Team Chenzhou 2011 – Another Message from Megan

Today we received my favorite photo of Penelope from Francine (another TC volunteer), it is so SAD today is the last day TC will be there, I feel like Christmas is over.
To the Culps: Your daughter is a sweetie! Unfortunately, I did not get to spend much time with her today. I'm so sorry. I had hoped I'd be able to get to know her all morning, but she was not in the baby playroom. I looked up and down the hallway for her, but some of the doors were locked. I think she might have been sleeping.
I left playing with the big kids early this afternoon to find her. She was in their sleeping room and kind of upset. I picked her up and brought her in to play, but it looked like she was teething and so she just wanted to be held. But she is so adorable and sweet! She loves being held. She mostly likes it when you're standing, bopping up and down. She's pretty calm and quiet and loves to observe others. I was so glad I got to hold her and love on her and tell her that her family was coming for her. She's adorable and you'll be so blessed when she's finally yours!

Team Chenzhou 2011 – More Photos IT’S CHRISTMAS

I am so excited to get all these photos of our little one, I keep telling people this past week was like waking up each morning to Christmas!

Team Chenzhou 2011 – More Photos YEAH

Learning about Changsha from Team Chenzhou

Changsha:The capital of Hunan Province, where we stay for a week... Changsha is the embroidery capital of the country. It’s all done by hand and absolutely gorgeous. The food is spicy! The women here are said to have tempers, so they call them "Spicy Hunan Girls". I thought that was funny! In another post "Silent Tears" by Kay Bratt is recommended. Needless to say I've purchased it and added it to my pile of "to read" for China.
Interesting Facts: - Santa is Sheng Dan Lao Ren “The Christmas old man” in Chinese - Information books liken china to an onion; the analogy describes the different layers of this country and how peeling each away reveals increasingly more of China’s true nature. - A smile goes a long way when you can’t communicate with words. Our eyes have been opened to a part of the world harboring some very needy people; they are real and not just pictures on television or in the mail. - A family is a family no matter what continent you live on; all you need to survive is love and a lot of patience.

Team Chenzhou 2011 – Message from Megan

Team Chenzhou arrived at Penelope’s orphanage and held all our kids!
http://teamchenzhou.blogspot.com/2011/06/i-have-met-lots-of-children.html?showComment=1307616218575#c6688864461690530819
They are posting the photos separate at this web site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/shannonlaxton/
This is our comment on Megan's blog and her response(A Team Chenzhou volunteer):
Megan, First of all THANK YOU!! I am so excited to have you all hugging and loving our daughter! I was looking at her photos that were downloaded to flicker and was beyond excited to see new pictures of our baby girl.
The first photos uploaded of our daughter, she is sitting in the lap of a Half the Sky Grandma. Is that her HTS Grandma? What is her name?
Other photos of our daughter, she is being held by a lady in a black knit top. Do you know who that is?
Later there is a photo of Elyssa (another TC volunteer) holding her and she looks like she is not to happy... Tell Elyssa thank you!
Is she babbling yet? Does she have a lazy eye? We'd love to hear anything about her.
Thank you a million times over, you are all our angels sent to love our babies!
Blessings and love, Juliet, Todd & Violet Culp
To the Culps: Shannon says that Penelope does seem to have a little bit of a lazy eye. I haven't had much time to play with her yet, so I'm not sure if she's making much noise. I'll be sure to find her tomorrow and make any observations I can about her. :) Both of the women holding your daughter are nannies. I don't think the children have a specific nanny... They just hold and care for whoever needs it or needs to be played with. The woman in the black shirt is the head nanny, I believe. She rotates between playing with the big and little kids. She's a big sweet heart, I love her a lot. I'll try to find more information about her tomorrow.
Half The Sky Grandma Program: The person with her is part of the Half the Sky Grandma Program, you can visit their web site at http://www.halfthesky.org/about/index.php Half the Sky offers the love and concern of family for thousands of orphaned children in China who have lost theirs. Their goal is to ensure that every one of China's orphans has a caring adult in her life.

Team Chenzhou June 9-13,2011 sent by Visiting Orphans

www.visitingorphans.org
China stands at a rare place in its history at the forefront of modernity, but with one foot in the past. China has come a long way in recent decades to become one of the world's key economic and political engines. But, with all that said, there still exists a vast rift between it's have's and have-not's. UNICEF estimates that there are over 50 million orphaned children in China.
Visiting Orphans works with government run Social Welfare Institutes (SWI) to bring love and assistance to some of those 20 million children without families. Since 2005 we have sent over 30 teams from American churches to visit these SWI's. Although the SWI's do all that they can to provide the best life for the children living there, assistance and help is still needed. Our missions teams don't go in with an agenda, they go in to serve and to love. Oftentimes on our trips all you will do for hours on end is hold infants who need the love and attention they deserve or play hide-n-go-seek with a group of six year old boys. It will truly be a life-changing and unforgettable experience.

Two New Leads for photos of Penelope

Lisa's trip last October.., here is a link to the day she spent at CCCWI
http://thelongroadtochina.blogspot.com/2010/10/our-visit-to-chenzhou.html
Shannon will be going to CCCWI from June 9-13. She has offered to take photos of children there to send back to parents... I've contacted her... here is her site and itinerary they be in China from June 5-17.
http://teamchenzhou.blogspot.com/p/our-intinerary.html
http://teamchenzhou.blogspot.com/

Chenzhou Yahoo Chat Group – CCCWI – Chenzhou City Children’s Welfare Institute

Wow, we found a Yahoo Group for Penelope’s orphanage, what a wealth of information. I am hoping to find photos of Penelope.