Day One at the Worksite

We spent today out at the worksite.  The new goal is to move the babies on Dec. 1.  There is a lot of work that needs to be done.  We are a bit discouraged.  Today we swept a large dusty room (without dusk masks) and removed nails and lose plaster from the walls.  The Chinese work crew plastered the walls in another part of the building.  Many unassembled IKEA cabinets are on-site but they can not be assembled until the floors are in.  The window casings are installed but the actual window have not been installed.  All the rooms will have drop ceilings - those will be installed after we paint.

We hope to begin painting next week and I will help Amanda pick out paint for the entire building. This is a little scary for me since I always work with a designer at home.... Since there is no electrical in the walls (concrete block covered with plaster), once the final coat of plaster has been sanded, we can start painting.  It seems strange to us that we will be painting at this stage of re-construction.

Getting to the worksite is not very easy.  We took a taxi in the morning and two buses and one taxi to return.  It is actually a three bus trip - the least expensive way to travel - but a taxi drove by before the final bus came so we took it instead of waiting for the bus.  Again, this is a bit discouraging as it takes a lot of time and concentration (ALL the streets look the same to us).

We will likely split up next week and I will stay back at the current foster home apartment with Jake while Glenn and Ryan travel alone to the work site.  They are short volunteers and there are four very sick babies who need to be held constantly.  At least one of them is crying at all times…..Again, this is very discouraging and not what we had planned. 

We are having a hard time with the food and living in a volunteer apartment with so many other people and sick babies.  It is total chaos until 7pm when the babies are moved to the upstairs apartment for the night. Ryan told me today that 7pm is his favorite part of the day:( The babies return again at 7am.  Today there were only two Dutch girls to care for all four babies.  Amanda hired a couple additional nannies to help (clean and hold babies).

I don’t want to sound discouraging but is it very difficult.  We were hoping to travel to a panda sanctuary tomorrow but just learned there is going to be a “demonstration” in Xi’an and it is recommended that no one be on the streets.  Please pray that we survive a whole day in the apartment.

On the bright side, I will be able to get Jake back on a schedule tomorrow and he will have lots of kids to play with.  We ended up taking him with us today because we did not want to leave him.  We can also order food to be delivered to the apartment.  While no work will be done by the American crew (Josh (the contractor), Glenn, Ryan, me and another volunteer named Bill who is able to help one day per week), work at the foster home NEVER ends.  I do not know how they do it day in and day out. I know, without a doubt, I could not do it every day.

We have heard some stories about the babies and how some of them came to be here.  Again, it is heartbreaking and incomprehensible. If you have a chance, go to the Starfish website and look at the pictures of Celine, Zander, Joy, and Lexie.

We are questioning what difference it makes that WE are here given the fact that the need is so much bigger than what our family of four can affect. It is not easy and it is not natural for us to live this way (buses, shared living space, un-identifiable food, strange bathrooms, living out of a suitcase, etc.). It certainly would have been much easier to just send money - but, I really didn't (and still don't) get the feeling that is what He wanted us to do.  If this was a lesson in obedience, it sure would have been easier if we could have been obedient from the comfort of our own home.

Ryan at Shepherd's Field

Ryan and Jake on the train to Xi'an

Amazing Hands

Jake at Amazing Hands - he did not recognize anyone