Friday morning

Good morning!

It's Friday morning in China. We said goodbye to the kids last night. It went well. We ate a yummy meal which included 13 dishes!!!! Oh my! This trip I have finally realized that Chinese hospitality means that the plates just keep coming! 

Then we gave each of the kids an award and we spoke about each of them and told them how special they are! Then we gave them gift bags filled with the gifts and candy that my friends from home had sent. 

(His says Best Athlete)

One of their favorite things in their gift bags was nail polish and I got to paint one of my girls nails. They LOVED it. 

The director of the group home gave a tearful meaningful speech at the end saying that other agencies had wanted to help these kids but no one had made his kids feel as special as we had. He said that we made unique attachments with the kids and made them feel valued for the first time. Boom. Thank you,God! And thank you to everyone who gave me stuff to bring here for the kids.

Then they left. My thought as I blew kisses and waved good bye was next time you see a white girl it will be your mommy. I had peace. This was not the end, but the beginning for them.

The bus pulled away and we walked slowly and silently and tearfully back to our hotel. 

HOPE is what fills my mind and my heart right now. 

Knowing these kids gives me great hope. Will my perspective change when I get back and advocate for them? When I get back to American materialism, and American HIV stigma, and the American dream, will I still have hope?  My hope must be grounded in the Lord Jesus Christ.  He alone will never disappoint. He is our HOPE.  Excited to see what He does. 

Lord, these kids need You. Please tell their families they are here. And tell them to get their adoption paperwork ready now. 

Will you join me in praying for God's power in these kids' lives?

Checking in

Hey guys, 

So much filling my brain and my heart, will be a while till I can express all that has transpired. It's been so good. Being with the kids for four days now, we have been able to really get a glimpse at who they are. Which has been so great and should be sooo helpful to people who are considering adopting them. These kids are just all around great kids. They are not at all , AT ALL, what you would think of as an orphan. They are so well adjusted and well behaved, I often forget their reality. And then when you least expect it, it will come out how desperately they want a family. They are very aware that they have nothing to call their own, that they have no mommy and daddy.  Right now their hearts ache for family. Ugh. Thankfully right now their basic needs are being met by good caregivers. But as they get older and older their future looks bleaker and bleaker. When they age out .....I can't even type what happens to them....

Right now I am not worried about these kids I have been with this week getting adopted. They are just too great of kids. But I am here with them right now, hugging them, sitting with them, laughing with them, eating and playing with them. I can SEE how perfect they are. It makes me want to pray more for the FAITH of their future families who can't see all that I have seen but will be able to have faith in the One who calls them to boldly step out and adopt an older HIV child they have never seen. 

I will do my best to advocate for these kids...honestly they will be easy to advocate for since I see them as very desirable kids for almost any family. But I also know the greatest tool I have is prayer. For His power to rescue these kids out of a very grim future. Oh these sweet babies will be in my heart for a very long time. 

Sometimes I wonder what will be next for me after they all get families. Will this trip have just been about that...how will God use this trip to grow me? I don't know yet. 

Tonight we say good bye to these kids. They are coming to our motel for a goodbye dinner and party. It will be hard but I know this trip isn't about me and my emotions. And I will hopefully be able to focus on the great hope I have for them of a life with a loving family in America!

I will close with a few pics. I haven't been excited to post any pics because I can't show their faces and I HATE that stupid HIV stigma!!! Thank you for praying for them. 

Mmmmmm....

So my blog post title is mmmmmmm...because that's all I can come up with to sum up these last two days. 

Yesterday and today have gone better than I expected. I thought we would need days for these kids to trust us but instead  it happened so quickly and we had good rapport with them by the end of our first day. 

I wish I could show you their beautiful faces but I can't put them on the internet so you'll have to wait till I get home. 

These kids are a delight. They are well adjusted to their group home where currently 29 of them live. They are smart. They are beautiful. They are talented. Honestly, playing and interacting with them feels just like being with my kids at home. Today we played badminton together, laughed together, ate together, kicked soccer balls together....These kids are treated very well at their group home. It amazes me , really. Life isn't perfect there but it's the best spot for them China has to offer as they wait for their forever families to come and get them. I can honestly say I would adopt all 11 of them without hesitation. Our Holt leader said today this group home is a beautiful example of what a private organization can do in China. So much better than govt orphanages. And I totally agree. 

Today we took the kids out to a large park and hung  out with them there all day. We played together,chatted, and they all worked together with their group home staff to cook us a huge meal! My favorite part was when the child therapist in our group had us all sit in a circle and she did an excellent job explaining to the kids life in America, forever family, and adoption. The kids were glued to her every word. All of these concepts have been so foreign to them but today I started to see their understanding increase. It was awesome. Afterwards I sat with a few girls and they asked me question after question about life in America, including family and school. It felt so good to my momma's heart to be able to help them work through some of their fears. Ah, God is so good. 

So, it's been amazing. Haven't had any extra time to process any alone, but we have had time to process just us girls from America so that has been good. We have had tons of time with the kids so that has been pure joy ofcourse, and also great for me learning more and more about them. 

I can't believe I am here. Such a gift. So thankful.

These kids are so wonderful and so worth it.

Mmmmmm.....

2am

So I got a good almost 6 hours of sleep and now it's 2am in China so ofcourse I amAWAKE!!! Ugh. Ugh ugh ugh.

So yesterday was such a great first day. Here is a pic of my team. As expected we all bring such diverse perspectives to this situation. But each of these ladies are believers and are wonderful and very enjoyable people. So much fun to be thrust into this amazing adventure with strangers who turn out to be awesome! God is so good! 

We sat in our motel room for a few hours talking and organizing all the stuff we got and making friendship bracelets to give the kids and then help them to make. It was such a great afternoon of bonding.

To my surprise, which I know you probably think should have been expected, I am soooooo drawn to the kids here. ...the kids who are happily playing , being held by their parents, riding on their parents scooter...all of them! They are just all so beautiful and charming to me. 

Can you see the little girl sleeping in between her parents? Who needs seat belts? Oh man, I love this place. 

Our leader from Holt has been doing evaluations on over a hundred kids  from other orphanages the week before we arrived and she said it is so bizarre to spend so much time with these kids in the orphanages who all have special needs and then to come out on the streets and see all these healthy children. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. 

Well, it's about 2:30am on Monday morning now. We are leaving at 8:30am to head to the orphanage because they have a big meeting room we can use and so that is where they will bring some of the group home kids to meet us. We will be with them all morning and then all afternoon we are meeting with their caretakers. 

.....so much anticipation. 

Be still and know that I am God. 

Hello Nanning

We made it to Nanning, China. Thanks so much for praying guys. I am so thankful for you. The flights were long but good. We had fun this afternoon sorting thru all of the stuff we brought for the kids and talking about how and when we want to give it to them. We walked around the city a little bit. I just Am so drawn to the people here. They are so beautiful and interesting. 

One down

First flight went great except the gal next to me wasn't much for conversation...

The four of us flying in from the US are here in LAX trying to keep ourselves awake. This is our first time meeting each other and they're all fantastic!!! Yay! I'm so happy they are the people I get to spend the week with. We leave for Beijing at 1:30am. I'm tired.

My tub

Check out what so many of you gave to these kiddos . It is all snug in my tub. I am a bit scared to weigh it....