Saturdays...

Saturdays are my favorite days here. Not because its technically a day off, but because after sleeping in I get to spend all afternoon with the children with no interruptions. 

So much joy and love! 

My boy Liam is getting so chubby, which is just wonderful! 

He is such a cutie! 

Amity! She is was one of the cutest babies because she just lights up! She was a blue baby and got surgery earlier this year on her heart and is healthy now! She has red hair, they recently cut it off so you can't see it anymore but it is red red! 

Cindy! What a sweetheart! She is new to Shepherd's Field. She got here a few weeks ago and is doing so well. She has a minor heart problem. She has just started to sit up and is so proud of herself! She honestly looks more Hispanic then Asian, she is such a cutie! 

Leah! She is still tiny and not gaining weight at all like she should be. Please continue to pr*y for her. That she will gain weight and they can figure out what is wrong with her. 

This is Grace Ruth. I tried to post these pictures earlier but my computer wasn't working for a little while. Grace Ruth came to Shepherd's field extremely sick. They took her straight to the hospital when she arrived. She had a heart problem that would require a very expensive surgery, pneumonia, and had suffered brain damage from being without oxygen. They brought her back to Shepherd's Field because there was nothing else the hospital could do. She was in the clinic on oxygen for about a week. The entire staff prayed for her during this time, along with people all over the world that are connected with Shepherd's Field, that either she would improve or the l0rd would take her home. He did take her home on Sunday. It is extremely sad and something that is hard to deal with, but we all know that she is in a better place now. 

The boys eating an afternoon snack. 

Precious Robert! 

Josiah! 

Robert figured out how to take self pictures on my phone! They took like 50 pictures! 

Then, Josiah took the phone from Robert and I had to catch a picture of this single tear rolling down his face. 

Kennedy! He also took a million pictures and videos! My videos won't work. I will post them eventually!

Eric playing outside! 

Ting ting! 

Me and Eric! 

Eric was my photographer for a while. He took pictures of literally everything in the house. This is Julie! She is such a sweetheart! I met her pretty early on here and everyday since then, when I walk in her house, she just lights up and runs to me so I will pick her up! She will just sit there in my lap for forever. Sometimes she wants me to look at a book with her, but usually she just like to sit. I love when I can make her giggle by flipping her upside down! Love this girl! 

This is Annabel Lee! She is such a cute child! She is the ayi's favorite in house of love and they are usually holding her, which is great, but I haven't played with her that much! She is getting adopted at the end of this month! 

Some of the kids in House of Peace! 

Francis is in the orange, then Moses, Grayson, and Maggie! They were freaking out cause I had my phone and was taking videos and pictures of them! They loved it! 

Ting ting joined the photo op! 

We got Mcdonalds for the first time for lunch on Sunday in Beijing. It tasted the exact same, which is actually kind of scary. 

There is a girl here named Wendy. She is 21 years old and in a wheel chair. Her English is okay but she can't understand as much as some of the other older kids can. She is skeptical of visitors because so many of them come in and out of here. She has gotten close to who knows how many over the years and they always leave. It makes sense that she is weary of making close bonds with any of us anymore. I did her hair for Children's Day and after that I guess she decided I was an okay person. She asked me if I would take her to the store one night and then asked if I would teach her English everyday. So now, everyday from nine to ten I teach her English. Yesterday was the first time I taught her. I was freaking out because I have no idea what I am doing and was in constant pray with g0d the entire time. It was out of my comfort zone and full of my weaknesses. However, g0d works even more in those times. "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.".. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12: 9:10 His power is seen through our weaknesses. The past two days of teaching her have gone really well. It is by nothing I am doing but all the l0rds work that she is learning fast. Because we have always known how to speak English, you never realize how insanely hard it is. We have some of the weirdest words and Wendy always complains about how difficult American names are. They really are. She is still having trouble with getting my name right, thanks mom :). Please pr*y for us as I try to teach her and she tries to learn! Also, pr*y for her heart. I do not know whether she is saved or not and I already had to break the news that I only have three weeks left here and I will be leaving her just like everyone else has. Pr*y that the l0rd would work through me to influence her and that her heart would not be saddened by people leaving but that she would come to an understanding of it and be able to love people even if only for a short time.

My Primary Class

Now for my primary class! I love these guys! Taylor and I teach this class together and it has been so much fun to teach them. They are all so unique and such cool kids. Most of them speak English well and they love to learn new words and ways to say things. They are eager learners and it has been a joy getting to know them.

This is Blossom! She is the one that just found out about her family. Her family will be here soon and she will be heading to Idaho! Blossom is such a sweet girl. She is missing the lower part of one of her legs. She doesn't know as much English as some of the others because she has only been here for about a year. She gets frustrated sometimes in class but she does well. She is learning and really tries to get things right. She is best friends with bei bei. They are always together. Blossom is such a sweetheart and I am so excited for her to meet her family in the next few weeks. 

This is Elizabeth or Bei Bei. She is the most precious little girl. She has some kind of spinal injury or something and can't use her legs. It hasn't stopped her. She is so strong in her upper body and can walk on her hands. It is so funny to watch her. She will get out of her wheel chair to play duck duck goose and can chase the kids down by walking with her hands and having her legs drag under her. She is so precious. She is a sweetheart and always making me laugh in class. She has a precious voice and talks a mile a minute. She is also waiting to be adopted. The couple, Clay and Jewel, that I mentioned before are in the middle of the paper work to get her. Hopefully, they will be able to get her very soon. Bei Bei will get to live close by which will be nice and she adores Clay and Jewel so much. A little background on Clay and Jewel. They lived in the States and a few years ago, not sure how many now, both of their sons were killed in a car accident. They felt called to China and moved here to work with Shepherd's Field. They have now started their own foster care home for children with bone diseases and also help with the Bakery for Life that employs orph*ns and the proceeds go to help the orph*ns. Such a cool, g0d loving couple. Now, they are trying to adopt Bei Bei and I pr*y that that will happen soon. 

Ling Ling or Shelby. Oh Ling Ling. She is a character to say the least. She is so sweet and always tells me and everyone else how pretty they are. She doesn't participate much in class but she is always there and often listening when we don't realize she is. She will randomly answer a question and when she does, she is always right. She makes me laugh daily. Oh ling ling, such a precious soul. 

This is Joseph! He is a sweet kid. He loves his friends and he loves to hang out with his gang, which is Phillip, Blossom, and Bei Bei. He loves to build and play with legos. He has heart problems and is in need of another surgery. He turned 13 recently meaning he has one more year to get adopted and he needs a family. He is such a nice kid. He doesn't love English but he does well. He tries hard and he sits there until he figures it out. He is such a cool kid and I have loved getting to know him. 

Seth! I love this kid! He is so precious and I have loved getting to know him. He is a loner who loves to walk around by himself and sing songs. He lights up when he sings and he moves his hands like he his orchestrating the music. He always asks me about class, when we will have it, what we will do, etc. He is smart and he loves to learn. He loves to know that he is doing a good job and that we are proud of him. He gets so excited when he uses a new word and when he gets an answer right. He is such a sweetheart and I love sitting next to him in class and helping him. He makes me laugh every day. He gets frustrated sometimes  but all he needs is encouragement and someone to believe in him. He is a wonderful kid. 

Here is a video of him singing! 

This is Phillip. He is the smartest kid and such a sweetheart. He helps me with my Chinese everyday. He corrects me when I say something wrong and tells me how to say things. He loves his friends and is a joy to be around. He is always helping others. He does a great job learning English and his English is really good. He learns fast and he is always wanting to learn more. He loves legos and plays with them all the time. He has a family and will be hearing about them in the next few months. His birthday was last week and we had a great time celebrating it! 

The classroom on Phillips birthday! 

Happy Birthday Phillip!

Seth literally scraped the pan of brownies 

Phillip's gift from Sara 

Everyone singing Phillip happy birthday!

What a wonderful day

I have had more posts than usual lately, but, I had to post about today. Because the kids were practicing for Children's Day, had Children's day on Friday, and then the Georgia group did VBS the past two days, we haven't really had a normal day of teaching for a week. So today was back to a normal schedule. We taught the primary class at ten and it went really well. We are finishing up with possessive pronouns and will move on to new stuff next week. During my lunch break, I got to skype with Chris for a long time. He is at K-Kountry this summer and is loving it once again for his third summer. It was so wonderful to be able to actually catch up with each other. Being 13 hours apart in time difference but also the fact that he only has his phone on nights off which are scattered every other week or so, its not the easiest. But, it is doable and today was so great to be able to hear about everything that is going on and how the l0rd is working in Branson and also knowing how he is working here. I love that boy.
Before that I got to experience the coolest thing ever. There is a girl here named Blossom, she is in my primary class, and she turns 14 in three weeks. Normally, that is no big deal, but here it is monumental. Fourteen is the age in which you age out of the Ch1nese system. Once you turn 14 you can no longer be adopted. Even if a family is in the process of trying to get you. Once you turn 14 you are out. So Blossom turns 14 in two weeks and she has been matched with a family but they have been waiting on their travel approval in order to get here in time. Today, I got to witness Sara telling her that she does indeed have a family and they will be here in the next few weeks to get her. She got a book with pictures of her new family, her parents, and three siblings. It was such an amazing thing to witness. g0d is in control and sovereign and it is only his doing that they are getting her just in time. Blossom was so excited, which is also g0ds doing, because she is extremely sad to leave her best friends here. She went back to her house yelling to her ayi "I have a family!!!!" It was such a beautiful thing to witness first hand. That child is so precious and I cannot wait to be here on her gotcha day in a few weeks when she gets to meet her family for the first time.
So, this was only my morning. Kindergarten class was in the afternoon and it went well. Many of the kids have been getting chicken pox so a few of mine are out. Please pr*y for the kids that have chicken pox. It is spreading quickly to all the kids and everyone knows how miserable it is. I started teaching the five senses yesterday. It is hard when I only know select Ch1nese words to communicate what in the world I am talking about, but its going okay. After I teach we usually sing songs but today I brought the play-doh and just let them play for the last part of class. They love play-doh.
After class I got to help Chrissy and give out sponsor gifts to a few of the children. It was once again such a blessing to be able to be the barer of a gift to a child who is so beyond thankful and thrilled to be receiving anything. So that was wonderful.
For dinner, we ordered pizza for Phillip's birthday. Phillip turns 13 tomorrow but since we have fellowship tomorrow night, we got pizza for him tonight. There is a bakery a few minutes away that is run by Clay and Jewel who used to be the volunteer coordinators here at SF and now they have their own foster home for children. The proceeds from the bakery go to help the orph*ns and it is beyond delicious. Phillip invited his friend Joseph to come to, so, all of the interns, plus a visitor, ate with him and Joseph. It was nice and a cool thing to be able to do for Phillip. They also got cokes and ice cream. Their ayis are not going to be happy with us when they can't sleep tonight, but they enjoyed it! As they headed home a storm began to roll in. I love storms, I always have. They bring excitement, fear, unknown; they bring you face to face with creation and the Almighty power of our creator. So as we watched the storm roll in, Taylor and I realized that we don't have eggs in order to make brownies for class tomorrow for Phillip. So, Sara and I, knowing now was better then later when the storm was in full force, ran over to the market across the street to get eggs. When we left the market the storm had started to pick up. Instead of running, Sara and I walked back to SF in the pouring rain. I can't remember the last time I just walked in the rain and didn't care about getting completely soaked. When we got back to the inn we all went outside and just danced in the rain. At this point it was a full force storm and pouring outside. My mom has never understood how people can look at creation and not believe. I agree. He shows his power, majesty, grace, love, promises... everything.
Today was a wonderful day. Full of g0ds grace and mercy and hand in everything. I am so thankful for the amazing people that I have been able to meet here and the children that have blessed me in so many ways.

My kindergarten class

I left off a picture from Children's Day. This is of me and Charissa and is for Mary Holland Doan who sponsers her. She is doing well and is so precious! 

So I wanted to post about each of the kids in my classes and tell a little bit about each one. I'll start off with my Kindergarten class.

This is Robert. I feel like I say this about every kid, but he really is the most precious child. He has deformed arms and legs. He cannot walk and is always pushed around in a stroller and he can kind of use one of his hands. He smiles easily and always makes silly faces. I love to joke around with him. He is very strong, much stronger and mobile that the doctors every expected him to be. He can crawl and he can also lay down and roll across the floor to get where he needs to go. It is hilarious and I will try and post a video at some point. Such a precious and sweet, sometimes very whiny, child. 

My boy Josiah. I got close to Josiah pretty early on here. He had a heart condition but had surgery and is good as new. I would walk him home from school and then stay and play at his house which is House of Blessing. Robert, above, Josiah, and Cody, below, are the only three older children downstairs in Blessing right now. So they are all friends and usually together. They are all three in my kindergarten class. Every afternoon I go and play with the three of them. Josiah is the most rambunctious of the three and right now pretty disobedient as well. But, he is so precious and just melts my heart. He cries when I walk someone else home that is not him. He cries when I say that I have to go home in Chinese. Most days all three of them will lock onto my legs trying to make me stay. He messes with me all the time. Whether that is pinching my leg, calling me Julie until I tickle him while I call him Jos or Josa, taking my headband off of my head, putting it on, and walking around acting like me and saying that he is going home, or telling me the incorrect way to say a word in Chinese. I love this kid. 

Cody! He is the third one of the pair of amigos from blessing. He has down syndrome and Josiah does a great job of watching out for him. He is a smart kid and does well in English class. He can be sweet at times and he can also be a little mean, but what kid can't? He absolutely loves to sing. He belts every song out and holds his hand like its his mic. It is the most precious and funny thing to watch him sing a song. I have a video of children's day that I will try and load. He sang happy birthday and twinkle twinkle little star more passionately than I have probably every heard it. He is a character. 

Kennedy! I love this kid so much. He has a severe case of hydrocephalus. The doctors said a lot of things but Kennedy is a miracle. He is so smart and such a precious child to be around. He has wonderful English pronunciation and can communicate with visitors. He knows the phrases that he needs to know. He loves to sing and will often perform for anyone that will listen. His smile lights up when he sees someone he knows and always will call out our names. He is such a joy and I have loved spending time with him. 

Oh Moses! Like I mentioned in a previous post, Moses is deaf and can't communicate much at all. He knows a little bit of sign language from someone that taught him a while back but nothing has been consistent. He often gets run over by the kids and just forgotten. He seems like a lost soul to me in a way because he can't communicate what he wants. But, the boy is so precious and so quick to smile. He loves to scoot his stool next to mine at lunch and be close to people. He wants to be understood. He will sit and play with my watch, touching every button and changing the time so that it takes me another ten minutes when he is done to figure out how to get it to say the time again. He will sit there for forever just pressing buttons on it. He loves to just be held and to be given attention even though it is hard to know what he wants. I just try and do my best and we get along well. He is so precious and such a sweetheart. 

This is Henry. He is blind in one of his eyes and doesn't have the best vision in the good eye. This does not stop him. He is very active and runs everywhere. You forget that he can't see well until he trips over something and falls on his face. Or when he calls you by a different name before he comes beside you and you touch him and he hears your voice. He is a sweet kid and I have loved getting to know him. It is hard to teach him sometimes when he can't see the clock I have drawn and which number I am asking him but we get by and he is a smart kid. 

Joy, or Ting Ting! This is the only girl in the class and one of the few girls that is in school. Ting Ting has a minor case of hydrocephalus and she will actually be getting adopted some time this summer. She is so funny. Its hard to be the only girl with nine other boys in a classroom but she loves it. She is always messing with somebody and usually saying something in Chinese at my expense. She always wants to go play outside and literally asks me everyday before class "outside today? outside today?" Her and Eric are 'boyfriend and girlfriend' like every other week and it is so funny to watch. They always take up for each other and give each other their turns, its so funny. Love this girl. 

This is Eric! He is a sweetheart and one of the nicest kids here. He is always helping someone and just taking care of the other children. There is another boy in the class, Tyler, who I don't have a picture of yet. He is autistic or something along those lines and can't communicate well at all. Eric is always helping him and always walking him to and from school. He is always helping and it is so precious to watch him. Eric is smart and can speak English well. He is always telling me if I am doing something wrong or what we need to do next. He is like a little teachers assistant. He always yells out my name when I see him and tells me to come to his house. He is so precious and I just love him! 

This is Jacob Jai, he goes by Jai Jai. He is such a cool kid. He had club feet and goes to therapy every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday so he is not in my class that often but I have gotten to know him playing at his house. He told Emily earlier that he didn't like me and some other mean things that she wouldn't tell me he said. But, I think that that was a cover up. We have gotten really close and I love messing with him. He is all over the place and loves to tackle everyone. We have had our fair share of tickle fights that for sure. He is a precious kid. 

Me with Robert and Moses

I have loved teaching these kids. I don't know how well I am doing or if they are even learning anything but I enjoy just spending time with them and singing English songs. Loving them is enough for me and if they don't learn any more English while I teach them I hope they learn that I love them and that they have a s*vior who loves them even more then I do. Goodness, I am going to miss these kids. 

Children's Day

Oh, Children's Day. I never knew this, but China has a day that is just to celebrate children, just like mothers day or fathers day in the states, but its Children's day. The teachers put together a program for the children and the children do lots of performances, singing and some dancing. Two of the older kids emced the program. It was precious! After the program, all of the children got Mcdonalds! There were a lot of visitors that came for the day including a small group of preschoolers from Beijing to take part in the program. A team is here from Georgia as well. They are a group from a Chr1stian high school that has come for several years now for ten days during the summer. They are a great group of kids and have been very helpful. After the Mcdonalds lunch the kids went to take naps as usual and then in the afternoon we were supposed to have a big water party thing. However, we had a storm the night before so it was pretty chilly outside and the ayi's didn't want the kids to get sick. So, there were lots of toys out, bubbles, face paint, etc. However, it some how ended up being a water fight anyways! The kids had a great time! Here are some pictures of children's day! The videos are taking forever, so I am going to try and put those up later.

Precious Josiah! He has definitely become one of my buddies! The kids also all got haircuts on Thursday for Children's Day.

Bei Bei!

All of the kids sitting up front in the outreach center. 

Introductions!

Taylor with Luke and Robert!

Precious Robert!

Marissa with sweet Julie! She was a little timid of the whole thing. 

Dr. Anna and Dr. Moody's son doing magic tricks during the program!

Me and Josiah 

Me and Cody

Sweet Tess who refused to look at the camera 

Kennedy

Absolutely love these people! Me, Taylor, Marissa, and Sarah 

Cody loving his Mcdonalds

Taylor and I with Bei Bei and Blossom

Me with the emcees Philip and Wendy! I got to curl Wendy's hair for her! 

Me and JJ

Me and Ling Ling

Me and Moses. I just love this kid. He is deaf and so I communicate with him by motions and faces and we do pretty well. He gets run over by the kids a lot and he can't take up for himself. So, I try and take up for him as much as I can when I am around. Imagining how hard it would be to not be able to communicate how I felt, it kills me for that boy. Ill get off my soap box. 

I will try and get the videos to work and put them up soon. They are hilarious. I seriously cannot believe that I have spent four weeks here and I only have four weeks left. I can't even imagine saying goodbye to these precious children. But, I know that time will come very shortly, so I will appreciate every moment that I do have here and I will praise the l0rd for the opportunity to come here and love on his children. Please pr*y for Taylor and I. She came down with an ugly cold sinus thing today and feels awful and I have been having stomach issues for over a week. The whole being in a foreign country/eating foreign food/playing with sick children, is really catching up with us. Pr*y we get better so we can do all that we can the next four weeks.