Newark NJ and meeting the rest of the ShowHope team!

Thursday April 21, 2011

Arriving in Newark via train with a double stroller, suitcase, backpack and purse! It was another adventure. Thank you so much Dawnie and Grandma for helping at the train station and with all the stairs. 

I was greeted by the lovely Chelsea at the airport! We were among the first ones there.  We had lots of time before the others arrived so we took the luggage to the hotel, hopped on the shuttle and went to the mall.  We walked around and talked and had a great dinner getting to know each other! It was so wonderful meeting the different team members as they were all arriving at the hotel!! We had a great first night just chatting, then heading to bed to get ready for an early morning!

The Journey begins.....

So, the journey begins!!! First step; fly to Philly and then to Maryland. All I can say was my first thought when I got on the plane was, “Am I on the wrong plane!!!” It was the smallest plane I have ever been on for an international flight.  It only had 31 rows (I was in row 30) and it had 6 seats per row! So on top of being super small, it had no TV’s!! They had a couple of overhead monitors that you had to buy headphones to use and they only played PG13 movies.  I am still not sure how they get away with that since they had a ton of kids on the flight. I was super happy to have my laptop, book and iPod. So, then came the exciting part.  They ran out of food before they got to me!!!! There were a total of 15 passengers that did not get any food!  They gave us instead a choice of one of the in-flight snacks you can buy, so I ended up with some pretzel M&M's, which I will have to say were yummy!! So after all that, we arrived safely, which is what really matters.

I had a short layover in Philly and stopped in at the USO (which is so nice) and then headed out to my very short next flight! I think I actually had more leg room on that flight then my long one. Go figure! I was only in the air for a whole 28 minutes!! I landed safely again and my suitcase was one of the first to come out, but I discovered that one of my wheels broke off somewhere in transit. It is a really good thing my suitcase has 4 wheels!! 

That ends my journey for now.  I am hanging out and visiting family here in Maryland until Thursday when I head to Newark! 

~Stephanie~

With all the wonderful support as I mention below I was able to buy a double stroller! Plus, I have 4 baby carriers and possibly 2 more coming! These are needed for transferring the babies around to care for different needs.

We had a wonderful team conference call earlier this week and the one American nurse Mariah is so excited about us being there over Easter! She is planning on spreading the holiday out over the whole trip! I am so happy that I will be able to bless the staff at MBHOH with a little taste of home! I am going to bring some American and Belgium chocolate! ( we found out that chocolate in China taste like WAX!) I also found out about a few other home like things they would love like coffee and candles so I am going to work on that and see what all I can fit in my suitcase! Whatever I can bring over to bless them I want to do!

Now , the not so fun part of packing comes! I am going to work on that this week start packing for both my few days in the States and China! We found out the weather is going to be mid- high 70's and have a low of 50's. So the weather will be nice and not too hot!

I will write more when I have a new update! Please just keep praying for my team and all the people we will be with while we are in China!

~Stephanie~

20 more days!

I can hardly believe that in 20 days I will be heading to wonderful China again!!!

So here is a update on what is going on in preparing for my trip.

1st I would like to thank the wonderful youth group that I work with here! They helped with a parents night out fundraiser and we raised enough money to buy a double stroller for me to bring over and I am working on getting different baby carriers for the orphanage! I  continue to be amazed at all the wonderful support and encouragement I am receiving about my trip!

I have so many wonderful things to be thankful for! I raised over the amount of money I needed before my deadline! I was able to get the stroller and more! Also , we were having problems with my visa and God sorted it all out and it was able to get fixed and it is now back in my hands! Praise God!!!!!

We got our trip handbook and I was excited to see that we will be spending Easter morning on the Great Wall. I am excited that our trip is pretty packed to keep us all busy and we have lots and lots of play and loving on time with the kiddos! We will even be able to help out in the pre-k class some!!!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend and I will keep you all updated on any new happenings for my trip!

~Stephanie~

I am posting this for those who want to maybe get a little bit better of an idea about my trip. Here are two blog post from My trip 2 years ago. I hope you enjoy!

~Stephanie

Grand Announcement!!

DRUM ROLL PLEASE..........................




I have raise ALL the money needed for my China trip!!! God is so amazing!! I have just been amazed at how the money has come in and I was even over my amount ! I will be putting the extra $63 towards the stroller the youth group is helping to buy for me to bring over! 


I would not have been able to do this without everyones prayers and support! I am so ready to start my trip, and to see all the wonderful things God has planed for us while we are there. If you could please continue to pray for my team and all the final stuff for our trip! One of the big things is I get my visa back in time! I know God has a plan and he will work everything out so it goes as smoothly as possible from here! 


I am posting below so other ways that you can help! They are always in need of supplies. Here is the list of ongoing needs and I will then post the address and packing list. 

Show Hope Special Care Centers

CURRENT  WISH  LIST  

Baby Items

Infant Sleepers – one piece - size preemie to 12 months 

Toddler One-Piece Footed Pajamas – size 18 months, 24 months, 2T and 3T

Receiving Blankets - approximately 30 x 30 inches – cotton flannel

Preemie Diapers (not newborn but specific diaper size for preemie babies)

Cloth Baby Bibs

Johnson & Johnson Baby Shampoo, Lotion and Powder (traditional, not new fragrances)

Baby Bottles – plastic 8 ounce bottles– (not bottles that use plastic liners)

Baby Bottles for cleft palate babies – (Mead Johnson brand preferred)

Premature Baby Formula – such as Enfamil® EnfaCare® or Similac Expert Care ™ Neosure® 

High Nutrition Formula for Malnourished Little Ones – such as Peptamin Junior® and Nutren Junior®  

Double strollers (HYPERLINK "http://www.kolcraft.com/product.aspx?id=80&shopby=category" \t "_blank"Kolcraft Tandem strollers or similar)

Medications – Over the Counter (store brand or name brand)

Cough meds for infants and children; expectorants

Allergy medications for infants and children

Diaper Rash Cream

Infants Acetaminophen

Infants Ibuprofen

Antibiotic ointment or cream 

Gas Drops / Colic Drops

Steroid Cream (hydrocortisone cream)

Multivitamins for infants (liquid) – with iron

Oral Replacement Salts Flavored Powder – (Pedialyte® or other brands)

Teething Gel

Liquid Stool Softeners / Glycerin Suppositories / Lactulose / Oral Citrate of Magnesia

Medical Supplies

Pill crushers and pill cutters

Alcohol Swabs

Hand sanitizer bottles with pumps (1 liter or smaller for ease of shipping)

Hand sanitizer pouches for institutional wall units - HYPERLINK "http://www.reliablepaper.com/Dial_Hand_Sanitizer_Fragrance_Free_800_ml_p/dia95862.htm" \o "Dial Antibacterial Hand Sanitizer Fragrance-Free - 800 ml, DIA95862"Dial® Antibacterial Hand Sanitizer Fragrance-Free - 800 ml   

Gauze of various sizes

Micropore Tape –various sizes needed of this lightweight tape used to secure bandages or dressings

Nasogastric tubes – size F5 or F6

Nasal Cannula for infants

Dressings – Hydrogel dressings, thick gauze abdominal pads, regular sterile gauze

Club Foot Casting Materials: 2-inch Soffban padding and stockinette, fiberglass 

Disposable Underpads (Chux) for examining table

Pediatric-size colostomy bags (one-piece, drainable preferred pediatric size 1-3/4” or 44mm – prefer ConvaTec brand)

Medicine

Oral antibiotics for infant and children (liquid or power for reconstitution) – any time such as Amoxicillin, Augmentin, Bactrim, Cephalosporins, Clindamycin, Sulpha,and Macrolides.

Phenergan

Sodium Valprate Liquid

Antibiotic ointments or creams such as Bactroban

E-45 or similar water-based creams

Asthma medication for use with a spacer or with a nebulizer – Pulmicort nebules or Steroid inhalers

Singulair tablets (Montelukast Sodium)

Antibiotic eye ointment or drops

Phenobarbital 30 mg tabs

Bacolofen 10 mg tabs

Tylenol® with Codeine 

I will post the packing slip info later (for some reason I can not open the link) 

I hope everyone is having a blessed weekend! 

~Stephanie

God is AMAZING!!!!

God keeps showing me how AMAZING he is! I have been blown away on how fast my fundraising is going! I just can not thank all the people that are behind me and showing me so much love through financial support and prayers! God is just taking my breath away! I have raised 18,276 of my 21,000 miles already! That means I only 2,724 miles (roughly $600 ) left to raise! 

I have also started "meeting" my new team! We had our first conference call and are now all finding each other on Facebook! I am so excited about meeting them all in person this April! God has hand picked an amazing team for this April Sponsor trip and everyone is pumped up and ready to spread the love of God around the orphanages! 

Prayer request at this point:

* For myself and the rest of my team as we finish raising support

*For God to keep filling up our hearts with all this love to share with others

*For our amazing leaders as they finish getting different things completed for us to be able to go!