If You Would Like To Sponsor A Baby~

If you would like to sponsor a baby please contact Kimberley at timnkim@gmail.com
Please tell her which baby or babies you would like to sponsor and for what amount. She will have a picture and a sponsor sidebar link sent to you. She also will instruct you as to how to make your monthly donations.
If you would like to make a one time donation, simply click the Pink Starfish Link on the sidebar. It will take you to GroundSpring where you can make your on-line donation.
Thank you and may God bless you and may God bless the children.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

A Fulfilled Dream


Ever since I started the foster home, I was fascinated with the idea of arranging an opportunity for surgeons to come to China with a medical  team and help the babies.  My very first medical mission was at one of the fanciest hospital in China, the Shanghai United and I was there when Dr Lazareff and his team did 13 Spina Bifida surgeries in December 2005.  I was so impressed that he would leave the US and come to China and help children that he often never heard of again.

This dream stayed in the background while I traveled often to go with the children from Starfish to find doctors on medical missions. I watched and learned, hoping  that one day I would get a chance to do something like this.  I asked everyone I knew and was repeatedly told to give up, that it could not be done.  I had the idea of doing surgeries in Xian and after 16 months,  the answer was still: It is not possible.  One day I was asked to see about an orthopedic mission and called the only person whom I thought could help, the director of the Xian Red Cross hospital, who had offered free surgery a few months earlier to one of my babies.  He had said to contact him if I found a medical team. It was a shot in the dark.  He graciously agreed to see us.  At the end of the conversation I could see that the whole idea that the team was proposing was not going to happen.  I asked if he knew other hospitals that would be interested.  I got on the phone and called the director of the biggest children's hospital in Xian.  We were driven over there and in an hour we got in touch with everyone who could make a decision at Xian Children's Hospital (XCH).  They told us that they were eager to help us, and it gave me so much hope that they wanted to have medical teams come often.

A few weeks later we submitted our Dutch medical team's dates and what they were planning to do and soon we had their medical requirements to issue licenses to operate in China.  XCH were so extremely generous in the hospital fees and asked a fraction of the usual costs.  I extend my most grateful thanks to the XCH and the doctors and staff who worked with us.  We made history!  In the 80 years the hospital had existed they had never had a foreign medical team.

We had everything ready in China but never did we expect that volcano erupting.  It grounded the whole medical team and caused a week long wait and cut the time in half, and we helped less babies than we wanted. The upside was that the medical team was on TV and that helped to get them seated on a flight to China sooner. However, eight babies had their lives changes and that was worth everything. Dr Johan also looked at David and made some recommendations for his care in the future, and he later went back to Guiyang, but not before we had all fallen in love with him. He is already tri-lingual (Mandarin, English and Dutch), as his foster family is Dutch.  We also found a boy with a cleft who needed surgery but his parents did not abandon him.  The doctors found a previously undiagnosed heart condition that needs to be taken care of first. I feel that if we could offer some care and information right after birth that so many of the children will not be abandoned.

My most grateful thanks to Dr Johan Verhof, Dr Hing Gwan Kho, Astrid Paauwen, Elise van Haalen for their superb effort in helping the children.  I got to watch them in action and I have to say I covet their skills, especially since I think I would be very happy to do something similar.  I just loved watching Dr.Johan transform a baby's face.  A great gift that will stay with the children through their lives.

I also have to thank Elsie and Tineke from Care 4 Tina Foundation, who raised the money for this medical trip when they were in Holland. They worked so hard on that and have had so many creative ideas that they have still to execute, that there will be even more funds for the babies. They both feel so passionate about this and it is wonderful to see what a difference they can make.

The result of the medical mission: Eight babies got surgery, the Dutch and the Chinese formed wonderful new relationships, Elise and Tineke are working on getting two doctors invited to Holland for a trip to learn more about special techniques for cleft palate surgery.  It would seem that the Dutch medical team plans to come back again next year.   As for me, I fulfilled a dream.  I am working on more medical missions, three teams before the end of the year, if everything goes well.  Organizing a medical mission check that, a dream fulfilled.

Life, love and laughter,
Amanda

Starfish Children's Services
US Tax Number:  20-4682916
Xian China

At Starfish, we have taken care of 106 children to date, arranged more than 80 surgeries and had 30 international adoptions, so our little starfishes live all over the globe: the US, Netherlands, Norway, France, Spain and in China.  Our latest four adoptions took place in two weeks in Mat 2010 and we now have babies in three new places: Sweden, Denmark and Canada and a new US state, Georgia.  We currently have 47 babies under the age of 3 in two foster homes. We have ten babies matched and we are waiting for their families to come and get them.  Starfish just recently did our fist medical mission, in cooperation with a team from Holland and the Xian Children's Hospital. Eight babies had cleft surgeries.

www.thestarfishfosterhome.org
http://chinesestarfish.blogspot.com
http://chinesestarfishcleft.blogspot.com
New email: throwingstarfish0913@gmail.com














Saturday, May 22, 2010

Adoption 28 Tim: Denmark

As I have mentioned before I was sure that Tim and Bryan were going to Europe because there was no information at all.  No even a rumor.

The surprise on May 4th was the country:  Denmark.  Our first baby to go to Denmark.  The cute thing was when the nine cleft babies first arrived there was a Danish volunteer that came almost everyday to help.  I like the idea that we honored Marianne for all her heard work.  Tim whose named was changed to Kristian is his parents first child. They wanted to pronounce his name Kris.ti.an so the an would be said like the an for Xi'an.   If I remember correctly, they said they had been waiting for 3 and a half years.  They did not have any information and were so surprised to see that he was so big.  They had a picture when he was seven months old and weighed 7 kg.  I was surprised to read that because when he came to Starfish he was only 5 kg at 10 months.  He was so small but the great thing is he could drink milk well in spite of his double cleft.  He figured out how to chew on the nipple and that would squirt milk into his mouth.


Tim with chicken pox


Tim and Marianne




Tim and the biggest snot bubble EVER



He soon got the hang of drinking so much milk and started to pick up tons of weight. In no time he was hitting one developmental stage after another.  I think the cutest thing to see was how he and Bryan could make each other laugh.  They slept in the same crib until they grew too big.  I think when the families do not come to Starfish not only do they miss out on seeing the relationship with the nannies but they also miss out on the friendships their children have with the other kids. The two boys also played so well with Antonia.

We struggled to get Tim's cleft repaired and often we would be ready to go for surgery and then something would happen and we would                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         need to postpone it.  In November 2009, Dr Lisa Buckmiller was able to repair the double cleft.  Tim had a really hard time healing, he looked so much better after wards.




I am so glad that the three older ones were adopted so close to each other because they would have missed each other I am sure. He is already back in Denmark with his family and he looks happy and is adjusting well to his new environment.
 
Life, love and laughter,
Amanda

Starfish Children's Services
US Tax Number:  20-4682916
Xian China


At Starfish, we have taken care of 106 children to date, arranged more than 80 surgeries and had 30 international adoptions, so our little starfishes live all over the globe: the US, Netherlands, Norway, France, Spain,  and in China.  Our latest four adoptions took place in two weeks and we now have babies in three new places: Sweden, Denmark and Canada and a new US state, Georgia.  We currently have 48 babies under the age of 3 and two foster homes. We have ten babies matched and we are waiting for their families to come and get them.

www.thestarfishfosterhome.org
http://chinesestarfish.blogspot.com
http://chinesestarfishcleft.blogspot.com
New emailthrowingstarfish0913@gmail.com
Cell: 86.1348.812.4847

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

An unexpected endorsement


It is amazing what a day can bring. I got a surprise email to tell me that Perez Hilton, often visited gossip columnist, has highlighted Starfish as a worthwhile cause on May 17th.  It is the kind of exposure that money cannot buy, since there is so much traffic on his site.  
As my friend Cindy said:  "We are not the target audience of Perez Hilton -- but he is a "Celebrity Dish" blogger who is very popular among the chic, trendy,  20 something-ers ."  None the less, I am grateful for his endorsement.  I love the fact that people from all walks of life come together with one goal:   Help the children of China and make a difference.  


Life, love and laughter,
Amanda 


Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Adoption 27 BRYAN

It has been a while since I wrote much and I am going to repent and update you on some of the wonderful things that has been happening at Starfish.

In February 2009, we took on 9 babies all with cleft palates.  On April 24th our first baby from that group got adopted.  After a long silence I predicted that both Bryan and Tim would go to Europe and I was right.  When there are these long silences then I know it is the Europeans, who have no idea that I exist and who are not allowed to have anything to do with the orphanages. I have to make a special note to exclude the Dutch from that group. It is usually a massive surprise for the families that a place like Starfish even exists.

We got word a few days before Bryan was adopted that he was leaving and I scrambled to get all this paperwork done. He was so sad to say goodbye to his nanny.  We had a hard time on the first floor because it was the fist adoption and it was so emotional for the nannies, who cried a lot. After about five minutes, he just sat on my lap and looked out the window.  At the adoption office his parents were waiting. They were a little older and Bryan was their first child.  They had been waiting for four years for him and came from Sweden to get him. The come from a small town called Mora.  Bryan handled it really well and I told him that this was his mom and dad.  He sat with his mom and just looked at her. I was so amused to learn that they were going to call him Tim.  At the foster home his best friend is Tim and Antonia.

I was thinking that our next adoptions would be on May 10th and then in a surprise telephone call another one of our babies got adopted.

Life, love and laughter,
Amanda

Starfish Children's Services
US Tax Number:  20-4682916
Xian China


At Starfish, we have taken care of 106 children to date, arranged more than 74 surgeries and had 27 international adoptions, so our little starfishes live all over the globe: the US, Netherlands, Norway, France, Spain and in China.  Our latest adoption was to Sweden and we are waiting for another two adoptions on May 10th.  We currently have 51 babies under the age of 3 and a half at two foster homes. We have six babies matched and we are waiting for their families to come and get them.

www.thestarfishfosterhome.org
http://chinesestarfish.blogspot.com
http://chinesestarfishcleft.blogspot.com
New email: 
throwingstarfish0913@gmail.com
Cell: 86.1348.812.4847
Bryan

Bryan

Bryan and Tim

Nick, Bryan and Antonia