AGCI Travels to China Part 3!

AGCI staff have arrived in Xiamen, China! On this trip, our team is thrilled to witness Ezekiel unite with his forever family, give family care packages to many matched children, and learn more about how we can better serve the children we are advocating for throughout the Fujian region!

Here’s another update from Jodi, AGCI’s VP of Adoption!

IMG 3876 1Our second day was spent back at our Xiamen partnership home. Carin and I had such a great time seeing familiar faces and sharing care packages with the children! We were also able to see the Special Care Unit where children with medical needs are lovingly cared for by a dedicated team. Carin was happy to see some of our precious neimage1w faces, like Christopher, in person!

We can’t wait to update the waiting child page and introduce more new faces!

When we were able to spend time with children at Xiamen who are about to meet their families we recognized how well prepared they are for adoption!

Later we had the opportunity to meet with a foster mom who has lovingly cared for many children before they unite with their forever family.  We shared stories with her on how children are doing now in their families.  Her passion radiated – it is so evident how much she loves each child she cares for and she expressed how much she feels honored and privileged to be part of the lives of these children.

I was able to meet with the Xiamen home Director and Lillian to discuss our shared goals for the children and future. We talked about streamlining the process to receive updates for children who are placed, continuing to prepare paperwork for children as quickly as possible, and continuing to partner together to find families for children.  It is extremely evident how much they care for the children.  They even requested continued updates on the children they love to see how they grow and develop and thrive in families.  Which we happily agreed to! They also welcome the children to return for a visit. So exciting!

img_3892This past spring, an Orphan Care team took a trip to Xiamen to transform rooms by painting walls and adding new bedding. Everyone at Xiamen was thrilled with the results and are excited that AGCI is planning another trip before the end of the year to update additional rooms! It was amazing to feel the level of increased openness from Xiamen in allowing AGCI to support in elevating care.

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The next day we drove about two hours through the winding roads and mountains to spend the day at our home in Longyan. Longyan is a beautiful city that is an escape into the country side of China. The buildings are rustic and hold so much character.

As we arrived and walked upon the cobblestone streets we were greeted by many children awaiting our arrival! They are all so precious and we were honored to be given the welcome we received!

One of the major highlights was seeing many of the children we have found families for today!img_4022

Zoe was such a ham! She had so much personality and loved posing for the camera

Bella was just precious and loved the care package her family made for her. She is learning so much and has made much progress with her ability to speak! She is such a smart girl!

Adam greeted us at the front door with a big “HELLO”!! He was such a character. His family is traveling in a few short months and created a series of picturesimg_3801 for him to see. He instantly said “‘Momma’ and “Baba” when he saw who his family is. They also included a picture of their dog and he quickly became excited and began imitating a barking dog noise!

Today we said goodbye to Lillian! Our team is so grateful for her help in coordinating these yearly updates. Her care along with all the caretakers and staff adore these children!

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We also have our 26th year anniversary for AGCI coming up in the beginning of the year in 2017 which we are excited to bring back many treasures for the silent auction. The silent auction is an opportunity to get both a treasure from China and support our partnerships, sponsorships and orphan care for AGCI as a whole.

Keep an eye out for some of these authentic items!