Monday, May 31, 2010
Gotcha
“From the ends of the earth, I cry to you for help when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the towering rock of safety, for you are my safe refuge, a fortress where my enemies cannot reach me.” Psalm 62:2-3
We have our sweet little Zoe! At 10:45 this morning we sat in the lounge of our hotel peering out the window waiting nervously for the long awaited arrival of the nannies with Zoe and the two other children who were going to their families today. The traffic is very slow here – yesterday we were told the approximately 10 mile drive from the airport would take one hour and it was nearly that long; so we were not sure how long it would be since the nannies were stuck in traffic. Suddenly Dave and Mikelle saw them walking up to the hotel and there our little daughter was right in front of us! Sasha immediately went to her in her friendly little way and started talking to her and patting her. I wasn’t sure if she would start crying if I picked her up, but couldn’t stand it after a minute or so and once I held her she did not leave my arms until she had to have her picture taken alone. Sasha continued to befriend her by feeding her snacks and giving her toys while Mikelle kept the cameras busy and Dave worked on documents. We sure wish Brady were here to share in this. Zoe arrived with a Hindu looking dot on her forehead between her eyes and we were told that it was to make the little girls look pretty in celebration of some sort of Chinese Children’s Day.
It took about two hours to complete today’s paperwork and then we spent the rest of the afternoon in the room. We continue to call Zoe by her Chinese name of Gui Ying since that is the only name she is used to, but will begin to start using Zoe also over the next couple of weeks. Gui Ying means pretty flower and female hero. Her last name Wang is the name that this orphanage gave to all the babies that come to the orphanage in the Chinese calendar year of 2007 (which is partially 2008 as I understand it…)
It is sad to think that our precious child is only one of many who has waited for a family to care for her. No one knows the numbers. Each year thousands, perhaps many hundreds of thousands of China’s children lose the love of their family due to the one child policy, the lack of money to care for a sick or special needs child or because of the birth of a girl rather than a boy. Some of those who survive are sent to government run social welfare institutions near the place they were found. There they live with fifty to many hundreds other homeless children; 95 percent of the healthy ones are girls. Orphanage workers, often untrained and overwhelmed do their best to provide the children basic care. It is all they can do. Fortunately Zoe spent more time with her foster parents than in the orphanage.
Now I sit here typing with Zoe snuggled by my side. She wouldn’t fall asleep and looks so very sad. At this point she has been with us for almost 12 hours and has not uttered the first word and except for one little second of a cry when I left the room for a couple minutes, she has not made a single noise. It is so different bringing an older child into our world who is old enough to be afraid of us and the change in her life and whose language we barely know. When I bathed her tonight I feel it must have been her first time in a bathtub. She refused to sit down. Our guide tells us that in Inner Mongolia the people only take baths 1-2 times a winter so it would be likely that this was her first real bath.
Comparing the birth of Zoe to Brady and Mikelle there are stark contrasts. With Zoe’s birth there was no grand announcement, balloons or congratulatory slaps on the back; no beautiful bouquets of flowers or excited phone calls. There were no visitors bringing tiny pink bears and warm wishes.
What somber, heart breaking thoughts when not seen through the backdrop of God’s infinite love and wisdom. There is no need for tears or regrets that we were not there nor time to despair that we missed her momentous birth and her first years of life. No, we need not grieve for Christ was there!
The God who sees, witnessed every minute of her beautiful birth. As she left the warmth of the womb and entered the coldness of the world, the Lord held her close and kept her safe and warm in the hollow of His loving hand. She was never really abandoned or forsaken because the Lord was there. She was always loved and protected because God is the almighty, the everlasting creator of ALL things! And on the day of Zoe’s birth, the heavens rejoiced, the angels danced; and the Lord gazed down lovingly to admire His precious creation.
Tonight as I lay our baby down to sleep for the first time I thank God for bringing us on this journey and pray for our Lord’s loving touch on this little life he has entrusted to us.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
It's Gotcha Day
Today we will be picking up Zoe Mei. Not a lot of time here, its a crazy busy emotional day. Keep us in your prayers! Everything has been going smoothly so far!
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Day 3
Our last day in Beijing was packed full from the time Sasha woke up at 3:30 am until now as we wrapped up our packing to leave tomorrow morning. It was very smoggy this morning which is how we remember this city, however it cleared up to a warm sunny day. I am still amazed that Sasha walked the entire morning through Tiananmen Square and then Forbidden City in the hot weather. Both were packed with people since these are the things the Chinese do on weekends. Most people here carry umbrellas in the heat and so maybe it was because she felt so grown up with her new bright green parasol! We had a few good laughs as Mikelle and I were stopped numerous times to have our picture taken. I don’t think it is because people thought we were famous! It’s just the blonde hair!
Forbidden City was built for the Emperor and Empress and is named so because in ancient times the normal people were not allowed to come close to the area. The picture of Chairman Mao is at the entrance of Forbidden City. He started the one child policy but is honored by many in China for other laws he began.
After lunch we traveled to the Great Wall, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It is approximately 4,000 miles starting in the east running west along an arc that roughly shows the southern edge of Inner Mongolia. At its peak, the Wall was guarded by more than one million men. It has been estimated that somewhere in the range of two to three million Chinese died as part of the project of building the wall.
The climb is very steep with steps of all different sizes and lengths some being almost two feet tall! It was a spectacular view with a breathtaking climb. Looking around I couldn’t help to think what a magnificent God we have.
“When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” Psalm 8:3-4
We wrapped up our sightseeing with a stop at “The Cube” where Michael Phelps won all his Olympic Medals in the summer ’08 games and the “Birds Nest” Stadium which hosted the opening and closing ceremonies. So that is all for today! I am giddy with anticipation of what the next couple days will hold for us. We depart here at 5:30 am for our flight to Hohut in Inner Mongolia. Not much sleeping going on here!
Forbidden City was built for the Emperor and Empress and is named so because in ancient times the normal people were not allowed to come close to the area. The picture of Chairman Mao is at the entrance of Forbidden City. He started the one child policy but is honored by many in China for other laws he began.
After lunch we traveled to the Great Wall, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It is approximately 4,000 miles starting in the east running west along an arc that roughly shows the southern edge of Inner Mongolia. At its peak, the Wall was guarded by more than one million men. It has been estimated that somewhere in the range of two to three million Chinese died as part of the project of building the wall.
The climb is very steep with steps of all different sizes and lengths some being almost two feet tall! It was a spectacular view with a breathtaking climb. Looking around I couldn’t help to think what a magnificent God we have.
“When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” Psalm 8:3-4
We wrapped up our sightseeing with a stop at “The Cube” where Michael Phelps won all his Olympic Medals in the summer ’08 games and the “Birds Nest” Stadium which hosted the opening and closing ceremonies. So that is all for today! I am giddy with anticipation of what the next couple days will hold for us. We depart here at 5:30 am for our flight to Hohut in Inner Mongolia. Not much sleeping going on here!
Friday, May 28, 2010
Day 2: I am so thankful
I will go before you and make the rough places smooth; I will shatter the doors of bronze, and cut through their iron bars. Isaiah 45:2
I am so very thankful. Often it is these times away from all of our everyday comforts that we so easily take for granted, that remind us of all the blessings in our lives. The reminders from our guides, books and travel information echo repeatedly in my mind throughout the day. “Don’t eat anything that can’t be peeled, don’t use the water to brush your teeth, keep your mouth shut in the shower, don’t eat ice, don’t step in anything wet on the street, don’t forget to take tissue with you to the public restroom etc.”.
As we spent the day sightseeing my mind continued the comparisons between our little village of Tipp and this city of 18 million. Many people still don’t own cars yet the days one is permitted to drive a vehicle are controlled by their license plate number. Those with odd numbers are not permitted to drive on Monday and Friday and even numbers aren’t allowed out on Tuesday and Thursday in order to keep some of the 4 million cars off the already cramped streets. Every inch of public buses seems to be crammed full and we literally thought our mini bus would be smashed between two full size buses which are everywhere we turn.
I believe the Chinese culture is such that the people don’t think it is rude to stare. I feel like a mama lion with her cub though and so they are receiving the same in return! All the memories of our last visit and the noticeable lack of little children, especially girls and even more so, girls with special needs is coming back to me now. We are so blessed to know Jesus and not live in such a dark oppressive culture YET.
We visited the Temple of Heaven this morning and then off to the Silk Street Pearl Market to buy pearls for the girls. While we were there we ran into our flight attendant who absolutely adored Sasha. With all the people in Beijing that was really something! We had lunch at a traditional Chinese restaurant. I think I’ve had enough eastern food already though I hate to admit it!
The highlight of the day was the visit to the Hutong area. This is the oldest area of Beijing where families still live in little quadrants and the streets are old and narrow. The houses are set up with rooms on four sides of a courtyard with the north side being for the grandparents (the largest room and warmest), one side for parents and boys (the next largest rooms) and the other room for girls – still smaller since they are least valued. They share a community toilet with many other quadrants and a community bath. We toured in rickshaws which was quite fun. We also climbed to the top of drum tower; a very steep climb up a very old building which also gave us a great view of part of the city. The drums used to beat on the hour to tell the time.
We finished our day with a Chinese acrobat show which fortunately was early enough that we all stayed awake. Our new friends, who also will meet their children early Monday, are a joy to spend time with and although we all thought we would dine together tonight, when we returned to the hotel we opted for showers and room service!
Hope you all are safe from the hail and storms there in Ohio. Off to bed now – tomorrow we visit Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and the Great Wall and then dine on Peking Duck!
I am so very thankful. Often it is these times away from all of our everyday comforts that we so easily take for granted, that remind us of all the blessings in our lives. The reminders from our guides, books and travel information echo repeatedly in my mind throughout the day. “Don’t eat anything that can’t be peeled, don’t use the water to brush your teeth, keep your mouth shut in the shower, don’t eat ice, don’t step in anything wet on the street, don’t forget to take tissue with you to the public restroom etc.”.
As we spent the day sightseeing my mind continued the comparisons between our little village of Tipp and this city of 18 million. Many people still don’t own cars yet the days one is permitted to drive a vehicle are controlled by their license plate number. Those with odd numbers are not permitted to drive on Monday and Friday and even numbers aren’t allowed out on Tuesday and Thursday in order to keep some of the 4 million cars off the already cramped streets. Every inch of public buses seems to be crammed full and we literally thought our mini bus would be smashed between two full size buses which are everywhere we turn.
I believe the Chinese culture is such that the people don’t think it is rude to stare. I feel like a mama lion with her cub though and so they are receiving the same in return! All the memories of our last visit and the noticeable lack of little children, especially girls and even more so, girls with special needs is coming back to me now. We are so blessed to know Jesus and not live in such a dark oppressive culture YET.
We visited the Temple of Heaven this morning and then off to the Silk Street Pearl Market to buy pearls for the girls. While we were there we ran into our flight attendant who absolutely adored Sasha. With all the people in Beijing that was really something! We had lunch at a traditional Chinese restaurant. I think I’ve had enough eastern food already though I hate to admit it!
The highlight of the day was the visit to the Hutong area. This is the oldest area of Beijing where families still live in little quadrants and the streets are old and narrow. The houses are set up with rooms on four sides of a courtyard with the north side being for the grandparents (the largest room and warmest), one side for parents and boys (the next largest rooms) and the other room for girls – still smaller since they are least valued. They share a community toilet with many other quadrants and a community bath. We toured in rickshaws which was quite fun. We also climbed to the top of drum tower; a very steep climb up a very old building which also gave us a great view of part of the city. The drums used to beat on the hour to tell the time.
We finished our day with a Chinese acrobat show which fortunately was early enough that we all stayed awake. Our new friends, who also will meet their children early Monday, are a joy to spend time with and although we all thought we would dine together tonight, when we returned to the hotel we opted for showers and room service!
Hope you all are safe from the hail and storms there in Ohio. Off to bed now – tomorrow we visit Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and the Great Wall and then dine on Peking Duck!
"When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses." -Joyce Brothers
After awaking at 1:30 Tuesday morning and finally arriving in Beijing via Dulles in Washington D.C. around 2:00 p.m. Thursday we finally collapsed into bed at 11:30! When we arrived we were greeted by our guide Jesse and one of the other couples with The Barker Foundation. We gathered our 44 pounds of luggage per person and traveled to our hotel. Having limited time in Beijing and with a long list of things we were interested in doing, we caught a cab at 7pm and rode the 40 minutes through bumper to bumper traffic, honking horns and rain to the Silk Market formerly known as Silk Road.
What an adventure as we were pulled into each stand to be shown everything from silk dresses to shoes and even had a lovely visit to the squatty potties all in the hour and a half until they closed. We caught a cab back to hotel and took a quick walk around the corner in the drizzling rain to Carrefar – (basically a Chinese Walmart) to grab some bottled water.
So here I am sitting on the bathroom floor typing at 4:00 a.m. while Sasha puts stickers in a Fancy Nancy Book. I had a few great hours of sleep with the four of us in two twin beds shoved together (how fun!). Sasha says Brady couldn't come because "we don't have enough room in our bed!" Sasha started rolling around for the past hour and I finally just decided to get up. I had been told that blogging had been shut down prior to the Olympics and still is not available here and it is true. So I hope this will post. Just four more days till we are there Zoe!
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop. Mother Teresa
We along with three other families from our agency are about to bring home little children who once were left all alone with little hope for a bright future. But God, being full of love and mercy, rescued these precious ones by placing adoption on the hearts of their parents. Normal men and women who just knew that someone out there was waiting...who knew that God does not necessarily call the equipped. He equips those He calls...and those who allow faith to lead the way. Those who will say "Yes!" when it would be much easier to say "No."
The Word of God tells us that the Lord wants to give us the desires of our hearts in accordance with His will (Psalm 37:4). Sometimes we fear our desires and longings. We assume that our yearnings are not spiritual enough to merit God's approval. In reality, our deepest hopes are often rooted in dreams that God has planted in our hearts. Without the Holy Spirit, that compelling sense that this is the direction we should go, I doubt we would ever have the courage to move forward.
I am thankful for our friends and family who have travelled the journey so far with us. So many people have helped along the way. Our own personal notary who was truly available at our every beck and call, my friends who helped calm me down when I was totally stressed over some aspect of the process and those who came and spent mornings praying with me or watching Sasha so I could do the paperwork. Or showing up early this past Sunday morning with homemade donuts and books for all of us and gifts for Sasha and Zoe just to encourage us during the last stressful days before our departure.
Monday I spent a very special time in prayer with another dear friend to send us off and try to calm my nerves. And then the rest of Monday and today packing up the final things, triple checking the paperwork to be sure we have everything. I could not have done it without you friend...
We have to say thank you to all of you who have encouraged us, prayed for us, loved us and supported us every step of the way and now are sending us off with your hugs and blessings. You are all amazing people and I believe that some of you will end up on your own personal adoption journey in the future while others will do your own part to help other orphans in distress as you too listen to that still small voice.
So here we go. By the time we return home we will feel like we have been away for a lifetime...We have.
And when Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, “Who are these with you?” Jacob said, “The children whom God has graciously given your servant.”
Genesis 33:5
Thursday, May 13, 2010
How Do You Reach 143 Million Orphans? One At A Time
A Father to the fatherless,
a defender of widows,
is God in His holy dwelling,
God sets the lonely
in families . . .
Psalms 68:5-6a
Thursday, May 6, 2010
FINALLY...Consulate Appointment
I keep saying that we just need to go away and something will happen and that is exactly how it worked again this time. We had traveled to Florida for Brady's college graduation and a few days of excitement and celebration in honor of our firstborn. Dave's cell phone rang the minute he turned it on after we touched down at Tampa International Airport. It was our coordinator letting us know that our consulate appointment was confirmed and we could book our flights.
So we now have our airplane tickets booked and are finalizing all of the details of our in-country travel once we arrive. We will leave on May 26 early in the morning and arrive back home on Friday evening, June 11 after 17 days of adventure!
Since this is Mother's Day weekend I have lots on my mind - Brady graduating, Mikelle traveling home from SEU, raising Sasha to know and love God and bringing Zoe home.
I seldom think on the things that I am NOT, but today I will share a couple of them. I am not a public figure. I am not an influential political leader. I am not a learned theologian.
I am, however, something that is precious in God’s eyes. I am a mother.
I am grateful for the children the Lord has given me to love and nurture.
But motherhood is not a life you choose if you want instantaneous rewards. Being a mom presses every button I have and tests everything I think I know about spiritual growth and trusting God to provide. Mothering is a life choice that stretches me, consumes me, squeezes me, and shapes me.
Being a mom means I will live my life in a matrix that is never ending and paradoxical. One in which great love and great pain often go hand in hand. One in which the tiniest of moments produces incredible joy. One in which my fatigue or frustration or lack of wisdom or fear become doorways to the throne of grace.
And there I find a Father who welcomes me, lifts the weight of the task from my weary shoulders, and reminds me of what I know to be true:
Generations from now, Lord willing,
my descendants will be scattered
across His earth, standing against
the tide of whatever ungodly culture
exists in their day. They will have the
potential to proclaim the simple
truth of the Gospel that changes
the heart of men.
I am reading the book “Turning the Tide” Having MORE children who follow Christ by Holly Elliff and the above comes from her book. It has been very interesting to read about what happens when believers choose to have fewer children or no children at all and what the long term effect on our culture and world will be. An interesting statistic is that the average number of children in a muslim family is 7!!!! SEVEN! This is true even here in the USA!
As Christians we pray about what we should do with our money but do we really seek God’s will regarding the size of our family? This book, shared with me by a precious friend, has really touched my heart and challenges Christians to search our hearts in this area and consider how the truth of God’s word applies in this part of our life. God is about life, growth and increase. How can we possibly imagine that children don’t fit in God’s plans? The challenge today: Do I have the mind of Christ in this critical area of life?”
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