Archive for May, 2017

• Adoption Questions Part 3

  Date: 2017.05.22 | Category: Adoption, Elyse, Jasmine (Shuang Shuang), Jessica

  The girls and I have been talking a lot about what their days were like in China.  We decided to share their answers on the blog so others could understand what their days were like.  They want others to understand that these children need a family.  They need homes and love.  The greater the child’s disability the greater their need for someone to care for them.  All three girls of our girls were in wheelchairs and that plays into how they spent their days and how they were treated by others.  This post does NOT describe every child’s life in an orphanage, this is just our girl’s experiences.

  The following questions were answered by Jasmine (age 17 – adopted age 14), Elyse (age 11 – adopted age 9), and JJ (age 9 – adopted age 8).

  

  What time did you wake up every day? 

  Jasmine – We woke up at 7.  On Monday every week I would get up at 5 for a shower.

  Elyse – We woke up at 6.

  Jessica – I don’t know.  I never saw a clock.  It was light out.

  What did you eat for breakfast?

  Jasmine – We ate noodles every day for breakfast.

  Elyse – We didn’t have breakfast, only the babies ate bottles.

  Jessica – I didn’t eat breakfast.

  What did you eat for lunch?

  Jasmine – We had rice, tofu, meat, and green beans.

  Elyse – Sometimes we had soup or baby eggs, and rice.  We had veggies like bok choy and seaweed.  Sometimes special we had shrimp.

  Jessica –  I would eat soup with carrots and peas and wet rice (?).

  What did you eat for supper?

  Jasmine – We had pork every night with rice and seaweed soup and sausages.

  Elyse – Seaweed or tofu soup, congee, or rice.  Sometimes we would have meat – chicken or pork.

  Jessica – We would sometimes have chicken feet, pork, and soup.

  Were there ever any special treats?

  Jasmine – Chicken feet on New Year and Children’s Day.  Sometimes visitors brought crackers.

  Elyse – Chicken feet when my foster grandma visited.  Candy from visitors.

  Jessica – Visitors brought candy and crackers and weird milk.

  Did you ever have fruit?

  Jasmine – Bananas and apples for snack.  They would also let us have juice and the Chinese cracker.

  Elyse – Banana and apples and watermelon and sometimes mangoes.

  Jessica – Bananas and apples and oranges.

  What did you do during the day?

  Jasmine – Got up at 7, I wore the same clothes I slept in, breakfast was at 7:30, then I watched tv with everyone, sometimes I read to the kids and played with them, we would eat lunch at 12, watch more tv, take a nap at 1, snack at 3, watch more tv, then we eat dinner at 5, and watch more tv until 9 and then go to bed.   We were always in the same room except for sleeping.

  Elyse – I got up at 6, they put me on the toilet for a long, long time, then I would get up and help feed the babies, then back to the toilet,  I ate lunch on the toilet, and they would let me get up and feed the babies, put me back on the toilet, and I would eat supper on my little tiny table while on the toilet.  I would read books while sitting there.  It was so boring.   I would feed the babies before bed, change their diapers, and I would go to bed really late at night.  About once a week I would get to go to the school room and learn.  I like to learn.

  Jessica – I woke up when it was light outside.  I played with toys by myself.  I ate lunch.  I took a nap.  I watched tv. I ate supper.  I would play on my scooter and go around in circles.  I would go to bed when it was dark.

  Did you ever brush your teeth? 

  Jasmine – Once every 3 months or so.

  Elyse– Never brushed my teeth.

  Jessica – I never brushed my teeth.  I never ever see a toothbrush.

  What about clothes?

  Jasmine – I would wear the same clothes for one or two weeks.   The nannies always picked out my clothes.  If I asked to wear a dress the nannies would tell me that I don’t deserve a dress because I can’t walk.  I could wear nice clothes when someone was visiting.

  Elyse – I would wear the same clothes for close to a month.  I would still have to wear the same clothes if I got urine on them.  (Elyse is incontinent from spina bifida.)  I sometimes smelled so they made me sleep in the baby room but that was okay because I loved the babies.  The nannies said I can’t wear nice clothes because I can’t walk and I pee on my clothes because I have to wear a towel no diapers.  The nannies would pick the worst clothes for me unless someone was visiting and then I could wear nice clothes and as soon as the visitor left I would have to take it off and put on my dirty clothes again.

  Jessica – I changed my clothes when I got wet every day.  I wore yucky towels for diapers.   They hurt and was tied really tight.

  Did you play outside?

  Jasmine – No I could only sit at the window and watch the other kids play.  I wished I could play so much but I was upstairs and they couldn’t get me downstairs.   The boys would make fun of me for not going outside.

  Elyse – I wasn’t allowed to play outside with the other kids.  But it was okay because I got to take care of the babies.  Every time I looked at the babies I got upset because the nannies said they hate babies, but I love babies.  Who wouldn’t want a baby?  One time I took care of a baby a lot.  She was always happy with me but then she died because her head got too big.   I feel it was my job.  I liked my job.  The other girls thought the babies were yucky because they spit up and peed on them but that don’t bother me at all.

  Jessica – Sometimes for a little bit.

  What time did you go to bed?

  Jasmine – I went to bed at 9:30 because the nannies want to watch the tv.

  Elyse – I would go to bed sometimes late like 12:30.

  Jessica – I would go to bed when it was dark.

  Who did you share a room with?

  Jasmine – I shared the room with three other girls.

  Elyse – I shared the room with 20 babies.

  Jessica – The little kids.  There was lots of them.  They were little kids who couldn’t walk.

  Did you ever get to leave the orphanage?

  Jasmine – On Children’s Day every year we got to do fun stuff like go to the zoo, eat KFC, and go to a movie.

  Elyse – I never left the orphanage.

  Jessica – They tell me they would take me but they never did.

  Do you have any happy memories from the orphanage?

  Jasmine – I liked to play with the kids and read to them.

  Elyse – Taking care of the babies.  I loved the babies.

  Jessica – Feeding the babies bottle.

  What was the saddest thing for you?

  Jasmine – The nannies would hit me.  They would use a stick from the big apple in the box that China has.  They would sometimes tell me I was bad so I could not eat.  They would throw me on the bed and in the shower.  It was so scary because they would just throw me.  I didn’t want to take a shower.  Sometimes they make me sleep on the floor because they tell me I can get up myself but I can’t because I can’t move by myself.  When they would try to stretch my legs out to make me walk, but I couldn’t.  It really hurt.  When the kids and the nannies were really, really mean to me.

  Elyse –  When the baby died when I was holding it.  They baby just stopped breathing and the nanny took the baby away and brought in a different baby.  It was so very sad.  It made me so upset.  The baby’s head was just so big.   One time the nanny got mad at me and cut off the skin on my fingers.  She said I was going to tell the boss on her and she wanted to scare me.  When they would throw me on the toilet and on the bed and the bathtub.  I hated them throwing me down.  There is other really sad stuff I don’t want to talk about.

  Jessica – I hate the doctor!   I don’t like the nannies yelling at me.

  Did you have any friends?

  Jasmine – Liuli and JoLiy

  Elyse – Just the babies.

  Jessica – Yes, I can’t remember their names.

  Anything else you’d like to say?

  Jasmine – The nannies really didn’t like me at all.  They didn’t like taking care of me.  They always say I can walk and that I am just pretending so I can be lazy.   The nannies said people will never like me if I can’t walk.  They say I will never get married.  I am happy to have a family now.  I wish all the kids could have families.

  Elyse – The nannies tried to stretch out my legs.  They try and try to stretch them out.  (Elyse has contractures on both legs but she has no feeling in her legs.)   Orphanage life is not good for kids.  I wish I could change the world and I would pick that no babies would die or that there would be no evil people to hurt other people.

  Jessica – Orphanages are bad.  The worst place with ugly pink bathtubs and bad doctors.

   

  “Once our eyes are opened we cannot pretend we do not know what to do. God, who weighs our hearts and keeps our souls, knows we know and holds us responsible to act.” Proverbs 24:12

   

   

   

   

   

• For Life: He Makes Things Beautiful

  Date: 2017.05.14 | Category: Uncategorized

  I am honored to have been able to share a little of our story on No Hands But Ours today…

  For Life: He Makes Things Beautiful