Beards For Hope!

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This is one of the coolest things I've seen!

In partnership with Children's HopeChest's Young Mothers' Program, Andy is growing 20 different beard styles in 20 consecutive weeks. Each week will feature a different beard style, and you are invited to join in! With your donation, you'll be able to share photos of your own beard, and save lives while doing it!

If you ever think, "Man, what could I do to make a difference?", be reminded of this. There are a million creative ideas floating around out there, we just need to run with them!

Go to Beards For Hope to check it out! Seriously, isn't that the greatest idea!?

Only 7%!

Did you know..

If only 7% of Christians took in just ONE orphan, there would be NO MORE in the WORLD!? Only 7%! That seems so within reach!

Please read this blog. She says it better than I would.

Sophie

I just spent my last evening with Sophie. Tomorrow, late afternoon, our friend Aaron will be taking Sophie on the long journey back to her orphanage. Since she doesn't have any identification, they can't take a quick and easy flight. Instead, they're going to have to take a three day trip across the country by train - which also means packing three days worth of food and necessities. Aaron hasn't spent much time with Sophie, so I'm sure he's feeling nervous! Please be THINKING of them - that Sophie will be a happy girl, that Aaron will have peace and patience, and that they'll have safety over all the miles.

As her and I were giggling on the floor together tonight, my thoughts were all over the place. She'll never remember the two and a half months she spent playing with me, yet I'm certain I'll never forget her. After having all the luxuries of a home and one-on-one attention, are we making it harder on her now having to return to life in an orphanage? Will she ever have that access to doctors who know how to treat her condition that we've been trying so hard to seek? Will anyone ever want to make her a part of their forever family, or will she grow up surrounded by "ayis" who cook her meals and change her diapers? Will she meet people or treatments that will help her realize her full potential and self-worth, and will she ever know the One who gives her that worth?

How do foster parents do this? - watching child after child pass through their homes? This is rough!

Snow, slippers, and soup.

We had a few days over the last couple of weeks where the temps skyrocketed into the 50s. The kids loved getting outside to ride bikes and take long walks around the compound.



Now this week it’s been snowing again. I do love the snow. It makes the hustle and bustle of China seem peaceful…until the next morning when everyone’s trying to drive on it.



The business at the bakery was booming for Valentine’s day. The US Embassy holds a monthly bazaar that we regularly take baked goods to, so that along with the extra holiday orders kept everyone busy. We had a fun night of taste-testing desserts and everyone got involved in the cookie decorating.



Now that the Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year is behind us, a couple of our high-school aged girls have to return to their public schools. It’s been fun having them around the house for the last month. One of them, Mong Mong, had to return to her orphanage first, who would then take her on to her boarding school. I got to go along on the ride and was really excited for another orphanage experience. Hers is really small, with only about thirty youth. The younger kids were excited to see her return, so it was neat to know she also has a family there that cares for her when she can’t be with us.

On Valentine’s day, our restaurant served a fancy evening meal targeted toward the expat community. We wanted to buy some fresh flowers to make floral arrangements for the center of each table, so on Saturday morning, Keith, Lydia, and I ventured off for the flower market! Every single street corner we passed was occupied by people with ARMfuls of roses. When we’d stop for a red light, they would all beeline for the car with the blonde girl and tap on my window. I smiled and waved for the twenty minute drive, feeling like quite the celebrity. Arriving at the market, we encountered the biggest push and shove match I’ve ever laid my eyes on. Men of every age haggled loudly with vendors at booth after booth of fragrant flowers in every color. Most bouquets were so large you could barely wrap your arms around them. It was fun to play around and design our own arrangements. I picked out a bundle of red roses, and pink and white lilies for each centerpiece. While they were putting them all together, Lydia kept tugging on my sweater and mumbling something about fish. I tried explaining to her that we were at a flower market, and that there were no fish. I finally asked Keith why she kept talking about fish, and he explained that the exotic pet market was just on the other side of the flower market. Oh, of course! Lydia was right - there were indeed fish. So little Lydia and I ventured off to find the fish, and turtles, and frogs, and mice, and lizards. It was such a fun day!





Back at home, Keith and Cheryl took off for the restaurant and the girls and I made some special deliveries. We had spent a couple days that week making crafts for their parents and all the foster youth. We took a little construction paper and lollipops and made candy bouquets. I did the cutting and the girls decorated the pedals with everyone’s names and Valentine’s messages.



That evening, Ting surprised us with an amazing pasta dinner and a frosty-fruity treat for dessert. The girls and I played Taboo late into the evening and Sophie and I cuddled on the couch. It was the perfect Valentine’s Day!



This week has also brought some sad news. Our little Sophie will have to return to the orphanage she came from, in the far south of the country. While our foster home has a desire to focus on older kids, teens and young adults, we still hoped we could help with Sophie’s medical mysteries and eventually find another foster home to place her in. I’ve personally loved having a baby in the house to snuggle with and my arms will miss her and our evening cuddle sessions. Please think of her in the coming weeks – we’re not sure when she’ll be leaving, but it could be as early as the end of this month. It will be hard to see her go, but I’m certainly hoping we can continue to follow her case and support her, and that that will eventually lead to a sweet reunion with the little bundle of love.





I've got snow, slippers, and soup - today is a wonderful day!

Music and Icecream!

Our week started out fabulous with a fun and full day in the city for just us girls - Ting, Sarah, the twins, and I. We had a driver pick us up early Sunday morning and drive us into Beijing for our Sunday morning fellowship. Afterwards, we told the driver to look for only one place - McDonald's! I think we made him panic, as he couldn't quite put his finger on the location of the nearest one, but I knew if we drove enough we'd eventually pass a pair of those glorious arches!

The first order of business was to teach them how to dunk (their fries and nuggets into icecream, of course). What a bunch of weird kids - while asking for their orders, I asked which flavor of sundaes they wanted. They all insisted they didn't want their ice cream until they were finished with their meal. So I was the only one who returned to the table with a hot fudge sundae. After watching me with disapproving looks, I urged them to try "just one fry". Rachelle then said, "Can I be honest with you? It's not bad." Ha! I gotcha!

So back up to the counter I marched to order three additional sundaes. Glad I can be making a positive impact in their lives.







After lunch, we headed back in the direction of Salona, the very Vegas-ish mall I had visited a few weeks back. We unloaded the twins' wheelchairs and prepared to shop 'til we dropped. It was fun to have the warmth of the indoor mall with wide-open corridors for the girls to wheel down at full speed. We found a Barbie store which was a big hit. There was a big interactive Lego exhibit, but none of the girls seemed to get as excited over it as I did. And we even found an in-line skating store that had a test track where kids could try out their skates! So cool!

After wearing ourselves out, we headed for the mall's Starbucks. Ting thinks Starbucks is the place to be, which apparently was true that afternoon with all the trendy Europeans that were present. I, on the other hand, just wanted to enjoy their comfy chairs and relax a while. After getting everyone their various Starbucks drinks of choice, I walked next door to Coldstone Creamery! Yes, I had just had a McDonald's sundae a few hours earlier, but when in China, you take every opportunity for good food that you can! As I waited in line to get my small cup of cake batter and cream cheese ice cream, I was excited to see a 'buy one, get one free' sign, but then faced immediate disappointment when realizing it only applied if you ordered their red bean or seasame seed ice cream. That jolted me out of the western illusion I had been in and quickly reminded me that I was indeed still in China.







After refueling, we set out for the venue where the Delirious concert would be held that evening. In China there seems to be no such thing as 'handicapped accessible.' After finding a parking spot, we had to maneuver two wheelchairs over uneven terrain, then up a set of stairs into the building. Once inside, we were informed that the concert would be taking place at a club on the fourth floor. We were directed to an elevator where we waited and punched buttons to no avail, then were kindly informed it was out of service. So, Ting and I hoisted the twins up into our arms and climbed, and climbed, and climbed. Sarah followed with one of the wheelchairs, and then after dropping off my girl I descended to retrieve the other one. We were excited to reach the top and discover that there were only about five other people in line ahead of us. Now knowing that it'd be in a club setting, I was worried about finding a spot where the twins would be able to have a good view of the stage. As show time approached and more people gathered in line behind us, security came out and notified everyone that they'd be moving the line back down the stairs and begin the ticket-taking process down there. What? There was no way I was carrying the girls and their chairs down and back up again! Thankfully, we explained our situation and they let us stay...and now we were the first ones in line! As soon as the doors opened, we pushed the twins with all our might and parked them right in the front and center! Woohoo!

The show was really fun and I'm glad the girls were able to enjoy it from so close. Rebekah and Rachelle definitely got a lot of attention from the stage. The Delirious guys explained that their list of songs had been whittled down to a select few that they would be 'allowed' to play, being what their lyrics are like and what country they were in, so their encore ended up being a repeat of everything they had already sung. Nobody complained though - it was powerful to look around at so many foreigners Praising in a far away land! The lead singer kept repeating, "I can't believe we're in China", and I felt the same way. (I also took a lot of great video at the show, but my Windows Movie Maker won't open and it's making me sad. Hopefully I'll find a way to share video with you soon.)













Yesterday after class, Ting and I set out on some errands. Our first stop was a computer market - five stories of electronics and office supplies. Most of the interior lights were off when we walked in, and the employees were busy covering every surface with cardboard and packing tape. Apparently we had walked in just as they're all taking off for the Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year. All these big businesses will be closed for the next four weeks! We then headed onward toward WalMart. The driver told us it was busy that day, but we had no idea! If you think WalMart is crazy around Christmas time in The States, you should see WalMart in China on the eve of Chinese New Year! There was a mob scene around a gigantic bin of clementine oranges and each aisle took minutes to navigate down. One thing the Chinese love is loud-speakers - they have one for everything. So you might be standing in front of a young woman with a headset microphone on, announcing a sale on yogurt, and five feet down from her is another one shouting about the Milo. When we finally made it to the checkout lanes, all I could do was laugh. Crowds are nothing new to me, but this was beyond belief! So much fun!

Here are some more photos from our X-ray hospital visit last week. These were taken on a camera belonging to one of the Wheaton volunteers and they were kind enough to share them with me after they returned home.


Sophie & I



Geno being so brave!

And this is a nice shot of a puppet show us girls presented to everyone dining at the Muslim street market...



This week we said goodbye to our volunteer couple from New Mexico and said hello to a new one from Maryland. Melissa has been with us this week, helping in the foster home, and it's been fun to get to know her in the evenings. This morning, I'm having a lazy Saturday in my room. Later today, Keith and Cheryl will return from their vacation in Thailand. It'll be good to have them back, and we're hoping they'll bring us another Burger King dinner from the airport!

Catching up.

On Saturday, we celebrated Ting's 17th Birthday! Keith made ribs, Ting made baked potatos, and Cheryl provided homemade bread and chocolate cake with chocolate frosting!



As usual, Lydia held the spotlight most of the night with her two year old antics.



Poor Sophie is always left wondering how she can escape Lydia's over-affection... and wondering where her slice of cake is!



It was a pleasure having the three high school girls from Chicago here with us for a week. They brought along many craft projects for the kids and dove right into life at the foster home. They even sacrificially spent hours outside in the cold, pushing wheelchairs around the block - the kids' crave the outdoors and anyone who's willing to take them! For me, it was just refreshing to have some new faces in the house and new friends to get to know. We had a fun time on Sunday in the city. After our morning gathering, we ate lunch at a popular ex-pat spot - BittaPita. Mmmm! They all zonked out on the drive home.





On Monday evening, to celebrate the girls' last night with us, we decided to take them out and introduce them to 'street food'. Our area of town has a muslim market, so that's where we headed. The bread and lamb was delicious, the chicken head... not so much. After we ate, they let us in the back room to see how it's all made. Thanks for all your hard work, girls - can't wait to see you again!

















This week, we needed to take Geno in for some X-rays so we can begin a course of treatment for his O.I. We figured we'd take Sophie in for some while we were at it. When Sophie first came to our house in November, it was suspected that she had a form of dwarfism. It definitely appears like she's a little person, with her big head and little body. But as we've observed her and her delayed development for her age, it's become clear that something else is going on with her. Sophie's seemed to begin recognizing me lately, so when it came time for the X-ray run, Keith and Cheryl asked if I'd be the one to take them, along with Aaron as translater. I was thrilled and honored that they'd entrust me with the job! So we bundled up and off I went on my first foreign hospital visit.





They let us right into the X-ray room, but I felt like they tried to shoo me out. A huge crowd gathered outside in the hallway to see the foreign lady. I was carrying Sophie in her carseat, and they each wanted to try to peek at what I had. I held Geno's coat in my arms and stood in the doorway, stretching onto my tiptoes to try and watch as they layed him down on the exam table. Then I slowly inched my way back into the room, playing dumb, and they didn't push me out again. Oh, and apparently you don't need to wear lead vests while being x-rayed in China. Geno was so brave and did such a good job! Thankfully, I happened to have a sucker in my purse to show him how proud I was! And then I shamelessly made Aaron take our photo! :)





Sophie's turn was next and she didn't make a peep! What great kiddos! Back at the house, we all stared in amazement at Sophie's x-rays. She has no hips, knees, ankles, elbows, wrists or collar bones. She can reach and hold things, so she must be doing it all with her muscle. No wonder she's like a floppy rag doll in your arms! We'll be sending their x-rays back to the States to be examined and hopefully the ball will get rolling really quickly.

On Tuesday, Keith and Cheryl took off for a vacation to Thailand. I try not to think about them laying on the warm beach while I'm putting on my scarf each morning. So, until the 24th, it's just me and the chicadees holding down the fort. We're still plugging away at the school books. Shhh, don't tell anyone, but I told them that if they worked hard this week, we'd have a late start on Friday morning. Their teacher enjoyed sleeping in a bit later, too. :) It seems like we easily get off on different tangents during the school day, which leads to some sort of funny story or idea. I'm often saying, 'Okay, time to get back to work.' So the other day, one of the girls decorated a poster for the wall that says 'get to work', so now I can just point to my sign instead of saying it over and over. Well, that lead Rachelle to believe she needed a sign of her own, and this is what she came up with...



They make me laugh so much!

This week we have a couple from New Mexico volunteering with us. They've been teaching English in inner-Mongolia since August, and are here during their Chinese New Year break. Yesterday, the man needed to visit a bank, so we called a driver and all took a field trip. Dad, I can't wait to show you this bank! The Chinese are really good at building things, but horrible at maintaining them! After the bank, we ran by WalMart to pick up a few things. FYI, it may be called WalMart, but it's not like any WalMart you've ever seen. I seem to be addicted to yogurt here, so I seriously needed to stock up. And fantastic news - the TV dish here picks up a station from the Philipines that carries American Idol, so I told the girls we needed to pick out party snacks for our Idol party! Pushing the twins' wheelchairs through WalMart once again amazed me. I can't get over how grown adults think it's okay to stare so openly and obnoxiously at them. They're super cute and little, but people don't stare at them with a smile on their face, but rather a look like you'd give a zoo animal. I know it bugs the girls, but they handle it well. It's just me that's still adjusting to all things 'new'.

The curtain man paid us a visit! He peddled up on his bike and cart and soon my sunroom wall was transformed!







Keith took me into the city and introduced me to an Irish woman who runs a shop. She's set it up similar to a GoodWill store, and told me I could pick whatever I wanted to help make my room a home. I picked out a nice nightstand, a lamp and digital clock (although I'm still having to count on my fingers to figure out what time it is when the clock says 19:30), and a little coffee table to hold my TV. And then, the other day Keith pulled this beauty out from the attic for me! Tada!



The gift of heat. I no longer have ice on the inside of my window, folks. Hallelujah!

Since I've been here, I've had the bakery apartment all to myself. If you don't remember, they spent the fall transforming the upstairs of the bakery into an apartment for me. There's a kitchenette, bathroom, three bedrooms, and a dining room that I've since turned into our school room. Well, now I have roommates! Three of the older foster girls have moved over from the foster home into the apartment with me! Catherine (20) and Amy (18) are sharing one room, and April (25) has claimed the other. Now I have to learn how to say 'keep your hands off my yogurt' in Chinese. Kidding!

Today after class, Sarah asked if she could sweep and mop the room for me. Of course! With the twins being in wheelchairs, and two of my new apartment-mates being in chairs, there's a lot of traffic from people who have to leave their chairs downstairs and crawl around on their hands and knees while upstairs. Sweeping and mopping is becoming a daily thing! I love that Sarah has figured out my need for cleanliness, saw the need and volunteered to help me out!



That's been my week. I need an 8th day just to write about it.

On Sunday, the band, Delirious, is throwing a concert in Beijing. We'll head in early for our morning gathering, hit up McDonald's for lunch (Can you believe I've been in China for a month and haven't even been to a McDonald's yet?...I don't think I've ever gone more than a week between Mickey Ds visits while in China.), have a fun afternoon in the city, and then enjoy a live show that night. I don't think I've seen Delirious since my middle school days, so this should be exciting! And if Keith or Cheryl ask, we've just been doing school work all week, okay?