Lovin on the Babies

First, a brief update...

I've been out of blogging this last week-- For one reason, I've been working on a post that just won't come out right. So I'm giving up on that one and moving on. Secondly, my parents are here! So we're busy visiting all those places that you just HAVE to go see if you come to China. And so many of them happen to be right here in our backyard!

One of those places that is not on anyone's top 10 list but was such a great experience for us this last week was a Chinese orphanage. If you've kept up for awhile, you remember a few months back when I mentioned I wanted to arrange a trip to visit the orphanage of our little friend Lily, a 3 year old girl we connected with at Christmas time. When I went to arrange the trip I found that we can't go see her...because she has been adopted! Kathryn started jumping up and down when I told her the news! :)

So this week we arranged a trip to visit a small orphanage that is near our home. It was clean, well kept, and the little ones were all well cared for and loved. And it was still heart-wrenching to see their sweet faces and imagine all the sorrow that brought them there. All of the children in this home are babies awaiting some kind of surgical procedure-- heart conditions, cleft palates... a few others I didn't know the words for. But a baby doesn't care what language you speak...as long as its the language of love.








































































Before we went, I wanted to prepare the girls for our time so they would not gawk or act strangely towards the children. And although there were a few times I was grateful that our hosts did not understand what my girls were saying, for the most part they both seemed to understand why we were there.

When Jim came home that night, he asked Ellie what we had done that day. She said "We were lovin on the babies, daddy." But don't let me give you the impression that we were the ones serving them, as it was most definitely mutual! A few moments with one of these little ones in your arms can steal you heart clean away.

Happy Easter!

I found these sweet dresses at this market down the street for a great price! I had this compelling notion on Friday to go find new Easter dresses for the girls -- which is what my mom used to do for my sister and I for Easter... with one exception-- She would make the dresses we wore! Mom, maybe you should send me a pic of Jen & I in matching Easter dresses that I can post next to these! :)



















We had a fun Easter egg hunt with our friends...


















On a serious mission...
























































































































Don't we have fun friends? :)

For the Grandmas

It's been awhile since I've posted pictures of the girls for the grandmas so Easter provides the perfect opportunity for silly little girl pics! We might even get a few more over the next 2 days GG! :)

Trouble At School

I thought that if Kathryn had only Chinese friends (and no English speakers) in her class, then she would be motivated to learn Chinese. I think I was wrong. With a classroom full of only Chinese classmates, she seems to be pushing everyone away.

Last night as we were saying bedtime prayers, I told her that mommy has been praying God would give her a friend in her class, and that maybe it would be good if she also asked God for a friend. She said, "Dear God, please give me an English speaking friend in my class..."

Today when I dropped her off at school, we prayed together and I asked her to look for "one happy moment" in her day that she could tell me about when I picked her up at lunchtime. When I came to get her, she said, "Mommy-- I DID have a VERY happy moment-- It was when my teacher let Jeanie come to my classroom for an HOUR!" (Jeanie is a little foreign friend in another class.)

I don't blame her--I think I was even more reclusive than her when I was a little girl. I can sense the extreme angst she feels when she simply doesn't know what is going on around her!

So you can see my dilemma-- In my mind she doesn't have to go to Chinese school, but it feels like the best opportunity I know to meet little Chinese friends and learn the language...but those have to flow from a heart that wants to embrace the people we live among.

I remember when Jim and I were first married and we were preparing to return to China. I was struggling at that time and I felt my heart felt particularly disconnected from China. As I was lamenting to Jim he reminded me that very few we know "love China" in a generic way... I mean that they just love Chinese things, Chinese language, Chinese culture dramatically more than other places. Rather, in one sense, it's about loving your 'neighbor' in connected relationships, and our neighbors happen to be Chinese. Does that make sense? ...I mean Kathryn will not embrace China until her heart is connected to a Chinese person.

So I ask you to specifically pray that Kathryn would connect meaningfully with one Chinese friend -- not for the sake of doing well in school, but for the sake of connecting her heart to our calling.

Simple Pleasures of Spring

Kathryn helped me write this poem :)

On Friday I stood looking out our bedroom window
with a sigh
It may be warmer but it still looks ugly
goopy, gloopy, gray.

On Saturday we went out for a ride
with our bikes
A honeysuckle bush
A cherry tree in blossom
sweet, silly, Spring!

Me, angry? No, not me.

I don't know how my friend and I got on this topic, but we were sharing angriest-you've-ever-been -with your-spouse stories. (I'm sure the conversation had nothing to do with current reality.) I remembered this story that is well worth repeating, not as a slam to my husband but because it wins one of Singapore's most memorable moments award.

Perhaps some background will shed some light here. Until about the age of 22, I was truly under the delusion that though the rest of humanity might struggle with moments of rage, I was not among them. Ever calm and never ruffled. So I thought. I took a hormonal imbalance and a broken engagement to free me from my illusions. Anyhow, the point of this is to say that with my delayed emotional reflexes, admitting anger can be a good think...

It was a Sunday night, within a few months of our move to Singapore. I truly don't remember why I was angry. It was just one of those times when it was perfectly clear to me that if Jim didn't do ___ or stop doing ___, I was packing up the kids and going back to Texas. The girls were finally down for the night, and I was determined to get out of our house. There simply weren't enough doors to slam in there. But where to go at 8pm? I don't have a car. I don't know the city. Taking a taxi somewhere certainly only causes more stress... Then I remembered there was a new shopping center I had been meaning to check out called Mustafa. We lived in the 'Little India' part of Singapore and this center was reputed to have great bargains--6 stories high, plenty of space to rant and stomp. That's the ticket-- I'll go there. I set off with stark determination.

I should have taken notice of the sardine-sandwiched tour buses that were lining the streets along my path. The closer I got, the denser the crowds became. What I didn't know is that Sunday night's in Little India is Indian men's time--when all the Indian men gather from all over Singapore. Where is the epicenter of activity? You guessed it-- Mustafa. The 'old' me may have turned back, but not now. I was going to master the store. In an effort to avoid the mass crowds on the road, I turned the corner to cross a field. It too was full of men sitting down in groups on the grass. I didn't care. Get out of my way-I'm coming through! Finally the store was in sight and I made it across the street in old-Atari-Frogger style.

The 75% of the men that I thought were in the open field were actually inside the store. You think Wal-mart has narrow ailes and employees that don't know where thing are? It's Macy's compared to Mustafa. Wide-bodied shopping carts, piles of misplaced and unwanted stuff in every row, the ka-ching ka-ching of cash registers, and a veritable anthill of men...me the lone foreign female. Every obstacle became a foe to conquer as I began getting physical with making my way through the aisles. Still unwilling to admit I was desperately out of place, I walked the length of all 6 floors that night. And when I left Mustafa, I was even angrier than when I left home. For one who usually held it all together, I remember feeling shocked that I could really be so spit-fire angry.

On the way home I started wondering what Jim was doing-- has he gone out looking for me? Has he called the authorities? Will he be waiting outside the door? Spying our apartment entrance from the gate showing no signs of search and rescue. I unlocked the door, and there he was, his electric guitar blaring. I'm sure he'd said a prayer for me-- that I would be so miserable I would have no where to go but back home!

P.S.- Jim and I are not currently experiencing any signs of marital stress. (Next time hon I'll redeem myself and tell a Jim-is-the-hero story!) And later I learned that Mustafa is open 24 hours, and 5am makes for a much better shopping trip. But I still held an emotional grudge against that store till the day we moved.

Girls' New School

If you followed our school stories from last Fall, you will think that I am crazy for transitioning to another school. But we've found one much closer that is a big help to me in terms of transit time and we made the switch.

Chinese kids have the month of February off for the New Year festival, so Monday was the first day. But not only Kathryn started off to school Monday morning-- so did Ellie! My little Ellie! After I finally decided to send them to this new school, we started praying every night that God would give them a wonderful teacher (for Kathryn- one as great as Hu laoshi!) and that they would make some Chinese friends.

To be honest, it was mommy who was most anxious on Monday morning. After all, Kathryn cried everyday for 3 months at the other school. Well, the departure was not free from glitches for Kathryn, (Ellie, she set off playing the moment we entered her class and she never looked back) but the true test was when I picked them up. Kathryn ran out the door yelling, "Mom, I had fun! I want to come back tomorrow! I made some friends!" I'm so grateful!

Go figure-- in her old school, she had 3 other English speaking friends in her class, and she took forever to adjust to it. In this school, she is the only foreigner with no other English speakers, and she's having a great time! This seems a God-sized answered prayer to me!

(I should have some pictures to add-- especially for the sake of Ellie's first day of school--but I couldn't find the camera that morning.)

Christ Plays in 10,000 Places

I've begun a new book by Eugene Peterson called Christ Plays in 10,000 Places. It is the first in a series of 3 he has written about spirituality and spiritual direction. Here are a few quotes to ponder for today...

"You would think that believing that Jesus is God among us would be the hardest thing. It is not. It turns out that the hardest thing is to believe that God's work--this dazzling creation, this astonishing salvation, this cascade of blessings--is all being worked out in an under the conditions of our humanity: at picnics and around dinner tables, in conversations and while walking along roads, in puzzled questions and homely stories, with blind beggars and suppurating lepers, at weddings and funerals."

"Jesus keeps our feet on the ground, attentive to children, in conversation with ordinary people, sharing meals with friends and strangers, listening to the wind, observing the wildflowers, touching the sick and wounded, praying simply and un-selfconsciously. Jesus insists that we deal with God right here and now, in the place we find ourselves and with the people we are with. Jesus is God here and now."

"Every expression of spirituality, left to itself, tends toward being more about me and less about God. Spiritual theology counters by giving witness to the living God, using the largest and most comprehensive and involving terms possible. Trinity provides these terms, a theological language that enables us to maintain our Christian identity in God's image rather than what we see in our mirrors each morning"

Maybe these comments seem misplaced without the context--get a copy and read with me!

If you're looking for a bit of worship this morning, here's a great start!



In Christ Alone, by the Newsboys
Video images from the Passion Movie

Good Question

I enjoyed the privilege of a one-night getaway with some fellow wives in our community yesterday. We enjoyed great fellowship, (a bit of chocolate) and chewed together on many thought-provoking questions. One of these was,

"What one thing do you think could derail you from persevering to finish the Christian life well?"

It seems worth giving some thought to. What would you say?