A Dollar of Great Joy

Every day in Fuzhou is different and amazing. I love living completely immersed in Chinese culture. I connect with the kids more and more each day. Today, as I was holding and rocking GC on the floor of the play room and staring into her beautiful almond eyes, the quote from Fault in our stars came to mind. "We fell in love like you fall asleep: slowly and then all at once." That's how I feel about these babies on my floor. I got to really connect with GC today and she showed me just how incredibly smart she is. I'm still not sure on her diagnosis but I feel like it's something with therapy she could overcome. She doesn't speak words or walk but she scoots around on the carpet and knows sign language in English and Chinese. I learned she knows colors in sign today too. I really wish I knew more ASL to see what else she knows. Shyla says she is in her class at school and she knows animals, letters, and more. It's just amazing how these kids are essentially learning 3 languages at once. I love how they teach these kids every thing you can think of and more. One of the girls said, "whatever they can learn, we'll teach them." And that's so true! I want to see GA, as well, find a family more than words can say. That girl is so incredibly sweet. I know she's bright too. If she had a family who knew how to care for a child with downs, she would thrive in unspeakable ways!

Another cool experience with the kids today happened this afternoon. Before I left for China, I got a letter in the mail with a $1 bill from my second cousin Lana Stewart. She wrote to me about this dollar that had blown into her yard many years ago, after a devastating tornado. She said that the dollar was sort of a symbol of great loss. She saved the dollar all these years to spend it on something that can bring great joy out of great devastation. So she mailed me that dollar to use in China and today I spent it. One of the little boys, BD, has limited eyesight but loves to look at light. I bought him a toy that lights up using the dollar. It is a fan that lights up and spins when you crank the handle. When I came back into the room after I bought it, he was laying on the ground next to the door, staring at the lights as usual. I sat down next to him and took his hands in mine. I put the toy in his hands and guided his fingers to show him how to work it. Once he got the hang of it and had it lighting up, he was so happy! He absolutely loves that thing! He just laughed and smiled and kicked his feet on the ground with excitement! I played with him for hours. He can do it himself, but he likes it when I do it. So, he would find my hand and put it on the fan for me to wind it. It was just such a cool and simple thing that brought him great joy. Thank you Lana for giving a little boy a light in the darkness.

On the tourist side of things, we are having a fun time with food... lol. Today, we went to the local market just for fun. It was 1 in the afternoon, right in the middle of rest time, (the whole country pretty much shuts down from 12-2 for naps and rest. I have happily joined and taken a nap everyday!) so the market didn't have much in it. There were 2 produce stands still open so we bought some tomatoes, grapes, and bananas for our breakfast. We went to the bigger store next door and got some more snacks. It's fun to try all the different stuff. We've kept it pretty safe though with snack cakes and chips. However, the worker girls in my room enjoy giving me food to try. That's one of the really cool things I love about Chinese culture; everyone is so generous with every little bit they have. A lady on the street yesterday gave me her umbrella. Anyways, Malia brought chicken feet for breakfast for me to try. So, let the record show that I have eaten chicken feet! It took a while to build up the courage to get close enough to it to take a bite. I closed my eyes and went for it. Honestly, it wasn't too bad. There's not much meat on it though. I took a couple bites and gave it back lol. So we buy stuff for our breakfast at the market but HTH provides our lunch and dinner. It's about the same everyday, but I like it. When I leave my kids room after they've eaten lunch, I stop by the kitchen in the main house to pick out our meal and take it back to the guest house. They prepare it in dishes for all of us at the guest house to share. The pictures below are from dinner tonight.

"Also pictured below is my new favorite drink, Fanta Watermelon! If they don't have it in the states, I may need it shipped home!"

Good night from Fuzhou