The Far Side of the Sea: October 31, 2010 Update

Dear Friends and Family,

Reflecting with grateful hearts, our hearts are blessed to know you are standing with us. Thank you!

October 14th to 17th our friend George blessed us with a trip to Chengdu and we had a lovely 4 days break and saw the sights of Chengdu and eating some very spicey food. Sara, one of our office staff, is from the Sichuan province, where Chengdu is located and has told us we have no idea what spicey is until we have tried spices from Sichuan. Wow, was she right!! Wish we could bottle it and let you experience how hot it is. We like spicey and we like this spice, but it would help to have a fan while you’re eating!

Clay and George

Pick your food at the Chinese barbecue, they spice it up!

During our time there we didn’t have the freedom to go to a group meeting on Sunday so we had our own with 4 of our friends. Clay talked about things he is being challenged with from the book called, “The Hole in Our Gospel” by Richard Stearns, the leader of World Vision. In short, this is what he shared: We are the carriers of the good news that was meant to change the world. Belief is not enough, worship is not enough, personal morality is not enough, Christian community is not enough. He has always demanded more, when we committed to Him we also committed that the watching world would see Him in us, would see His love, justice and mercy through our words, actions and behavior. We are His ambassadors as if He is making His appeal through us write Paul in II Cor 5:20. He chose us to be His representatives, to proclaim the good news, to be the good news and to change the world. Living out our faith privately was never meant to be an option. A quote from Saint Teresa of Avila says this, “He has no body on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours. Yours are the eyes through which His compassion for the world is to look out; yours are the feet with which He is to go about doing good; and yours are the hands with which He is to bless us now.” This is a daily challenge to each of us. At the end of a day we could each reflect on how our body, hands and feet have showed the world who He is.

During October we took a field trip to the Aircraft Carrier Theme Park in Tianjin, about 1 ½ hours from here. The kids were awed by the 4D movie and by the water show. While we watched the water show we kept expecting to see the Chinese win. Found out later that the message of the show wasn’t about China winning a “war” it was a fight between good guys and bad guys and guess what? The good guys won!

We are continuing to have Chinese classes several times a week. Some things are coming more easily, a few are coming more naturally and some are just downright difficult to remember or difficult to say! “R’s” and “Y’s” sounds are particularly hard.

Grady is working on learning new words that pertain to his life. Like warm up, seizure and earthquake so we are trying to learn the same words in Chinese. He is proud of his new words and so sincere about saying them correctly. We work on them while he is doing calligraphy, write them on the white board (the hei ban) and say them over and over. Ok, these words sound rather random so let us explain a bit. “Warm up” refers to English class and getting ready to think in English and test their memories. Like, “point to your desk, point to a wall, touch your chair,” etc. You get the idea. “Seizure” is what Seth experiences and Grady is usually the one who explains to us that Seth had a seizure. “Earthquake” happened in China recently so it is on his mind. It will be interesting to see what words he wants to learn next!

Stacey recently went to visit her friends at her orphanage and had a good time reconnecting with them. She is realizing she has a better life here and that her opportunities are much better too. It was good for her to go back and put things in perspective with her life from the past and her present life.

Please lift up these requests:

Continue to ask for an answer about Grady’s surgery or other options for surgery.
Words to encourage our kids to know more about the Father.
Adoption for Phillip and Joseph.
Moving of some of supply rooms and the head Ayi office. Which means moving children around and rearranging things. Sound simple but it upsets the family groups of children and Ayi’s.
Language learning!
For all our staff and volunteers to give our best for the kids good.
Caregiver issues. Please continue to lift this up, there are serious issues that need to be fully resolved. This will take time and His wisdom for those in authority.

Big thanks for:

Fun guests and local companies who take our children on field trips and expose them to things that help with greater learning and understanding of the world around them.
Great teachers in our school who love our children and take great care of them.
Special hugs and love from these children who remind us of one of the reasons why we are here, to be blessed by them!
A Father who wants to use us to be His hands and feet.