A return visit

This summer we had the amazing privilege to return to Emma's orphanage. This time we were only visitors. Many have asked us if we were going there to pick up another child. If only it were that simple! We were given a warm and hearty welcome. The directors treated us like family. They gave Emma gifts. They let us play with the children for a long time and they treated us to a delicious lunch. They sent us home with an extra special gift (but that too is another post.)

This is where Emma spent the first three years of her life.

Langfang SWI

The outside isn't much to look at, but the inside is filled with colorful walls, fun toys and equipment, loving caretakers... and children waiting for families.

The woman on the left is one of the directors. The women on the right cared for Emma since she was a baby.

Look at that smile!

Selfies are fun for everyone

lunch time for the littles

8x10s of all the children who have been adopted from their orphanage

Emma was especially interested in returning to see her friend "Rui Rui". She's never really stopped talking about him since she was adopted. We've always known there was a special bond between the two of them. Before going, we talked about how if he was there, it would be good to see him. But that if he wasn't, that might be good too, because hopefully that meant he had been adopted and was now in a family. Well, he was there. And she followed him around the whole time. 

Abundant smiles

 Sometimes he acted like he too was excited to be around Emma and sometimes he ran away and acted like he didn't care, or maybe he enjoyed being chased. He doesn't talk much. I know he enjoyed the attention. Emma wasn't too interested in saying much, until we had to leave...

Goodbye happened over lunch. 

Mark was busy with Elsie and so I was navigating this emotional moment on my own. She turned to me with a serious look and said, "Mom, why hasn't Rui Rui been adopted?" Tears. Immediate tears. I didn't know what to say. I think I said, "That's a hard question to answer, honey." And we both cried and she didn't want to leave. And the rest of the day she was asking me if we could adopt him. We wish we could, but we can't.

She was sad when we left...

I was sad too. Back in our hotel room that night I cried and cried. Tears for these sweet little ones who desperately want to be loved. Don't get me wrong, this is a wonderful facility. They have resources that many orphanages don't have and we can see improvements they've made in the three years since we'd been there. They're using their resources to benefit these kids and that's such a special gift to these children. Still, my friend has a saying, "Kids need families." And they do, they each do. And so I cried for them, growing up in an institution with hired workers to care for them and not growing up with a mother and father who love and delight in them. And I cried for me too, wondering if God has another adoption in our future.  It's a complicated question, but one we keep asking because kids keep growing up without a mom and dad and babies continue to be abandoned. 

This is right at the gate of the orphanage, it's one of the "baby boxes" that you may have read about in the news. Men and women wishing to abandon their babies can do so here, in hopes that the baby will be safer than abandoning him/her in some other location.  It's all so sad. 

Would you pray with me that we would find our place in God's story for these children? 

East Asian Summer Adventures

The sweet women...

...and men we spent the summer with. 

the City and the Culture

Muslim men gather for prayer every Friday. They fill the Mosque and then the streets.

These women are having their fortunes told outside a local Buddhist temple.

A weekend outside the city in the mountains

retreat center where we stayed

little mountain climber

End of the summer sight seeing

It was quite hot, but she actually loved the freedom to run around.

Shopping is always fun!

It's the best family shot we got. Elsie is always trying to lick something. 

We had such a wonderful summer. We loved the food (well, three of us did). We loved the people. Emma would ask me how to speak to the people and then repeat exactly what I said. Elsie learned one phrase and made everyone smile when she said it. Returning to our old homes...Mark and I to the city where we lived for nine years and Emma to her orphanage (that's another blog post)...was bittersweet. We loved being there and seeing old friends, and we felt sad at times. God worked in our hearts and through our lives and we are so thankful!

Spring beauties

One day, just for church, we curled our hair. I know, you didn't think it was possible to make her even more beautiful!

One early spring day, we got to visit a private goat farm. Super fun!

Our American spring adventures are about to turn into Asian summer adventures! Please be praying as we travel and get over jet lag. Pray as we're there that we'll take each day to savor all that the Lord has for us. 

I'll have much to share when we return. At the end of our trip we're actually able to visit Emma's orphanage. She was looking at pictures today and feeling really sad missing her friends. She hopes to see them, but if they're not there, it may mean they've been adopted which is even better. We all know that it's only in families that kids blossom.

Long awaited return...

On May 26th we will again step foot on our "homeland". Yes, the four of us are all Americans, but there's a lot of Asian in us as well. We sometimes joke that Mark and I actually more culturally Asian than Emma and Elsie since we lived there longer. It's a place that's near and dear to all of us and we will be able to spend six weeks there this summer.

Six weeks is a long time. Time enough for us to remember all that we loved and to remember all those things that we didn't love. Hopefully enough time to embrace old friends and make some new ones. And time enough to give the staff and students we are bringing along a taste of what it's like to live and minister in East Asia. Among people that are so different and yet so similar to us.

Please be in prayer for us this summer.
Pray for:

Mark and I to juggle our emotions as we return and then say goodbye, our children who are both very needy at times, and our ministry with our 14 other teammates. Pray we are able to know how the Lord wants us to balance our time between these three major areas.

Elsie. She likes routine and structure. Pray that we are able to provide a little structure for her and that she'll be flexible when we can't. She struggles at meal times. She likes to play and throws food everywhere. Pray that we'll find some local food she likes and that maybe she'll be willing to eat while in a noisy restaurant. She still puts everything in her mouth. Pray that she'll be safe and healthy. And finally, we've recently seen some more seizures. (I'll write a separate post about this soon.) Pray that by God's grace she'll be seizure free this summer.

Emma. For the most part I think she's going to love it. She's so excited, mostly to eat noodles, which she might do daily. Pray for her little heart. She might experience some emotions and have questions related to her adoption and local people will likely ask a lot of questions.

Pray the Lord will meet all of us with His grace and love and abundant provision.

It’s spring.  Spring means birthday season in this household! And Easter is in the middle of the birthdays, which is a great chance for a photo shoot.

Elsie just turned five. She is still as active as ever. Here are a few of the ways she’s growing.

Physically—she’s running all over the place. She takes four to five large two footed jumps when you ask her to, and sometimes without prompting just for fun. She loves to be chased. She has seemingly boundless energy. And she’s “graduated” from outpatient physical therapy. Her PT says it’s not necessary at this point. The jury is still out as to whether or not I can keep up!

Emotionally/socially—she is delightful and charms almost everyone she meets. She’ll ask strangers for a “huggie,” though I think most of them don’t know what she’s asking. She is watching other children more and more and loves to chase them and to be chased. She doesn’t always know how to say hello and get someone’s attention. Most often she does so by hitting, or scratching…yikes!

Spiritually—Elsie will grab my little pinky, usually at meal times and say “inging” asking me to pray. She also loves to sing “hau-oo,” hallelujah.

Cognitively—we are thrilled at how much she’s learned this year. She is paying attention more and more and therefore learning the function of toys and using them appropriately. I recently sat down to update her spoken words and sign language list, and I filled two pages. She tries to communicate with me more often than not. She knows what she wants and is able to tell me. She learns new signs in ten minutes or less, and her spoken words are increasing too.

Elsie, we are so proud of you and love you so dearly. You bring so much fun and laughter into our home. You have such a sweet smile and we are ever grateful God grafted you into our family.

Emma is about to turn six! Even though at times she can act like she’s fifteen with her exasperated roll of the eyes, she’s still our sweet little lady. She too has grown and changed so much this year.

Physically—she reminds us that she’s still bigger than Elsie, though honestly not by much. She’s excited to learn to ride her bike without training wheels this spring/summer.

Emotionally/socially—Emma is almost as extroverted as her mother. She wants friends but hasn’t had many opportunities while being homeschooled this year. Her “bible study” (Awana) and class at church are the highlights of her week. She is extremely articulate and doesn’t filter much of what she says. We’re trying to teach her to wait and say some things only to us and not out loud in front of strangers. She is our drama queen and expresses emotion with gusto.

Spiritually—she loves reading her Bibles. Almost every day she can be found for long stretches of time reading stories of God’s love and faithfulness through the ages. She asks spiritual questions, “how can Jesus come in my heart? Is there like a door?”And she loves to sing songs about Jesus.

Cognitively—she loves to read! I’m not entirely sure how it happened so effortlessly. She asked me to read to her for months on end and I did as much as I could. And I taught her some sight words and how to sound out words. Then once she started reading a little, she began to read more and more and more. Now she reads first to second grade books with inflection. She pulls classic novels off our shelves and reads what she can. She doesn’t love to write, nor to do math, but we’re still working on those. As long as reading is involved, she’s willing to “do school” for multiple hours in a day.

Emma, we love you dearly and we’re so proud of you! You make us beam and make us laugh and we are so grateful for your expressions of love and affection.

Happy birthdays, my sweet little girls!  Mommy loves you like crazy cakes!

No small thing

Tonight I am preparing paperwork for our girls to get official Ohio birth certificates. This is not a big deal in my book. Ohio birth certificates could be helpful down the road. It's one more piece of the huge paperwork puzzle that I had yet to get to. 

But as I pulled out those Chinese documents, I started to read. (A huge benefit of studying the language for so long! I couldn't understand it all, but I can understand enough.) I read Elsie's abandonment article, what was published in the paper in the area where she was found. Infant girl found on this seat on this train about one month old. I read Emma's daily schedule in the orphanage. Wake up, snacks, play times, meals, all so regimented and routine because there were so many children they were caring for. I read a questionnaire we sent to Elsie's orphanage. It was partially filled out and there were lots of 没有, meaning doesn't have. She didn't have favorite toys or something she always slept with. She didn't have favorite foods because at two and a half years old she was still drinking formula. 

Reading these documents and papers we'd received from their orphanages reminds me... these girls used to be orphans. They were both abandoned. They lived for years without a mother and father and sister. 

But now! They belong to us. They are ours. We operate like a typical family with giggles and tears and joys and frustrations. Even though they are distinctly Asian beauties sometimes I forget who they used to be. They're now my girls. They are orphans no longer. They are thriving in our family. And that is No. Small. Thing. 

Better late than never

My 2015 Christmas Cuties!

Christmas Eve tradition--matching PJs

This is how most of the photo shoots go!

"Huggy!"as Elsie says