May and June in Shenyang

Dear Friends,

Even though Children’s Day is officially June 1, the whole month and even starting in the month of May seems to experience an increase of visitors to our kids at the orphanage!  Fortunately, the weather cooperated and many of the little kids were able to enjoy going outside in the sunshine to play.  This is very special for them since it takes extra visitors to accommodate our kids who need to be transported mostly by wheelchairs or strollers.  We are blessed by having an elevator but there are still some “speed bumps” along the way since they have to be lifted over the thresholds at the outside doors. 

Since Children’s Day is the major holiday at the whole orphanage, special visitors are invited to participate in the celebration that has been prepared and practiced for for several months!  One of the performances included our “old” youth so Migyeong and I couldn’t wait to see THAT!  We were met on our way to the theatre by MeiMei and HuaJing who was a featured dancer!  Because we are so busy with our own little kids, we don’t have much of a chance to visit the youth so it was a treat to see them!

It turned out to be the season for catching up with members of our old and special to us “youth”.  Another meeting was made possible when we discovered where some of the “boy” youth had been moved.  With the help of Wu Laoshi, we drove over to the adult facility several miles into west Shenyang and then climbed up the five floors to FINALLY be able to visit with MaBing, DongDong, CaoWu and finally HuaChe from our original group of ten young men.  We were pleased to find them looking healthy and fairly happy.  Imagine our surprise when we found MengMeng among the group!  He was part of our original group of 30 kids in 1998 but we had lost track of him for many years.

Several days later we joined Wu laoshi again for the three hour drive to visit LiNa and her new baby son!  One of the other girls at the orphanage had sort of arranged LiNa’s wedding to a young man who lives out in the countryside with his parents and near his brother who is due to have a baby of his own shortly!  Even though we ended up getting lost, we were rescued by LiNa’s husband who came to us and led us to his home.  He and his parents are SO proud of the new addition to the family!  We had a nice reunion and lunch prepared by LiNa and then a pleasant drive back to Shenyang! 

There is a special group of ladies that have had had a huge impact on our kids: a group of international ladies who have taken advantage of living in Shenyang to volunteer to help our kids on a regular basis.  Throughout the year, they help with the feeding of the kids and many other things.  I would like to mention one volunteer that we would have had a hard time doing without lately.  Her name is Karen and she is a nurse from Canada.  She has been able to step in and ply her trade as a nurse in the case of ZhiChun, for example who needed after care for his surgery on an ingrown toenail and even before the surgery to take care of the infection that was preventing the surgery from being safe to do!  On another occasion, MingYuan was diagnosed with psoriasis, a skin disease that was making him miserable!  She not only found the appropriate medicine but after applying it made sure that the caregivers and Migyeong could continue applying it as long as necessary!  We have to say “Thank God” for our foreign volunteers and the various expertise they bring with them but primarily for their sweet hearts toward out handicapped kids that benefit from every minute spent with them by a loving person!

Love,
Migyeong and Elaine

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