mourning.

I've lost a mentor and the orphans have lost a champion. 

Amanda de Lange, 1961- 2012. 

Seven years of foster home service: 168 babies cared for, over 250 surgeries, and 81 foreign adoptions. 

You can read about her life here and here.

I once asked Amanda, "What can I do to run a foster home or help a bunch of orphans like you?" She told me, "Grow up first. Know who you are. And then take every chance God gives you even if it scares the hell out of you." 

A few years after that conversation, I still remember those words. I remember her handing me a baby and asking me to care for it overnight then handing me a suitcase and ushering me into a taxi alone. I remember her pushing a Chin.ese dude in the Shanghai train station who said rude things about two white ladies carrying a Chin.ese baby. I remember grocery shopping with her and noticing the large amounts of pork fluff and cookies in her cart. "Protein for the babies, sugar for the nannies," she said. I remember her giving tv interviews in Chin.ese in a hospital room where she was waiting on orphan surgeries she had fundraised and the surprise on the announcers face when her Chin.ese was spot on. I remember sitting in the back of a taxi with her discussing Mormonism vs. Protestantism and realizing that in order to get the "job done" interfaith dialogue and comraderie was imperative. I remember she showed me the best ice cream in Chi.na - the kind in white tubs for 7rmb.

I remember her wit, tenacity, courage, and faithfulness to her beliefs and the babies.

This loss runs deep. There is so much work to be done. 

walk slow. xoxo.