lee and becky

Dear Friends,

How long has it been since we mailed you our news, FAR TOO LONG!!!!!! We can only say that the dramatic upsurge in business here has left us both excited, passionate, moved and knackered.

Our group of New Zealanders arrived last week and it has been a real privilege seeing them throw themselves into the work and life here, as so many of you have, when you have been to HFH in the past. We have taken them onto the great wall and camped out under the stars, a very powerful thing to do and one which we will definitely be repeating. One of the group proposed to his girlfriend on the top and so we brought down a newly engaged couple. What a special place to be able to do that.

This weekend is a holiday in China and so many people have been celebrating. We took our guys out to church and then off to a shopping area where they got to celebrate by eating, snake, squid, squishy bugs and scorpions. We, however, decided to opt for Haagen Daas!

It has been nice having people around the home and it reminds us so much of why we are here.

Becky has started the kindergarten now too and this is going very well. She has already begun to see changes in them as they get to know her and respond to the ideas she is bringing to the play times. There are some good photos which we will send when we hook in the camera, hopefully tomorrow. There are 4 children of various ages. Please pray especially for Ji Bei ( Alicia) who is 4 and is being adopted. Delays have occurred due to the hurricane in Texas, as that is where her adoptive parents are from. It was hoped she would be joining them this month but it seems that it will now be November at the earliest.

Shopping

I can only say that whilst I can understand the bartering system here, going out and buying an expensive product just passes me by. The other day I went with one of our supervisors to buy a washer dryer in the local county township. After a brief and fruitless attempt to drop the price we brought the dryer at the said price. Now here is where the fun starts. You then get a ticket from the seller. You take this ticket onto another floor and to a kiosk. Here you pay for the dryer. You now get another receipt. You return to the original floor, hand the seller your receipt and he stamps it and gives you two free tea sets. Then you go up three floors to a lucky dip station, present your receipt and take 35 scratchcards. After much scratching we claimed our free bag of detergent and 10kg bag of flour. I have no idea why!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The cultural diversity is just amazing.

Thanks

Many of you have been emailing us on a regular basis and thank you so much. Pete Brentnall your Premiership news, results and mobile phone video of defoe missing a penalty were much appreciated.

AYF it is good to hear from you guys, please keep them coming.

Thanks too for our post. Today Gemma Russell arrived with chocolate and coffee. A much needed fix!!! And she brought Blu Tack which you would not believe to be an essential item until you are unable to buy it! She is safe and well despite putting her on a plane again 4 hours later to go south to the PCU. She has arrived though and a new baby had arrived just as we spoke to her 5 mins ago.

We are practicing our language quite a lot and by God’s grace it is going well. Still so much to learn but we are so keen. Please pray that a miracle would happen in both of us that would help us speak Chinese because we need it to understand the staff here so much.

Robin and Joyce are now in Italy. We are beginning to think that they are prophets as no sooner had they gone out the door than the police were here as the NZers had been filming in the town and stirred up trouble, 2 babies got sick, one needed nebulising and the other had gas. Minor things, but they started soon after they had been gone.

We are both well. There are times when it is hard to focus on ourselves just for a moment and we have not had good quality time together for a bit. QT’s are going well though and we are moving onto Encounters with G this week if you are doing the same studies we will be searching together.

All in all it is still an amazing opportunity, so much to do. Keep praying for us, for health (which has been good), tiredness, the kindergarten relationships, our relationship with each other and safety in travel.

Keep the post coming too and all the emails, your support is just incredible. Love you all loads. Lee and Becky -xx
END

Well today brings to an end our first visit to the Palliative Care Unit in Jiao Zuo.

Much of the last few days have been spent ministering to the children’s needs and the growing cold that seems to have taken over all of the children in one of the rooms.

James our little new one, who has the cleft lip, has been doing well in an incubator and is now out, feeding well and maintaining his own temperature.

Justine as you know has gone to Beijing, but she desperately needs our prayers as she has pneumonia and we pray this will be healed in her.

Ethan who was the first baby Becky and I witnessed arriving in the unit is not doing too well. he seems to have an infection of some kind and it has attacked his mouth quite badly. his complexion is also very white now and he is naturally olive skinned.

Sue will be coming back with me, I have affectionately nicknamed her the walrus as since arriving at the start of the month she has recovered very well and has doubled her body weight!!!!!

Sheree has been getting a lot of attention from me of late, mainly putting a tube in her bottom as she is having minor seizures on a daily basis at the moment. It must be very distressing for her and I ask that we ask HIM together to help her settle back into a routine where this is under control.

These are just a few of the babies that live here. 9 in all at present.

Lilly, Paul, Lucy, Sheree, Lena, Chance. are the others and they need to be lifted up. You can find out more about the work here on the website.

So the smog of Jiao Zuo is now behind me, I have valued this experience immensely and learnt a lot about me too. It has been harder since Becky went to Beijing but the trip with Justine we both hope will be one of many more in the future, if we can be used in that way.

The weather has now changed here, so I am glad I am leaving as I only packed shorts and t-shirts, so any longer and I would be venturing in to the clothing markets.

Thank you for all your brilliant emails that you have been sending, all the messages of support to us both and I understand there are several parcels awaiting me when I get back to HFH tomorrow. Becky has waited to open them with me so you can see how much it means to us to get post from you all.

Please pass on our updates to people who you know have not got email and would like to hear about the work. Also some have been asking if you can put these up in your churches, please do, spread the news when you can.

So this is me signing out of the PCU at Jiao Zuo and I will leave you of a shot of the building, we are the top floor and the little green roof you can see on the right of the picture is our roof top garden for the children.

Thank you again sooooo much,

Love Lee (and in her absence Becky)

This is the orphanage that you can see outside of my office window here at the PCU. This is the admin block for that orphanage and we

are on the 6^th floor note the roof top terrace!!

END

19th September 2005

Hi from Beijing,

Not something I expected to be saying to you for a few days! But Justine and I are here safely and I just wanted to thank you personally for your prayers and words of encouragement. The journey itself wasn't too bad and time actually went very quickly. Jutine was comfortable for most of the trip. A few minutes into the journey an instrumental version of "Silent Night" played over the system. Very random, but also very comforting for me as I prayed that she would indeed "sleep in heavenly peace" and she did for most of the time. She is now in hospital in Beijing awaiting the surgery she needs. We haven't heard any news on her today so please continue to pray for her. She's such a cute, precious little thing and I am looking forward to having another cuddle soon.

Now I'm back in Beijing I can get things started with the Kindergarten. I have this week to sort the room out and get things in the right place, see what I need etc. Please pray that I would make the right decisions regarding settting up the room as I want it to be the best possible learning environment for the children here. If anyone has any tips they'd like to pass on then they are most welcome too!

The experiences of the last 48 hours have shown me what a faithful God we have, in every way, in all the detail. He does truly watch our coming and going and is there each time we step out of the ordinary into unfamiliar.

With love to you all. God Bless

Becky xx
END

17th September 2005

How can we thank you for all the messages of support, scriptures, kind words and encouragement. It has been overwhelming to know that you are all supporting us and the work of HFH. Becky and Justine arrived safe in Beijing this morning, although their journey did not end there. Justine went into hospital and Becky travelled around a bit during the day collecting other nannies who had come in from other areas. But the main thing is that they arrived safe and that this little girl has her chance.

Being at the end of a laptop was the easy bit for me and I am amazed at the way Becky stayed awake the whole time. People for those of you who do not know her well this is indeed a miracle beyond words!!!

I received one particular email from a gentleman at a visa company in London who I have had only a few dealings with through the China Projects, who comes from a place not far from where the PCU is. It is words like his, amongst others, that help us remember that we are just representing you and HIM in this work here in China and thanks to all you guys for being so involved in this work. I look forward to being able to tell you more about our progress and Justine’s progress.

What is happening next? Well on Wednesday I will head up to Beijing back to HFH, but will not be alone as one little lady here, called Sue is doing real well so I will escort her to HFH. I have to say this is a luxury trip in respect to Bex. A 6 hour car journey in a very nice and spacious vehicle so no need to feel sorry for me at all!!!!

Tonight I have labelled “Bottom Night” One Enema, One Diarrhoea, and another Rectal 3ml of valium. If any of the YFer’s are reading this and you are thinking of Med school (Phil Goodall take special note) with Enemas I can only say one thing. When you think it is all over, think again!

Love yawl

Lee
END

16th September 2005

Dear Friends,

I have just returned from the train station having delivered Becky and Justine. This is the first hurdle of our time here and parting is never easy even though it is such a short time. Becky was in a carriage that was filled with people, with standing room not even possible it was so crowded. She was very nervous and sad. I am glad our security is not in flesh alone! We kept reciting Ephesians 3 v 20 together.

Much has been happening here in the PCU (Palliative Care Unit) since we mailed you last and being as Becky is not here I can tell you the most important thing first. I played football with the Jiao Zuo University students, had a great time and scored! Even though we drew 2-2. It was great to get some exercise. I also now know first hand why we hardly ever see China in the World Cup.

Our day to day life here is mixed between checking the babies daily states of health, that they are being washed and fed properly and that their medications are being given, keeping the items in stock, fixing stuff and when a new problem arises we call NHS Direct (we call her Joyce Hill over here!) to find out what to do, she gives us the instructions and then without any sort of qualification we normally end up sticking something up a child’s bottom.

The biggest challenge to date was for a little girl called Sheree, she has a few problems but one being she is epileptic. She has not had a seizure for some time. That was until Tues night. Now the solution to this problem sounds very simple when you read it off the help sheet in our office. however neither Bex nor I found drawing 2ml of valium, adding 8ml of sterile water, sticking a tube up her bottom and then administering 3ml of the solution through this tube easy at all. Thankfully this little girl is OK but we didn’t half have some fun and games getting all that done. However, now we have done it we are ready for when the need arises again.

On Wednesday morning we got up and decided to nip out for a coffee and get fruit and veg for the babies as well as some supplies. We never got there! Just as we were leaving a car pulled up with two babies in it and no soon had we turned round and gone back up the 6 floors of stairs, the phone rang and we had our two new arrivals. James and Justine.

Justine you know about as she is winging her way with Bex to Beijing where she will go straight into hospital for a colostomy to be fitted as she has no anus.

James has a cleft lip and pallet and is also jaundiced and as I sit here typing he is right in front of me in his incubator fast asleep. Yes we know how to turn these on now as well!!

Of course taking two new babies in when you are full means you have to return two to the orphanage which is situated just behind me in a separate building. This was our first experience of this and saying goodbye was not easy even in this short amount of time. Earlier in the week Becky and I went to visit the orphanage. In this particular case we were not as horrified as much as we thought we would be. They have a play room which is very nice thanks to a group called “Coat” and a school in there too. The rooms are very basic and toddlers seem to be one to a bed but maybe six in the room. We were amazed at the age range, some elderly people are there too. The bathrooms were a very different story indeed and in need cleaning and replacing totally.

The sad surprise was finding a guy our age, 29, who has been there his whole life, has a nanny to help him, speaks a little English and is bright of mind, but is on the third floor. there is no lift and he has been given a wheelchair but he is a big fit guy and so rarely gets out. Students from a local school were busy painting the walls with cartoons. They look a lot like HFH and the PCU so I wondered where they got the idea.

Traffic

For those of you have been to China you will know that there is no traffic code. Well there is, “I am here and you need to avoid me if possible, even though I am driving towards you”! It is a unique experience and we have begun grading the taxi drivers here into “average”, “slightly mental”, “should be committed” and “has a deep desire to go to heaven very soon.” Also everyone no matter how small their vehicle has a horn that has been detached from a USA Juggernaut. This can be very amusing when you look round to see a three wheeled motorbike coming at you instead.

Food

We have found the food very good here and eat with the Nannies when possible. There are veggies here we have never seen before, but they taste great and we have had to start getting only one bowl of food as one each is just far too much. We also went out and brought our first lot of fresh noodles from a market. You just don’t get this kind of service in the UK. It cost us about 0.016p for half kilo, not even 1p!!!!

So life here has been challenging, in between the babies checks, food, cycling everywhere we have been fixing the odd leak, refitting some taps, replacing end stops on the laminate floor stairs and generally trying to get stuck into life here.

It has amused us immensely today especially as at 8am this morning we decided to go out and treat ourselves to a coffee and breakfast. We sat there for 45 mins and looked out the window saying how amazed we were to be here and filled with awe at God’s provision for us. We said how nice it was to be together and how that cyclist had nearly got run over by the bus. And then the mobile rang!!!! So God has an amazing sense of humour and knows how to lead us into new waters, well Bex anyway!!!!

So I am now on my own in Jiao Zuo. I hope you find our news useful for your prayers as well as informative about what we are up to. We are well, we are happy (well I will be as soon as I hear Bex and Justine are safe in Beijing) and we love hearing from you too, so even if you don’t hear back please keep mailing it is a constant source of encouragement. Becky read many of the emails you sent to us today before she went and knowing you are in prayer with us is ACE!!

Thanks so much and mail soon

Love Lee and “ Becky in transit”

-xx-

PS We joined the local gym here in Jiao Zuo, it is not quite up to Fitness First standard

The phone and the gym just go together

Walk it! Walk it!

Spot the woman in the back ground that is actually the running machine!! It has 10 rollers!!!!!

PPS she just text to say it is very hot but she is OK and Justine is warm which is very important as she came to us very cold.
END

8th September 2005
Just wanted to let you know of our cultural experience tonight. 8.9.05

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