Jun 20 2011
Unexpected Tourists… Huge Sacrifice!
We arrived from Beijing in Hefei and were greeted by our guide Cherry. We set up to have a private driver and guide for the time in Anhui as we didn’t know that many people and we needed some specific information in terms of finding Charis’ orphanage and the place where she was originally found. So Cherry and our driver, met us at the train station and settled us into our hotel in Hefei, Anhui, China. Then…
We did not plan on it but we took an unexpected trip to Nanjin to visit my UTA friend Elvis. Great city. Good to see him. His nephew Russ came with his parents all the way from Wuhu (1.5 hours from Hefei) to pick us up to go to Nanjin and they drove all the way back the same day. I am really touched! The sacrifices they had to make to make it work.
Honestly, we were exhausted after several consecutive days with people and we were less than convinced that we should go on this side trip but the devotion Elvis’ family made to meet us touched us so that we decided to drive the two hours to Nanjin. We are so glad that we did. It is one of the most beautiful cities we have seen in China and we have a very pleasant time with Elvis and his family. Nanjin has one of the oldest most complete city walls in the world. We are so thankful for the time and we are touched by how much our friends care. Wow! Thanks so much Elvis.
As I write this, I lie in a sleeper train car from Beijing to Hefei, settling in for a 9 hour ride. At least we will be sleeping most of the way and so the trip should happen quickly. While Lisa and the kids have their own stateroom. I am sharing with three others. One cool thing, while waiting for our train in the waiting area, Charis made friends with a young lady who wanted to practice English. This young lady was so touched by Charis that she gave her a special wooden fan.
Last night we met with Catherine and her husband Vince for dinner. We know her from over 10 years ago when she was a graduate student at UTA. She has since written a book and hopes to do further study in the university. They are doing very well. She is very special for us because when she was here she suffered a very serious accident where one student was killed and her recovery took nearly a year. Roy will never forget driving out to Abilene to visit her in the hospital. She is clearly recovered. They took us to this incredible restaurant where there is a huge almost football field sized courtyard where the entire ceiling is a huge LED video panel projecting, videos, messages you can put us by texting a number, etc. It was truly incredible and special.
Yesterday, another former student, Ted, took us around on the subway all over Beijing. We visited the Olympic Bird’s Next and Water Cube and the Summer Palace. We took the subway because in Beijing, you can only drive 6 days a week based on the numbers on your car licence to cut down on congestion and all our guests had numbers that prevented them from driving on that day. It was the first subway trip for our kids and they did well considering this was the first time they moved around via subway.
After three consecutive days of more walking than we’ve done in years, we had a relatively light day today. We visited the home of the Beijing Opera, we had a very good pizza lunch in HouHai, a regular hangout for many westerners in Beijing and we visited Prince Gong’s Hutong house. Then we had dinner with our hosts, Willy and his family and then Jonathan had the treat of seeing a live concert of music from Hisayo Miyazaki movies performed by the local Beijing orchestra while Roy and Willy drove around Beijing to see the lights and the sites.
Of course what made this day special was the people we were with. Maria, Mickie & Al took us around all day. They are great friends from a very recent graduating class form UTA. They shared so much of themselves and sacrificed much to spend time with us. Maria even planned the whole time in Beijing. What a blessing they all have been.
Trae took care of us too as we walked the many steps of the Great Wall. Honestly, we haven’t walked as much as we have in the last couple of days in years and except for a little stomach discomfort by the littlest one, I have been amazed at how the kids have held out. Every muscle in my body is sore right now and my feet have that good kind of hurt.
We are learning so much about some of the pressures these students face and the desires they have and the difficulties they face as they integrate their times studying in the states and the new skills and perspectives they have into their lives.
Today was a very special day for our family. One of the things we have been most looking forward to in our trip to Asia was going to the orphanage near Beijing (http://harmonyoutreach.org/425567.ihtml) Our daughter has been doing fund raisers for our time there, friends from our faith family had donated items and funds for our time there, this part of our trip meant a lot to us as we take seriously our father’s mandate to take care of orphans.
Lucy and Garrett’s driver drove our family the 2 hours to the orphanage this morning. It was a hazy day and I honestly felt very tired from the many things that have happened on this trip so far. When we arrived, we were welcomed by the orphanage director, Lilith and she ushered us all in to meet the children. When we arrived the 20 or so kids, were watching television in the living room area. This particular orphanage specializes in special needs kids and the kids had various anomalies including one child, Jeremiah, who had no tone in his arms and who had to do everything with his feet. (He was incredibly smart and could draw, write, and even eat with his feet) We were able to break the ice with the kids by taking their pictures and showing them to them. This caused them to smile and it really warmed our hearts and theirs too. We sponsor one of the kids there and we found Martha, the girl we sponsor, to be very shy… but we found that just by being silly and stooping physically to the level of the Children, even kids as reserved as Martha responded.
Among the babies were three newborns who arrived just in the last few days. They were a month old but they seemed incredibly small and fragile. Much smaller than our boys were were they were born. As Roy held one of the little babies, it was amazing to watch how much the baby seemed to respond to the touch and warmth of being held. We also met Blossom, a young girl with Cerebral Palsy. Even with her broken body she seemed to light us when she saw us.
After our whole family and Lucy played with the kids for a time many of the kids were loaded up onto a bus and we took them with their nannies to McDonald’s in the city. It was quite a site watching all these tiny kids marching in a row into McDonald’s and seeing the reaction of the other patrons. You should have seen the kids faces though when the happy meals we were able to give through the generous gifts of you all partners who gave to the trip. Smiles every where as the kids ate french fries and even hamburgers. Our friend with the limited arms seemed so natural in eating with his feet. If you didn’t know better, you would have sworn he was eating with his hands. Lucy was a huge help as she translated for us and helped Lisa order the food, get us good seats and serve the food. 
Garrett’s driver was also getting into the action as he sat with a group of three kids and fed them, even spooning ice cream into their mouths from the tiny cones that came with the meal. Being a veteran of many happy meals, we expected the toys to be the centerpoint. Not with these kids. The food was what they were excited about with the toy being almost an afterthought for them.
After McDonald’s, we drove back to the orphanage with our hearts deeply knitted with the kids and the orphanage helpers. Most of the kids went down for naps but Charis and Jeremiah made paper airplanes together. It was clear that Jeremiah treasured these small folded creations as he put them in his “special” bucket.
Yesterday, the daughter of our dear friend Garrett, Lucy, took us around all over Tianjin. Garrett, a part of the previous year’s UTA EMBA class, has become a close friend with our family as we got to know each other over the year, first, through the golfing ministry and then eventually through his involvement with his daughter in our Friday night group. His daughter, who studied ESL at UTA this last year, will be returning to Arlington in August to start undergraduate studies in Biology. Tianjin is a very beautiful city of 6 million people. While less sophisticated and busy compared to Shanghai and Beijing and less know outside of China, we really enjoyed touring this city. It had the feel of a “Boston” with its “Paris” inspired river centered design.
We are on a train from Shanghai to Tianjin. Shanghai was an unforgettable experience.Tim took us to see a show with incredible acrobats with the 
Today we head on off to see Garrett and his family in Tianjin, 9 hr by bullet train away. Popish people we hope for some good conversations about LONG term future things.
After quite the journey, we have safely arrived in Shanghai. What a blessing it was as our family learned much about what it means to be flexible and what it means to trust Father with all the details. The course we took was not at all what we planned but we ended up being even more than planned. We have touched base with our friend Tim. He had some incredible plans for our time with him. To stay with him in his home in a beautiful “Venice” like city as his guest, showing us the best this region has to offer. Unfortunately that was derailed because of our one day late arrival. So we are “stuck” having to be only in Shanghai. Still lift up the time as we know Father is orchestrating it all.
I never thought I would say this but praise the Lord for American Airlines. They took us in to go to Shanghai when China Eastern wouldn’t. Leaving soon. Thanks all who are praying.
Powered by FireStats