Cotton Candy and Whipped Cream

I didn't come to China thinking working in an orphanage with be cotton candy and whipped cream. I came preparing myself for difficulties. One thing I didn't prepare myself for was little Mutong. Mutong and I have become very attached to each other in this short week I've been here. He is not happy when I'm around unless he's in my arms. If he cries, he stops almost the instant I hold him. Mutong is inoperable here in China. The hope was that someone in the states would want to adopt him and he could get heart surgery in the US. Unfortunately, when someone pulled his file in the US and submitted it to a doctor, the agreement was that he is completely inoperable. His heart just has too many problems. It's now that I try to face the reality that his chances for adoption are very small and he will live out his short days in another orphanage with palitable care since this one is not set up for the death of a child. My heart is so broken and I am beyond sad for my little friend.I couldn't bear to ask how long he will stay here before that happns. I pray so hard for a miracle to take place, but I know I can only ask the Lord to let Mutong feel my love and accept His will whatever it may be. Mutong was born without a family and I can't bear to think of him never getting one. He is my little buddy! I love him! The world is such a harsh place. We are so blessed to have the families and homes that we do. Please don't take it for granted. I know I shouldn't, but I feel guilty that I was born with so much and he was born with so little. I wish I could give him all the good things in this world.

Now, to restore my faith in humanity, I will only talk about good things. The other children here all have more hope for families. 3 babies have families waiting for paperwork to be completed. Daniel leaves for America and his new family this month. Midst all the sadness, there is so much joy, laughter, and hugs.The babies make any sadness melt away.

There is one little girl, Ruth (Xiao Wu), Kendra and I call The Police because she runs around telling everyone what to do and where to put things. She doesn't speak words, but there is a distinct sound when she is bossing someone around.If one of the kids takes off their socks, she picks them up and begins telling people to put the socks back on. She thinks she runs the place and it's so funny!

Fact: McDonald's is just better in China. I'm not saying the quality is better, because it's not. It's actually probably worse, but it's like a comfort when you are thinking of home to go eat a Big Mac even if you never ate Big Mac's in the US before. There is something about the lettuce and cheese that you don't see anywhere else in China that just screams, "I'm AMERICAN!"  Their McFlurries are DEFINITELY better than McFlurries in the US though. If you make it to China soon, try one.

I told you last time that we hang out at that bakery. I'm starting to feel a little embarrassed about it. It's either spend two hours getting into the city or spend 20 minutes to stare at boys decorate cakes. We of course choose the latter. The guys decorating cakes notice us more than other people since we are white and act like we've never seen a cake decorated. We basically commentate and critique the cakes. They can't hear us so that's good. Sometimes, it's amazing what they do with chocolate shavings and my favorite is when they make a rose out of frosting. Cake decorating is probably my favorite form of art since I think it's the only kind I could possibly be decent at. I loved working at a bakery in a grocery store. I started learning how to decorate cakes and that was SO much fun! I should pick that up. Better yet. I'll become friends with one of them and have them teach me their tricks.

One way you know you're in China is when you feel like you totally made someone's day because you waved at them. On the bus going home from the bakery, there were some guys kind of staring at us and acting like they might come talk to us. They didn't and one guy was staring at us pretty constantly just before he got off. When he got off the bus, I waved at him. His face totally lit up and he did some weird sort of hop/skip and waved back. That would never happen to me in America. Imagine me waving at some random guy my age. He would probably just give me a strange look. I feel so much cooler here.

A big reason I love China is because of simple things that might seem little to you, but to me are huge. There was the time I dropped my wallet on the without even noticing and the man near me sorta wacked/patted my arm and pointed at it. There was the time I left my eggs sitting on the counter at the grocery store and some guy yelled "Eggs!" so I would come back and get them. Also today, when I went to meet one of Tony's friends at a university here, he bought me lunch, some kind of Taiwanese drink, and a traditional Chinese snack just to make me feel welcome. I can't forget the black market taxi drivers who come running up to me and try to get me to take their taxis. They love when I say no in Chinese. They laugh and copy what I say like parrots. It's endearing and annoying at the same time. I love the people who try to make their children say, "Hello!" or the people who tell their children we are so pretty when they think I can't understand. China is a big confidence boost.

I love speaking Chinese. The truth is, I get incredibly discouraged about my terrible language skills all the time, but I am so determined to be good at this, that I just try to forget about it. Learning a language is such a daunting task. I can't even begin to understand how some people speak 3, 4, or 5 languages. There is SO much vocabulary and I'm still trying to workout Chinese grammar! Someday, I will speak Chinese like a native (or close to it). That's my goal.

And finally, the Temple of Heaven is lovely and the Lama temple is full of smoke from incense. It's all part of the Chinese experience and I'm loving every minute; the good and the bad.

 Faith in humanity=restored.