Shia and Ella arrived on the same day from a different province. Shia has a large angioma on her face, but after being evaluated it has been found that it can be removed with surgery. Ella has down's syndrome and a mild heart condition that can be corrected in the future.
Jackson came to us on Wednesday July 18th, 2007 after PHF received a call from the local police station saying a baby had just been abandoned there. After they brought him to PHF and he was examined by the doctor, he was only a few hours old and was found to have a rare condition called gastroschisis which means he was born with his intestines outside of his body. So, he was immediately rushed to the Beijing Children's Hospital where a life saving surgery was performed on him. He is now back at PHF and is doing very well and should not need anymore surgeries.
August 9, 2007, a 21 month old boy named Fu Decai (Adrian) arrived by train from Jiaozuo orphanage. It was on a visit to PHF last week that the orphanage director told us about this child that had a serious heart problem. We recommended they send us this child as soon as possible for a heart evaluation because it appeared his condition was critical. At that time he was being treated in a local hospital for pneumonia and they would send him to us when he was released. We were informed he was on the way here and made arrangements for the ultrasound heart evaluation at Huaxin Hospital in Beijing. The study showed a very complex congenital heart disease which included a double outlet right ventricle, severe pulmonary hypertension, subpulmonic VSD, patent ductus arteriosis and a small coarctation of the aorta. Given his complex condition we were pleased to hear that they could help him with a heart operation that would correct all the major defects. It would be a higher risk surgery both during the operation and afterwards in the post-operative period. The estimated cost is 100,000 RMB ($13,000 US). They are asking us to carefully weigh the cost versus the benefit for the child. It appears to be worth it because it is his best chance to have a nearly normal life. PHF is currently trying to raise the money for Adrian so that he can get his surgery in the next few months. Please pray that all the money would be raised quickly for Adrian to get his heart surgery.As for the Christen Family's personal lives: We continue to do well and are thankful we can be a part of helping these precious orphans. We are so thankful that PHF is equipped to help these children that would otherwise have no chance to live a normal, healthy life. There continues to be so much need all over China. The end of next week (Wednesday-Friday) John will travel to a very poor orphanage in DaMing, about 3 hours south, which is run by catholic nuns. Please pray that we will be able to help this orphanage and the children. John will see if there are any children that we can help by bringing back to PHF as this orphanage is not equipped to deal with their medical needs. He will also be looking for a way PHF can help them financially as they barely have enough money to feed these children.
Alyson and Austin continue to do well. Austin has fun catching fish during the day by the pond near our house and catching geckos at night with his daddy. Alyson just got some new roller skates and is learning how to skate with those, she still needs some practice but is doing great. They both are enjoying the pool in our back yard as it gets very hot in the summer. Please keep our family in your prayers as well as all of the orphans in China and all over the world. There are just so many children with so many needs. I wish we could help them all. We will just take it one child at a time and be encouraged knowing that all of these orphans belong to God and He holds their lives in His hands.
Thank you for your prayers and support.
John, Desiray, Alyson, and Austin
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