Big City Trip

yesterday was our day off. we all boarded a bus with a madman and drove two hours into yantai. okay, it was more than two hours since after nearly head-on colliding several times, he took us to three wrong locations before we finally met up with the rest of the team for lunch. wow!" ten more minutes", i don't remember how many times he said that. i was beginning to think we might be hijacked and sold for laundresses in china :) just joking. no one would hire us--we grumble and complain about handwashing all our clothes. in a tiny sink boiling water in our teapot. i tried to negotiate a deal with the staff here to wash our 60 article of clothing (not including underthings and towels and most of my stuff) but our expert translator was never able to come to an arrangement. too bad for me. so it is handwashing today for us. 

it is easier to write about the mundane than to share my heart. i kept seeing their faces before my eyes and offer up urgent "talk" to the One on their behalf. i don't know what else i can do right now. or in the future. i wish there was some easy solution. still seeking Him about what the next step will be for me and the sweet faces who will forver be in my heart. 

back to our fun day. we went to a western restaurant that an american gal who teaches english at the university frequents. i cannot tell you how many orders of french fried potatoes peter consumed. scandalous. he is on a hunger strike against chinese food so yesterday he ate and ate and ate. BLT (if you can really call it that!) and then walmart for western snackies (you should have seen bethany's face light up when she saw chips ahoy cookies . we all loaded up on fruit since that has been scarce in our diet. after shopping and haggling, we walked through the busiest street i have ever encountered. we clung to hands for dear life. no one was lost or injured in the making of this post. 

then we ate--again! pizza hut. if we bought the package deal, we could have received instruction on western eating habits. funny! but we just got cheese pizza.their menu was quite a departure from the one in temecula! everyone was content. i wish we could say we experienced a cultural museum or shared a uniquely chinese moment but other than surviving crossing the streets, we just ate. the drive home was filled with funny riddles and blond jokes. all were happy and content with their full bellies.

today is another day of rest. we had a translator party and meaningful conversation with our new friends. it was so good to process our experience's as becca led us to ask really probing questions like what now? and how will what we learned this week change us?

my key thing i (re)learned, esp from observing my childless translators interact with our children, is that it is His kindness that leads to repentance. kindness and love speak and work and transform hardened hearts. i witnesses this over and over again. even when she was spitting and acting out, xiao shu was always soothed by kindness. esp when she didn't deserve it. it  brought her back to a place where she could receive our love. so often i try and use justice and law to convince my children to obey. this week was a fresh reminder of how our Father deals with us. with me. 

rejoicing! i was able to share the good news with my translator emma. she has been coming to BMh since 2005 and was ripe for picking! :) we spoke of the way the truth and the life. and how to be a part of His family forever. it was lovely and many tears flowed. later that night, emma became my sister for eternity. it occurred when team china was in our room united in a circle talking fervently to our Father about each of our translators. and asking that today would be the day of s.... and that a party would be going on in the sky since what was lost was finally found. and one is found. 

please thank the One who makes this kind of news possible. we are overjoyed.

a new batch of children arrive tomorrow morning and our rest will be over.so thankful for this time ot be re-charged. kristen and i have been reading phil 2 the first 18 verses and are amazed at how they speak to our particular needs while children are here.

thank you so much for remembering us to our Daddy today. we need it.

this has been an amazing adventure so far. unlike anything i have ever experienced. so grateful He brought us here. thanks for getting us here.

off to handwashing. enjoy your spin cycle today as you think of us wringing our 7 peoples clothes for 10 days! :) gotta love some of the comforts of home--just thought i would help you appreciate them this morning.

love, kel