Wed 5 Dec 2007
Christmas Comes Early
Posted by Shanna under China, Community Service
[11] Comments
Many of you already know about our October visit to the orphanage in Yangxi, China.  We fell in love with the girls during our time with them, and we really struggled with the fact that they slept (and, really, lived) in metal cribs with rough, wooden bottoms. Overwhelmed by their many trying circumstances, we left determined to remedy at least one of them by purchasing mattresses for their cribs. Such a task surely would have been impossible without the aid of our friends and family, who donated an incredibly generous amount of money to help with the task, and Wensi, an amazingly kind employee of the orphanage’s umbrella agency, who coordinated a Chinese factory’s production of the mattresses.Â
We’re so excited to report that 120 thick, washable mattresses have just been delivered to the orphanage and placed in the cribs. As evidenced by the pictures, the before/after contrast is profound. We really feel like Christmas has come early this year, as much for us as for the orphanage’s children. Thank you, thank you to all who helped with our efforts!
Hooray! How amazing. Thank you for doing this!
Many thanks again for coordinating this on your end! What a pleasure to see those sweet babies standing in their cribs on the new mattresses.
What a great result in this season of celebrating the gift of giving. Glad to hear all went well with the coordination of getting this done. Love…Michael
You guys are so wonderful. What an amazing thing for you to do! Love the site and hope you are having a fun time!!!!
This Is Awesome. Christmas time is not just the time to be happy and grateful for family. Now, I will also try to donate and give to the poor.
I think you are great!
We are sitting here with our daughter Maggie Beth, who just four years ago was lying in one of those cribs sleeping only on boards. What a blessing to see God’s hand at work through you both! Maggie wants to tell you “thank you for getting the babies mattresses, they look comfy”. 😀 Once again let us tell you that we will be forever grateful for all you have done. LeAnne also wanted my say thanks for the pictures, they will be a nice addition to her baby book.
I was touched by your story. I currently live in Nashville and came across with your page when looking for an orphanage that would accept me as a volunteer. Your experience inspired me and I’m ver grateful. I share the children joy. Wish I could do more.
Oh wow, thank you so much for doing this for the kids at Yangxi SWI. My daughter lived there for 9 1/2 months and came to us with open sores and callouses on her ankles and feet from rubbing on the hard wood while spending time in the crib. I hope she is the last one!
Words cannot express how grateful we are for your work. We received our daughter on April 7 of this year and are so thankful that she was able to sleep on a mattress! Thank you also for spending time with the babies. It warms my heart to think that she may have been loved on when we could not be there.
My daughter, Libby XiaoBi was also adopted from Yangxi SWI in December 2003. She too was lying in one of those cribs with the boards for the first 9 months of her life. Thank God she is now with us. And thank God that you have been able to help the others, still waiting for forever families. God’s blessings to you.
Thank you so much for doing this for the Yangxi children. Our daughter spent 9.5 months there back in 2005. Thanks again..they look wonderful and soft!!