Wheels down, Start Sprinting.

Hellloooooo!

Wow, wow, wow! So, as I'm sure you all know, it's been a while since my last post. It's been a very busy time since my arrival back here in China. Despite the craziness, the big take away from that sentence is that, I'M BACK IN CHINA!! YAY!!
I've officially been home for 2 weeks today, and It's sooooo good to be back: back with the cutest and most adorable kids in all of China (I'm biased - i know), back with my awesome co-workers, and of course back with my sidekick Zai! From the day I got back until now, it's really been a sprint and playing "catch up" but I have NO complaints! Have I been insanely busy? Yes, but I love what I do, where I do it and the people with whom I get to do it with - I'm so blessed.

Ok, so in case you're wondering...here's what's been going on...

Cathy

1. Therapy.
Things could not be going any better! ....well, ok, they could be, but currently things are great! We have had several of our therapy kids get adopted this year that our number of enrollment are down - which can be seen as a good thing. Overall the kids are doing great and making lots of positive progress. Two of my favorite stories of therapeutic progress are: Cathy and Max.
Cathy is a very delicate little girl that has a pretty severe developmental delay. Cathy has been enrolled in our program for over a year and has made very little progress. So many times I've wondered if I should give her a "break" from therapy thinking it may help her, but something deep down told me to stay the course with her....and we did just that. The day after my return to China, I headed over to the therapy clinic to check in and see how things were going. Cathy was there in her treatment session. She was sitting on the rocking horse....propelling herself and rocking back and forth and GIGGLING! Now, to you this may seem like nothing, but for Cathy this is HUGE! This was the first time in over a year I had seen her initiate an action, the first time I had ever seen her smile let alone laugh! My heart melted! She's such a precious little girl that has begun to make amazing developmental and social progress. I am so grateful and thankful for Cathy and all that God is doing in her life.

Max

Next we have Max. Max is a very energetic and outgoing kid. He loves hugs, sunglasses, and music. He was born with a condition that left him without a sternum (the bone in the center of your chest that your ribs connect to), which affects his breath control when speaking. Although he's extremely verbal, most of what comes out are not words, rather just sounds. The day I returned to therapy, Max was in session practicing his verbal and enunciation skills and his sign language. Usually we have the kids verbalize the word and do the sign that goes with it. This particular day, Max was working on "activities", in the clearest pronunciation I've ever hear from him he said, "wō yào wán qiú" which means "I want to play ball". My jaw just about hit the floor, for the first time ever, he was able to clearly enunciate and pronounce not only 1 word, but a whole sentence! It was AWESOMMMMEE! I'm so proud of Max and all the hard work he's been doing.
These are just 2 of my favorite stories of progress...I have at least 16 others...so like I said I'm happy and very pleased with how things are going and we have lots more in store for this spring/ summer so stay tuned! :) Thank you Jesus!

2. Adoptions

Joy with her family!

YAY! One of the best and hardest parts of this job is seeing kids leave SFCV with their forever families! It's awesome! I will admit, there is a small part of me that's always sad to see the kids leave because I know that I will miss them dearly, but overall I'm ecstatic for them to be with the Mama and Baba that God has chosen for them! It's pretty awesome seeing these miracles happen. So far, 2016 has been an exceptional year for adoptions here at SFCV. As of today, we've had 7 kids be adopted this year and we have 1 more next week and hopefully lots more this summer, fall and winter!! God is so good and I'm so blessed to witness his love in these families and kids.

3. Interns

Emails, emails, emails, emails....you get the idea! haha In addition to running the therapy department, I've also started working in our Guest Relations department as the Internship Coordinator. It's a big job and at first I was greatly intimidated by it, but just as always, God in his awesome mercy has been giving me the daily grace and skills needed to get the job done. It's been a pretty fun ride thus far, I've gotten to meet several guests here at SFCV and hear their stories of how this place has impacted their lives. Right now, it's a lot of scheduling, emailing and communicating with our summer interns and guest, but sooner than I think the summer will be here and so will they! I'm most looking forward to working with the 18 Interns (+ or - a few) that will be coming to serve here at SFCV this summer. It's going to be different than in years past, but I'm so looking forward to all that God will do in the lives of these awesome young people who are sacrificing their summer to come and serve the orphans. I know God will be changing their lives this summer, as well as, mine! Can't wait...

4. Adjusting, rebooting, and figuring it all out...

There's a lot of adjusting when you leave one place and move back to foreign country. Jet lag always gets me for the first 4-5 days and then from there you're adjusting to schedules, responsibilities, living environments, etc.... It's been good, and I have NO complaints at all. I've truly been blessed to be where I am and doing what I'm doing, but it does take some time to adjust to. In this time, there are still a lot of logistics that need to be figured out, planed, rebooted, etc. I've been using this time to explore the doors that God's placed in front of me at this time and seek him about what's next and how to proceed. So far, so good!

I'm so happy to be HOME! Check out these little adorable faces I get to work with! :)