At church each Sunday, we go to worship and sing our praises to God. Driving the easy 5 minutes to church, sometimes with screaming kids doesn’t always put me in the mood to worship. But it should. In the U.S. there is literally a church on every corner and any denomination may profess their faith in their own unique way.
China has as many Christians as the U.S. just based on size alone, but they can’t choose a church. If they want to worship legally they must attend a church ran by an atheist government official. A government official literally sits in the service to make sure Jesus isn't elevated above the state. The Government is tolerant of internationals worshipping in their own way, however. Sunday morning in Beijing, the adopting families showed our passports to get into the Beijing International Christian Church. It was a mega church with many different services. Due to schedule, we woke up early and went to a smaller service. We entered a small auditorium and the power of God hit me square in my chest.
In this room alone, there were approximately two hundred foreigners in Beijing worshiping the Creator of the Universe. Race, creed, ethnicity were all meshed together and Christians were raising their voices in praise.
The song “Our God, Is an Awesome God” took on new meaning as I my eyes took in a room where every color in the world was represented and believing in Christ’s sacrifice.
After all I have lived and struggled through in my Christian walk, nothing came close to showing me God’s real size and strength as seeing people half way across the world lift up their hands to praise The One True God, twelve hours before my own home church service even began for the week.
Remember to Pray for the churches in China and for the Christians as they live their lives for Jesus.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Becoming a Stevens
Sarah is becoming more and more like a Stevens each and every day. I can see her trust in us grow each day by way of her demeanor, talkativeness and willingness to try English words.
Today I went to run an errand at the back of the hotel lobby while Nathan showed her ivory carvings in the front cases. As I rounded the corner to find them, she saw me and began to tug on Nathan’s arm yelling Mama in her exuberantly loud voice. She broke from him and came running to me with great delight – giggles and all. I picked her up and she wrapped her arms around me and held me like I was the best person in the whole world.
She also makes her wishes known a little more often and is more relaxed. This morning she climbed on my lap spontaneously. She also gets very excited about our daily routines, especially if they involve some type of personal grooming for her.
She still carries her backpack around all the time and still stuffs it full of what is important to her. Mostly this includes wipes, hair clips, her tiger (our pictures are in the LCD screen on its belly), pullups, clothing, socks, and recently used napkins. In looking at the list, all these items are things we have given her to keep her clean or take care of her. At night and during nap, the backpack and her socks and shoes come off and are laid next to her in a neat and orderly fashion. She is very proud of her abilities to organize her things, open the hotel room door with the key (Daddy and Mommy can never get it to work) and clothes folding. I can’t wait to get her to help me tackle my continous laundry pile problem.
Today I went to run an errand at the back of the hotel lobby while Nathan showed her ivory carvings in the front cases. As I rounded the corner to find them, she saw me and began to tug on Nathan’s arm yelling Mama in her exuberantly loud voice. She broke from him and came running to me with great delight – giggles and all. I picked her up and she wrapped her arms around me and held me like I was the best person in the whole world.
She also makes her wishes known a little more often and is more relaxed. This morning she climbed on my lap spontaneously. She also gets very excited about our daily routines, especially if they involve some type of personal grooming for her.
She still carries her backpack around all the time and still stuffs it full of what is important to her. Mostly this includes wipes, hair clips, her tiger (our pictures are in the LCD screen on its belly), pullups, clothing, socks, and recently used napkins. In looking at the list, all these items are things we have given her to keep her clean or take care of her. At night and during nap, the backpack and her socks and shoes come off and are laid next to her in a neat and orderly fashion. She is very proud of her abilities to organize her things, open the hotel room door with the key (Daddy and Mommy can never get it to work) and clothes folding. I can’t wait to get her to help me tackle my continous laundry pile problem.
Visa Prayers Answered
All info arrived and Sarah was able to get her Visa. Nathan spent all night Monday night making calls back to the US.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Please Pray
We have just found out the the National Visa Center has not completed uploading our visa information yet and sent it to the Consulate. We are supposed to get Sarah's visa this time tomorrow. Please continue to pray that this will get done and we will be able to leave Wednesday evening with the rest of the group for Hong Kong and then home Thursday morning. Nathan will be on the phone again tonight trying to make contact with the National Visa Center and possibly our senator and representatives. He will have approximately 12 hours to make calls before our visa appt tomorrow morning. Thank you for your continued prayers. We have met so many wonderful people with amazing stories on this trip and have seen how God works we have confidence that amazing things can happen.Angela
Saturday, September 19, 2009
On the Road in Guangzhou China
Guangzhou
We’ve come a long way – literally. From Dallas to Beijing, Wuhan and now Guangzhou. This city has something like 30,000,000 people living here. It is huge, but has many international foods, so tonight we will eat Italian. Tomorrow, German cuisine. Our hotel is on the 32nd floor and the hotel restaurant is on the 45th floor. I don’t think I have ever been this high up, perhaps with the exception of a 10 minute stint on the Empire State Building.
Our first stop today was to the medical office for Sarah’s mandatory health examination. This place consisted of two large waiting rooms and small cubicles with medical people wearing white coats and face masks. Very charming. We were the first group of adoptive parents to arrive and got the best waiting room. Within 15 minutes after our arrival, everyone else showed up. Over 100 families and their adoptive children were waiting for the same health exam that we needed to do.
We met several other Americans with their new loved ones. One family was on their third special needs adoption to China! All together they have 6 children. It was crowded, loud, and chaotic. Sarah sat glassy eyed on my lap during most of the visit. I am beginning to notice that this is her stressed state. We saw it last night leaving Wuhan as well. Today she held her things just a little tighter.
The Dr. looked her over and told us exactly what we could see. She has Spina Bifida, all right. The looked in her ears and throat and then gave her a TB test. I had geared myself up for a very unhappy Sarah during the TB test, but I was surprised. It was explained to her, she held her arm out, looked at it happening and then got a piece of candy. Not one tear leaked from her eye. The next boy screamed so loud people were holding their ears. We have to go back on Monday to get the test looked at and clear her to leave China.
On the NVC front, we have been told people are working on getting info to the US Consulate. We can’t contact them again until our Monday night, so we do not know where our paperwork is, exactly. Thank you for remembering us in your prayers.
We’ve come a long way – literally. From Dallas to Beijing, Wuhan and now Guangzhou. This city has something like 30,000,000 people living here. It is huge, but has many international foods, so tonight we will eat Italian. Tomorrow, German cuisine. Our hotel is on the 32nd floor and the hotel restaurant is on the 45th floor. I don’t think I have ever been this high up, perhaps with the exception of a 10 minute stint on the Empire State Building.
Our first stop today was to the medical office for Sarah’s mandatory health examination. This place consisted of two large waiting rooms and small cubicles with medical people wearing white coats and face masks. Very charming. We were the first group of adoptive parents to arrive and got the best waiting room. Within 15 minutes after our arrival, everyone else showed up. Over 100 families and their adoptive children were waiting for the same health exam that we needed to do.
We met several other Americans with their new loved ones. One family was on their third special needs adoption to China! All together they have 6 children. It was crowded, loud, and chaotic. Sarah sat glassy eyed on my lap during most of the visit. I am beginning to notice that this is her stressed state. We saw it last night leaving Wuhan as well. Today she held her things just a little tighter.
The Dr. looked her over and told us exactly what we could see. She has Spina Bifida, all right. The looked in her ears and throat and then gave her a TB test. I had geared myself up for a very unhappy Sarah during the TB test, but I was surprised. It was explained to her, she held her arm out, looked at it happening and then got a piece of candy. Not one tear leaked from her eye. The next boy screamed so loud people were holding their ears. We have to go back on Monday to get the test looked at and clear her to leave China.
On the NVC front, we have been told people are working on getting info to the US Consulate. We can’t contact them again until our Monday night, so we do not know where our paperwork is, exactly. Thank you for remembering us in your prayers.
God Is Answering Your Prayers
The right info is at the National Visa Center in Washington. Pray that it gets processed and that the US Consulate in Guangzhou will have access to the info on Tuesday when Angela and Nathan take Sarah to get her US Visa. The Dallas Visa Office did not pass the new family study info along to the National Center when it was suppose to send it. This was the US Officials dropping the ball. Everything in China has worked well. They are now in Guangzhou. They have joined the other families going through the same process. Yesterday they took Sarah for her medical exam. They will all travel to Hong Kong from Guangzhou by bus on Wednesday. They are scheduled to leave Hong Kong on Thursday. Thank you for your prayers.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Pray for Angela and Nathan
Pray for Angela and Nathan. Some paper work is missing at the visa office. They had an update to their home study by the social worker that changed the age of the child that they could adopt. It was all approved but did not make it to the visa office. This puts Sarah's visa in doubt. They will be calling people in the US from China all day tomorrow. Pray that they get through maze of phone machines and connect with the right people. Pray that someone will walk the paper work through so Sarah can get her visa when they reach Hong Kong on Wednesday.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Three Strange Sights
One
Driving back from a beautiful display of Chinese music, the guide and driver began talking excitedly in Mandarin. They were laughing, pointing, and in general had a surprised expression.
When our guide noticed all the Americans in the car trying to figure out where the excitement was she pointed to the SUV less than two inches from our van (I am not exaggerating about the two inches)
“A Monk”, she said. Evidently not only is it odd to see a Buddhist monk driving, but very odd to see one driving a brand new Porsche Cayenne. Evidently, there are “Kenneth Copelands” in China.
Two
We have seen few animals. We were told this is because people must obtain a license for all pets and so they keep them inside until after the dog catchers has completed their work for the day. We have seen a couple small dauschounds and Lasa Apsas and one scraggly cat, but yesterday we saw a full blooded German Shepherd. I would hate to pick up the poop for that dog in a city like this.
Three
We were the strange sight this time. We went to the grocery store and after a week of not seeing any children out and about, all of a sudden there were lots of school age children all headed the opposite direction as us. We commented that there must be a school close by and we were right and school had just let out for the day. Suddenly there was a massive wave of excited 7-10 year olds all shouting and pointing our direction. I think we were the first Caucasians they might have ever seen up close, or maybe it was the red hair.
Everywhere people stare at us, but this just about caused a riot.
One
Driving back from a beautiful display of Chinese music, the guide and driver began talking excitedly in Mandarin. They were laughing, pointing, and in general had a surprised expression.
When our guide noticed all the Americans in the car trying to figure out where the excitement was she pointed to the SUV less than two inches from our van (I am not exaggerating about the two inches)
“A Monk”, she said. Evidently not only is it odd to see a Buddhist monk driving, but very odd to see one driving a brand new Porsche Cayenne. Evidently, there are “Kenneth Copelands” in China.
Two
We have seen few animals. We were told this is because people must obtain a license for all pets and so they keep them inside until after the dog catchers has completed their work for the day. We have seen a couple small dauschounds and Lasa Apsas and one scraggly cat, but yesterday we saw a full blooded German Shepherd. I would hate to pick up the poop for that dog in a city like this.
Three
We were the strange sight this time. We went to the grocery store and after a week of not seeing any children out and about, all of a sudden there were lots of school age children all headed the opposite direction as us. We commented that there must be a school close by and we were right and school had just let out for the day. Suddenly there was a massive wave of excited 7-10 year olds all shouting and pointing our direction. I think we were the first Caucasians they might have ever seen up close, or maybe it was the red hair.
Everywhere people stare at us, but this just about caused a riot.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Sarah’s First Shopping Trip
The best part of the trip so far was today. When we got Sarah she had a backpack, but the inside was definitely not full. Mostly the backpack held the things we sent to China for her and a couple diapers. We were also told not to bring too many items for her, so halfway through today, she was out of clothes. So, today after paperwork and an interview with Chinese officials we went shopping. Awesome!
By ourselves, just the three of us, we trekked down to a city shopping area in Wuhan. Wuhan is about the size of NYC and every bit as interesting. We had trouble finding stores for children at first, but when we did the price was right! Macy type items for 15 dollars and the smaller stores were less. Plus, if you hesitate, the sales lady will take off more money! At times, I had to use Sarah as a prop and once the sales lady actually took the pants off her and put new ones on before I had time to process what was going on. I had to act everything out that I wanted and we got stares from everywhere.
Going to buy Sarah her very first personal possessions was thrilling. Getting to ask a child that has never had her own piece of clothing which dress she likes best is so much fun. I felt like Daddy Warbucks.
We bought bows for her hair, socks, dresses and pants and a new pair of shoes. When we got back to the hotel we pulled out the extra suitcase and packed it with her things. She folded and laid them in carefully and then took them out again. She put all her socks and hair bows out of the suitcase and put them in her backpack and then she moved them all around again.
Right now, she is lying on her palette with all her things surrounding her head. She wants to see all of them so she feels comfortable. It is incredibly cute.
Backpack update: Now she will take it off to sleep, but must have it in eyesight. She also allowed it to sit beside her in the car and in the back of her shopping buggy
The best part of the trip so far was today. When we got Sarah she had a backpack, but the inside was definitely not full. Mostly the backpack held the things we sent to China for her and a couple diapers. We were also told not to bring too many items for her, so halfway through today, she was out of clothes. So, today after paperwork and an interview with Chinese officials we went shopping. Awesome!
By ourselves, just the three of us, we trekked down to a city shopping area in Wuhan. Wuhan is about the size of NYC and every bit as interesting. We had trouble finding stores for children at first, but when we did the price was right! Macy type items for 15 dollars and the smaller stores were less. Plus, if you hesitate, the sales lady will take off more money! At times, I had to use Sarah as a prop and once the sales lady actually took the pants off her and put new ones on before I had time to process what was going on. I had to act everything out that I wanted and we got stares from everywhere.
Going to buy Sarah her very first personal possessions was thrilling. Getting to ask a child that has never had her own piece of clothing which dress she likes best is so much fun. I felt like Daddy Warbucks.
We bought bows for her hair, socks, dresses and pants and a new pair of shoes. When we got back to the hotel we pulled out the extra suitcase and packed it with her things. She folded and laid them in carefully and then took them out again. She put all her socks and hair bows out of the suitcase and put them in her backpack and then she moved them all around again.
Right now, she is lying on her palette with all her things surrounding her head. She wants to see all of them so she feels comfortable. It is incredibly cute.
Backpack update: Now she will take it off to sleep, but must have it in eyesight. She also allowed it to sit beside her in the car and in the back of her shopping buggy
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Gotcha Day
At home it is 2:20 in the afternoon, but I write at 3:20am. Two nights ago, I managed 8 hours of sleep for the first time since last Tuesday. This Monday morning I am happy for the 5 I squeezed out.
Today is Gotcha Day. In two hours we meet in the lobby and travel with the group to the airport. From there we travel with one other couple to Wuhan, the capital of Hubei. We will stay there during the first several days of meeting Sarah and getting the paperwork completed. Hubei is a province of many lakes, rivers and thriving business. It has been termed the New Business Center of China because of easy river access. Many items are manufactured there.
I don’t think words describe the river of feelings raging inside me. I miss my boys terribly and we are at a journey’s end that I have longed for many years. We are also at a beginning that I can’t imagine life without, but must admit that I am nervous to say the least.
If I were Chinese, I might name today something like The Sacred and Uplifted Day where Hearts Spill over for Love and Glory. I am sure it would look much better in Chinese characters, but I hope the words can grasp some of my thoughts.
At home it is 2:20 in the afternoon, but I write at 3:20am. Two nights ago, I managed 8 hours of sleep for the first time since last Tuesday. This Monday morning I am happy for the 5 I squeezed out.
Today is Gotcha Day. In two hours we meet in the lobby and travel with the group to the airport. From there we travel with one other couple to Wuhan, the capital of Hubei. We will stay there during the first several days of meeting Sarah and getting the paperwork completed. Hubei is a province of many lakes, rivers and thriving business. It has been termed the New Business Center of China because of easy river access. Many items are manufactured there.
I don’t think words describe the river of feelings raging inside me. I miss my boys terribly and we are at a journey’s end that I have longed for many years. We are also at a beginning that I can’t imagine life without, but must admit that I am nervous to say the least.
If I were Chinese, I might name today something like The Sacred and Uplifted Day where Hearts Spill over for Love and Glory. I am sure it would look much better in Chinese characters, but I hope the words can grasp some of my thoughts.
Overload
Yesterday, Saturday, was our first full day in China. Our Guides said they wanted us exhausted by the end of the day, and they succeeded. In one day, we visited the Summer Palace, the Great Wall, a Jade Factory and had two Westernized Chinese meals.
Being this busy has made the wait for our new bao, bao easier. We have taken a lot of pictures, and video and have done a lot of oohing and awing over things I never thought I would have seen.
The group we are traveling with is very kind and our Guides are gracious and teaching us all the time about Chinese culture and history. One of our Guides said she learned our National Anthem in school and then sang it to us in Chinese.
Today we go to a church service and continue to see everything we can. BTW, for all those out there who bemoan our traffic. You should try Beijing in a bus.
Yesterday, Saturday, was our first full day in China. Our Guides said they wanted us exhausted by the end of the day, and they succeeded. In one day, we visited the Summer Palace, the Great Wall, a Jade Factory and had two Westernized Chinese meals.
Being this busy has made the wait for our new bao, bao easier. We have taken a lot of pictures, and video and have done a lot of oohing and awing over things I never thought I would have seen.
The group we are traveling with is very kind and our Guides are gracious and teaching us all the time about Chinese culture and history. One of our Guides said she learned our National Anthem in school and then sang it to us in Chinese.
Today we go to a church service and continue to see everything we can. BTW, for all those out there who bemoan our traffic. You should try Beijing in a bus.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Let It Begin!
Right now, 6:31am, I feel like the hamster mixed with the cat in BOLT the Movie. The hamster sits on top of a free fall drop to the top of the train and is ready to plunge into the unknown. But the cat is desperately trying to get back to safety. That is how I feel today. I know it is a bit of a juxtaposition, but hey I'm a female and my complexities are numerous!
We have already met one family traveling with us to Beijing. They are taking their first adopted child with them and it has made me miss my children all the more. Last night, I handed them off to Papa and got the hugs and kisses I needed for the night, but this morning seems hollow. What a void they leave when not around. Last night, Aaron hugged me so tight. His little arms round my neck and he told me that we wouldn't be too far apart. Isaac, my ever practical child was giving me pointers on what to do when I got sick, like this was inevitable.
The next two/three days will be in Beijing. I am hoping to post lots of picks.
Thanks for remembering us this next two weeks.
We have already met one family traveling with us to Beijing. They are taking their first adopted child with them and it has made me miss my children all the more. Last night, I handed them off to Papa and got the hugs and kisses I needed for the night, but this morning seems hollow. What a void they leave when not around. Last night, Aaron hugged me so tight. His little arms round my neck and he told me that we wouldn't be too far apart. Isaac, my ever practical child was giving me pointers on what to do when I got sick, like this was inevitable.
The next two/three days will be in Beijing. I am hoping to post lots of picks.
Thanks for remembering us this next two weeks.
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