The Journey Begins

Beginning the journey to china started early in the morning at the Spokane airport. Everyone got checked in on time and everything went smoothly. Our first flight went from Spokane to Boise, everyone got their bags and onto the next plane quickly and efficiently. Then we were on our way to San Jose from there, where we ended up having a 2 hour delay and our layover was already 3 hours so we had 5 hours to lay around, eat, play games, and have fun little adventures. Amia and I did a lot of walking around and exploring the airport while our moms slept, or at least tried to. We had a nice time watching High School Musical and listening to the amazing parody that Mr. Allen had worked so hard to write while we were waiting for our plane. We also went to one of the shops and got playing cards and had some fun with those to pass the time.

Here we are getting the news that our flight was delayed 2 hours, don't we all look so excited!

Amia and I decided it was a good idea to get Muchie (A very delicious kind of frozen yogurt) to pass them time. Plus it was probably the best frozen yogurt we'd ever had so we think it was a good choice.

Mr. Allen (on the left with a black shirt) was the one taking us on this awesome adventure but he was also my english teacher. In his class we had recently written parodies of songs and he thought is would be an awesome idea to write one for Amia and I so that is what he is working on here. Amia and I were watching High School Musical and almost started singing and dancing (not really).

Here is the song parody Mr. Allen wrote to the tune of Hello by Adele.

And here he is queuing up the music for Amia and I so we can truly experience the amazing parody he had prepared for us.

This was a super cool piece of art that was in the San Jose airport. It was supposed to be a cloud and symbolize the weather. There was a booth near the wall where it was and you could see what kind of weather it was simulating at the time.

Here was a member of our team that was super awesome and watched all our bags while the rest of us went to get food or napped.

Everyone just hanging in there as the plane still had not arrived yet.

This awesome screen was the one that we kept checking to see if our departure time had changed. Our departure time sadly never changed after we were notified of the delay, but it gave Amia and I something to do if we got bored. Taking a good long (quite short, only about 10 steps) walk to look at the screen was a great way to stretch your legs.

New Update

I am so sorry I have not posted here about our trip, honestly I keep forgetting about it. I have decided that I am going to try to post a picture (or a few pictures) from the trip every Thursday along with the story behind the picture. I hope I will be able to keep up on this and remember to do it, if I forget (which I probably will at times) and you know me feel free to remind me because I would really like to share the stories I have and the amazing pictures we got while in China.

Last Meeting

Yesterday we had our last meeting before we go to china! I am sort of freaking out now because it is so close! Now that I'm thinking about it, wednesday will be 2 weeks from when we will be leaving for china! Crazy! The meeting was great, we talked about our flights and some other house keeping items. The last thing we also did was fill up suitcases with our supplies, we did not fill all the suitcases but we are hoping to be able to do that. We were also talking about our $2400 and the fact that we still needed about $800 to complete that, as we were talking a guy on our team brought up the  fact that he had created a go fund me page and had $900 with him that night to donate! Our team is now set and ready to go! Here are some pictures of the donations just my mom and I collected!

Coming Up Fast

     We leave for china in 18 days! I cannot believe we are actually going! It's crazy to think that our trip is so close.
     While we are in china we will most likely have internet, but we are not guaranteed that we will be able to go on social media. We don't know if we will be able to get on Facebook, Blogger, Instagram, etc. If we are able to, we will definitely be posting a lot. If not we will post during the week after our trip and the days after that.
     We also have received a ton of items that we can bring to the orphanage and donate. The team just got and email from the orphanage and they are in need of baby formula so any little bit will help. We have 36 people each bringing a suitcase full of the supplies we have collected, and each suitcase can be up to 50 pounds.
     When we are at the orphanage we have gotten permission to take the kids off campus. This is an awesome experience because permission to do that is not given very often. What we are wanting to do is take the kids to the zoo for the day and take them out to lunch (probably McDonalds). The cost for about 60 people to do this is about $2400 (part of this money also goes to scrapbooks for an english camp). We are raising money for this and have about $1500 of the $2400, we are getting donations from friends and family, and at school we have a water jug in my teacher's (Mr. Allen) classroom to also collect donations.
     Amia, her mom, my mom, and I are also in charge of making books for an english camp we will be doing (This is what part of the $2400 will be going to). The english camp we will be doing will be for a whole day, the kids will be around 8-10 years old. Each person going on this trip will be paired with 2 kids and will be making books with them to help them learn some basic english. The books are 6x6 and we will be bringing 6 pictures ( 2 sets of 3 pictures) that we can use in the book to help teach them english. This will be a really neat experience because we will get to also learn Chinese while teaching them english.
     Just recently we also got word that out passports have come back safely. No problems whatsoever so we are right on track for being ready to leave to china on march 30th. Our visas are good to go and we will soon be lifting of and headed for china.
     I am so excited to have this experience of a lifetime, and experience it with my mom. We are concerned about a few things, such as the language barrier and my mom's allergies, asthma and pollution, and personally I am worried about flying over the ocean but it's kind of a ridiculous fear. I am so exited to go on this trip and see a different culture and experience so many new things.

It's Getting Closer

So our trip is coming up very soon and I am super excited. We leave March 30th and I am already freaking out. One thing I am totally freaking out about is the fact that I will be flying to the opposite side of the globe and over the ocean for a large period of time. That is really the only thing I am freaked out about, because I think I will be able to handle the weird food, culture, and awesome transportation. Right now we are collecting medical supplies to bring to the orphanage so the kids there can have the care they need. All of the children are special needs and they have need for many medical supplies in addition to the everyday items.

Shepherd’s Field Children’s Village
Supply List
12—bottles of Essential oils —LAVENDAR 
10-- bottles of Oregano Essential oils 
10— bottles of Eucalyptus “” oils 
10- -bottles of LEMON or ORANGE—oils 
10— Big jars of CoconutOil 
4— bottles of Oral Colloid Silver drops
10--- boxes of JUMBO zipper top 2.5 Gallons . Zip slider bags
10—boxes of small zip lock bags
10— bags of Nutritional Yeast
8— jars or big bags of Mixed nuts
4— large bottles of Peridine—Iodine -wrap well in several zip locks bags.
4—boxes of Alcohol pads—individual wrapped.
20— bottles of Chewable Children’s Vitamin D
20— bottles of Chewable Children’s Fish OIL
1—HP8 16---clinic
1—Canon 815 clinic
2—Canon PG—815 Children’s homes
2—Canon CL-816 Children’s homes
2—Canon 703 office
2—HP685—black, red ,blue,yellow,) office
2— family size KRAFT grated Parmesan cheese
2— boxes of ZONE PROTIEN BARS —chocolate
10— blocks of cheddar cheese
2— economy packs of AAA batteries
20— kitchen scrubbing pads
12 —kids shampoo
10— baby bath wash-- economy size bottles
12--- baseball size or around that size of THERAPY balls , with the soft nubs on them , balls are soft and squeezable, to use in the therapy department.
Fish crackers for therapy
AMAP— chewable Peptol BISMOL
AMAP— cough medicine children’s
6— 40 oz. hand sanitizer pump bottles
2—boric acid
6-- packs of black and some colored sharpie markers
2--- HEAT AND BOND 17 inch wide adhesive 145256 ---35 yards
4- 1/4 inch HEAT and BOND adhesive
4-1/2 inch —HEAT and BOND ADHESIVE
2- good large fabric sissors
2— hose spray nozzles
4— Braggs—LIQIUD AMINOS— soy sauce alternative—
2—Ezekial 4:9 —cereal—cinnamon raisin—in purple box— WHOLE FOODS
4— bags of nutritional yeast
2---VEGGIE WASH 16 oz. --white bottle with pictures of veggies on it.
2—coconut oil solid, virgin, in a glass bottle or plastic tubs
10---powdered SOY FORMULA—any brand
20- baby bath wash—any brand
30—plastic toddler bibs
20- bars of soap—any brand
30— adult shampoo
10—big tubs of –OXI—powder—stain laundry remover
10—bottles of –OXI—laundry spray
6- boxes of alcohol individual pads
3—rubbing alcohol —in bottles
3--peroxide----wrap in lots of plastic bags
5- 100% cortisone cream
4- cans of antifungal —foot spray
4- antifungal foot—cream
4- bottles of petolbismol—any brand
4— antidiarreah tablets—any brand--
6— adult CLARITIN allergy tablets
10—CHILDRENS—LIQUID allergy medicine—any brand
2--F AMILY SIZE KRAFT PARMESAN CHEESE---BIG SIZE—100% grated
2— NUTELLA CHOCOLATE SPREAD---2 BIG JARS AT COSTCO
1- BIG FAMILY SIZE PEANUT BUTTER—ANY BRAND
Here is a 'dream list' of things we could use:
1. Portable pulse oximeter - this device measures the oxygen content in the blood and usually runs on batteries.
2. Vital sign monitor - this is usually a plug-in machine that measure the standard vital signs like heart rate, respirations, and blood pressure - some also include a pulse oximeter and/or an ECG (electrocardiogram) function. This device needs a special pole stand which is on wheels making it easy to move from place to place. (Keep in mind that the voltage here is 220 which is higher than the 120 of the US - though we can use transformers it is much better to have equipment that is compatible with 220 volts.)
3. Tympanometer - this is a device used to measure the middle ear pressure. It is a small hand held instrument that runs on batteries. It is handy to evaluate a child with frequent ear infections and kids with cleft palate.
4. Opthalmoscope/Otoscope portable set and wall mounted - these are instruments to look inside the ear and exam the eye. They come in both a portable set which is operated by batteries and a wall mounted version that plugs-in. Both would be great to have and in this case probably OK if they only have a 120 volt unit as a smaller device is easier to convert.
5. X-ray lighted view box - this is for reading x-rays and usually comes in single or multiple panels. Any number of panels would be fine for us but at least 2 side by side are better than one.
6. Autoclave - this is a sterilizing device which would be very handy for us. We could use the counter top model. Since this applicance takes a fair amount of power it would be best to get one that is compatible with 220 volts.
7. Electrocardiogram machine - this makes a print out of the persons ECG. A smaller counter top model would be best and one compatible with 220 volts would be best.
8. Portable ultrasound machine - this is a big item but you asked! They usually have wheels so they are easily moved around. I think realistically this would be better found in China given its size.
9. Wall mounted blood pressure monitor - this is the type that is mounted on the wall - include the various sizes of blood pressure cuffs for use with small infants to large adults.
10. Medical operation lamp - this is a lamp on an adjustable metal pole used to light the operative field for minor surgical procedures. 2 or 3 of these would be nice.
11. Stethoscopes - these are the instruments used to listen to the heart and lungs. Best to get a quality brand like the Littman as the cheaper ones are of little use. Get mostly ones specifically for kids or 'pediatric stethoscope' and then some larger ones for adults.
12. Sharps container disposal units - these are special plastic disposal containers for medical waste.
13. Nebulizers - these are machines used to give breathing treatments to kids with asthma. Best to get the units compatible with 220 volts as the power requirement is higher for these units. Also include the plastic tubing and other items needed for the treatments. We could use 5 or 6 additional nebulizers.
14. Plastic medication bottles - we need lots of empty plastic bottle containers for our medication distribution. A good size is 60ml or 2 oz. container. Other sizes either bigger or smaller are OK also. Bring 300 - 400 if possible.
12—bags of Epsom Salt
INK CARTRIDGES
2--- INSTANT coffee INSTANT big containers
2— economy packs AA batteries
as many as possible(AMAP)—Children’s —any brand –pain reliever
6— big Tubs of OXI powdered laundry stain remover powdered form
AMAP— BENADRYL—childrens , liquid or chewable (generic ok)
40— white board markers
30--- powdered infant formula—any brand
2--- INFRARED THERMOMETER