Devina’s CP Blog

Final Farewell to China…

March 15th, 2008

Well last night’s supper with the staff was so exciting!!!  I wished I could have just placed my video camera somewhere and recorded the whole night.  It was so nice to visit with them outside of the hospital.  I think everyone really enjoyed themselves.

Today if you could image the floor was just full of excitement as the Florida family left today and Julie and Mark will leave tomorrow after us and then the last will be the Minn. family on Monday.  The day actually went really fast as we all said our good bye’s, took pictures and we went outside to video a little bit.

Well here’s our final farewell….

Our journey here is over and I truely believe both Devin and I will be comming home a changed person.  Devin’s changes will hopefully be improved developement by having the cells do its job.  Myself well yes I would like to think this experience has also changed me.  It definitely has made me appreciate all I have in my life.  A great husband, addorable children and parents who love us deeply!!!! Along with that we have wonderful family members and friends who love us and continue to support us in all we do.  We are also truely blest to be living in such a caring and supportive community!!!!

Since I have been here I have come to understand a lot about China and would just like to share some of it with you.

I know in the beginning I was kind of making fun of the way they live here and the things I saw.  However, as my stay continued I learned that some of these things were not so much because they wanted to live this way but they had no choice.  This is their culture/beliefs or they just could not afford to live any other way.  Majority of this country lives with the bare necessities and that means no motor transportation or strollers for their children or closets full of shoes and clothes.  One example is the split pants where the children do not where diapers.  One reason is because this is the culture and believe it or not the mother can sense (most of the time) when their child has to go to the bathroom.  You know how we can sense when our children are sick or just not feeling well.  It’s the same sense they get.  I find that amazing but that answers my question on don’t the mothers always get pee’d on?  The other reason is because the parents can not afford to buy diapers for their children so they have no other choice.  This country is so over populated that a lot of people just don’t make a lot of money to have things that we take for granted everyday.  Hangzhou for example is so over populated that you have houses/apartments on top of each other.  I still have not found one house with a yard.  Hangzhou is probably no bigger than Milwaukee and has a population of 6 million people and that is no lie!!!!  Johnny who is one of the translators here and has become a very good friend is 25 and has a 4 year degree in college.  He lives with a friend in a one room apartment and maybe owns 5 shirts and a couple pairs of pants along with a TV and a bike.  That is it..that is all he owns and he is so happy with his life.  This is what made me realize how we take so many simple things for granted – diapers, strollers, bikes, clean water, some what clean air, green grass, fresh fruit, etc, etc, etc.

I know I could go on and on with stories but I also know that unless you have physically seen it or experienced it or got to know the people here it’s just not the same.  The only reason why I’m writing this is because maybe I feel a little guilty for all my comments in the beginning and also so that maybe all of us including our children can for just a moment  look around and realize how fortunate we all are and that in the end it’s not about what we have or don’t have (material wise)  in our life that matters.  It is the love and respect for and from your family that truely matters the most!!!!!!

This doesn’t mean that I agree with a lot of things that I saw here.  It has just made me realize that yes I know our country has it’s faults (and a lot of them)but it also has made me appreciate the country that I do live in and GOD Bless the USA!!!!

Well that is it…..Devin and I would like to thank everyone for their constant prayers and all the wonderful messages we received while we were here.  We truely can not begin to tell you how much those messages made our day and also brought a smile to our faces when we needed it the most.  Thank you everyone and we love you lots and can’t wait to see you in the good old USA!!!!!

Just to let you know that I will blog one more time when we get home just to let everyone know that we made it so, if you check the blog after 7:00 pm on Sunday night I promise I will have it updated by then.

 Well this is it Devin and Kim are signing off and saying GOOD BYE CHINA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With lots of love,

Kim & Devin

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