Eat This Book

We’re now somewhat settled in our 3-week home in a nearby city. (The internet connection is considerably slower so we’ll see how often I can post.) Jim is pretty busy but the girls and I have enjoyed re-connecting with several dear friends.

I brought a book along with me called Eat this Book. It’s the 2^nd in a 3 part series by Eugene Peterson, this one subtitled “a conversation in the art of spiritual reading”. Have you ever wondered why sometimes your Bible feels alive with fresh revelation, and other time seems as interesting as the Moscow phone book? Here is part of the intro Preface to wet your appetite, if you’re looking for a good summer read:

My wife picked up our 7 yr old grandson at noon on an October Saturday at Holy Nativity Church…They drove off, headed to a local museum that was featuring a special children’s exhibit on gemstones. On the way they stopped at a city park to eat their lunches. The 2 of them ate while sitting on a park bench, Hans chattering all the while—he had been chattering nonstop ever since leaving the church. Lunch complete—his was a lettuce and mayo sandwich that he had made himself (“I’m trying to eat more healthy, Grandma”) – Hans shifted away from his grandmother, faced out into the park, took from his bookbag a New Testament that he had just been given by his pastor, opened it, held it up before his eyes, and proceeded to read, moving his eyes back and forth across the page in a devout but uncharacteristic silence. After a long minute, he closed the Testament and returned it to his bookbag; “Okay, Grandma, I’m ready – let’s go to the museum.”

His grandmother was impressed. She was also amused because Hans cannot yet read. He wants to read. His sister can read. Some of his friends can read. But Hans can’t read. And he knows he can’t read, sometimes announcing to us, “I can’t read,” as if to reinforce our awareness of what he is missing. So what was he doing, “reading” his New Testament on the park bench that autumn Saturday?

When my wife later told me the story, I also was impressed and amused. But after a few days the story developed in my imagination into a parable. At the time I was immersed in writing this book, and extended conversation in the practice of spiritual reading; I was finding it hard to keep my hoped-for-readers in focus. They kept blurring into a faceless crowd of Bible-readers and Bible non-readers, Bible teachers and Bible preachers. Is there an impediment, a difficulty, that we all share in common when we pick up our Bibles and open them? I think there is. Hans gave me my focus.

I have been at this business of reading the Bible ever since I was not much older than Hans. Twenty years after I first started reading it I became a pastor and a professor; for over fifty years now I have been vocationally involved in getting the Christian scriptures into the minds and hearts, arms and legs, ears and mouths of men and women. And I haven’t found it easy. Why isn’t it easy? …

Want to read it with me this summer? Or what else is on your summer reading list?

Upcoming Trip

We're leaving Monday morning for a 3 week trip. We've sent the tomato plants to one friend and the fish to another, so we're good to go. It's a treat to go with daddy because we usually aren't able to join him. And it's a fun city for us to visit because we lived there 8 (can't believe it's been that long!) years ago before we had kids...and we still have friends there! I'll send pics if I'm able...

Does your neighborhood swimming pool look like this?

Daddy had a planning meeting at this hotel so the girls enjoyed a swim. Good quality swimming water is hard to come by, so this was a treat!

Would you buy them?

Part of our regular life here involves pirated goods. Fake Prada. Fake Kate Spade. Fake Crocks. And lots more. Certainly fake movies. Next to our local bakery is a movie store. You can find newly released US movies for 7 yuan, or 1$. Prince Caspian, check. 21, check. About 1 week after the movies are first released in the theater in the US, you can find your first round copy in our little local store. What baffles me is that everyone and their dog knows that all of these movies are pirated. I've seen police raids come along and clear out market movie sellers, but this little neighborhood store must have friends in high places.

Let's say you COULD buy the copy for $1, but your conscience tells you that perhaps you should hunt down a legitimate copy. So you go down the street a ways to our large French-owned grocery store chain, Carrefoure. These are kind of like Wal-Mart, but about double the size, and mostly full of Chinese stuff. (There is a half-aisle of Western imports...spaghetti sauce, cheerios, alphabet noodles, and a few other things...) Anyhow, you find the video section and look for the same title...There it is, for 25 yuan, or about $3.50. Something tells you that these must not be legit either. Or are they? It does have some kind of seal on it...

So you drive around town, looking for a store where you can pay more money to make yourself feel better. You're thinking it should cost about $15, but you can't find them anywhere for more than $3.50. (Though a "stupid foreigner" might pay about 8$ for the same pirated kind at a market designed specifically for milking money out of those who don't know any better.) What a dilemma!

So what do you do? Since you know the "Warner Bros. sealed $15 kind" is not available, do you buy the $1-definitely-pirated-kind? Or the $3.50-probably- but-maybe-not-pirated-kind? Or watch no movies at all. I'm taking a poll. You can answer anonymously, if you don't want to be hauled off :)

Sweet surprises

Tonight I was cooking spaghetti for dinner and dropped a hot noodle in the middle of my palm. I let out a yelp from the kitchen and Kathryn came running. I showed her my boo-boo. 5 minutes later she returned excitedly to the kitchen and said, "Mommy, I have a surprise for you. Close your eyes, and hold out your hand." As instructed, I held out my palm. She gingerly nursed my boo-boo with a band aid, and delivered a note that said "I love you moma." Can you get any sweeter?

Welcome home, Anna

Last night we had the privilege of hosting our dear friends, the Snellers, (Kathryn said, "mommy, are they called the Smeller's, or the Sniffer's?) who used to live with us in a former city here before we had children. They have 3 boys: 2 twin 7 year olds, and a 3 year old. They returned to China to pick up their adopted baby girl Anna! :) You can find Anna's story on this blog, and also read Monica's version of our crazy adventure going out to dinner last night!

The girls and I had Chinese babies on our minds because we visited the foster home again yesterday. (See this previous post for our first visit and many pics...) There were 3 new babies, one from Sichaun province--an orphan from the earthquake. This tiny little punkin was 40 days old and looked about 6 pounds. The volunteer told me that they actually are not sure if she was orphaned or abandoned but a relief worker brought her back to this foster home after spending time in the earthquake zone. Her only deformity was a club foot--so easily correctable and merely cosmetic!! Another one who had a severe cleft lip/palate was 9 months old but she looked about 3 months old. I had the pleasure of rocking her to sleep. I discovered that she loved having her head scratched, and within about 60 seconds, she was out. It was delightful.

This particular foster home only takes babies who have medical needs which make them difficult for Chinese orphanages to care for. So they find sponsors for their needed surgeries, and take care of their paperwork so they can be adopted. But in China, you cannot fall in love with a baby and request to adopt that particular child. You can foster a particular child, though... so the nannies yesterday kept asking Kathryn, "Do you want this little brother?? How about this little sister??" Kathryn was begging me to bring a baby home! Here's the one she took to yesterday... Break my heart.




















So all this to say, what a joy when one of these precious ones is blessed with the love of a real family for 'keeps'. We are so delighted for our friends who are meeting their new little one for the first time tomorrow! Welcome home, Anna.

Nothing more delightful...

...than the squeals of joy from a child jumping in a mud puddle after a thunderstorm. This afternoon we took the girls out in their new rain boots for just such a purpose. Just when I thought we were the only parents crazy enough to let our kids wallow in the filth of the storm (rain is a little more...toxic here--and yes, we got plenty of stares), another Chinese mom brought her son out to play in the puddles. He and Kathryn bonded for a few moments over the joy of making as big a mess as possible.

Earthquake Far from "Over"

This story is told by one of our friends who lives in a city nearby the earthquake zone. So often when there are far-away tragedies, you have no idea how they are being helped or what their ongoing reality is like. Here is a good glimpse...

Yesterday I took my boys up to the earthquake stricken zone to bring water, food, clothes and tarps to people near the hardest hit village. We went with a team of about 22.

The further west we went the more destruction we saw. When we got closer to the village the road was closed. They would allow us in by foot but told us that everyone had been evacuated already. Since we wanted to pass out supplies and bless people we turned around and looked for people in need.

We stopped along the road where there were 15 or so people congregated. We got out to pass out water and bread. The people were initially reluctant to take it saying there were others who needed it more but I think they were just overwhelmed and didn’t know how to accept. Behind them was a former valley that was now filled with perhaps 50-100 meters of dirt and gravel. On either end of the dirt slide you could see clusters of homes. They told us that there had been 10 or more clusters (units) of homes down there that were now buried. They estimated more than 100 people had been buried (one person estimated 300). I met one man whose home and family had all survived. Their homes were at the edge of the slide. I asked if they could still live in their homes and he said no. My son and I put up a tarp over a “lean-to” that had been built. After we had been there maybe 20-30 minutes the village head came out to thank us. He convinced people to take the clothes we had brought. They had been giving their clothes to survivors and needed replacements.

Next we next drove down a dirt road to another small village. We got out and talked to the families and passed out water and food. They said they needed rice, cooking oil and medicine. They sent us down a dirt path to the Chou Family. I don’t think I’ll ever forget this experience. We carried water and food down a trail to the Chou Family Compound. There were 5 homes all next to each other. One was completely destroyed, another had one wall collapsed and dirt filling most of the room. The ceiling had partially fallen in and the concrete floor looked like it had been hit with sledge hammers. In the next room broken bowls were on the ground.

While we were talking to them an after-shock came. It was a strong jolt but very short. I was looking at Mr. Chou when the after-shock hit and he jumped back and had a look of terror on this face. As soon as it stopped he put down a basket he was carrying and sat on it. He looked utterly defeated. After a few minutes I knelt down and put my arm around his shoulders. He put his head on my shoulder and we both let the tears flow. He was so helpless and in shock. Before we left we asked if we could pray for them. This was likely the first time they had ever heard the name of Jesus.

Altogether we were gone for 13 hours and came back exhausted. We all shed some tears and said many prayers. So many people are hopeless. The earth, that was their source of sustenance through farming, was now betraying them. So many families were separated, children in boarding schools (even elementary students), husbands in larger cities looking for work. Without electricity or cell phone service some still don’t know if distant family members are okay.

On the way out we gave a ride to Mr. Chen who was trying to get to a nearby village. While we were driving he asked us to stop the car and we picked up a woman. We soon found out that it was his wife. They had lost 7 members of their family when the mountain collapsed. Mrs. Chen told us that for the first three days she didn’t talk or even cry. She was just in shock. It was obvious that she had been crying recently and we were glad to give them a ride. When we let them off outside the village she smiled for the first time.

Please pray for these desperate, hopeless people.

Yeah! It's Finished!

It took me over a year to write it, and 2 months more to revise it, but the Bible study I wrote is finally finished! It's a 12 week study called Glimpses of Christ in the Epistles, and I put my whole heart into it! :) I'll let you know shortly where you can find it online, if you're interested in using it!

You may think me shallow. You might call me soft.
But I actually got a little teary-eyed when I saw...

STARBUCKS is moving in next to our local grocery store!

Talk about successful evangelism, the world over.

Looking for Beauty

I've felt pretty antsy this week. Give me a car. Let me drive somewhere. A park, a campsite, a mountain to hike...i'd accept a small hill. Give me some beauty! I miss our simple Cottonwood Park down the street from our old house in Richardson...a walking trail, a pond with ducks to feed, swings, picnic tables.

Today we happened across this lovely area. It might seem like any old park scene, but this place really lifted my spirits today! :) The girls' too...

Kathryn was delighted to discover she was in complete control over these pigeons as she held the prized bread in hand.





















































Look at our garden!
(I kept the top sign so you'd believe this is really China.)



















My new screensaver! :)



















Where do you go to look for beauty near your home?

Kathryn's Compliment

"Mommy, if you wanted me to share it, you should have made me an ugly cake."

--Kathryn's commentary on why she wasn't willing to share her birthday cake with her Chinese classmates.

K's Progress

As some of you have joined us in praying for K's Chinese school struggles, I have to share her successes! Though she is still crying every day we send her, she seems to do really well after we leave. Yesterday, she asked me to ask her teacher to send home her Chinese reader so I could help her read it at home! Her teacher related that she has started speaking many more Chinese words in class. Yea! Yesterday at home she also wrote a whole chalkboard full of "Chinese characters" and proceeded to "read" it to me, repeating a song that she has learned at school. She definitely understands several elements of the language--the general look of the characters, the sing-songy tones, and one syllable per character. (I know I'm speaking "Greek" to most of you, but these are key pieces to grasping this language!)

The only bummer is that Jim and I are going to have to find another language to talk about her 'behind her back' :)