Tuesday in China

This is the day that I got to teach the Kindergarten level class. It was so much fun to interact with the kids as they learned and played. It was a new and fun experience teaching through a translator.

Here are pictures of the kids in the Clubfoot Unit playing. You know- it amazed me how few times I ever heard a child cry while we were at the House of Love. The kids really only cried when we walked in the room during the first part of the week since we were strangers. They quickly warmed up to us and most of them were fine with us toward the end of the week. The kids' needs get quickly met and the carers were always holding, caring for, or playing with someone.

 Here the kids are rolling a tractor back and forth to each other.

 

This was one of my favorite times in the Clubfoot Unit. In the afternoon the kids paint and they ALL just love it! They each fully painted their piece of paper and took such care in what they were doing. As soon as the brushes and paints came in they were sitting down getting ready to make their masterpieces.

 In the evening we went out to eat and had a great meal. It was here that Elizabeth ate her first fish eye!!

Before first taste of fish eye....

 After....

 It was a great meal with great company. I am missing Chinese food now! It doesn't help that I haven't made it to the grocery for more than milk and eggs yet AND Yi is in Boston until Sunday!

Video that tells all about our AMAZING week in China

As emotional as this video is I am convinced that words just can't describe how wonderful a place the House of Love is and how great it was to spend time and share with the college students and Joy's foster family. I am praying that God will give us a supernatural ability to communicate all we experienced to give others a heart for those that do not have hope and for those that have no voice of their own.

Happenings at Home

Here are some Easter pictures. Joy and I got home from China at 10:30 the night before. I am amazed at how awake she looks in the pictures.

 These are the dresses that Joy's foster parents bought the girls while we were in China.

We laid low on Easter. Here is a picture of where and how I found Joy at 6pm on Easter night. Toward the beginning of the week Clayton kept looking at us and saying we had the same glazed stare. Joy kept telling me at around 4 or 5pm each day that she was just SO tired! She really had an exhausting week, emotionally and physically. I'm surprised she's doing as well as she is right now. She seems to have settled easily back into home. She liked the fact that her sister, Faith, missed her so much!

The kids had an AWANA Bible bee at church Wednesday and here are some photos.

We had horrible storms in GA last night. Our area seemed to have evaded them but many others did not. When I went to shut every one's windows and move them to the basement here is what I found in Joy and Faith's room. Sleeping together on the top bunk. Cute huh!

You can make a difference!

Okay since returning from China I am having the “How can I help, I am only one person?" blues. The answer, “Do everything I can and then some.”

Pray and then pray some more for God to move in people’s hearts. All the kids at the House of Love were amazing but the older kids in the CP Unit are especially on my heart. These kids may or may not be given an opportunity to have a family and for now the House of Love really is their home! Most of them experienced life before the House of Love existed and have their own stories of neglect and abandonment and then of love, family, and acceptance. Here is Jimmy, another Starfish you can help:

On my recent trip to China I had the opportunity to meet Jimmy. Jimmy’s legs are affected by CP but it certainly doesn’t slow down his outgoing personality. He loved practicing his English with us. Several times I heard him singing songs- his carers say he is known for making up songs, then singing them throughout the day. One of his good friends, Frank, celebrated a birthday while we were there and sweet Jimmy was more excited about it than Frank. Jimmy has a sweet ability to put others’ happiness in front of his own.

Jimmy has received unconditional love and acceptance and has been given the opportunity to attend school through An Orphan’s Wish. To continue to improve providing for Jimmy’s medical, physical, emotional, and educational needs he needs 4 more monthly sponsors. We can make a difference in his life and one life does matter! Go to http://www.anorphanswish.org/jimmy to sponsor Jimmy and help change his life.
 

Monday in China

On Monday we got a tour of the House of Love. Then we observed and helped in the Kindergarten level class. They have that class plus an elementary level class in the House of Love. We were to help the Kindergarten teacher learn how to teach the kids through playing and being active.

We started building a relationship with the teacher on Monday and quickly realized that she indeed wanted to learn a new way of teaching. We started interacting with the kids in class. It was such a surreal experience for me to physically get to see kids I had prayed for and advocated for. I am forever grateful for the opportunity and amazed at how God worked out every single detail to get us there.

After lunch Joy went into the elementary and started talking with two of the older children at the House of Love.

They get an English lesson once a week and I was very impressed with their English skills. I was also very impressed with my daughter's Mandarin skill. That has been harder than I expected to keep up but I am so glad we have.

Elizabeth was able to spend a lot of time in the club foot unit while Willette and I were with the class and the teacher. She has her eye on a few of those sweeties for sure!! Monday night she hit her mom up pretty hard on the adoption topic. It was nice just to sit back and let someone else do the work for once! ;)

 In the afternoon we started unpacking and organizing all the stuff we brought in between talking with the kids. I am still amazed at how the adoption community and our church provided.

Monday night we got to see Joy’s foster family again. We met them at a restaurant and had a lovely meal. It was at this meal that Joy shared the gospel with her Nai Nai and China mom. She did an amazing job and even answered their questions and was unwavering when they didn't respond with great enthusiasm.

It was at this meal that I discovered peanut milk. Sounds nasty I know but it was like eating a peanut butter sandwich with milk only without the effort of making the sandwich! It is on my list for the next time I go to the Chinese market here!

  

After dinner we went shopping at the market outside our hotel.

 These cute little girls were just sitting outside their parents' store and we thought they were adorable!

Starting a study in Colossians AND day 1 in China

Favorite verse from Chapter 1....

"All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since they day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth." Colossians 1:6

I am going to share a little of my journal each day this week (that is the goal anyway) from our trip to China.

Sunday, April 17th- I'll go backwards to a few answers to prayer from our flights. I'll be honest I was a bit nervous about having 8 suitcases, one wheelchair and only 3 adults. God is so faithful to help in even our small times of need. We didn't have to pay for the wheelchair even in China and with all the medical supplies in our suitcases we just walked right past security in China. PTL!! And we didn't loose any suitcases in Shanghai trying to get them on and off the shuttle while trying to get to the other terminal. All this may seem trivial but it really was the only thing I was the least bit nervous about for the whole trip and I was so grateful the Lord worked it out!

Back to Sunday, our first full day in China. We slept in and met with Joy's foster family and our friend's Bruce and Sophie at 1pm. On our way to meet them my friend, Willette, said "Angie, I don't think I could do what you are doing in meeting Joy's foster family again." I had a moment of panic, like maybe this isn't a good idea, but seeing Joy with her Nai Nai again made it all worthwhile.

Joy is so proud that she is almost as tall as her Nai Nai. They had a wonderful time together. We went walking at the Seven Star Park. It was a beautiful park in Guilin. Joy even got to hold a monkey! (Only in China do you get to hold wild animals- last time we were in Guangzhou the girls got to hold a baby tiger)

 

The other amazing thing we got to do on Sunday was meet our friend Bruce again. We met him on the train last year from Nanning to Guilin and have kept in touch through QQ. He brought his classmate, Sophie, with him. They are pictured in the middle photo above. They helped with translating with Joy's foster family whenever we saw them. We were able to share more of the gospel with them, give them a Chinese/ English Bible and Jesus film in Mandarin. God did a lot with these relationships during the week that I'll share later. They invited us to come see their campus Sunday afternoon so we were able to start some relationships with other students.

 In the evening we met with the Trower's for dinner to talk about our week at the House of Love. It always amazes me how those with hearts for orphans are instant friends and the Trower's were no different. There are so many things about orphan care that I have a hard time wrapping my mind around. Like "Why do some kids make it while others don't?, Why do some kids get families and others don't?, Why don't more believers care about those that don't have a voice of their own?" I enjoy talking with believers who ask God the same questions. God always brings His children to a quiet resting place of peace and trust in Him. Our minds can't fathom His greater plan and the fact that He sees past, present, and future all together. That is why He is God and we are not. But it does motivate me to do all I can for orphans while I am still on this earth.

 Okay, so just because we were in China I had to include the yummy food... can you guess what animal male parts these are?! (Oh yes, the upper middle thing is pig male parts on a stick!)

So over dinner we finalized plans for the week... Here is a picture of what is to come for our week at the House of Love. I am convinced it is one of the most amazing places on earth. I still can't believe I actually got to be in a Chinese orphanage loving on these sweet kids.

My Little Starfish

This is Joy after her 1st surgery in China. There is a family (pictured below) that followed God to China. They started the House of Love at an orphanage in Guangxi, China. Joy was one of the first children they saw upon arriving. They raised money so she could have life saving surgery. Why is she a starfish you might ask? This family started the House of Love because of the Starfish Poem. I put it under Joy's picture.

THE STARFISH POEM

Once upon a time there was a wise man

who used to go to the ocean to do his writing.

He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.

One day he was walking along the shore.

As he looked down the beach, he saw a human figure moving like a dancer.

He smiled to himself to think of someone who would dance to the day. So he began to walk faster to catch up.

As he got closer, he saw that it was a young man and the young man wasn't dancing, but instead he was reaching down to the shore,

picking up something and very gently throwing it into the ocean.

As he got closer he called out, "Good morning! What are you doing?"

The young man paused, looked up and replied, "Throwing starfish in the ocean."

 

"The wise man then asked, "Why are you throwing starfish in the ocean?"

 

"The sun is up and the tide is going out. And if I don't throw them in they'll die."

 

"But, young man, don't you realize that there are miles and miles of beach and starfish all along it. You can't possibly make a difference!"

 

The young man listened politely. Then bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it into the sea, past the breaking waves and said-

"It made a difference for that one."

One thing I cling to from this trip to China is that one life does make a difference. No, I can't help the 143 million orphans BUT I can help one, then another, and then another. AND every life does count! This is Joy and I with the family that God used to literally save her life! They gave us each a starfish necklace for helping. I didn't read the note in Joy's until we got home. It said, "Joy, You are special. You are a starfish." Yes, the floodgates that I had managed to keep at bay for a week opened and I haven't quit crying since.

You can go to An Orphan's Wish to help sponsor a child. The older children in the CP Unit need sponsors the most. The House of Love has room to help more older children but they can't because they need more sponsors! One child does matter.

I'll be sharing more photos of the kids we got to meet soon. We were able to teach the kids and train the Kindergarten teacher. It was a great experience so I'll be sharing about that too.

If you are thinking of sponsoring a child you can rest assured that these kids are well loved and cared for and prayed for. We got to see one of them celebrate a birthday, one of them get their first set of casts for clubfoot, watch their carers play and love on them, and much more. None of this is possible without people like you and I doing whatever we have to do to support the kids from afar!

Here are some pictures while we sit in Seoul waiting for our long plane ride