Shanghai Advocacy Camp Day One!

What a day the first day of our trip to Shanghai was!!

I honestly didn't know what to expect.  All we knew was we'd be spending the day getting to know around ten children and of these, two have thalassemia and have been listed with Gladney.  I'd asked for the opportunity to meet all the children with thalassemia since I have such a heart for these kids and desire to see them find families.  Of course, no promises could be made on this and I had no idea if I'd get to meet only those two or the others....

I was in shock when I was handed the list.  He told me they had agreed to send ALL the kids with thalassemia over to spend the day with us.  I was so excited I hugged Mr. Wu and told him I promised I would find a family for all of them!!! (Sure it was dramatic, but I was crazy excited and I did mean it!  These are amazing kids!!)  We met and spent the day with over 16 kids on this day.

 This little girl caught my eye the second we walked in the room.  She was sitting in a chair so quietly and patiently.  I immediately thought she was one of "my" thal babies and sure enough she was!!

And then there were more thal sweeties!!!  This little boy in blue is so funny and played for hours.  The little girl in red was quiet at first, but came out of her shell quickly.  She excitedly picked out a hairbow with the other girls and wore it around proudly.  She also was very excited to get a set of Lego Friends to play with.  Once she set it up, she pulled it apart so that it could go into the box.  I noticed it became her little treasure, she was determined that it was hers and she'd be taking it with her.  When her bow kept falling out, into the "treasure box" it went so she could make sure it went with her too!

 

This awesome girl is currently on Gladney's Designated list and her name is Hope.  She is such a special girl.  She loved drawing pictures and singing with our little Frozen songs music player.  She also pulled out some crazy good dance moves and followed every bit of the moves in some dances we did!

This girl... She has thalassemia and is just SO AWESOME!!!  She's 8 years old and we are hoping she will have paperwork ready to go soon so that she can be adopted.  I adored her!!  She was just so smart and funny.  She always had a smile.

I actually recognized this boy from prior advocacy.  This is a dinosaur drawing that he did with us and then he showed it off to everyone.  He and I played balloon toss (and kick) for a while!!  He's just a typical boy!!

These two boys had so much fun.  The boy in the brown is Hunter and he is on Gladney's Designated List.  He is eligible for adoption and waiting for a family!  The boy on the right has been advocated for many years as "Emery".  It seems he may have a family ready to commit to him which is so awesome!  He also has thalassemia!!

 I enjoyed EVERY SECOND of this time!!  This is when I was doing art with the girls!!  The girl on the right is also on Gladney's designated list now listed as Haley.  She seemed very smart and had so much fun with us.

And this boy is Jack!  Is it okay to say he's my favorite??? He speaks fluent English!!!  And because I could understand him, I could also understand just how funny he is!!  At one point he was playing with another advocate and pretended he was going to drop water into his nose.  Then he told her "I'm just kidding!  I'm not an elephant!!"  He has low vision but he can see well enough to navigate the world on his own and he can see when he puts things up close to him in just the right spot.  He was so fun and I am determined to find him a family!!  He has a video on Gladney's facebook page.  Oh, such an awesome boy!!

There were so many more, but I've learned that readers will only read so much!!  So I'll share more soon about the other kids we met.

This day was a dream coming to life for me.  God has placed such a burden on my heart for the orphan.  Jesus spent his ministry loving on the last and the least.  This is his heart guys!!  I hear so many people say they've considered adopting.  Just go for it!!!  I know it can seem overwhelming but it's not.  You just take one step at a time until one day your child comes home for you to show the love of a family.  These kids need families!!  No orphanage, no matter how nice or loving, can replace the most basic need of these children.  They NEED families!!!

So much more to share soon.  If you are a Christian can I just encourage you to pick one of the kids I meet over this week and start praying for them?  Every child should have someone interceding for them daily.  We all pray for our kids, but these kids have no one praying for them and we know that prayer does make a difference.

Thanks for following along on the trip!  More stories from China soon!!! :)