I know I am horrible in writing in this on a regular basis, but I promise I will get better. Things are really quiet around here today, so I have a chance to write. Lots of stuff has happened in the past few weeks. We have had a few teams come in and help out, and our final one until after the Olympics leaves tomorrow morning, so things are going to be calming down a lot. Here are a few highlight pictures from the past week...


This is Anha, Jackie, and me taking a ride through Shepard's field.




Me and some of the kids in the House of Love.



Me and Jackie.

Children's Day VIDEO

Finally I was able to get an internet connection long enough to post a vid! Check it out!





Thanks for all your encouraging comments and emails! I like getting mail so keep them coming please!

Camping on the Wall of Greatness

Camping on the Great Wall...something I have always wanted to do. Now I have done it. And I would do it again. We started at the JinShanLing section of the wall and hiked to the Simitai section. Hands down, this is the BEST section of the wall. I still have a few more sections to go to before I can say with utmost certainty, but this is far less touristy and not as restored (some of it is even unrestored and looks like its ready to fall down) as the other, more touristy, crowded sections.

This was definitely an interesting experience. My lovely roommate here, who is great by the way, invited me to come along on the trip with her and some friends from her church. She goes to a Mormon church, likewise, I was the only non-mormon there.

Mormonism is something I find fascinating. I don't know a whole lot about it though. I know enough to know that what I believe is very different than them. Before I left for China, I taped a 4 hour special on it and didn't find time to watch it. Believe me, I have been kicking myself for this.

Needless to say, the situation left me a slightly uncomfortable, but then I realized those are the situations we are supposed to put ourselves in every day. To live comfortably and safely in no way benefits anyone. That would be a boring and meaningless life. You do things that scare you and stretch you to grow as a person. We need to step out of the box of everyday life and embrace people that need embracing. They may not want it, but offer your hand anyway. Somebody will eventually grab it.

My Favorite House

I just got back from being in one of my favorite houses, the House of Blessings. This is my favorite house because my little baby Drew lives in there (see previous post), and Cadence lives in there too. Though, neither of them are really babies anymore…I fell in love with Drew last year the first day I saw him, both of his legs in full casts. I smiled as he pulled himself across the floor dragging his casts along like they were no big deal. They didn’t seem to bother him one bit. So everyday I try to sneak over to one of the houses and take a break from “work” and chill with the kids. The past few days have been so funny.

I mean, usually the kids like me, but lately they have been fighting over me and hitting each other over the head to try to get me to hold them. I walked into the house today, and 10 Asian kids come charging at me, all grabbing my legs to the point where I can no longer walk. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining at all. I LOVE it!! Some of them say “Mama” or “Jia Jia” (big sister) as they reach up their little arms in hopes that they will be the one that I pick up first. If I had 10 arms, I would pick them all up, but I was only blessed with two (which is probably a good thing, otherwise I might look a little strange.)

The one little boy I came in there particularly to see is looking on as he plays with his toy. He’s not really one to fight I have observed. The other day he was playing with something and another kid came and took it away, Drew started to look a little sad, the nanny came and took the toy and gave it back to Drew, the other boy started crying, and Drew looks at him, quite stunned, and handed the toy back to him. He’s a little sweetheart and I love him. If I was 30, and met the extensive list of requirements, I would adopt him right now, but most of you have already heard me say that a number of times ☺ Alas, until I am 30, and married, and have money, and whatever else I need to do, I will pray that he, and all the children here get adopted into loving homes, preferably close to my home so I can come visit everyday. FREE BABYSITTER PEOPLE!
After a little while of being smothered by little ones, I stood up and walked over to Drew and scooped him up, with still 3 kids clinging to my pantlegs. We went to look at the dog, which seems to be one of his favorite things. One of my favorite things too, how about that! If it was a cat though, we would’ve had to have a long talk....

Childrens' Day

So has anybody ever heard of this thing called International Children’s Day? Well neither have I; you are not alone. Anyways, it is a pretty big deal here in China.

Children’s day is celebrated all throughout China (and apparently the rest of the world as well) on June 1st. We celebrated a little early since June 1st falls on a Sunday this year. We had all kinds of activities for the kids (water balloons, riding cars, obstacle courses, face painting, and a big blowup bouncing thing. At the end of the day, they all got to eat McDonalad’s. They LOVED it. All the children were completely quiet as they ate their first ever McDonalds meal. Just picture all these cute little Asian kids eating French fries with expressions of shear delight (and ketchup) plastered all over their faces…

There were a lot of guests here from the US to help us celebrate, some here for a short time, others living in different parts of China . Met some cool people, but they have all returned home now, and things are very quiet around here. Hmmm…let me rephrase that, things are quiet around here except for 6am when all the kids wake up and are yelling. Yes, that would be more accurate.

And now I am off to take more pictures and shoot video because, well…that is what I do!

I have now been here for almost 2 weeks. This is my third time to this country, and I seem to stay longer each time I come, so has been the trend thus far. Many people say to me “Oh you are so brave for moving there alone and doing that.” I have never really looked at it that way. I just decided to do it one day. It's not something I'm doing just for fun nor is it something to do to cross off my agenda of things I want to do (though I do have a fairly extensive list of places to go and crazy things I want to do, I do not classify living among and helping orphans as one of those things.) This is more of something I NEED to do. People need to know about these orphans, and need to know that there are 10,000 ORPHANAGES here, and need to know how they can help if they feel so inclined, and if I can make videos to show people how to do this, then that’s all there is to it really. Bravery kicks in at number 39 on my list..

39. Jump out of an airplane (skydiving.) Yikes!***

It is not really a question of whether or not you are afraid to do something or whether or not you should or shouldn’t be doing it. Some people say, “Oh, wow…China! There are so many other things you could be doing.” I ask you what exactly are those other things? Well, I could work a nine to five, come home and cook dinner, go to bed and do it all over again. But why? I could climb up the corporate ladder, which has never really appealed to me in the first place. Sure, there are lots of things I COULD do. Oddly enough, this seems more practical. What will I do come November? I really have no idea. Maybe I’ll feel compelled to stay here and continue doing this, maybe I’ll come home, or go back to school, or maybe I’ll move to Antarctica and study penguins. If it’s what I feel that I am supposed to be doing, that is what I will do.

I believe that in this life we are called to love people, wherever we are, whatever we do. And we are told to love the least of these (the orphans and the widows) in their afflictions. I wish you could all be here to love them with me, but I also know that you can love them from afar. But, I will say this: After holding them in your arms, there is no way you could not love them, especially those that are the most frail and weak.


***Something did just occur to me. You do need to be brave to cross the streets here!