We made it to Xining!!! It was a super smooth trip with lots of room to stretch out on our long flight and no added fees for extra baggage! We were met at the airport tonight by our team where they took over for us rolling our luggage to our cool ride. Thank you for all the prayers! We have felt them.
Tuesday and Wednesday have been such great days at Dr. Lin's clinic. Katie and Amy have enjoyed seeing familiar faces, both with staff and children. It feels so good to follow up and see progress with so many of the kids. Beth, traveling on this trip from the Northwest Arkansas Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities, is a wonderful resource for staff, children, parents (and us) and has hit the ground running!
Overall, it has been a nice mix of follow-up appointments and new children seen for assessments. Providing education to the parents and watching them immediately try the suggestions feels so rewarding!
Wednesday afternoon we had a quick presentation given by Dr Lin and parents had opportunities to ask questions. We appreciated the opportunity to speak with them and for their thoughtful questions. It's so encouraging to see so many faces who want to learn and do as much as they can for their children.
We have been overwhelmed with thankfulness for the opportunities to serve and love families here, and for these sweet friendships we are making along the way.
TEAMworks China has landed and they are hard at work for their first two days!! We have recieved a few photos but no blog post. We know the girls are working super hard. Parents have been arriving to work on ABA with Beth, developmental assessments with Katie, and Amy has been rocking the speech evaluations. One family traveled from two hours away! They have also been seeing kids from previous trips and modifing thier treatment plans. Please continue to pray for them! More updates to come soon.
Our last day in China was super busy. People had heard we were here and wanted to see us before we left. Dr. Lin evaluated lots of children and some of those were cases that had a tough prognosis to give. We spent a lot of time with each child demonstrating treatment activities for the staff and educating parents on strategies for home. The parents have been so receptive to our recommendations and it was great to have them there to share moments of success their children have accomplished this week. The staff has worked so hard this week to collaborate with us, parents, and the children to serve their needs, and they have all shown great patience which we have really appreciated (especially in our moments of jet lag!). We ended the day at the clinic with a group debriefing with Dr. Lin and the staff to discuss the week and goals for the next visit. It was exciting to hear everyone's thoughts on how the week went as well as ideas for next time. We know that great things are happening now and that the clinic will continue to grow and change each time we visit. We wrapped up the meeting with a selfie photo shoot and said our goodbyes to our new Changsha family who we can't wait to see again!
"You will never be completely home again, because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place."
We began our day at Dr. Lin's clinic. We were greeted by a mom of a little one who has been receiving services for 3 months. He is making great gains. She was elated today because he is using more spontaneous speech and doing new things each day this week. She had lots of tears and hugs for us. She thanked us and the previous teams for coming to China and helping her son. It seemed like it was going to be a quiet day, then all of a sudden we were swamped with children to treat and assess. We were blessed to meet a little boy whose family drove 1.5 hours to be assessed by Dr Lin and the rest of the team. He needs all therapies and further neurological testing to determine how to best serve his needs and medical issues.
Dr Lin's mother treated us to a wonderful (our favorite meal so fair) lunch. She thanked us for our collaboration with her son, Dr Lin and willingness to come to China to help train the staff and assess / treat the children. She said she is grateful for the opportunity to assist the local orphanage. She told us we are welcome in China anytime.
We spent the afternoon at the orphanage. We were presented with cases to discuss with the staff. We each gave recommendations and hands on demonstratoins on how to treat the children. It was nice to have Dr. Lin present to address medical needs / concerns. The staff at the orphanage was very attentive and showed eagerness to follow through!
We had a delicious dinner in the countryside on the way back to the city. When we get home in the evenings, we make develop treatment plans for each child. Tonight we reviewed each plan and discussed what we will need to do at the clinic tomorrow since it will be our last day there.
We are blessed to have crossed paths with Dr Lin, have the opportunity to serve the clinic and orphanage and make friendships that will last a lifetime!
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean on him not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths." Proverbs 3:5-6
We spent our day in Dr. Lin's clinic. We were able to see some returning patients and evaluate some new children for the program. Dr. Lin assessed some babies, one was only 17 days old. We were able to assess a 1 year, 2 month old little girl with signficant global delays. We were able to begin making recommendations for her intervention. She needs so much so it will take good communication over time to provide for her needs. We requested that she come back to the clinic tomorrow and Friday so we can get a detailed plan together and begin intervention. We will need to send supplies with the TEAM coming next month. It was fun to treat some of the returning patients, a few of the children have been seen by our TEAM 3 times since we have arrived. Dr. Lin treated us to Pizza Hut, Starbucks, and shopping this evening! Our new friend Dr Dee (deethebomb.com) joined us for a fun, westernized evening! A little Arkansas in Changsha tonight!