and I think, gosh lacy! Your so stinking spoiled!  

I can do more can you?