Foster Home day 1

Again, sorry for the lack of photos but it's too hard to post them. here's Eli and Cooper cleaning cribs.


So, today was day one in the foster home. We are officially off vacation and working hard. There is lots to be done. Today the boys cleaned cribs and cupboards while Kelly and I hung out in the laundry room. It felt a lot like home. With 35 kids you can imagine the laundry. We also organized all the shelves where they keep the clothes. We had some time to play with the kids. I really love this foster home because the kids have a lot of freedom to move around. There are two large playgrounds where the kids can play or they are free to go in the laundry room or the kitchen which makes it feel like a real home experience. The kids are all in excellent health. All of them have special needs but they have all had corrective surgeries for things like heart conditions, anal atresia (like Lily and Jack), or cleft lips. Still, there is no substitute for a family. Many of them are already matched with their families and all 35 kids in the home will be adopted which makes this a happy place.

I had lots of thoughts running through my mind today. One thought is amazement that there are such wonderful earthly angels watching out for these kids. The other thought is I am still blown away that two of my kids started their lives in China and somehow ended up in our family.

Lily seems to be handling being in the orphanage pretty well. It is so foreign from her life. She has done great with the kids, loving them and playing with them. I have been amazed by her ability to really live in the moment while we are here. We are in such a great environment where the kids are loved that it makes it easy for her to be nurturing since the kids are so receptive. She insisted on downloading a Chinese language app for my iPad and she's working on her Chinese. At times she has been clingy to me but that was more so in Beijing. Her in xian, at the foster home she is independent and totally engaged with the kids. She also loves the director, Naomi, who literally dropped everything and moved from Beijing to take over the operations when Amanda, the amazing director and founder of Starfish was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year.

Since today was Sunday, we worked all day and then in the early evening under the direction of Bishop Tony we had church in our room that we are all sleeping in. We were able to take the sacrament and the kids all prepared talks. It was a simple, moving meeting and one we'll always remember.

After our little church we walked down the street and around the corner to a little local restaurant. The prices are so cheap and the food is so good. The foster home is right by an old folks home so i took the kida on a walk they had an outdoor exercise park like the one we lived in Guangzhou and we had a great time playing on it. The kids all go to bed early so that means we do too.

All in all a great day one and we get to do it all over again tomorrow.

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