Nov. 5

Nov. 5
Okay - each day is becoming a blur - i have to check to see what day it is - it gets so confusing!!

What a day it was! For some crazy reason i woke up at 4:30 am!! CRAZY! the even crazier thing is that i am still up and it is 10pm here! But i really want to share what happened today:)

I was so thankful that the L. woke me up so early so that i could finish what i wanted to blog this morning. I was able to blog, get dressed and then go on a walk in the village! I was so excited! I took my camera too:) I am trying to get better about taking pics but i am having a hard time emailing them an uploading them because my laptop is super slow and it takes forever - when i get home i will have to upload all of them then:)

So, we ventured out of the PHF compound (i say this b/c it is 6 acres and totally fenced in) the first sight that we saw i actually couldn't believe my eyes - i just wanted to prayed for the man - he was actually fishing through the garbage and eating it - it was a sight that i will never forget. We continued on down the dirt village roads - we saw many homes drying out corn (i imagine that they are drying it out to use for fuel to burn) All of the homes have a courtyard with a gate entrance - many were cracked open and i was able to peek inside - a few had animals which surprised me and of course the corn to dry out. We made our way to the village bakery - which doesn't look like a "store" but just a room with a long table and a lady making a deep fried bread - we bought several and gobbled them up. We also bought some candied mini apple type thing - not sure exactly what it was but it was interesting - the man was riding his bike/cart with quite a display of these candied fruits on a stick - he was excited for us to buy:) We made our way back to pHF in time for our morning devo. and time of wor. - during this time we pra.... specifically for PHF and for a miracle to happen here in the next 10 days - they need to raise about 350,000 dollars to continue this minis... here. Teh gov't is requireing a down payment for the last phase of the development. They had the money this last summer but many kids that came here needed very serious surgeries and PHF had to use $ from this fund to pay for it - now they are needing that $ in a huge way - so Please!!! pray for a miracle to work here.

This morning we went to the clinic to play with the kids. They were so happy to see us:) We arrived at snack time but they soon finished and it was a wonderful time. It is so amazing to see their faces light up!! I played with a little boy named Kennedy - he is so precious he has hydocephalus (sp?) I just found out that his family took him to the orphanage this summer:( He is about 4 or 5 years old... I also enjoyed playing with another little boy (i'm not sure of his name) he has a cleft lip and palate and a malformed arm - he was delighted when i took him out of the bouncer chair and played ball and xylophone with him.

Then we were off to get ready for VBS - it went really well. The kids loved the gack (cornstarch and water) the nannies didn't though - they were VERY worried about them getting dirty - it was great! Because they got messy anyway!!! LOL! There was a few kids that we had to pry away! They had never seen that mixture before and was very curious about it...

Soon, after VBS was over we prepared our Inn for fellowship with the Baker family, the Moody famiy (the Dr.s at the clinic) and Dawn (the sped teacher). But before they came - we did a pra.... walk around the site of the area where the new building is supposed to be - we are really hoping for a miracle.

After everyone arrived, we ate and visited and soon began an wonderful night of wor.... We layed hands on each family and pra.... for them - it was a very moving experience and we are truly trusting that G. will do something mighty hear. They too shared at how much they appreciated us being here at this time. The Dr.s are VERY grateful for the supplies that we brought - they said that it brought tears to their eyes - they are very valuable things for them. Especially with the upcoming months which is usually full of sickness - they are happy to have the meds to treat the children! Thank you to those that helped with the supplies - it is awesome to see how meaningful it is to them here. Please lift these families that are working here up in pr.....r -it is hard for them to be here along with out family and friends to support them physically - they are doing an awesome work!

Well... i am now officially the first one up and the last one to bed - i am hoping to sleep in tomorrow but we'll see what the L. has for me:):):) I will probably be awakened by the construction workers setting off fireworks in order to scare off the evil spirits before they can work... that's China for you:)

Thank you to those that are pr...ing for us here - please pr.. for Harmony house too - we will see them on Monday:) And thank you for pr... ing for my family at home and helping them too!

Blessings,
Kirsten

Nov. 4 pics

These are some boys -LOVING washing the babies - they undressed them, washed them and dressed them again - it was great!

They also loved the playdough ice cream maker!

Nov. 4 - cont.

Last night we took off to the University district. The vans dropped us off in front of McD's but it was just being built so no Qtr. Pounder for me:( Instead, we (Steve, Damon, Brooke & Jan) ventured off to KFC. From past experience i knew that hte chicken sandwich is NOT like ours at home so i opted for some fried chicken, french fries and pepsi (with no ice:)). It was great fun trying to order!! At one point i was trying to ask the cashier "how many pieces?" so i asked Steve for some help - BIG MISTAKE!!! He told me to say something in Chinese (and i trusted hime and said it) only to find out quickly later that i had just said that "I am not cute"!!! it was hilarious!!!! We then went to the upstairs dining room and at with a mother and her 7yr. old son. We quickly started a conversation with her (the best that we could with our dictionaries). The converstation started with asking her about her family, if she was married, what was their job (she is a piano teacher and her husband a gov't guard). We explained about our families (steve and i showed pics of our kids and spouses) We told her that we are working with orphans and then the converstaion started about J. and we gave her a chinese/eng. b. - she was VERY excited and we told her to read John. She said that she promised she would - we told her that we would pr.. for her family and she was VERY HAPPY! We then left to the DVD store - we took a little "shuttle car thing" i didn't have my camera but we will probably go back there next week and i will take a picture. I got about 10 DVDs for 122 yuan! Great deals and i think my family will be happy:) We then walked trhough a little indoor mall area - didn't buy anything though - almost bought lance some tennis shoes but they didn't have any big enough!! :O LOL! Plus - after i looked at them more - they looked pretty cheap looking - they had a nike swoosh but it wasn't nike! Then we headed to the Chr.....tian book store - can you believe it!! it was cool! I bought a cr..s with chinese writing on it - it is similar to 2 that i have in my kitchen window so i am excited to add it to the collection to remember this trip:) i also bought a bracelet with some common symbols :) We then visited with some students hanging out - it was fun talking to them and theylike topractice their english:) I haven't heard of others stories yet on how their night went but i'm sure it was great!

Please pr.. for direction of helping the preschool here. When we arrived we were surprised to find that Carrie (the gal that called me and asked me to help with the preschool) was gone to Hawaii until the 16th... I am not sure if i am still going to be able to help them. I did visit the school yesterday to get supplies and was happy to see lots of toys and educational things - but i haven't visited it with kids yet to know how it is being used.

I spoke with John at Harmony yesterday and told him that about 7 of us will be available to help him - we plan on firming up those plans to work there next Mon. & Tues - probably organizing stuff and helping them move - not sure of the whole story here - will have to update it later:)

Since i am up early this morning (4:30am) i am going to try to upload some pics to my pic website - so stay tuned for more details!!

Thanks for the P.....s.!!!

Nov. 4

Nov. 4 - This morning we painted the bike shed - although we used the wrong color of paint and may need to be repainted it soon:( Some of us went to play with the kids - it was great to see them again. I went to a different house and there were only about 2 boys available to play. We finally found some toys for them to play with. We are somewhat saddened by the lack of toys for the 1-2.5 year olds. I ventured to the preschool today to find some supplies (water table) and found the preschool packed with tons of fun things to do. When they took the boys away to go to therapy, we heard some other kids upstairs so we followed the noise and found them all sitting on the potty - it was quite a cute site. They sat there for quite some time before the nannies diapered them and put them down for a nap. So, we took that as our que to leave:) And we were off to get ready for VBS. VBS went great! Judy spoke in Chinese and told them the story. Andrew sang some fun songs. We then rotated throught the centers - it went great! The kids had a blast!! And so did we!!! We are now getting ready to go to the univeristy to shop and share;) Here are some China quirks: You have to drink bottled water & brush your teeth with bottled water. When you use the toilet, you cannot flush the TP. The bathroom always stinks. You can never figure which way the doors will open. And you always have to step over a raised threshold in the doors so you don't trip. They do this so the "evil spirits" don't enter the house. When driving they use their horn instead of braking! ...I'm sure I'll think of more later Gotto go!
PS - Thanks for the VBS pr...ers! IT was great!!

Nov. 3

Nov. 3

Today we all woke up with lots of anticipated excitement to actually see our surroundings! We arrived here last night at about 9pm... Some people went out for a walk in the nearby village and really enjoyed that - i stayed back to try to figure out how to email and get my darn computer runnin! Anyway, we started our morning with wor....p and p....yer. It was a good time to refocus on what our work is here. I learned that since Steve's plane had arrived early in Seattle he was able to share with a lady - who happened to be the ONLY one waiting for hte same flight that we were - when Judy (Chinese) on our team arrived she finished talking with her and by the time our flight was ready to leave she had accepted L... ! Very cool:)

After our morning time (which is every morning at 8am) we toured the grounds - i hope to send pics soon.. Leah explained alot of how PHF got started and where they are going - the grounds are beautiful and ALL donated - very cool to see what the L has done. Although they are needing Him to do great things these next 2 weeks as they need alot of $ for their next phase and requirement of the gov't. All 15 of us visited a few of the houses where the children live and got to play with a few little ones - the kids 2 1/2 and older were in school (we will see them today at VBS) Some kids were overwhelmed but a few were very excited and wanted up and hugs and climed all over us. It was precious:)

We then had lunch which the nannies prepared for us - shredded potatoes, rice and chicken. I had the rice and a little potatoes:) Soon after that we were put to work- we emptied out some attic rooms in the building we are staying in. They were extremely hard to manuever around in and many hit thier heads:( Around 2pm a few of us journied to Walmart - i needed to get some last minute supplies for VBS. It is always so interesting going there! While i was able to recognize some brand names there was ALOT that was definitely native to China. i was very thankful having Judy with us she was able to ask questions on where things were located. We mostly got snacks. They had their live fish section - i was able to take 1 picture of the live turtles to eat before that lady said no pictures. We are definitely foreigners here - i haven't seen any other americans inthis area - i'm sure in Beijing we will. On the way back to PHF we stopped at a local fruit stand and got some fruit for our team.

When we returned to PHF, our team was gone taking a walk in the village (darn i missed it again!!) so, i went to the House of Love and played with the kids. It was wonderful! about 5 kids RAN to me and basically tackled me! There are twin boys that especially wanted up in my lap -as soon as i sat down i seriously had about 4 kids in mylap (the twin boys and 2 other very cute girsl) - it was hard to play with them but after a while i was able to move a few off. It was hard tofind toys for them to play with -which i found suprising - next time i amd going to snoop around some more for toys. SO i did patty cakes with them and "Riding on a Pony" bounsing on my knees game - soon DAmon came and got me to go to dinner - he too was tackled with kiddos;) We finally said our goodbyes and off to dinner.

For dinner we met with the Bakers (very cool to meet them and hear their stories) for Hot Pot! Yes! I ate it! So, far i am doing good andnot sick:) I will try to send pics of it. basically we all sat at a very big round table and each had our own little hot pot (fondue pot) and in the center of the table was a big "lazy susan" that they put the food on and we could spin it around to get the food to put in our pot. And we had to use chopsticks -i am having a hard time with this but i'm sure i will be a pro soon!

After dinner - i was extremely tired and so i was off to bed!

Today - we plan on doing more work here and then to do VBS...

Fun with Skype

The kids and I talked to Kirsten yesterday using Skype. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the video to work -- only the audio. Maybe we'll have better luck next time. And Kirsten has an old laptop she is using -- which is very slow. But at least we all got to hear her voice. She was getting ready to go to Wal Mart after our call.

After Some Turbulence, We Are in Beijing!

Wow! what a great sendoff that we had at the airport! Come to find out my hubby was the reason behind this! it really was overwhelming to have such good friends and family to pray with us and send us onour way! Thank you!

We had a good flight here - there was alot of turbulance and about 5 people inour group got sick:( I did not!:) Thank goodness! We made it through customs very quickly and no problems! We drove here for about 1 hr and then went strait to bed! All 8 "single" girls are in 1 bunk bed room - i will try to send a pic later.

I've go to go - i will email more later to post!!!

love you guys!