Holiday Greetings from Starfish!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Wise men still seek Him

It is always a little weird celebrating Christmas in China, but in many ways it highlights the very simple message in such a profound way: having the children is the sweetest message that there is to share as we celebrate the birth of Christ, even though I cannot celebrate this time of year in the most traditional way. The babies are such a great example of how the spirit of Christmas is around all through the year. There is no way I EVER could have managed the babies on my own, and so my gifts are given throughout the year as so many combine their efforts, talents, and time to help take care of the babies. I am so grateful for the many who generously donate their money, which enables us at Starfish to do our best to save babies lives. I have said this before and I will say it again: I appreciate you all for trusting me enough to send your hard earned dollars across the world. I absolutely love knowing that when I see a need, I have the financial backing to be able to bring a baby to Starfish and offer so much HOPE for the future. I would be heartbroken if we were not able to help. So, I get to see the FAITH in action as we follow the admonition to take care of the orphans.

So this year we celebrated our 4th anniversary. It was a wild year! We doubled our numbers (24 to 48!) and opened another apartment. You have no idea how scary that was! I was not sure that we would have enough money for all of that, but only knew that 9 little people needed help in the worst way. Talk about having faith....stepping into the unknown! Not only did we get enough money to support them, but in 3 months, the donations were enough for ALL the children on the first floor! It was a hugs change going from one apartment to two, and we became busier than before. I did not think that was possible. My days start early and are crazy! I subscribe to the motto: Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and advertise!
This year we did 23 surgeries. The best part of that is that we only paid for 2 cleft lip surgeries from Starfish funds, and the rest were all donated. I am so grateful to all the medical volunteers and the medical staff at the hospitals in China for their help. The babies received such excellent care, and I am so grateful! This year I have not traveled as much with the babies to the hospitals as in previous years, but now I have a nanny that goes with them. I have stayed at the foster home more to help keep the boat afloat.
We also have 7 adoptions this year, bringing the total to 23! Two babies went to France, and five went to the US. We have another two babies who are matched and whom we expect to be adopted in January 2010, starting the year off with a bang. In the meantime, we are working on many dossiers for adoption. Ten files are at the CCAA and another 21 are at the orphanage, and there are another 13 at the foster home. I imagine that we will have many adoptions in 2010. We miss the babies, but it does allow the opportunity to bring more babies to Starfish. We are always happy to see how they thrive with their new families, and also become little ambassadors for what we do at Starfish.
Before the end of this year we will be caring for babies number 100 and 101. They are both in Hong Kong undergoing Spina Bifida surgery, but they will be coming back soon. I am so honored to have had the opportunity to take care of them all. It is impossible to save every baby, and there are some really sad times here at Starfish. All of it is part and parcel of the experience, and of life, and I know there are so many people who pray for us, and I can tell you how much I "feel" those prayers!
I am looking forward to many new projects in 2010. The biggest and most important to me will be finding a hospital where we can do surgeries. There are some medical teams who want to come to Xi'an and help the babies, and I am so eager to help facilitate. I am going to travel again this coming year, and already have two trips organized. The first will be to Holland, the land of my forefathers, in March for a fundraiser, and the second to New York in June. I joke that more than 300 years ago the Dutch went to South Africa as settlers, and I am doing my best to repay them by sending our little Starfish settlers over there.
I appreciate your support and love. I consider myself extremely blessed, and even thought this is a great responsibility, I do not want to be doing anything else. Thank you for helping me live my dream as I thought it would be impossible to open a foster home in China. I guess I still had to learn the life lesson that with God, NOTHING is impossible!

Life, Love and Laughter,
Amanda

Christmas Blessings

Stewart

Carmen

James and Libby

Karl and Jessica

Nick and Bryan

River

Julia, Nadia and Stella

Jasmine

Tina

Cameron

Noa and Matilda

Olivia

Nava

James

Sadie and Thomas

Matthew

Daniel

Volunteers

Volunteers

Volunteers add such a special flavor to the foster home. We get volunteers for a few hours and then all the way to the ones who stay for months and indeed years like Kay. We have volunteers from all different countries. This week Sweden, England, France, Australia and Holland were represented and we have a lot of Chinese who visit us regularly. I love the variety and the fact that they have such interesting stories to tell.
Chrissy and Julee volunteered full time here with us for six months. What a joy they were to have and how they loved on the babies and the babies on them. Thank you so much to the two of you for all your hard work and dedication to the children. You made such a valuable contribution and I am so grateful. I know that we have made an impression on your hearts and that you will not soon forget us. All of us at Starfish wish you well and I pray that God will lead you down your road with some clear and precise instructions, so you have no doubt what you need to do.

Life, Love and Laughter,
Amanda

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

At Starfish, we have taken care of 98 children to date, arranged more than 64 surgeries and had 23 international adoptions, so our little starfishes live all over the globe: the US, Netherlands, Norway and Spain and our latest adoption was to France. We currently have 51 babies under the age of 3 at two foster homes.
www.thestarfishfosterhome.org
http://chinesestarfish.blogspot.com
http://chinesestarfishcleft.blogspot.com
chinese.starfishthrower@gmail.com
Cell: 86.1348.812.4847

A Dollar A Comment

Here is a unique way to raise funds for Starfish. Amy will send Starfish a dollar for every comment that is left on her new blog. May you have a lot to say.

Hi all!

Some of you may have already gotten this message--and if you have--so sorry to bother you again!! I have started a new family website that will not only chronicle life as we know it--and all the crazy goings on at our house--but also serve to raise money for children that are still waiting for parents--mostly in China.

Currently--I am offering to send a dollar in YOUR honor to the Starfish Foster Home in China--just by leaving a comment of what you are thankful for--under my "thankful" post. I am going to continue this all month in honor of National Adoption Month and then tally the comments at the end of the month and send Amanda at Starfish a nice big check!!

All I ask is that you visit me--and leave a comment under "thankful" --easy peasy!!

Here's the site: www.lotsokidz.blogspot.com

and if you want to become a follower--add yourself in the left-hand column. And by all means--if you have a website--please give me a plug--help me--help them!!! And feel real good about yourself too!!

Thanks so much--and I hope you have a wonderful day!!!

Amy Dinello

Life, Love and Laughter,
Amanda

Nine Transformed Faces

We got stuck at the Beijing Airport with four babies for 30 hours trying to get home to Xian. I guess it was not as bad as the 19 800 people who got stuck at the Xian airport trying to get out. Apparently the fog was so bad the planes could not land. Ultimately this does not really mean anything in the grand scheme of things because nine babies out of the 12 we took to Beijing, got their clefts repaired and they all look so different except for Hosea who had his cleft palate repaired, no outward change there.
My most grateful thanks to Dr Lisa Buckmiller and all of the medical team that came with her, you all rock and I love seeing your skills in action. Thank you to Dr Bill Moody who made the arrangements and for finding sponsors for the surgeries, so that we did not need to pay for anything. To Bei Da Hospital in Beijing for all they did to help the children. I appreciate all the hard work that culminated in 21 children getting their faces transformed. I just love the unity that it takes to help the children which focuses on one thing and that is the children. I loved watching the tenderness with which the nannies and volunteers took care of the babies. Thank you all so very much.
We are still in the healing process so things are not looking great yet, but here are some pictures. Some of the babies look like they have been in a bar fight, but when the dermabond coating falls off things will look much better.

Life, Love and Laughter,
Amanda

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

At Starfish, we have taken care of 96 children to date, arranged more than 64 surgeries and had 23 international adoptions, so our little starfishes live all over the globe: the US, Netherlands, Norway and Spain and our latest adoption was to France. We currently have 49 babies under the age of 3 at two foster homes.
www.thestarfishfosterhome.org
http://chinesestarfish.blogspot.com
http://chinesestarfishcleft.blogspot.com
chinese.starfishthrower@gmail.com
Cell: 86.1348.812.4847

Sadie and Tina

Olivia

Cameron

River

Dr. Lisa Buckmiller

the Medical team

James

Ting Ting and Sophia

Cleft Lip Surgeries in Beijing

I am in the middle of one of my favorite things to do: looking at the transformed faces of the cleft lip babies. Dr. Lisa Buckmiller and her team started working her magic on the babies yesterday and before I left Beijing I saw River, and I just marveled. There are so many people who worked together to make this happen. I am so grateful to Dr. Bill Moody from the Philip Hayden Foundation who was able to take this on and find a place for the team to do surgery. I am also so grateful to the hospitals in Beijing who offered up their facilities and staff.
I wanted to show you the history of River at Starfish. A group of foreigners went with me to the big O to pick up some babies on May 4th this year. River was Mike's choice and he was also the one who named him. River was a month old and weighed 2.99kg or 6 and a half pounds, a small little thing. The one redeeming quality is that River could eat any time and any place and soon he started getting to Buddha Belly proportions! He is now pushing 9kg, quite a change. Soon, he was ready to go to Dr Niu (the dentist) for his orthodontic molding in preparation for surgery. He handled that well and nothing interfered with his eating. His favorite place to sleep was next to Olivia for as long as the two of them could fit into the one bouncer. He really has been the poster child of the cleft home. Yesterday, I saw the result of every one's contribution, and does he look good! There is still a little swelling because this was taken within and hour of him coming out of the OR, but you can see the results are phenomenal.
So by the time I fell into bed last night at 9pm, four Starfish babies had had surgery. River was first, but Sadie was after him and then Olivia and James. I am so eager to see what James looks like. He had a severe double cleft and I know the changes can be dramatic. We have had a few problems with the babies' health issues and I hope that we can clear that up so that more babies can have surgery. I think today it is Sophia and Tina who are on the schedule, and they both have double clefts and Dr Niu has fitted molds so their mouths are prepared for this.
Thank you to everyone who has offered their help. Getting 12 babies to Beijing was no small task. I will write more as I am able because it is a logistical nightmare knowing where everyone is and what is going on. We thank the sponsors of the babies because so far all the expenses to do with the surgeries have been covered. How grateful I am for their generosity!!
As a side note, Nava is back home from her surgery and Teresa came back from Shanghai too. It has been a month of action on all fronts.

Life, Love and Laughter,
Amanda

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


At Starfish, we have taken care of 95 children to date, arranged more than 61 surgeries and had 23 international adoptions, so our little starfishes live all over the globe: the US, Netherlands, Norway and Spain and our latest adoption was to France. We currently have 47 babies under the age of 3 at two foster homes.
www.thestarfishfosterhome.org
http://chinesestarfish.blogspot.com
http://chinesestarfishcleft.blogspot.com
chinese.starfishthrower@gmail.com
Cell: 86.1348.812.4847

Mike and River

River and Olivia

River

River

River when we first met

River with his molding

River one hour post operation

Halloween Fun

Happy Halloween from the Starfish Cleft Home! Amanda is still travelling in America and will return home next week. In the meantime, one of the AMAZING Starfish volunteers captured these precious pictures. We hope you enjoy their smiles and beautiful faces!!

Tim and River

Stella

Sadie

Olivia

Stewart