Hello all,
In the words of a comedy sketch that we saw in the UK once, today’s weather is EL SCORCHIO! Yes, it is hot, humid and we daily thank the Lord for air-conditioning. We are now entering our busy time here as there are lots of visitors and volunteers who will be passing through Hope Foster Home between now and the end of August. Robin and Joyce are also away for the duration of that time and so there are a number of people who will be here to cover the medical side of things. Bill and Lynsay have settled in very well and it is great that they are here during this time, but we know that we will need a lot of prayer over the next couple of months. Robin and Joyce are taking a much needed break and please pray that their time would be one of refreshment and renewing.
World Cup Action.
We know that we have shared with you in the past that one of the things we find toughest here is being away from friends and family, and that was certainly highlighted through the world cup. We were able to watch many of the matches (although they were screened at unearthly hours and caused Lee serious amounts of sleep deprivation) but it just wasn’t the same as being in Aldridge or Chester (our usual footballing locations) with equally passionate brits screaming “referee!!!” at the screen. In all fairness though, we had some great friends here who were extremely keen to watch the matches with us; American, Australian and Brazilian and so World Cup fever was alive and kicking. There was a definite feeling of “Wor Ai Shijia Bei” (I love the world cup). The photo below shows the group that were there for the first England match – all Americans –and notice Lee’s patronage as he strings up the England flags over the big screen. One of the guys even did a lap of honour for us when we scored.
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There was a huge amount of world cup coverage here and a lot of interest. We were met with very sympathetic looks from many of the nannies the day after we were knocked out. One newspaper ran a story about a fire that broke out in the hutongs (old style housing) in Beijing during the France/Switzerland game.
As the flames engulfed the house, the lady grabbed her baby and fled, whilst her husband grabbed the TV and proceeded to plug it in to the nearest available outlet so that he could watch the end of the match. We wonder how the rest of England felt about the matches but we have to say that we were disappointed with the teams performance, couldn’t help but shake our heads in anguish at the sight of Peter Crouch, and were left very deflated at their eventual defeat.
As you can see, by the end of it all our friends support had dwindled a little too, although we must point out that it was 2am when this shot was taken! |
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Life at the home Back to life at the foster home and we have had a new arrival of the four legged kind. Coffee, a two year old chocolate Labrador has been adopted by the Hill family. He caused chaos when he first arrived as he was not very well disciplined but we found out that one of the volunteers we had at the time, Amanda, was a guide dog trainer and she spent two and half weeks training him. He was a different dog in just a couple of days and some of the children have really taken to him. And Lee seems to have a new best friend…
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Whilst she was at the foster home, we had many interesting conversations with Amanda. She described herself as being agnostic before she came to china and has investigated a number of religions. After seeing the work of the foster home and the way that God has blessed what goes on here, she felt extremely moved to ask more and had questions about the bible, humility and how one man dying could affect us all. She has now returned home but we got an email from her today saying that she would like to find a church to attend to find out more. Please pray for her she is really searching and has lots of questions. It was certainly a surprise and a delight for us to be able to minister in this way and we pray that God will continue to move in her as she considers what she saw and experienced here, and if anyone knows of a good church in Denver, please let us know!
I had a very unexpected phone call from the US when Ji Bei, the little girl who was adopted in March, wanted to speak to her teacher! How incredible that she remembered me and wanted to tell me her news! I was overwhelmed to hear her speaking and although I could hear very little of what she was trying to tell me (she wanted to let me know that she needed two more surgeries and that she had had her ears pierced) it was just wonderful to hear her voice and know that she is happy and with a family that loves her. I have had a few emails from her Mum, Cynde, and they are always full of how well Ji Bei has settled and become part of the family. The life she has now is a million miles away from what it could have been and what so many orphans can only dream of at the moment. It is such an ordinary life in so many respects – riding a bike that she received for her birthday, eating fries at MacDonald’s, learning to swim, things that we would easily take for granted and yet for her they are precious moments that she has longed for. She would often ask before she left the foster home when her mum and dad would come and get her. Praise God that she is with them now and living a life full of love and security. Here are some of the things her mum has said about her “I have to tell you a cute story. Ji Bei loves to sing at Church. Last Sunday after we were done singing and quietly bowing in prayer, Ji Bei started singing "Hallelujah" in a loud voice. It was just so precious!
Everyone around us began to smile. She is always the first to remind everyone to say a prayer of blessing over the food when we eat and at night always prays "God bless you mommy and daddy."
She and Mikiah are like two peas in a pod! They sleep together and at night I hear the two of them chattering and giggling away. Sometimes I find them in each other's bed. It is so nice that they are the same age and can play together. They have so much fun.”
These pictures below show her with her new family and I can honestly say that even though she has a beautiful smile, I have never seen her with such a huge grin!
With Sister Mikiah
5th birthday
party
Easter day
 Toby Howard |
Please persist in praying for the children we spoke about in our last update as they continue in the process for adoption. We have seen something potentially great for Toby, Chun Sheng. We told you last month that his papers had been released from the orphanage and we found his details on a waiting list for children with special needs in America. These lists are posted to different adoption agencies in the US and people registered to that agency can choose to adopt any of the children on the list. There was a note attached to the list saying that any of the children not on hold by the 30th June would have to have their papers returned to the Central Chinese adoption agency, and back into the system. Toby was not on hold on the 28th June. Two days and lots of prayers later he was on hold, meaning that a family has shown interest in adopting him! This is also the case for Howard, a little boy who captured the heart of a family staying with us recently. (We also asked you to pray for him last month). They are involved in a huge organization concerning adoption and asked for people to pray for him in their newsletter. Again, the result has been that families have been led to come forward to adopt him. Prayer really does work in the lives of these children and we do invite you to join us in praying for them as they await their families. |
With the nice weather and increased number of volunteers we have been able to take the kindergarten on a couple of day trips. Firstly to watch the planes at the airport. The location where we watched the planes was absolutely hilarious. Lee had found it by accident the day before. The road literally, runs parallel to the runway and you are about 100 metres from the planes. The view was incredible and we got to see several planes take off and land right in front of us. In case you did not recognize him, Lee is the one in the blue top! The kids enjoyed watching the planes, although they were a bit scared by the noise at times. Joshua has not been able to stop pointing at the sky and shouting “Feji” since. We then took them to make pizza for lunch. The picture of Zach says it all. And finally a trip to MacDonald’s, with a stop at the market to buy sunglasses first. Don’t they look fabulous? Oddly enough, whilst in MacDonald’s we bumped into some one from Chester of all places!
Although these trips are a lot of fun they also serve to widen the experiences of the children who do not see a lot outside of the foster home. I have to admit it is one of the best loved parts of my job, although herding several toddlers, nannies and volunteers is not an easy task sometimes!
We have had two new babies join us at the home in the last few weeks and as I write this we have just had results to say that one of them, Shi Bao Yi, who is only 2 months old, has a hole in her heart a centimetre big. This is a severe problem and with Joyce already away, we are awaiting the arrival of Tina, a nurse who worked here for two years, before making any decisions regarding what to do. This little girl could become seriously ill very quickly and we pray that Tina and Lynsay will have wisdom to make the right decisions. Another child having severe health problems is Fu Chen Chen. She has a liver problem that we thought was beyond intervention but there is now a possibility that she could receive a transplant in the US. We have a visiting doctor here at the moment who will be assessing her and although there seems to be so many barriers and little chance, we know that God has his hand upon her and can make big things happen for the littlest of his children.
Church
It is a strange time of year in our congregation as many of the expat families have returned to their home countries, leaving a group of about 30 people. A chance for us to get to know each other better and also a chance for Lee to preach for the first time at CCC. Please pray for him as he prepares to speak on 30th July.
Big Prayer Need:
There are a number of things we have asked for prayer for throughout this newsletter and we do thank you for your faithfulness in supporting us this way. There is just one more thing to ask for prayer for. We have been very blessed financially this year through God’s provision and people’s generosity and as we come towards the end of the initial 12 months we are amazed at how God has seen our needs and covered them. When we first started talking about coming here we looked to raise between £10-12000 which seemed an incredible amount but the money has been provided and more. It is as though God knew that we would need to be able to return unexpectedly to the UK, pay for extending our visas and numerous other unexpected things that have come up during the year. We would like to thank everyone who has contributed. It has certainly felt like a partnership as we work here and know that there are so many involved. As we now look towards making our stay here a more permanent one we need to look to raising funds again and as we are not at home this time to do so we know that we have to trust God even more rather than relying on being able to speak to people. I have to admit that I never find it easy talking about finances but we do ask you to pray for us as we trust for provision for the next year.
Those of you who sponsor us on a monthly basis will be receiving an email soon about continuing your support, but if anyone feels they would like to start to partner with us in this way then please contact us. We already know that potentially we could be 500GBP per month short on next year. If you know already that you want to continue, or you would like to start, then please get in touch with us, if you can, so we can make arrangements with you. Thank you.
Thank you for the part you all play in the lives of the children here. We hope we go someway into giving you an idea of what life is like for them as well as us. God Bless until next time.
Lee and Becky xx