A Few MOre Thoughts From The Day

As we prepare for our last night in Wuhan (and our first full week with Iris) I thought it would be a good time to post some random thoughts and reflections from the week.   Today at the temple while speaking to the families there one of the moms noted Iris has a birth mark on the back of her right arm.  The mark is very lite in color and is only about the size of a quarter (smaller than a quarter).  But to them this is a negative.  The woman pulled Melissa aside and showed her a birth mark on her daughter's shoulder / arm.  She had the girl in a short sleeve shirt so the mark could not be seen.  She quickly pulled the sleeve down after showing the mark.  Later in the day our guide noted the birth mark on Iris's shoulder as well.  She did not make a big deal of it but you could tell it was a negative.  Amazing you can see this beautiful little girl and make a comment about something so minor.  It did not upset us as we understand this is only a cultural thing.  I only tell this as a cultural difference and in no way did anyone of these people say these things in a bad manor, they were all very nice and friendly and we enjoyed spending time with each of them.   Today during lunch I had the opportunity to ask our guide some questions regarding orphanages and politics in China.  She explained how the people of China would like the government to give them more freedoms, and jobs.  She indicated there are people in China getting very rich while millions of others in the country live such a meager life.  The challenge is there are so many people in China they may not be able to support them all.  In her Providence the average salary is about $200.00 (us dollars) each month.      I told her one of the things I notice about China is that it seems difficult to separate the rich and poor (meaning there will be a nice large new building and next to it there will be a "shack" with a person pedaling nick-knacks out front).  She agreed but also said that I had not seen poor until I go into the country sides and see how the people live.  That is hard to believe as we walked around and drove through the city I thought I saw some very poor people.   I inquired about schools in China which lead me to the biggest question I had:  if no family would have adopted Iris would she have gone to school and what would her future be?  First she said (and she has made this comment several times throughout the week) Iris has not been adopted because of her congenital cataracts, most people are afraid of this.  She told us Iris would not have gone to school.  Many times when kids do not get adopted they end up working at the orphanage for the rest of their lives or going to live with the elderly.   Once Iris turned 18 she probably would have been sent to live with the elderly as she could not work because of her eyes.  Iris is one of the lucky ones but just think of all the kids who are not so lucky.  It was very hard to hear this.   I keep thinking back to the comment the Pierce family heard from a Chinese person: "you Christians come to China and adopt the children they would disregard".    We really miss Mexican food!  We actually googled "Mexican food in Wuhan China" and found one.  The Aloha Diner is owned by a family from Hawaii and they serve Hawaiian and Mexican food.  It looked to be a long way on the map so we did not get a chance to try it.   Each time we get into a taxi it amazes us how these people commute.  But Melissa made a good point, as crazy as it seems, it seems to work for them.  We did not see any wrecks.    Iris is very head strong and gets very worked up.  We wonder if this is her way of figuring things out and learning her boundaries.  We hope when she gets home she gets into a groove with Ansley and Elliott.