Itinerary for China- We Leave in NINE Days!

March 13- We leave for China. I'm going Little Rock to Newark, where I'll meet up with Beth, Melanie, and Andrea, who are flying in from Orlando. Then we're all flying from Newark to Beijing.

March 14- We land in China at 2 pm. Which is 1 am CST. We then go to the hotel, Holiday Inn Express, one of 5 in Beijing. Then we'll clean up, find food, and crash.

March 15- We're going to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall. Which is a different section than I went to last time (yays!). I went to Juyuyuan last time. We'll probably do a few other things, too, like a tea ceremony or something. Dinner with the sponsor of Dale Carnegie in Beijing. Beth, Melanie, and Andrea all have connections to Dale Carnegie.

March 16- Visiting the Olympic Village, Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City, as well as spend a few hours at the China Care Home in Beijing. Both Reese, and Beth's daughter, Zoe, were cared for by China Care in Shanxi.

March 17- Visiting New Day Creations Foster Home just outside Beijing. Then we'll fly from Beijing to Taiyuan, arriving in Taiyuan at about 9:30 pm. (about 8:30 am CST). A car ride through Taiyuan to the Shanxi Grand Hotel and then crash.

March 18- We go to buy supplies for the Taiyuan Social Welfare Institute (orphanage) where Reese was from. Then we'll go drop off the supplies and visit the orphanage. Reese was left by her birthmother at the gates of this orphanage.

March 19- Going on a 2.5 hour trip to Hong Tong in the southwest corner of Shanxi province. It's a village just a bit north on Linfen, the orphanage Zoe was from. We're going to take supplies there and spend most of the day there.

March 20- Today we're going to the ancient walled city of Pingyao, about 2 hours south of Taiyuan. We'll also take supplies to the local orphanage, Jinzhong, and visit as long as they'll let us.

March 21- Today we fly from Taiyuan to Beijing, and the Beijing to Newark. We leave Beijing at 4 pm (3 am CST), then I fly on to Dallas from Newark, and Beth, Melanie, and Andrea will fly back to Orlando. My parent will pick me up at Dallas.

China Care Foundation

I am sure many of you who know us have listened to us rave on and on about China Care.
This is because they are the wonderful foundation taking care of my baby sister. They have her in foster care in Taiyuan with a lovely family, that we know, at the very least has a mother, a grandmother, a young son (somewhere between 8-12, I'd say), and I think it's safe to assume a father, and there may be others. During the short time periods she hasn't been in foster care either in her current family or the one she was in in Beijing, she's been in the excellent care of one of the China Care homes, either in Beijing or Taiyuan. They have also funded her laser surgery treatments and the necessary surgeries and medications for her glaucoma.

China Care was founded by Matt Dalio at the age of 16. Matt is now a Harvard graduate and is still head of China Care. Since it's conception, China Care has expanded to having 4 Children's Homes:
The Beijing Children's Home is the medical hub for northern China projects. Children are sent here to receive medical treatment and then, when well, are returned to their original Children's Home. The Beijing Home can care for 28 children, as well as 6 infants in the Special Care Unit.
The Taiyuan Home is located in Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi province, and receives children from all over Shanxi. The Home is divided into two facilities, which can each care for 12 to 15 children at a time.
The Baotao Children's Home is located in a medium sized industrial town in Inner Mongolia and receives children from nearby orphanages. Currently, this home can handle 12 to 15 children, with plans to double it's occupancy capabilities soon.
The Dong Guan True Children's Home is located in the southern city of Dong Guan in Guangdong province and is the medical hub for southern China projects. This Home was opened in February 2006 thanks to the support of Alan and Twila True. It has a current capacity of 12 to 15 children and accepts children from all over southern China.

Only smaller, simpler procedures are done in local hospitals. Most procedures are complex enough that the children are sent to the Beijing Home for medical care at Beijing's hospitals, or to Dong Guan. The Medical Program staff in each place takes the place of a parent in caring for the child at the hospital and after until they are recovered. Currently, they are raising funds for several surgeries, including: 10 cleft surgeries, 3 shunt surgeries, 2 heart surgeries, and 3 surgeries to remove meningoceles from Spina Bfida kids.

They have an excellent foster care program, and, like many groups, children are placed and kept in foster care through sponsorships. We are fortunate because we know one of Reese's sponsors, Stacey S. in Washington, who also has a daughter adopted from China with port-wine stain. Sponsors give China Care the necessary funds to place children in foster home, which is a much preferable setting to an orphanage and allows for space in the Children's Homes for children who need more specialized and professional care than a foster family could provide. Currently, they have 4 children posted on the website who are in need of sponsorship. A 7 month old with a heart defect, a 13 month old with cleft lip/cleft palate (cl/cp), an 18 month old little girl with visual impairment, and another 7 month old with cl/cp. Have a look at them on the Sponsor a Foster Child page.

China Care also helps the children left in the orphanages, the children who are healthy and don't need medical assistance from China Care, as well as the less ill ones who can be cared for by orphanage staff. They provide the orphanages with formula, diapers, trained foster families, and renovations to the orphanage itself.

They also have a Financial Aid Program for families adopting from China. Most commonly grants (or low interest loans) are given for amounts ranging from $2000 to $4000, depending on the financial situation of the family and need.

China Care has an awesome Volunteer Program. They have a summer volunteer program and a non-summer program, and ask that you spend a minimum of 1 week at the Children's Home you are volunteering at.

China Care is also the reason we have like a bajillion pictures of Reese, from the time she was 2 months old, and we are soooo grateful. We have an opportunity most adoptive parents don't and that is to see Reese grow up, even though we weren't there behind the camera snapping the photos. It is an experience we couldn't have asked for and couldn't be more blessed to have. Thank you so much to the people at China Care for everything they have done for us, for Reese, and for so many other children.

Please visit their website: China Care Foundation