Today we went to the department of home land security and John was sworn in as a US citizen. While this is exciting to many, he doesn't seem to really be excite about too many things- including this. Maybe he doesn't fully comprehend what went on, maybe he just doesn't care too much about it and maybe he doesn't realize all the implications right now. Maybe I can draw a parallel with some other things.
We, those born in America, often take our own citizenship for granted. Who will defend America's borders? Who will speak up when everyone else is against us? Who will fight for religious freedoms when it is not popular? Who will stand up against killing unborn children when many look the other way? US citizens. You and I are supposed to do the work. With citizenship come privilege and responsibility; they go hand in hand.
Though John doesn't really understand the impact of his new earthly citizenship many of us are in a similar situation when it comes to our Heavenly citizenship. We quickly adopt the language and mannerisms of those who call themselves Christians but lack the commitment to carry out the responsibilities.
When it comes to the defense of our faith, who will be those who are the soldiers? Who will be the ones to speak out against sin, even when it is not politically correct? Who will defend the fatherless and widows? Who will raise the next generation to do the same? We want the comforts of "fire insurance" but leave the responsibilities to others. We want the promises of Scripture without the persecution.
Are we the ones who dole out Truth without love? Are we ready to fight the sin but love the sinner? Are we ready to contend for the faith without being contentious?
The saying goes that "You can tell the success of a nation by the amount of people who are trying to get in and by the effort of those who are trying to leave". The US has no earthly equal when it comes to people trying to get in. The Kingdom of Heaven has no equal when it comes to the forces of evil trying to keep people out. Satan has a master plan for border patrol and it includes many good things and many evil, but as citizens of Heaven we must be convinced and convincing in our love for our true Home.
How are we doing in our promotion of our Homeland? Are people convinced of the value Heaven by how excited we are to be citizens? Or do we just love the privileges and not take the responsibilities seriously?
5/14/10
Exciting News
I'm going to post this on both blogs, since it has to do with both.
This afternoon John and I went to watch Garrett compete in districts in track; yesterday was his district golf day. On the way home I decided to ask John some questions.
He had told me that he got a 97% on his last Bible test and so I would like to know where he is coming from.
Q#1- Do you think the Bible is true? A#1- Yes.
Q#2- How do you know? A#2- Because God wrote it. I like that answer.
We talked about Heaven and Hell and what would happen if he died tonight on the way home, about having to be perfect to get into Heaven, that there is only one perfect person, and he said it is Jesus- who is God- I think the Trinity is a bit hard for him to fully grasp right now, but I guess that is kind of the case with us all. I asked him what Heaven is like and he didn;t really know much about that or anything about Hell. I explained bodies that doesn't die and living either in eternal pain of no pain and he certainly seems to understand all that. I asked him again what would happen if he dies tonight and he said he would go to Hell.
Then I asked him if he wanted to change that and he said "yes". I tried to take it away a bit and told him he needed to come home and talk to Teresa about what he was thinking about doing. He really seems to know what I said and of his need of a Savior. We talked about praying to ask Jesus into his heart, how Jesus could make his heart clean and how being a Christian means you read your Bible and obey it as the Holy Spirit works in each one of us to make us love him more. I think he gets it.
we prayed together and he asked Jesus to come into his heart and make his heart clean and to help him obey. He thanks God for his new family and he is a new person- as easy as that. I then asked him if he dies today what would happen. He said he would go to hell because he is not perfect. It's hard to imagine that the redemptive work of Christ can take place in 1 minute and w/o a bunch of work, but that is God's plan- how awesome is that?!!!
God is so kind to us. He brought us a new son, and then as you all prayed for him He answered those prayers. What an awesome day!!!
This afternoon John and I went to watch Garrett compete in districts in track; yesterday was his district golf day. On the way home I decided to ask John some questions.
He had told me that he got a 97% on his last Bible test and so I would like to know where he is coming from.
Q#1- Do you think the Bible is true? A#1- Yes.
Q#2- How do you know? A#2- Because God wrote it. I like that answer.
We talked about Heaven and Hell and what would happen if he died tonight on the way home, about having to be perfect to get into Heaven, that there is only one perfect person, and he said it is Jesus- who is God- I think the Trinity is a bit hard for him to fully grasp right now, but I guess that is kind of the case with us all. I asked him what Heaven is like and he didn;t really know much about that or anything about Hell. I explained bodies that doesn't die and living either in eternal pain of no pain and he certainly seems to understand all that. I asked him again what would happen if he dies tonight and he said he would go to Hell.
Then I asked him if he wanted to change that and he said "yes". I tried to take it away a bit and told him he needed to come home and talk to Teresa about what he was thinking about doing. He really seems to know what I said and of his need of a Savior. We talked about praying to ask Jesus into his heart, how Jesus could make his heart clean and how being a Christian means you read your Bible and obey it as the Holy Spirit works in each one of us to make us love him more. I think he gets it.
we prayed together and he asked Jesus to come into his heart and make his heart clean and to help him obey. He thanks God for his new family and he is a new person- as easy as that. I then asked him if he dies today what would happen. He said he would go to hell because he is not perfect. It's hard to imagine that the redemptive work of Christ can take place in 1 minute and w/o a bunch of work, but that is God's plan- how awesome is that?!!!
God is so kind to us. He brought us a new son, and then as you all prayed for him He answered those prayers. What an awesome day!!!
5/6/10
How's John Doing?
John is preparing for the Jr. High Fair- meaning he is making a story board about himself and I think he is getting excited about displaying it.
Last night I asked the math teacher after our youth ministry how my math students were doing; Garrett and John. He started with John and said that there is an ACSI-Association of Christian Schools- math league test that apparently the 9th grade math class has just taken. I am not sure who else has to take it. In a 5 state area John got 2nd and one of the other kids form Grace Academy took 3rd. All the Christian schools in 5 states and John got 2nd. His math teacher said he thinks he would have done better if he could understand English better- only one place for sure. That is pretty exciting.
Since John doesn't read the blogs I'll give you some more. One of the parents of one of his classmates was standing there, to hear all of that inter change. He said that his son is in the 8th grade and that he really thinks John is a good guy. The dad said he was not sure why his son liked John so much and I said it was because he is really nice, he works hard and he is just full of life; and it doesn't hurt that he is a cute little Chinese kid. He truly is a sweet guy.
Kimmy went to So. Cal. yesterday to watch Ian graduate from the Master's College. When she told John that she was going to be gone until Tuesday he said "NOOOOOO". He really likes having her around. He is going to cry when she moves to NC.
Oh, the math teacher said that big brother Garrett is also doing amazing, he catches on to calculus very quickly and is able to help others as well. 2 math brains to add to the biggest brother's math brain. I have a whole house full of math men- except me. It's fun to have really smart boys who are nice too.
Are you coming to the fund raiser on the 15th? It's gonna be fun!!
Last night I asked the math teacher after our youth ministry how my math students were doing; Garrett and John. He started with John and said that there is an ACSI-Association of Christian Schools- math league test that apparently the 9th grade math class has just taken. I am not sure who else has to take it. In a 5 state area John got 2nd and one of the other kids form Grace Academy took 3rd. All the Christian schools in 5 states and John got 2nd. His math teacher said he thinks he would have done better if he could understand English better- only one place for sure. That is pretty exciting.
Since John doesn't read the blogs I'll give you some more. One of the parents of one of his classmates was standing there, to hear all of that inter change. He said that his son is in the 8th grade and that he really thinks John is a good guy. The dad said he was not sure why his son liked John so much and I said it was because he is really nice, he works hard and he is just full of life; and it doesn't hurt that he is a cute little Chinese kid. He truly is a sweet guy.
Kimmy went to So. Cal. yesterday to watch Ian graduate from the Master's College. When she told John that she was going to be gone until Tuesday he said "NOOOOOO". He really likes having her around. He is going to cry when she moves to NC.
Oh, the math teacher said that big brother Garrett is also doing amazing, he catches on to calculus very quickly and is able to help others as well. 2 math brains to add to the biggest brother's math brain. I have a whole house full of math men- except me. It's fun to have really smart boys who are nice too.
Are you coming to the fund raiser on the 15th? It's gonna be fun!!
4/19/10
Open House for John
Yesterday, after church, the Sarr family, with help from a bunch of people I'm sure I am not aware of, threw an open house/party for John and our family. What a fun afternoon.
The weather was perfect- I think it was around 75- there were a bunch of people there, probably about 100, and I think John had a good time. Our body is so generous and they lavished their love on us as is their custom. The fellowship was sweet, there was lots of food, God allowed us to be able to use the out door living area ALL around the house and people seemed like they had a great time.
"Thank you" to the Sarr family, and all who helped, in order to make that all happen and thanks to all who came to support our of adoption of John. BTW- I think that is the first shower I have been to in years and it was very enjoyable.
Who will be next?
The weather was perfect- I think it was around 75- there were a bunch of people there, probably about 100, and I think John had a good time. Our body is so generous and they lavished their love on us as is their custom. The fellowship was sweet, there was lots of food, God allowed us to be able to use the out door living area ALL around the house and people seemed like they had a great time.
"Thank you" to the Sarr family, and all who helped, in order to make that all happen and thanks to all who came to support our of adoption of John. BTW- I think that is the first shower I have been to in years and it was very enjoyable.
Who will be next?
4/16/10
Ethiopia Slides
Thanks to Sean Higgins here are a couple of slide shows for you to watch.
The first one is a ">"Thanks you" to all who gave so generously to the widows and orphans in Ethiopia.
The second one is a call to action for those of us whom God has so abundantly blessed, that we might be good stewards of all He has given and bless those who are less fortunate; namely the fatherless.
Thanks to Steven Curtis Chapman for the words to "When Love Takes You In". May we be moved to do the part that God has given for us to do. What's your part?
The first one is a ">"Thanks you" to all who gave so generously to the widows and orphans in Ethiopia.
The second one is a call to action for those of us whom God has so abundantly blessed, that we might be good stewards of all He has given and bless those who are less fortunate; namely the fatherless.
Weinberg Ethiopia Trip Slideshow - Two from one28 on Vimeo.
Thanks to Steven Curtis Chapman for the words to "When Love Takes You In". May we be moved to do the part that God has given for us to do. What's your part?
4/8/10
Fundraising for Families
Please go to this website and give me your thoughts on doing fund-raising for families who are in the adoption process.
Please post your comments in this blog.
To answer some questions posted. This event is for everyone who is wanting to come and have fun and help to fund getting some kids into some families. Exciting stuff.
Please post your comments in this blog.
To answer some questions posted. This event is for everyone who is wanting to come and have fun and help to fund getting some kids into some families. Exciting stuff.
3/21/10
John is Doing Great!
John is finished with 3 weeks of school, 4 hours of the dental Hygienist, his first Jr. High lock-in, first gym jam and I continue to say that I really can't imagine it going much better.
The hygienist asked Teresa if he is always this good natured and she said, "He is always like this". People say, "It seems like he is really fitting in well with the family" and that is so true. He is always trying to play some trick on Teresa and he loves to laugh. His favorite subject in school is immediately "PE" even though he is ridiculously good at math.
Each day, and I mean everyday, he seems to speak better English- though there is a long way to go here. We had a staff meeting scheduled for last Tuesday night and Teresa was trying to explain that there would be people coming over so he would have to go up with the kids or hang out in his room. He told her very matter-of-factly- "Yes- 6:30- people coming over". He had listened to the announcements and understood what was happening.
He is becoming a Weinberg both practically and positionally.
Garrett and Grant both took their college algebra CLEP- a way to challenge the course so it is not necessary to take it in college, and they both passed. What awesome boys God has given us.
The hygienist asked Teresa if he is always this good natured and she said, "He is always like this". People say, "It seems like he is really fitting in well with the family" and that is so true. He is always trying to play some trick on Teresa and he loves to laugh. His favorite subject in school is immediately "PE" even though he is ridiculously good at math.
Each day, and I mean everyday, he seems to speak better English- though there is a long way to go here. We had a staff meeting scheduled for last Tuesday night and Teresa was trying to explain that there would be people coming over so he would have to go up with the kids or hang out in his room. He told her very matter-of-factly- "Yes- 6:30- people coming over". He had listened to the announcements and understood what was happening.
He is becoming a Weinberg both practically and positionally.
Garrett and Grant both took their college algebra CLEP- a way to challenge the course so it is not necessary to take it in college, and they both passed. What awesome boys God has given us.
3/16/10
One GIGANTIC doctor's appointment
I will try to make this quick and to the point.
A full day of Dr. appointments leads to a group consultation in about a month. The direction they are currently thinking is that some time- sooner rather than later- John will have hi lip repaired and at the same time have a couple of teeth extracted. The "easy" way to have dental work.
Then some time following that there will be a surgery to open up the bilateral clefts on his gum line, followed, sometime later, by a bone graph surgery, taking marrow from his hip and planting it in the open clefts, to enable his gum line to be one continuous bone.
After this there will be a couple of sets of braces, possibly a palate extension surgery and maybe a speech surgery as well.
All this is to be determined in the coming months but for now we need to find a speech therapist close to us that will work with John and take our insurance- so that's first on the docket.
It is amazing that they can do all these kids of things and they are excited about what they can do for John. The doc asked if the lip repair was something that he wanted to have done and he said "yes", so we are going the right direction. He is a real trooper.
Children's was great to work with-again- and it will be fun to see what God does through all these visits and new relationships that are forming. He is good, we muxt praise Him for His excellent works.
A full day of Dr. appointments leads to a group consultation in about a month. The direction they are currently thinking is that some time- sooner rather than later- John will have hi lip repaired and at the same time have a couple of teeth extracted. The "easy" way to have dental work.
Then some time following that there will be a surgery to open up the bilateral clefts on his gum line, followed, sometime later, by a bone graph surgery, taking marrow from his hip and planting it in the open clefts, to enable his gum line to be one continuous bone.
After this there will be a couple of sets of braces, possibly a palate extension surgery and maybe a speech surgery as well.
All this is to be determined in the coming months but for now we need to find a speech therapist close to us that will work with John and take our insurance- so that's first on the docket.
It is amazing that they can do all these kids of things and they are excited about what they can do for John. The doc asked if the lip repair was something that he wanted to have done and he said "yes", so we are going the right direction. He is a real trooper.
Children's was great to work with-again- and it will be fun to see what God does through all these visits and new relationships that are forming. He is good, we muxt praise Him for His excellent works.
3/14/10
2 weeks of school
John has finished his 2nd week of school and seems to be gaining ground on verbal English each day. I talked to the math teacher and he said that John has some very amazing math skill-naturally. Teresa said that watching him do his math is actually fun because his pencil doesn't really stop.
He seems to be happy here. The social worker came for the post placement visit- number 1 of 3 and I think he was pleased with what he saw. I old him that I really can't imagine this whole thing going too much easier since we have been home. BTW- we really were not expecting to get a $350 bill for that visit and the next 2 are then reduced to $300 each. Keeps on giving, but it's God's money we are spending so oh well.
We have an all day appointment at Children's tomorrow with about 6 different doctors and hopefully we will know where we are supposed to go from here, with regard to his surgeries and the rest. John is really a trooper when it comes to stuff like this- maybe he is just happy to be getting worked on.
I'll post more when I have info- but life is starting to get really normal and it doesn't seem like I should be relaying this kind of everyday stuff- but here it is.
It is really fun- through all of this- to see God's hand in each and every step of the way and even as He brings people into our life that we would never have met with John's adoption. What will He do through all of this? Only He knows.
He seems to be happy here. The social worker came for the post placement visit- number 1 of 3 and I think he was pleased with what he saw. I old him that I really can't imagine this whole thing going too much easier since we have been home. BTW- we really were not expecting to get a $350 bill for that visit and the next 2 are then reduced to $300 each. Keeps on giving, but it's God's money we are spending so oh well.
We have an all day appointment at Children's tomorrow with about 6 different doctors and hopefully we will know where we are supposed to go from here, with regard to his surgeries and the rest. John is really a trooper when it comes to stuff like this- maybe he is just happy to be getting worked on.
I'll post more when I have info- but life is starting to get really normal and it doesn't seem like I should be relaying this kind of everyday stuff- but here it is.
It is really fun- through all of this- to see God's hand in each and every step of the way and even as He brings people into our life that we would never have met with John's adoption. What will He do through all of this? Only He knows.
3/5/10
Scaredy Cat
John likes Steve- our cat. Yes, our cat's name is Steve. That is another story for another day.
Steve is a large cat- more than 15 pounds. He might be where they coined the term "scaredy cat". He is afraid of lots of things- in fact right now he doesn't even want to go outside, even when it is nice out.
Apparently John was chasing Steve around the house yesterday after school and Steve ran up the stairs on the bonus room side of the house. They had been playing for quite some time and Steve was tired- it's hard running around when you're fat and out of shape(a little biographical comment there).
So Steve is recovering from all this running around and John sneaks up on him and yells really loud. Steve jumps up and poops all over the floor. John scared the c--- out of Steve. Teresa thought that was hilarious but told John that if he was going to scare the cat from now on that he would have to clean up after him.
Just another day in the life of our crazy family- John is fitting right in.
Steve is a large cat- more than 15 pounds. He might be where they coined the term "scaredy cat". He is afraid of lots of things- in fact right now he doesn't even want to go outside, even when it is nice out.
Apparently John was chasing Steve around the house yesterday after school and Steve ran up the stairs on the bonus room side of the house. They had been playing for quite some time and Steve was tired- it's hard running around when you're fat and out of shape(a little biographical comment there).
So Steve is recovering from all this running around and John sneaks up on him and yells really loud. Steve jumps up and poops all over the floor. John scared the c--- out of Steve. Teresa thought that was hilarious but told John that if he was going to scare the cat from now on that he would have to clean up after him.
Just another day in the life of our crazy family- John is fitting right in.
1 School week almost complete
John finishes his first week of school today. He has had lots of testing and he seems to be alright with pretty much everything.
The math teacher caught T and informed her that he had given John an Algebra test on Monday and that he did "amazing"- in fact he used that word multiple times in their conversation. He is not easy to impress so John must be pretty good at math for his age. We asked him if he likes math and he said "no". Even though he is good at it he said it is hard and that is why he doesn't like it. He'll get over that someday.
Many of the other courses he does pretty well in, but his challenge will be- for a while- verbal comprehension. I am not too concerned with this because as he integrates into student/friend life he will have to speak English more and they will be speaking back to him and he will be a good English comp. person in no time. In fact he already speaks considerably more than he did 4 days ago.
It seems like most of the kids are taking a liking to him- he is fun to be around and has a mischievous sense of humor. T walked into the PE class to see how he was doing and she couldn't find him in the game they were playing. She said she looked around for a bit and then noticed he was standing off to the side- kind of hiding- to see how long it would take for her to notice where he was. Those kinds of things make him laugh.
The math teacher caught T and informed her that he had given John an Algebra test on Monday and that he did "amazing"- in fact he used that word multiple times in their conversation. He is not easy to impress so John must be pretty good at math for his age. We asked him if he likes math and he said "no". Even though he is good at it he said it is hard and that is why he doesn't like it. He'll get over that someday.
Many of the other courses he does pretty well in, but his challenge will be- for a while- verbal comprehension. I am not too concerned with this because as he integrates into student/friend life he will have to speak English more and they will be speaking back to him and he will be a good English comp. person in no time. In fact he already speaks considerably more than he did 4 days ago.
It seems like most of the kids are taking a liking to him- he is fun to be around and has a mischievous sense of humor. T walked into the PE class to see how he was doing and she couldn't find him in the game they were playing. She said she looked around for a bit and then noticed he was standing off to the side- kind of hiding- to see how long it would take for her to notice where he was. Those kinds of things make him laugh.
3/1/10
School
John starts school today- he is in the 7th, 8th and 9th grade. He did very well in all his testing except for verbal comprehension, even in English and grammar when it was written down he did well. He is more than a grade ahead in math, so he can relax a bit on that one and work hard on English Comp.
It seems he is excited to go and I am pretty sure it won't be long in this environment that he will be speaking English pretty quickly.
He is adjusting well to living here and being part of our family. Teresa told me that he came up and gave her a hug the other day- so we are making progress. It still is a little weird having someone that is so different from us being part of our family, but I think in a few months it will seem like he has always been here.
I'll let you know how school goes.
It seems he is excited to go and I am pretty sure it won't be long in this environment that he will be speaking English pretty quickly.
He is adjusting well to living here and being part of our family. Teresa told me that he came up and gave her a hug the other day- so we are making progress. It still is a little weird having someone that is so different from us being part of our family, but I think in a few months it will seem like he has always been here.
I'll let you know how school goes.
2/23/10
Update
A quick update on where we are in the process.
T took John to the dentist yesterday and she was told that they are pretty sure he has never had any work done on his teeth. There is a lot of bacteria in his mouth and this could lead- if not checked- to heart disease. That seems strange to me.
The hygienist was excited about all the work needed and they gave him some gas to relax him for the long procedure- he is going back this morning at 9 for stage 2. The dentist family has a history of CLP so she is familiar with the issues and excited to work with John.
On the 15th of March we are going to Children's to spend the day with a group of doctors who will see him, each with their own specialty. I think it is something in the order of 8 doctors in a row. This will be good so we can get an idea of what needs to be done and in what order.
Many unknowns for us and him along the way, but God is faithful to have us meet the right people at the right time, so we will just trust in His leading.
John is doing well ad adjusting to being in a noisy family. We will probably enroll him in school very soon so he can get his feet wet with verbal English. It seems he has a good grasp on everything else.
I'll keep you posted as things progress
T took John to the dentist yesterday and she was told that they are pretty sure he has never had any work done on his teeth. There is a lot of bacteria in his mouth and this could lead- if not checked- to heart disease. That seems strange to me.
The hygienist was excited about all the work needed and they gave him some gas to relax him for the long procedure- he is going back this morning at 9 for stage 2. The dentist family has a history of CLP so she is familiar with the issues and excited to work with John.
On the 15th of March we are going to Children's to spend the day with a group of doctors who will see him, each with their own specialty. I think it is something in the order of 8 doctors in a row. This will be good so we can get an idea of what needs to be done and in what order.
Many unknowns for us and him along the way, but God is faithful to have us meet the right people at the right time, so we will just trust in His leading.
John is doing well ad adjusting to being in a noisy family. We will probably enroll him in school very soon so he can get his feet wet with verbal English. It seems he has a good grasp on everything else.
I'll keep you posted as things progress
2/17/10
Do you Hear God calling you?
Please read this link and look at your life and examine if God is calling you to something like this ministry. We must be about our Father's business and for some that may be doing something very different than they are currently doing.
2/13/10
The Father and His children
For obvious reasons it is hard for me to determine which blog to post this under, but for one of those obvious reasons I chose to put it on this one.
Behold, what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called the sons of God. This is why the world does not know us. It is because it does not know God, and we are His sons.
--I John 3:1-2
"We know that we were born into sin, and even now we feel the inner corruption that remains with us. It is no wonder, then, that we amazed by our adoption as sons into God s family. But the Scripture says that we are called "the sons of God." What a high relationship is that of a son, and what privileges it brings! What care and tenderness the son expects from his father, and what love the father feels towards the son! But all that-- and even more than that-- we now have through Christ.
It is easy to say that "we are now the sons of God," but it is not so easy to feel. How is it with your heart today? Are you in the lowest depths of sorrow? Does corruption rise within your spirit and grace seem like a poor spark trampled under foot? Does your faith almost fail you? Don't be afraid! It is not your graces or your feelings on which you are to live; you must live simply by faith in Christ. With all these things against us, it is now--in the very depths of our sorrow, wherever we may be-- now, as much in the valley as on the mountain "now are we the sons of God."
"Ah, but," you say, "look at me! My graces do not shine brightly; my righteousness does not shine with great glory." But read the next part: "It does not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He appears we will be like Him." The Holy Spirit will purify our minds, and divine power will refine our bodies. Then, we will see Him as He is."
Morning & Evening, by Charles H. Spurgeon
Revised and edited by William C. Neff, ©2003-2009
This single M&E could be the springboard of a very long post, or numerous posts, but I will try to keep it short.
I am not sure that John yet feels like he is a son, nor do I think he even knows the blessing, privilege and responsibility that comes from being a son. He is starting to understand what it means to be a brother, which is fun to watch. With that said I am not sure that I have fully accepted him as much as I do my bio's- which I think will take time- we have much to work on. Unlike our heavenly Father my love is not unconditional and it takes me a while to get in the groove, but it will come. It actually took me a while with Grant and Garrett as well, but it didn't take but a minute with Kimmy- something about a little girl and her daddy.
With each of our bio's it was different and it will be different with John as well. This is a great excerpt from morning and evening and if you are able you should read that section of this post again and think about all the ramifications it has for you today.
May we know the Father's love for us as His very blessed children.
Behold, what kind of love the Father has given to us that we should be called the sons of God. This is why the world does not know us. It is because it does not know God, and we are His sons.
--I John 3:1-2
"We know that we were born into sin, and even now we feel the inner corruption that remains with us. It is no wonder, then, that we amazed by our adoption as sons into God s family. But the Scripture says that we are called "the sons of God." What a high relationship is that of a son, and what privileges it brings! What care and tenderness the son expects from his father, and what love the father feels towards the son! But all that-- and even more than that-- we now have through Christ.
It is easy to say that "we are now the sons of God," but it is not so easy to feel. How is it with your heart today? Are you in the lowest depths of sorrow? Does corruption rise within your spirit and grace seem like a poor spark trampled under foot? Does your faith almost fail you? Don't be afraid! It is not your graces or your feelings on which you are to live; you must live simply by faith in Christ. With all these things against us, it is now--in the very depths of our sorrow, wherever we may be-- now, as much in the valley as on the mountain "now are we the sons of God."
"Ah, but," you say, "look at me! My graces do not shine brightly; my righteousness does not shine with great glory." But read the next part: "It does not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when He appears we will be like Him." The Holy Spirit will purify our minds, and divine power will refine our bodies. Then, we will see Him as He is."
Morning & Evening, by Charles H. Spurgeon
Revised and edited by William C. Neff, ©2003-2009
This single M&E could be the springboard of a very long post, or numerous posts, but I will try to keep it short.
I am not sure that John yet feels like he is a son, nor do I think he even knows the blessing, privilege and responsibility that comes from being a son. He is starting to understand what it means to be a brother, which is fun to watch. With that said I am not sure that I have fully accepted him as much as I do my bio's- which I think will take time- we have much to work on. Unlike our heavenly Father my love is not unconditional and it takes me a while to get in the groove, but it will come. It actually took me a while with Grant and Garrett as well, but it didn't take but a minute with Kimmy- something about a little girl and her daddy.
With each of our bio's it was different and it will be different with John as well. This is a great excerpt from morning and evening and if you are able you should read that section of this post again and think about all the ramifications it has for you today.
May we know the Father's love for us as His very blessed children.
2/11/10
Circus Act
I am back full swing into work, after 20 days away there are plenty of emails and phone calls to catch up on. The kids are either working or in school, so that leaves T with John together most of the time.
She is trying to get him into a routine doing things like unloading the dishwasher and helping around the house. All this is probably pretty new to him, as I can only imagine that life in the orphanage was much different than it is here, but he must integrate into life in our family.
Many kids are in the house, so it will not be too long and he will be seeing people for the 3-4th time and hopefully get used to talking with them- right now he has to be coerced into engaging in pretty much any communication unless it is with his friends on the computer. T is going to start giving him a time limit.
Yesterday Kimmy and Garrett were going to work on a puzzle before dinner and I had not yet come home. They invited John to participate and he reluctantly came to the table, but then Grant, unknowingly, came to his rescue. Remember John and Grant are kind of alike- though there is 16" of height difference- in that they both would rather not say anything. Grant ordered some throwing knives last week and he has a little target set up in the back yard. He decided to go out and throw and as soon as John saw an opportunity to get away from either doing the puzzle or being around the 2 chatter boxes, or both, he was quickly out the door and throwing with Grant. That may not be what the social worker would want to hear, but this is the life of our family:) Are we training a future circus performer?
Teresa is trying to get appts. set up, insurance updated, and a myriad of other paperwork issues taken care of, while still trying to catch up on letters and bills and housework after her being gone for 20 days as well. We are trying to decide what to do on the school front and so we have some calls to make and people to consult to make sure we make the best decision for all parties involved.
Another pretty boring day, but I guess we need some boredom on some front.
She is trying to get him into a routine doing things like unloading the dishwasher and helping around the house. All this is probably pretty new to him, as I can only imagine that life in the orphanage was much different than it is here, but he must integrate into life in our family.
Many kids are in the house, so it will not be too long and he will be seeing people for the 3-4th time and hopefully get used to talking with them- right now he has to be coerced into engaging in pretty much any communication unless it is with his friends on the computer. T is going to start giving him a time limit.
Yesterday Kimmy and Garrett were going to work on a puzzle before dinner and I had not yet come home. They invited John to participate and he reluctantly came to the table, but then Grant, unknowingly, came to his rescue. Remember John and Grant are kind of alike- though there is 16" of height difference- in that they both would rather not say anything. Grant ordered some throwing knives last week and he has a little target set up in the back yard. He decided to go out and throw and as soon as John saw an opportunity to get away from either doing the puzzle or being around the 2 chatter boxes, or both, he was quickly out the door and throwing with Grant. That may not be what the social worker would want to hear, but this is the life of our family:) Are we training a future circus performer?
Teresa is trying to get appts. set up, insurance updated, and a myriad of other paperwork issues taken care of, while still trying to catch up on letters and bills and housework after her being gone for 20 days as well. We are trying to decide what to do on the school front and so we have some calls to make and people to consult to make sure we make the best decision for all parties involved.
Another pretty boring day, but I guess we need some boredom on some front.
2/9/10
Family Life
John and Teresa got the bikes out of the garage and went for a bike ride. Then a few of the guys and Garrett and John went to the golf course and chipped and putted. John's first attempt at golfing.
For dinner the family got together and we all helped make fried rice and stir fried beef and then sat down and ate with chop sticks- no forks allowed. It is interesting that John doesn't really like to use chop sticks and he doesn't like tea.??? I then wrote on a pad of paper English words and had him write the Chinese word for it and we practiced a bit of Chinese and he English.
Then we gave him a bit of a break and he spent some time on the computer- I think visiting with some friends in Chinese- it's difficult to tell what he is doing since it is all in Chinese.
After that I had Grant look up some Algebra problems on the computer and then give them to John- trying to figure out where he is. Algebra I was no problem for him, but we gave him an Algebra II quiz and he didn't do as well on that one. At least we know he can do math above his grade level.
SOrt of a boring post but wanted you to know what we were up to.
For dinner the family got together and we all helped make fried rice and stir fried beef and then sat down and ate with chop sticks- no forks allowed. It is interesting that John doesn't really like to use chop sticks and he doesn't like tea.??? I then wrote on a pad of paper English words and had him write the Chinese word for it and we practiced a bit of Chinese and he English.
Then we gave him a bit of a break and he spent some time on the computer- I think visiting with some friends in Chinese- it's difficult to tell what he is doing since it is all in Chinese.
After that I had Grant look up some Algebra problems on the computer and then give them to John- trying to figure out where he is. Algebra I was no problem for him, but we gave him an Algebra II quiz and he didn't do as well on that one. At least we know he can do math above his grade level.
SOrt of a boring post but wanted you to know what we were up to.
2/8/10
First Church Service
My postings will be diminished as the days go on because it will soon be that we are just participating in life as usual rather than watching God do some amazing miracles each day.
Yesterday I spoke about the process and shared some of the miracles of what has taken place along the way. Here is a link to it if you are inclined to listen to me ramble about it. SKH has cleaned the audio up a bit, so at least you won't have to listen to all the "umm's".
There are a few things that I want to encourage you with. Yesterday was our first day back with our church family at GBC and that went very well. We had a potluck after the morning services- scheduled for this time every month- and so there were some who were able to talk with John one on one. Before we went up to that John was able to talk to 2 sisters- 1 is currently a student at GA and the other is an alumni- who speak fluent Chinese. This was really great for John as they encouraged him with the fact that just a few months ago- for the current student- she was speaking English not too much better than he is right now and she is doing fine.
In the evening service he was actually trying to sing along with the music and so he is getting the Gospel and singing it, in English. God uses all kinds of ways to bring His children into His family.
At the end of the day he told Teresa that he wants to go to school soon, so we will be working on a plan to try to make that happen. He will need to be tested to see where he really is, but we might be surprised at how much he actually knows. It seems like he knows quite a bit if it is written out for him. He just has a hard time with understanding what we are saying and then communicating it back to us. The girls said that the faced the same challenge, as they learned a lot in English class but they just didn't hear or speak it very much until they got here. The older sister was actually having a hard time starting the conversation with him in Chinese because she speaks English so much now and it has only been 2 years for her.
God has a plan for this son of ours and I have no idea what that might look like- but He does. We want to be good stewards of what He gives and pray that John would be drawn into the Kingdom of His marvelous light and that sometime down the road God would chose to use a "small, weak, special needs", Chinese young man to make the big, strong, powerful people of the world scratch their heads in wonder at where this kind of thing comes from. I am praying that God would do exceedingly, abundantly more than I can ask or think in John's life. I am thinking pretty big so it will be fun to see what He does.
Yesterday I spoke about the process and shared some of the miracles of what has taken place along the way. Here is a link to it if you are inclined to listen to me ramble about it. SKH has cleaned the audio up a bit, so at least you won't have to listen to all the "umm's".
There are a few things that I want to encourage you with. Yesterday was our first day back with our church family at GBC and that went very well. We had a potluck after the morning services- scheduled for this time every month- and so there were some who were able to talk with John one on one. Before we went up to that John was able to talk to 2 sisters- 1 is currently a student at GA and the other is an alumni- who speak fluent Chinese. This was really great for John as they encouraged him with the fact that just a few months ago- for the current student- she was speaking English not too much better than he is right now and she is doing fine.
In the evening service he was actually trying to sing along with the music and so he is getting the Gospel and singing it, in English. God uses all kinds of ways to bring His children into His family.
At the end of the day he told Teresa that he wants to go to school soon, so we will be working on a plan to try to make that happen. He will need to be tested to see where he really is, but we might be surprised at how much he actually knows. It seems like he knows quite a bit if it is written out for him. He just has a hard time with understanding what we are saying and then communicating it back to us. The girls said that the faced the same challenge, as they learned a lot in English class but they just didn't hear or speak it very much until they got here. The older sister was actually having a hard time starting the conversation with him in Chinese because she speaks English so much now and it has only been 2 years for her.
God has a plan for this son of ours and I have no idea what that might look like- but He does. We want to be good stewards of what He gives and pray that John would be drawn into the Kingdom of His marvelous light and that sometime down the road God would chose to use a "small, weak, special needs", Chinese young man to make the big, strong, powerful people of the world scratch their heads in wonder at where this kind of thing comes from. I am praying that God would do exceedingly, abundantly more than I can ask or think in John's life. I am thinking pretty big so it will be fun to see what He does.
2/7/10
One stage completed.
I hope my clock is set back to my normal early US schedule, but time will be the teller of whether this is true. We did stay up until 8 last night, so that should help.
Today- Sunday- we have the privilege of being back with our full family in a service to openly worship the King of kings and Lord of all lord. We can celebrate His leading us to this place of adopting John David and changing our lives and his in this horizontal picture of what He has done for us vertically. There are some stages of earthly adoption, much like there are stages in our Christian life.
If the process is his vertical adoption, then John has just been accepted into the family and now there is a long road of sanctification to be conformed to the image of a child of the Family he has been adopted into.
We have completed the transaction of paperwork between 2 nations that don't necessarily see eye to eye on many things, but it has been agreed that John can be a US citizen and a member of our family. That is pretty amazing in itself. But there is a lot of work that needs to happen so he will be recognized, by others, as both a US citizen and a member of our family. The "formal" part has been done, but the inside change that needs to take place for him to be recognized as who he truly is will take time.
I am so thankful that God takes His time on us as He shapes and hammers us into the children He has called us to be. He adopts us into His Family to be productive members of His Kingdom, making us into vessels He can use to do His work, even though He could do it much better on His own.
Please pray for John and our family as we work through the next few months. We need wisdom to know how hard to push and how much to let him go through this process. He is missing all that has been taken out of his life- though in the end he will be much better off. For one who likes change, this is hard for me to accept as less than a poor attitude- so I need to be careful. For T this hits close to home, since she doesn't like change. God has placed us in this place for a purpose and we want to continue to follow where He is leading.
Thanks again for all your prayers and comments along the way. May He continue His working in our lives and in John until we are all complete in Him.
Today- Sunday- we have the privilege of being back with our full family in a service to openly worship the King of kings and Lord of all lord. We can celebrate His leading us to this place of adopting John David and changing our lives and his in this horizontal picture of what He has done for us vertically. There are some stages of earthly adoption, much like there are stages in our Christian life.
If the process is his vertical adoption, then John has just been accepted into the family and now there is a long road of sanctification to be conformed to the image of a child of the Family he has been adopted into.
We have completed the transaction of paperwork between 2 nations that don't necessarily see eye to eye on many things, but it has been agreed that John can be a US citizen and a member of our family. That is pretty amazing in itself. But there is a lot of work that needs to happen so he will be recognized, by others, as both a US citizen and a member of our family. The "formal" part has been done, but the inside change that needs to take place for him to be recognized as who he truly is will take time.
I am so thankful that God takes His time on us as He shapes and hammers us into the children He has called us to be. He adopts us into His Family to be productive members of His Kingdom, making us into vessels He can use to do His work, even though He could do it much better on His own.
Please pray for John and our family as we work through the next few months. We need wisdom to know how hard to push and how much to let him go through this process. He is missing all that has been taken out of his life- though in the end he will be much better off. For one who likes change, this is hard for me to accept as less than a poor attitude- so I need to be careful. For T this hits close to home, since she doesn't like change. God has placed us in this place for a purpose and we want to continue to follow where He is leading.
Thanks again for all your prayers and comments along the way. May He continue His working in our lives and in John until we are all complete in Him.
2/6/10
We Are HOME!!!
flew starting today- 15 hours ago- and landed before we left, which really plays tricks on your mind. We actually landed at 7 this morning but didn't get out of the airport until around 8:30, since we were getting all the paperwork and customs finished, but no issue sand it is nice to be sitting on the couch blogging. The only issue in the flights was from Beijing to Tokyo the weather coming into Tokyo was pretty bumpy and many people were throwing up, which is always fun.
I would say that John is missing China/friends a lot. He is more reserved today than he has been but we think we can get him through that. We have him out shooting hoops with some of the kids and trying to keep him awake. He is not liking it too much right now but when his "clock" adjusts more quickly than if he were to sleep right now.
Tomorrow at church it may be a little tough for him. He is really reluctant to speak and going in with all those people will be hard. If you are there try to say something like, "We are glad to have you here and have been praying for you to get here" and leave it at that. This way he will not have to speak too much.
There are big changes for him in the near future and he needs to adjust to the changes and I will make sure he stays the course but for right now He may just need a bit of space. It will be fun to see how long it takes to be in the grove.
I'll post more later. Thanks for all your prayers. BTW- it looks like I will be sharing about the trip and more of the whole adoption story tomorrow AM in 128.
I would say that John is missing China/friends a lot. He is more reserved today than he has been but we think we can get him through that. We have him out shooting hoops with some of the kids and trying to keep him awake. He is not liking it too much right now but when his "clock" adjusts more quickly than if he were to sleep right now.
Tomorrow at church it may be a little tough for him. He is really reluctant to speak and going in with all those people will be hard. If you are there try to say something like, "We are glad to have you here and have been praying for you to get here" and leave it at that. This way he will not have to speak too much.
There are big changes for him in the near future and he needs to adjust to the changes and I will make sure he stays the course but for right now He may just need a bit of space. It will be fun to see how long it takes to be in the grove.
I'll post more later. Thanks for all your prayers. BTW- it looks like I will be sharing about the trip and more of the whole adoption story tomorrow AM in 128.
2/2/10
Great Expectations
Last night we took the river boat cruise with our new friends from Colorado and a bunch of their agency group families. The night was fun, the weather was perfect-70-ish.
As I look over this kaleidoscope of parents and children I am amazed at how God has uniquely place each child in each family and has prepared each one for the future- whatever that may look like- and some will be very different than others.
I am not going to put any names in here because I don't know many of the people and the names can probably be switched out from month to month. Here is what I am talking about.
There are "old" parents here, and not so old, there are first time parents and veteran parents, there are kids with no "special needs" and some with severe special needs, there are happy, quickly attaching kids and grumpy, miserable kids.
I must confess that the quickness of our process has not allowed much time for me to think about all the possibilities of what might go wrong, and I often mull those kinds of things over in my head before making a final decision. This time I really didn't have time to waste thinking about what might go wrong- and something can always go wrong.
So at the start of our process we just started walking and I figured that God would give us exactly what we needed. With each dollar that went out I was more and more convinced that God was going to allow us to get John, since it didn't seem like good stewardship of God's money to put it all out there and not return with him, but even in that there was some questioning whether God would really allow us to complete the process- and it looks like we are almost there. I tried very hard to not get too attached to the idea to then have those hopes dashed on the rocks of God's providence.
As I watch some of the parents interact with their kids I can't help notice that some must have some pretty large expectations of what the process will be like. This in no way is intended to be a slam on anyone. Most of the people around us are rookies, just like us, in this process. Some have bio's and some do not. What will it be like? Will my new child actually like me; will I like them? What if I really love them and they are non committal? What if they are just mean and angry? "I have spent a lot of time and money to make this happen and they don't seem to care about that at all. In fact I have just spent all my life savings and all my vacation and sick pay to make this happen they don't seem to be thankful at all". Those kinds of thoughts surely are running through some minds- not all and maybe not out loud- but watching some body language this seems to be the case.
With our biological children we may not go through those kinds of thoughts, immediately, since we get them when they are tiny and can't reject us right off the bat, so there is time to work through the idea that your kids are angry and they don't like you. Much of the deficiency I see in them I can blame on myself and poor parenting, where with these new kids we may not have earned the level of separation they are giving.
Expectations, for sure, play a large part here. When we are expecting our bio children, we think they are going to be the cutest babies on the planet and they are going to change the entire world, for good. What happens when they arrive strange looking and turn out rebellious? They are still our kids and we still love them, it's just harder to have it all make sense. Good parents are supposed to get good kids- right? Just because we do the right thing doesn't mean that good is always returned. It doesn't take too much Bible reading to see that. Which leads me to my point.
As I watch a couple- none actually pictured in my mind right now- who seems to be very kind, trying to connect with their new child and the child is angry, for some unknown reason, it has to hurt. Thinking about all the planning, time and money that has gone into coming half way around the world to be treated this way by a small child is heart breaking and frustrating. Maybe this is a good reminder of how our Heavenly Father feels so often. The distance He went, the cost He paid, the time He took to make our adoption happen and how often do we act like angry little children? We think we know what is best for us when we don't have a clue. We cross our arms and don't want to talk to our Father, or any one else for that matter. It's a good thing His had perfect expectations of what would happen. It's a good thing He is long suffering with our hard hearts and unloving attitudes. It's a good thing our adoption does not depend on our own goodness any more than our newly adopted children's process depends on them. WE are His kids because HE said so and they are our kids because He allows it to happen.
The expectations are human. Each child is different and every family is also different. I don't want to bring grief to The One Who had such a cost to bring me into His family. I want to help others work through the process, if this is what He has called them to, and be ready to take what He gives. I want to be ready to accept what He gives, but my fleshly desires get in the way and cloud the view.
Trying to be an encouragement to some here who really need it and trying to help you all think through the process that may be coming your way in the future. God is Good- All the Time.
As I look over this kaleidoscope of parents and children I am amazed at how God has uniquely place each child in each family and has prepared each one for the future- whatever that may look like- and some will be very different than others.
I am not going to put any names in here because I don't know many of the people and the names can probably be switched out from month to month. Here is what I am talking about.
There are "old" parents here, and not so old, there are first time parents and veteran parents, there are kids with no "special needs" and some with severe special needs, there are happy, quickly attaching kids and grumpy, miserable kids.
I must confess that the quickness of our process has not allowed much time for me to think about all the possibilities of what might go wrong, and I often mull those kinds of things over in my head before making a final decision. This time I really didn't have time to waste thinking about what might go wrong- and something can always go wrong.
So at the start of our process we just started walking and I figured that God would give us exactly what we needed. With each dollar that went out I was more and more convinced that God was going to allow us to get John, since it didn't seem like good stewardship of God's money to put it all out there and not return with him, but even in that there was some questioning whether God would really allow us to complete the process- and it looks like we are almost there. I tried very hard to not get too attached to the idea to then have those hopes dashed on the rocks of God's providence.
As I watch some of the parents interact with their kids I can't help notice that some must have some pretty large expectations of what the process will be like. This in no way is intended to be a slam on anyone. Most of the people around us are rookies, just like us, in this process. Some have bio's and some do not. What will it be like? Will my new child actually like me; will I like them? What if I really love them and they are non committal? What if they are just mean and angry? "I have spent a lot of time and money to make this happen and they don't seem to care about that at all. In fact I have just spent all my life savings and all my vacation and sick pay to make this happen they don't seem to be thankful at all". Those kinds of thoughts surely are running through some minds- not all and maybe not out loud- but watching some body language this seems to be the case.
With our biological children we may not go through those kinds of thoughts, immediately, since we get them when they are tiny and can't reject us right off the bat, so there is time to work through the idea that your kids are angry and they don't like you. Much of the deficiency I see in them I can blame on myself and poor parenting, where with these new kids we may not have earned the level of separation they are giving.
Expectations, for sure, play a large part here. When we are expecting our bio children, we think they are going to be the cutest babies on the planet and they are going to change the entire world, for good. What happens when they arrive strange looking and turn out rebellious? They are still our kids and we still love them, it's just harder to have it all make sense. Good parents are supposed to get good kids- right? Just because we do the right thing doesn't mean that good is always returned. It doesn't take too much Bible reading to see that. Which leads me to my point.
As I watch a couple- none actually pictured in my mind right now- who seems to be very kind, trying to connect with their new child and the child is angry, for some unknown reason, it has to hurt. Thinking about all the planning, time and money that has gone into coming half way around the world to be treated this way by a small child is heart breaking and frustrating. Maybe this is a good reminder of how our Heavenly Father feels so often. The distance He went, the cost He paid, the time He took to make our adoption happen and how often do we act like angry little children? We think we know what is best for us when we don't have a clue. We cross our arms and don't want to talk to our Father, or any one else for that matter. It's a good thing His had perfect expectations of what would happen. It's a good thing He is long suffering with our hard hearts and unloving attitudes. It's a good thing our adoption does not depend on our own goodness any more than our newly adopted children's process depends on them. WE are His kids because HE said so and they are our kids because He allows it to happen.
The expectations are human. Each child is different and every family is also different. I don't want to bring grief to The One Who had such a cost to bring me into His family. I want to help others work through the process, if this is what He has called them to, and be ready to take what He gives. I want to be ready to accept what He gives, but my fleshly desires get in the way and cloud the view.
Trying to be an encouragement to some here who really need it and trying to help you all think through the process that may be coming your way in the future. God is Good- All the Time.
2/1/10
Shopping in Guangzhou
Yesterday we went into Guangzhou proper and just checked things out. We took a short cab ride- maybe 15 minutes- and our first stop was "Wedding Dress Street".
So after getting to go with Kimmy and the girls wedding dress shopping in the US, this makes that look very tame. In the US we went to what seems to be the 2 places where people look for dresses. In GZ there is literally a street that is about 2 US blocks long with dress shops on both sides and in every little back street that could be connected in any way. Then at one end of that street there is an international wedding shop that is 5-6 stories high and probably close to the size of a regular Nordstrom and the only thing in the entire building is wedding dresses and things connected with weddings. In all those shops we still could not find 1 veil that we thought Kimmy would like. Their style is very ornate- to say the least. Amazingly beautiful, but very ornate.
From there we took another short taxi ride to "Beijing Lu"- this is where many of the locals shop. Craziness. Since it is only 2 weeks until the start of the Chinese New Year, and one of the traditions is that you must have new clothes for the New Year, there were so many people out. Some of the shops you could hardly move around in. It may have been like this at the outlet the on "Black Friday".
We did find some good buys for John- pants for $12 and that included having them hemmed- which took 15 minutes. Because of the currency exchange it makes you feel like you are spending more money than you are, so it helps to make me more thrifty. 100 RMB is about $15usd- so when I give T a 100 it seems like a lot and yet is it less than a $20.
We came back from there- T was pretty spent- and watched TV for just a bit and then set out for dinner. We went off the little island and over to the main city side. That was a bit scary. We were in the market area, where all the locals bring in their frozen fish... It's probably like the docks in the US. WE pretty quickly decided that there was no restaurants we wanted to eat close to that area so we went back and had Thai food next to the hotel.
The island is really torn up. Last night walking I told T that it is probably very beautiful when it is not under so much construction. There is dirt on all the plants and you have to really watch where you walk. The weather is perfect right now.
The phone just rang in the room and we have to go and get John finger printed this afternoon, since he is over 12- this is a new announcement to us. Oh well, it's always something new here.
We are really trying to get John to talk more- as his normal tendency is to just nod rather than to speak. That won't help him too much in America. I think he understands quite a bit of what we are asking or telling him, but doesn't know exactly what to say in return. We are starting to play some word games at the dinner table, like, "what is this?". Glasses and glass, window and plate- all made of glass- so shouldn't they be the same word?
We are intending on going on a boat ride tonight for dinner with the people from Colorado. I said it would be interesting to see if God allowed us to meet up with them again and we did 2 nights ago. We spent a few hours in their room just visiting about our experience so far. Colorado mom is type A like me and dad is like T. They are close to 50 and have a very pretty 6 year old girl, who is really working them. They have no bio's so there is a lot of new things for both the parents and the daughter to learn. Hopefully we can be of some encouragement to them.
Anyway- enough boring stuff from here. Sorry the crazy exciting, stuff is under the bridge and now I am just rambling about things that are really not very important.
Only a few days left:)
I forgot to say that if you need to email me I can only be reached at chuckweinberg@gmail.com
So after getting to go with Kimmy and the girls wedding dress shopping in the US, this makes that look very tame. In the US we went to what seems to be the 2 places where people look for dresses. In GZ there is literally a street that is about 2 US blocks long with dress shops on both sides and in every little back street that could be connected in any way. Then at one end of that street there is an international wedding shop that is 5-6 stories high and probably close to the size of a regular Nordstrom and the only thing in the entire building is wedding dresses and things connected with weddings. In all those shops we still could not find 1 veil that we thought Kimmy would like. Their style is very ornate- to say the least. Amazingly beautiful, but very ornate.
From there we took another short taxi ride to "Beijing Lu"- this is where many of the locals shop. Craziness. Since it is only 2 weeks until the start of the Chinese New Year, and one of the traditions is that you must have new clothes for the New Year, there were so many people out. Some of the shops you could hardly move around in. It may have been like this at the outlet the on "Black Friday".
We did find some good buys for John- pants for $12 and that included having them hemmed- which took 15 minutes. Because of the currency exchange it makes you feel like you are spending more money than you are, so it helps to make me more thrifty. 100 RMB is about $15usd- so when I give T a 100 it seems like a lot and yet is it less than a $20.
We came back from there- T was pretty spent- and watched TV for just a bit and then set out for dinner. We went off the little island and over to the main city side. That was a bit scary. We were in the market area, where all the locals bring in their frozen fish... It's probably like the docks in the US. WE pretty quickly decided that there was no restaurants we wanted to eat close to that area so we went back and had Thai food next to the hotel.
The island is really torn up. Last night walking I told T that it is probably very beautiful when it is not under so much construction. There is dirt on all the plants and you have to really watch where you walk. The weather is perfect right now.
The phone just rang in the room and we have to go and get John finger printed this afternoon, since he is over 12- this is a new announcement to us. Oh well, it's always something new here.
We are really trying to get John to talk more- as his normal tendency is to just nod rather than to speak. That won't help him too much in America. I think he understands quite a bit of what we are asking or telling him, but doesn't know exactly what to say in return. We are starting to play some word games at the dinner table, like, "what is this?". Glasses and glass, window and plate- all made of glass- so shouldn't they be the same word?
We are intending on going on a boat ride tonight for dinner with the people from Colorado. I said it would be interesting to see if God allowed us to meet up with them again and we did 2 nights ago. We spent a few hours in their room just visiting about our experience so far. Colorado mom is type A like me and dad is like T. They are close to 50 and have a very pretty 6 year old girl, who is really working them. They have no bio's so there is a lot of new things for both the parents and the daughter to learn. Hopefully we can be of some encouragement to them.
Anyway- enough boring stuff from here. Sorry the crazy exciting, stuff is under the bridge and now I am just rambling about things that are really not very important.
Only a few days left:)
I forgot to say that if you need to email me I can only be reached at chuckweinberg@gmail.com
1/31/10
1/30/10
Random
This is not necessarily- ok not at all- about this adoption process, but it has happened on this trip.
As many of you know Kimmy is getting married in June and I have been thinking quite a bit about both the day and the process- as we have looked at things related to the wedding and purchased a few things for the day/people.
When I return I think I am going to start a blog about what is going on in this process from a dad's point of view. I'm sure there are many moms and brides who have blogged about what is going on in their minds in this process.
On the plane ride here I was thinking a lot about the music. What a day to look forward to.
As many of you know Kimmy is getting married in June and I have been thinking quite a bit about both the day and the process- as we have looked at things related to the wedding and purchased a few things for the day/people.
When I return I think I am going to start a blog about what is going on in this process from a dad's point of view. I'm sure there are many moms and brides who have blogged about what is going on in their minds in this process.
On the plane ride here I was thinking a lot about the music. What a day to look forward to.
Sunday Night update
T had a funny. We were trying to tell John where he is going to live- Washington State- and it is difficult for him to say. T then said to me, "The 'th' sound is difficult for him". I laughed so hard. She said "what is so funny?" I reminded her that the is no "th" in where he lives:) She keeps it light.
A lot has transpired since the last post. We have taken an airplane- John's first- to Guangzhou, we have checked into our room, checked back out because of a minor flood in just our room, had medical a check up, a few shots, TB test, met a bunch of Americans adopting, gone on a safari and toured the local "pharmacy".
Starting with the flight. We came here on Friday- as I originally thought we were doing- and only after being told we were coming on Sat. did I think that was going to be the case- but I am trying to go with the flow. We arrived an hour late- we didn't know what time we were supposed to arrive anyway- and the driver took another family from the airport to the hotel and had to return for us. We checked in at around midnight.
In Beijing and Tianjin the temp outside was cold and it was very hot in the room. Here it's the opposite. It is nicely warm outside and very cold inside. I had to turn the system totally off to make it the right temp. Such trials-NOT.
We woke up on Sat. am to go to the clinic and heard the construction guys working outside our window- we have a view of the tarp. I went to take a shower and T said, "there is water coming in through the window". How much water cold it really be? A lot. We were trying to be on time for the clinic but now we needed to change rooms. So we packed our bags again and moved. More about that later.
Everything was fine at the clinic- John is healthy- and he only had to get 3 shots, so that's not too bad. We did notice along the way that he reads very close to the page so we thought we might need to have his eyes checked. Come to find out he has good eye sight in his right eye but has a stigmatism in his left and could only see the first symbol on the chart. No problem there that glasses won't cure.
We went across the "moat" to the main land and walked down the block. We went through this local market trying to figure out what all these things were; food maybe? There is everything from gigantic toad stool, tea, saffron, dried mushrooms, snakes, sea horses and all kinds of things we didn't have any idea what it was. T went out later and explored and found out the entire thing is the pharmacy for local medicine. I'll try to get some pictures for you.
When we returned to our room our proximity sensor would not open the door and it took 3 trips back to the desk to convince them that it was not me but the door. The repair man came to repair it as we were out.
We went for dinner last night to a local place. At the restaurant there were live eels, turtles, fish in many tanks, all kinds of other sea life alive in tanks and even a couple of baskets with frogs in them. You place your order, the wait staff talks into their head set, a guy grabs whatever you have ordered from the appropriate tank/basket and off it goes to the kitchen. It isn't much fresher than alive.
Today is Sunday and we went to the safari park. It's sort of like the zoo only in part of it you can get on the train- like Disney- and it drives right through all the animals.
So- it has not been the best last couple of days. I have not been excited about what is happening and being so out of control of this whole thing. I now am reminded why I don't take tours with a bunch of people, but rather go on my own. Standing in the clinic with 50-ish other couples, and their entourages, with little kids who have no idea what is going on with them and getting shots- making them even more grumpy- makes me very much appreciate the fact that we have John, who can do all these things by himself. For much the same reason as I like being a HS leader- I like having older kids.
John is going to fit into our family well I think. He gets bored pretty easily and is ready to go through what ever it is and get on with whatever is next. He is really trying to get his new language. He is kind, patient and likes to be on the computer.
As I was saying- I am ready to be done. I find it difficult not to be doing productive things this long. I have slept enough this 2 weeks to last me a month and we are not even done. I am tired of hearing the same stories and being asked the same questions. I am just not very fun to be around right now. I don't enjoy this bad attitude and need God to change it to a good one.
T had another good one tonight. She was showing John the US flag and she said, "How many stars are there? Do you know? There are 52." I said, "Really? 52?" She thought a minute and corrected herself. One must always be on their toes around this girl:)
Tomorrow is mostly free and then on Tuesday our guide will go to the embassy and apply for John's visa.
One last very important note. I sent Gale an email asking if she could somehow get in contact with the airline and get John's name changed on the ticket home. This was not helping my attitude- knowing that I bought the ticket in the wrong name and it was going to be difficult for me to change it. So I had no choice but to let someone else help me and that was Gale. She got the airline to change the name- gratis. Thanks for your help Gale. It literally would have taken me hours to do that here; if I could have done it.
A lot has transpired since the last post. We have taken an airplane- John's first- to Guangzhou, we have checked into our room, checked back out because of a minor flood in just our room, had medical a check up, a few shots, TB test, met a bunch of Americans adopting, gone on a safari and toured the local "pharmacy".
Starting with the flight. We came here on Friday- as I originally thought we were doing- and only after being told we were coming on Sat. did I think that was going to be the case- but I am trying to go with the flow. We arrived an hour late- we didn't know what time we were supposed to arrive anyway- and the driver took another family from the airport to the hotel and had to return for us. We checked in at around midnight.
In Beijing and Tianjin the temp outside was cold and it was very hot in the room. Here it's the opposite. It is nicely warm outside and very cold inside. I had to turn the system totally off to make it the right temp. Such trials-NOT.
We woke up on Sat. am to go to the clinic and heard the construction guys working outside our window- we have a view of the tarp. I went to take a shower and T said, "there is water coming in through the window". How much water cold it really be? A lot. We were trying to be on time for the clinic but now we needed to change rooms. So we packed our bags again and moved. More about that later.
Everything was fine at the clinic- John is healthy- and he only had to get 3 shots, so that's not too bad. We did notice along the way that he reads very close to the page so we thought we might need to have his eyes checked. Come to find out he has good eye sight in his right eye but has a stigmatism in his left and could only see the first symbol on the chart. No problem there that glasses won't cure.
We went across the "moat" to the main land and walked down the block. We went through this local market trying to figure out what all these things were; food maybe? There is everything from gigantic toad stool, tea, saffron, dried mushrooms, snakes, sea horses and all kinds of things we didn't have any idea what it was. T went out later and explored and found out the entire thing is the pharmacy for local medicine. I'll try to get some pictures for you.
When we returned to our room our proximity sensor would not open the door and it took 3 trips back to the desk to convince them that it was not me but the door. The repair man came to repair it as we were out.
We went for dinner last night to a local place. At the restaurant there were live eels, turtles, fish in many tanks, all kinds of other sea life alive in tanks and even a couple of baskets with frogs in them. You place your order, the wait staff talks into their head set, a guy grabs whatever you have ordered from the appropriate tank/basket and off it goes to the kitchen. It isn't much fresher than alive.
Today is Sunday and we went to the safari park. It's sort of like the zoo only in part of it you can get on the train- like Disney- and it drives right through all the animals.
So- it has not been the best last couple of days. I have not been excited about what is happening and being so out of control of this whole thing. I now am reminded why I don't take tours with a bunch of people, but rather go on my own. Standing in the clinic with 50-ish other couples, and their entourages, with little kids who have no idea what is going on with them and getting shots- making them even more grumpy- makes me very much appreciate the fact that we have John, who can do all these things by himself. For much the same reason as I like being a HS leader- I like having older kids.
John is going to fit into our family well I think. He gets bored pretty easily and is ready to go through what ever it is and get on with whatever is next. He is really trying to get his new language. He is kind, patient and likes to be on the computer.
As I was saying- I am ready to be done. I find it difficult not to be doing productive things this long. I have slept enough this 2 weeks to last me a month and we are not even done. I am tired of hearing the same stories and being asked the same questions. I am just not very fun to be around right now. I don't enjoy this bad attitude and need God to change it to a good one.
T had another good one tonight. She was showing John the US flag and she said, "How many stars are there? Do you know? There are 52." I said, "Really? 52?" She thought a minute and corrected herself. One must always be on their toes around this girl:)
Tomorrow is mostly free and then on Tuesday our guide will go to the embassy and apply for John's visa.
One last very important note. I sent Gale an email asking if she could somehow get in contact with the airline and get John's name changed on the ticket home. This was not helping my attitude- knowing that I bought the ticket in the wrong name and it was going to be difficult for me to change it. So I had no choice but to let someone else help me and that was Gale. She got the airline to change the name- gratis. Thanks for your help Gale. It literally would have taken me hours to do that here; if I could have done it.
1/28/10
Forbidden City
Yesterday we toured the silk factory, the Forbidden City, had a tea party, ate lunch at a local Chinese restaurant and ordered John a suit for Kimmy's wedding.
The silk factory is very interesting and there are notes on the pictures to explain. Much of the work has to be done by hand because machines don't have the delicacy that a human can feel when unwrapping and stretching a fabric that is not the same any two times. The single thread type of silk comes from the cocoon that has a single worm, but the cocoons that have twins produce a mucous that interacts with each other and it is softer and more like a mat than a thread; this is used for blankets.
The rugs are made from the thread type and each knot has an exact place for it to go, per the pattern, and each is hand tied and then cut of to be the exact right length. The small pictured rug is about 4 s/f and took 2 years to make. The larger one, on the loom, take about 1 year.
WE then went to Tienanmen Square. It was very windy and cold, but beautiful. From there across the street to the Forbidden City. What a place, consisting of 9999 different rooms, so the emperor could never sleep in the same room- for safety. It was built in 1406 and took 15 years to complete and is reported to have 1 million workers. It is a crazy sprawling complex of temples, out buildings and court yards. So much worship of men, tradition and superstition. Satan is working hard to confuse the minds of his followers.
We had lunch at a local Chinese restaurant and it was really good. They actually bring all the place settings in shrink wrap- the dishes are cleaned off site. We had "pan cakes" which John really likes, deep fried pork meat balls with a salt mixture to dip in, pork intestines, which was very spicy and I didn't care for the actual flavor- even before I knew what it was- a beef dish of some sort- was pretty good, and my favorite is pork with Beijing sauce. It reminds me of a soy sauce reduction- a little like the PF Chang sauce- served over sliced green onions. YUMMM! No wonder I am getting so fat.
We then went to a tea room and had a tea party. Tasted, learned, laughed and tasted some more. Our favorite is oolong- which is black tea with ginseng. Next is the jasmine tea. The flowering tea was very fun to watch and we bought a couple to have a show with.
We then went to the silk market to order John a suit for Kimmy's wedding. I figured tat it will be difficult to get one his size in the US and it is so cheap here. About $100 gets you a suit out of nice fabric and 2 custom made shirts. He has never had a suit before. Another first.
The silk factory is very interesting and there are notes on the pictures to explain. Much of the work has to be done by hand because machines don't have the delicacy that a human can feel when unwrapping and stretching a fabric that is not the same any two times. The single thread type of silk comes from the cocoon that has a single worm, but the cocoons that have twins produce a mucous that interacts with each other and it is softer and more like a mat than a thread; this is used for blankets.
The rugs are made from the thread type and each knot has an exact place for it to go, per the pattern, and each is hand tied and then cut of to be the exact right length. The small pictured rug is about 4 s/f and took 2 years to make. The larger one, on the loom, take about 1 year.
WE then went to Tienanmen Square. It was very windy and cold, but beautiful. From there across the street to the Forbidden City. What a place, consisting of 9999 different rooms, so the emperor could never sleep in the same room- for safety. It was built in 1406 and took 15 years to complete and is reported to have 1 million workers. It is a crazy sprawling complex of temples, out buildings and court yards. So much worship of men, tradition and superstition. Satan is working hard to confuse the minds of his followers.
We had lunch at a local Chinese restaurant and it was really good. They actually bring all the place settings in shrink wrap- the dishes are cleaned off site. We had "pan cakes" which John really likes, deep fried pork meat balls with a salt mixture to dip in, pork intestines, which was very spicy and I didn't care for the actual flavor- even before I knew what it was- a beef dish of some sort- was pretty good, and my favorite is pork with Beijing sauce. It reminds me of a soy sauce reduction- a little like the PF Chang sauce- served over sliced green onions. YUMMM! No wonder I am getting so fat.
We then went to a tea room and had a tea party. Tasted, learned, laughed and tasted some more. Our favorite is oolong- which is black tea with ginseng. Next is the jasmine tea. The flowering tea was very fun to watch and we bought a couple to have a show with.
We then went to the silk market to order John a suit for Kimmy's wedding. I figured tat it will be difficult to get one his size in the US and it is so cheap here. About $100 gets you a suit out of nice fabric and 2 custom made shirts. He has never had a suit before. Another first.
Strange People- we are
Walking down the street in Beijing-probably anywhere in China, for that matter- 2 American's with one pretty short, CLP, older boy brings some attention. The Chinese don't just look over and go back, they don't even just stare for a bit, they stare and then stare some more. In fact at times I am not sure they are not going to fall over since they are not watching where they are walking because they are looking at us. I actually think they are looking directly at John. Why is that?
There are many adoptions taking place as we visit tourist destinations. Yesterday, at the Forbidden City, we saw the family from Colorado again. What are the chances of us seeing the same 3 people in Tianjin and in Beijing amid the hundreds of thousands of people we are around? I think God will arrange for us to see them in Guangzhou as well- we'll see if I am right.
Why is John getting so much attention? Is this the same reason he is reluctant to speak to so many of the Chinese? He is Chinese, like they are, he is visibly normal in every way, except for a scar under his nose- so why all the stares?
Yesterday, again walking down the street, this nice looking young man- 20-ish, was coming toward us and just stared all the way past John- I wanted to put my hand in from of his face and say, "Hey- look at me. I'm the strange one". I restrained myself.
I immediately thought about our Father who adopts us into His family and then people look strangely at His children, persecute them and even sometimes kill them. How He must want to put out His hand and say, "I could smash you like a bug for treating my kid like that", but He restrains His anger. He allows His children to go through these types of trials for their good and His glory. He will not always hold back His anger. Someday- and maybe soon- He will right all wrongs and bring His "scarred" children to His perfect presence and there will be no more stares- except at the Lamb.
One day we will be able to throw off our sinful, scarred tents and will put on our royal clothes- clothes befitting the children of royalty. There will be a time when, with our "adoption papers" in hand we will take the ride of our lives and arrive at out Heavenly home- what a day that will be.
But what about what happens between now and then? What is our job? As adopted children of royalty, what does our ambassadorship require? Isn't it heralding for the King of kings? Isn't it telling others about the "not forbidden city", where everyone is welcome to come as long as they have surrendered to the King? What a glorious job- heralding. We don't have our own message and we are taken care of by the King. Simple job- when we believe the message.
There are many adoptions taking place as we visit tourist destinations. Yesterday, at the Forbidden City, we saw the family from Colorado again. What are the chances of us seeing the same 3 people in Tianjin and in Beijing amid the hundreds of thousands of people we are around? I think God will arrange for us to see them in Guangzhou as well- we'll see if I am right.
Why is John getting so much attention? Is this the same reason he is reluctant to speak to so many of the Chinese? He is Chinese, like they are, he is visibly normal in every way, except for a scar under his nose- so why all the stares?
Yesterday, again walking down the street, this nice looking young man- 20-ish, was coming toward us and just stared all the way past John- I wanted to put my hand in from of his face and say, "Hey- look at me. I'm the strange one". I restrained myself.
I immediately thought about our Father who adopts us into His family and then people look strangely at His children, persecute them and even sometimes kill them. How He must want to put out His hand and say, "I could smash you like a bug for treating my kid like that", but He restrains His anger. He allows His children to go through these types of trials for their good and His glory. He will not always hold back His anger. Someday- and maybe soon- He will right all wrongs and bring His "scarred" children to His perfect presence and there will be no more stares- except at the Lamb.
One day we will be able to throw off our sinful, scarred tents and will put on our royal clothes- clothes befitting the children of royalty. There will be a time when, with our "adoption papers" in hand we will take the ride of our lives and arrive at out Heavenly home- what a day that will be.
But what about what happens between now and then? What is our job? As adopted children of royalty, what does our ambassadorship require? Isn't it heralding for the King of kings? Isn't it telling others about the "not forbidden city", where everyone is welcome to come as long as they have surrendered to the King? What a glorious job- heralding. We don't have our own message and we are taken care of by the King. Simple job- when we believe the message.
1/27/10
More Pictures
Chuck passed on more pictures and you can go to Great Wall, Cloisonne and Beijing Olympics to see them. Enjoy!!
Goofing Off in Beijing
Today we pretty much goofed off all day and just hung out with John.
I think he had his first ever milk shake at McD's, we went to the "silk store" which is less of a silk store and more of a bargaining experience- it was fun once we understood the basic ground rules.
We came back to the hotel, rested our feet for about a half an hour and then headed out to the subway to catch Avatar.The subway was pretty entertaining by itself. I remember my mom telling me that when she rode the subway in Tokyo, growing up, that they had "pushers" who actually helped push people into the cars and when she was in the car she could just let go of her books. I couldn't help but laugh all the way into the car- the pushers were there and we couldn't get onto the first car because there was no room- even with the pushers.
We had to switch lines and then go a few more stops, but we rode the subway because the front desk told us that traffic would be too bad to go when we needed to go. It was fun and adventurous.
The movie was the 3D version, so for sure it was his first 3D movie and maybe his first real movie- it's hard to really know for sure. The "weather" in the theater was the warmest we have ever experienced- like close to 80. He is getting better at helping us communicate with the locals.
Any word from the SR? Looking forward to hearing good reports of God's grace in everyone's life.
I think he had his first ever milk shake at McD's, we went to the "silk store" which is less of a silk store and more of a bargaining experience- it was fun once we understood the basic ground rules.
We came back to the hotel, rested our feet for about a half an hour and then headed out to the subway to catch Avatar.The subway was pretty entertaining by itself. I remember my mom telling me that when she rode the subway in Tokyo, growing up, that they had "pushers" who actually helped push people into the cars and when she was in the car she could just let go of her books. I couldn't help but laugh all the way into the car- the pushers were there and we couldn't get onto the first car because there was no room- even with the pushers.
We had to switch lines and then go a few more stops, but we rode the subway because the front desk told us that traffic would be too bad to go when we needed to go. It was fun and adventurous.
The movie was the 3D version, so for sure it was his first 3D movie and maybe his first real movie- it's hard to really know for sure. The "weather" in the theater was the warmest we have ever experienced- like close to 80. He is getting better at helping us communicate with the locals.
Any word from the SR? Looking forward to hearing good reports of God's grace in everyone's life.
1/26/10
Beijing Olympics
On the way home from the Wall we drove by the Olympic facility. Here are just a few shots. You can see it much better by just looking on line, but I guess it is more fun seeing it through that lens of someone you actually know.
The pics are the Olympic Village, where all the athletes stay, the "Birds Nest" and "The Cube". The Cube is especially for Mo- it's where they did all the swimming events.
The pics are the Olympic Village, where all the athletes stay, the "Birds Nest" and "The Cube". The Cube is especially for Mo- it's where they did all the swimming events.
Cloisonne
We also went to a cloisonne factory today. I was not expecting this at all. I will give you more of the details when I have a faster internet connection, but it was amazing to see how much time it takes to make this beautiful artwork.
Before we went to the Wall we stopped by a jade factory and took a tour. Very interesting- I really like rocks.
A 1000 degree Centigrade furnace fueled by charcoal heats the copper and solders the small pieces of copper onto the vase. If you get close to the vases in the later pictures you can see the detail of each piece of copper. These "slots" are then filled with enamel and baked on. Each piece of art goes into the furnace 7 times before it is finished.
Red hot vases coming out of the furnace to go to the next stage. So many hours.
These are vases that are cooling before returning back the the artists. Look at them closely to see the detail.
I can't help but be reminded of the furnace of trials that each believer must go through before we are complete in Christ. We must share in His sufferings before we can reign with Him. The fire is still hot but when we realize the purpose then we may find delight in knowing we are in a trial so that the outcome of completion is all the more close.
Mary told me that there have been cases where house have caught on fire and everything was completely lost except for the cloisonne- because it has already been tested by fire.
1 Peter 1:6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Teresa told me that it was ok for us not to be in trials every minute of every day and that maybe God was allowing us to rest from them for a time. OK- I guess that's ok too.
Before we went to the Wall we stopped by a jade factory and took a tour. Very interesting- I really like rocks.
A 1000 degree Centigrade furnace fueled by charcoal heats the copper and solders the small pieces of copper onto the vase. If you get close to the vases in the later pictures you can see the detail of each piece of copper. These "slots" are then filled with enamel and baked on. Each piece of art goes into the furnace 7 times before it is finished.
Red hot vases coming out of the furnace to go to the next stage. So many hours.
These are vases that are cooling before returning back the the artists. Look at them closely to see the detail.
I can't help but be reminded of the furnace of trials that each believer must go through before we are complete in Christ. We must share in His sufferings before we can reign with Him. The fire is still hot but when we realize the purpose then we may find delight in knowing we are in a trial so that the outcome of completion is all the more close.
Mary told me that there have been cases where house have caught on fire and everything was completely lost except for the cloisonne- because it has already been tested by fire.
1 Peter 1:6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Teresa told me that it was ok for us not to be in trials every minute of every day and that maybe God was allowing us to rest from them for a time. OK- I guess that's ok too.
1/25/10
Great Wall
We went to the Great Wall today and the weather could not have been nicer. From the parking lot it looks like it is just up the hill- Mary said she would stay with the driver. After a little hiking I realized why she stayed in the parking lot.
The date of the wall ranges from just around 200bc to about 1500ad. There have been major rebuilding going on along the way and for sure many people lost their lives to its building. Mary said it is about 5000 miles total- I have not confirmed that number, but it is big.
I will say with AB that I did not bring my climbing belly today. Man that thing is steep and it just keeps on going. I was tired after about 3 look out towers and there were about 8 we went through. Going up is much harder than going down, but my legs were totally shaking when we finally got back to the van. The steps are all different elevations so going up is challenging, but coming down is tricky because you really have to look at each step as you walk. John- with his 14 year old legs and lungs- acted like it was nothing; oh to be young again.
We did meet some people on the wall who are from the Tri-Cities and I had on my "Sterlings Restaurant" shirt from the there; small world. They have just adopted their 3rd child to add to their 6 bio's. That was kind of fun.
Here are some pics from the Wall- It's amazing that we were here and it was such a beautiful day. Enjoy and I'll add comments where it is necessary.
The date of the wall ranges from just around 200bc to about 1500ad. There have been major rebuilding going on along the way and for sure many people lost their lives to its building. Mary said it is about 5000 miles total- I have not confirmed that number, but it is big.
I will say with AB that I did not bring my climbing belly today. Man that thing is steep and it just keeps on going. I was tired after about 3 look out towers and there were about 8 we went through. Going up is much harder than going down, but my legs were totally shaking when we finally got back to the van. The steps are all different elevations so going up is challenging, but coming down is tricky because you really have to look at each step as you walk. John- with his 14 year old legs and lungs- acted like it was nothing; oh to be young again.
We did meet some people on the wall who are from the Tri-Cities and I had on my "Sterlings Restaurant" shirt from the there; small world. They have just adopted their 3rd child to add to their 6 bio's. That was kind of fun.
Here are some pics from the Wall- It's amazing that we were here and it was such a beautiful day. Enjoy and I'll add comments where it is necessary.
Tuesday Morning
Last night we played pool and darts and from the look of his play I am sure John has never played either:) He does respong to "John" since that is all we call him. He came along nicely in pool. I was showing him- you know I am an expert:)NOT- how to hold your back arm and just let it hang and move the bottom part very smoothly back and forth and so was holding his shoulder- he is thick and very firm.
Mary and I had a debate yesterday in the car as to how tall he is in cm's. I had to do the conversion and then we were both simply guessing his height- she is bringing a tape measure this am. My guess is that he is 4'10". Do I know someone who is 4'10"? He is about 8" shorter than T.
Today we are going to the Great Wall- he has been there before, so it's new for us and not for him. T went and got food last night and brought it to the room- Chinese take out. It is so cheap. She got me Kung Poa chicken and it was HOT! John thought it was fine, and I like a little spice, but there was a lot of red peppers hidden and they were eating me up- it was very good though.
We went to TJ yesterday and did our paperwork and were back by a little after 11. Apparently we are not going back to TJ, Mary will go and pick up the passport on Friday so we don't have to go. Now we are flying to GD on Sat. so we get there at a normal time rather than late at night.
OK- not following blogging etiquette here; John- No problem using the bass- that's what it's for. Did he use the 4 or the 5 string? It is a little weird using the 5 when you're not used to it. Welcome back Chris and Zoom!! What does He have planned for you now? Hard to be in the middle of, but fun to watch Him work.
The bass player at the International church was actually a bass player- he was really good. We are not in any trial here other than I always want to be doing something and healthy enough to go out and do it and my shoulder is slowing me down and we are bored. There is not much spiritual growth taking place with wimpy "trials" like that. Thanks for your prayers though.
We did read to John and have him read back to us, in the Bible story book. He is a little, either lazy or reluctant to jump in. I am not sure if it is the Bible story part that he doesn't like or the fact that we are making him read to us and he doesn't like it, but since I am bigger I win:) He must be able to work through his dislikes and discomforts because even though life in America is going to be an amazing opportunity for him, it is still just an opportunity- which means he must take it and run with it. Please pray that God would be working in his heart, even through children's Bible stories- it is His Word and His Word does not return empty- that is so encouraging.
The SR is under way- pray that even now God would be pounding some hearts. I guess this is a trial, in that we so much want to be there with, not only our kids, but our extended family of kids and adults- but by all His working we are convinced that this is where God would have us to be right now and so we are resting in His plan. I think we will also miss Garrett's last BB game, and that is sad. We, T and I and Garrett, certainly knew that if God allowed this to take place that we would probably miss a good batch of his games and he was so unselfish in telling us that we must do this if God allowed. God is so gracious to have given us 3 great kids- in spite of not very good parenting.
We, more me than T, missed so many opportunities to really impact the lives of our kids and yet He still worked to bring them not only to Himself but to make them passionate about His work. This is proof that it is only God can bring about change in hearts. Hug my kids when you see them.
One last more emotional thing. Until you have been there, you really have no idea how lonely it is, spiritually, when you are away from your home church. GBC is not perfect, and when I am there it is less perfect, but that is our family and I really miss worshipping with our family. I hope this encourages you to be there when you are able and celebrate God's goodness in placing each and every one of us there for a specific and unique purpose. I want to be and do what God has for me to do there, even if it is just going to China for a few weeks and posting back what is happening. If that encourages some towards higher affections, then God is good to work through a boring, old, beat up clay pot. I shake my head in wonder at why He would use someone like me to do His work- but I am thankful He does.
Thanks again for your encouragement and prayers. Our God is awesome!!!
Mary and I had a debate yesterday in the car as to how tall he is in cm's. I had to do the conversion and then we were both simply guessing his height- she is bringing a tape measure this am. My guess is that he is 4'10". Do I know someone who is 4'10"? He is about 8" shorter than T.
Today we are going to the Great Wall- he has been there before, so it's new for us and not for him. T went and got food last night and brought it to the room- Chinese take out. It is so cheap. She got me Kung Poa chicken and it was HOT! John thought it was fine, and I like a little spice, but there was a lot of red peppers hidden and they were eating me up- it was very good though.
We went to TJ yesterday and did our paperwork and were back by a little after 11. Apparently we are not going back to TJ, Mary will go and pick up the passport on Friday so we don't have to go. Now we are flying to GD on Sat. so we get there at a normal time rather than late at night.
OK- not following blogging etiquette here; John- No problem using the bass- that's what it's for. Did he use the 4 or the 5 string? It is a little weird using the 5 when you're not used to it. Welcome back Chris and Zoom!! What does He have planned for you now? Hard to be in the middle of, but fun to watch Him work.
The bass player at the International church was actually a bass player- he was really good. We are not in any trial here other than I always want to be doing something and healthy enough to go out and do it and my shoulder is slowing me down and we are bored. There is not much spiritual growth taking place with wimpy "trials" like that. Thanks for your prayers though.
We did read to John and have him read back to us, in the Bible story book. He is a little, either lazy or reluctant to jump in. I am not sure if it is the Bible story part that he doesn't like or the fact that we are making him read to us and he doesn't like it, but since I am bigger I win:) He must be able to work through his dislikes and discomforts because even though life in America is going to be an amazing opportunity for him, it is still just an opportunity- which means he must take it and run with it. Please pray that God would be working in his heart, even through children's Bible stories- it is His Word and His Word does not return empty- that is so encouraging.
The SR is under way- pray that even now God would be pounding some hearts. I guess this is a trial, in that we so much want to be there with, not only our kids, but our extended family of kids and adults- but by all His working we are convinced that this is where God would have us to be right now and so we are resting in His plan. I think we will also miss Garrett's last BB game, and that is sad. We, T and I and Garrett, certainly knew that if God allowed this to take place that we would probably miss a good batch of his games and he was so unselfish in telling us that we must do this if God allowed. God is so gracious to have given us 3 great kids- in spite of not very good parenting.
We, more me than T, missed so many opportunities to really impact the lives of our kids and yet He still worked to bring them not only to Himself but to make them passionate about His work. This is proof that it is only God can bring about change in hearts. Hug my kids when you see them.
One last more emotional thing. Until you have been there, you really have no idea how lonely it is, spiritually, when you are away from your home church. GBC is not perfect, and when I am there it is less perfect, but that is our family and I really miss worshipping with our family. I hope this encourages you to be there when you are able and celebrate God's goodness in placing each and every one of us there for a specific and unique purpose. I want to be and do what God has for me to do there, even if it is just going to China for a few weeks and posting back what is happening. If that encourages some towards higher affections, then God is good to work through a boring, old, beat up clay pot. I shake my head in wonder at why He would use someone like me to do His work- but I am thankful He does.
Thanks again for your encouragement and prayers. Our God is awesome!!!
1/24/10
Passport Prep
We went to TJ on the fast train- 200mph/i334kph fast. We took a van there and back last time and it was about a 2 hour drive and the train ride was 26 minutes. It is so smooth and much like an airplane inside. It is not available everywhere you go, but BJ and TJ each have over 10 million people so it leaves every 15 minutes during the day- pretty nice way to travel, at 9 USD each way.
We caught a taxi to get to the passport office- which took about 5 minutes- and were dropped off in a sea of Chinese waiting for passports or visas. It was like the China Embassy in SF but bigger and crazier. We met a young man there who walked us through, with a few other families who are adopting. 2 families from Australia getting 1 CLP son each, about 1 year old. It has taken them 5 years to complete this process. We met a French couple who were picking up their 5 year old son to add to their 7 year old daughter, who they adopted 5 ears ago and this one took 5 years to complete as well. Now they have 2 Chinese children, living in France and no bio's. We also met a lady from Colorado who picked up her daughter 1 hour before we met her. John, for sure, is the oldest we have seen being adopted, but I guess that makes sense since he is the end of the line. He is still very quiet about the whole thing.
I was able to purchase a ticket for him, this afternoon, on the same flight as we are on- I am not sure why it would not give me those options this am, but maybe it is just because you were praying that this would happen. I will believe it when we arrive and there are no issues, but I purchased the ticket with FF miles, so if everything goes as planned we will be getting his flight with no cash out of pocket- now that would be a giant answer to prayer- God is so good.
Tomorrow we are going to tour the Great Wall and a jade factory- that should be fun and very cold. Tomorrow evening we are doing the acrobats.
Mary- our guide- says that she thinks that John is happy, he is just really hard to read. We are teaching him important things like always putting down the toilet seat. I think we will start reading with him and let him follow along and read it back to us. T is a little over whelmed with how much English he doesn't know, but it is much more than many know when they arrive.
Line to catch a taxi at the train station.
Chinese Dairy.
A little building going on in China.
More Cranes.
Tianjin.
When the trains comes to the end of the line someone goes in and switches the seats around. Notice the ones behind her, on the right, are facing the other direction.
China Farmland at 200mph.
China City at 200mph.
That's Fast.
Mary, our guide, and T in the train.
Dad and John.
Mom and John.
We caught a taxi to get to the passport office- which took about 5 minutes- and were dropped off in a sea of Chinese waiting for passports or visas. It was like the China Embassy in SF but bigger and crazier. We met a young man there who walked us through, with a few other families who are adopting. 2 families from Australia getting 1 CLP son each, about 1 year old. It has taken them 5 years to complete this process. We met a French couple who were picking up their 5 year old son to add to their 7 year old daughter, who they adopted 5 ears ago and this one took 5 years to complete as well. Now they have 2 Chinese children, living in France and no bio's. We also met a lady from Colorado who picked up her daughter 1 hour before we met her. John, for sure, is the oldest we have seen being adopted, but I guess that makes sense since he is the end of the line. He is still very quiet about the whole thing.
I was able to purchase a ticket for him, this afternoon, on the same flight as we are on- I am not sure why it would not give me those options this am, but maybe it is just because you were praying that this would happen. I will believe it when we arrive and there are no issues, but I purchased the ticket with FF miles, so if everything goes as planned we will be getting his flight with no cash out of pocket- now that would be a giant answer to prayer- God is so good.
Tomorrow we are going to tour the Great Wall and a jade factory- that should be fun and very cold. Tomorrow evening we are doing the acrobats.
Mary- our guide- says that she thinks that John is happy, he is just really hard to read. We are teaching him important things like always putting down the toilet seat. I think we will start reading with him and let him follow along and read it back to us. T is a little over whelmed with how much English he doesn't know, but it is much more than many know when they arrive.
Line to catch a taxi at the train station.
Chinese Dairy.
A little building going on in China.
More Cranes.
Tianjin.
When the trains comes to the end of the line someone goes in and switches the seats around. Notice the ones behind her, on the right, are facing the other direction.
China Farmland at 200mph.
China City at 200mph.
That's Fast.
Mary, our guide, and T in the train.
Dad and John.
Mom and John.
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