Day Two....

The boys spent all day at a local lumber mill that let them use their tools, preparing the wood for the tables. They basically started with logs and planed, cut, and sanded wood for 4 tables and 20 chairs. Guess they had quite the experience. They were definitely tired and hungry at the end of the day, as the building was not air conditioned and they worked through lunch.

Us girls played with babies again all day. We now feel comfortable enough to change diapers when they need it, and some also got to bathe the babies. As you can see in the photo below, the nannies do it on their lap and much quicker than us!


Some of the kids were wearing clothing that we donated...

Sleeping beauty...

We get many visitors throughout our day. Usually a relative of someone from the orphanage or hotel who want their teenager to hang out with us to practice their english. We never know who is going to show up at dinner, on our bus, or at the orphanage. This young lady was at the orphanage for the first time, because her uncle told her to come.

In China, it's never too early to potty train. They sit them all down, line them up, and place bowls underneath...

This is Anna's special girl from Philip Hayden in Beijing. Anna asked me to post this, as this little girl is not expected to live long. Anna had the pleasure of bringing some joy to this sweet girl, and it looks like Anna got lots too~

This evening was spent by most doing some local shopping, except two of the guys on the team headed back to the orphanage to finish a repair job on a broken door. The fix-it list seems to be getting longer....hopefully we have enough time to fulfill their wishes.

I had the interesting experience today of visiting the orphanage doctor. I got a mosquito bite on my ankle a couple nights ago that has become quite swollen and red. She put some ointment on it and sent the medication with me to use the next couple of days. One of the nannies told our guide that she would bring some aloe tomorrow. I'm thinking bottle of aloe, but not 15 minutes later, someone walked in with two aloe leaves! I love the service and thoughtfulness in China:) Please keep my foot in your thoughts, as it is doing better now, but swells up when I'm on my feet and in the humidity.

Babies, Babies Everywhere!

What a joy today was, doing nothing but hanging out with 30 beautiful babies! I'll mainly let the photos speak for themselves, as you can see how we all spent our time. It was such a blessing to be able to hold and play with these little ones. The majority of them can't be older than 8-10 months, as only a couple walk. There was even a five day old baby. One of the men on our team is a cabinet maker, so he and a couple others made a table and chair for the kids, with plans to make more over the next few days (if they can figure out how to replace the two chargers that burned out....).
Recycling at its best.....

Tonight we headed back to the sqare where we were once again the center of attention. People were pushing their babies at me to get Mike to take polaroid pictures of us, and we sang songs to one of our teams guitar playing. It was a special time, being that we were in the government square.

Travel to HengFeng

Well it was a long day, but we made it safely to HengFeng. We had an early flight out of Beijing, and about 2 hours later we landed in Nanching where the orphanage director met us.
It was a beautiful drive through many rice fields and lush green scenery. Close to four hours later we were in HengFeng, where everyone has been extremely hospitable to us. We definitely are the local attractions here, especially when we went out to the county square where everyone gathers at night. It is very kid friendly, with glow-in-the-dark rollerblades and skateboards, art activities, funny looking inflatable rides (some of the girls rode for 5 yuan, which is less than a dollar, for 5 minutes), break dancing, while the adults have an opportunity to ball room dance. Some of the girls danced with local partners, and then led the electric slide. Crowds gathered around us wherever we walked, especially when I pulled out the polaroid camera that Joyce gave me (thanks Joyce!). Once I took one photo and they saw the results, mothers were bringing their babies to me for photos and children tugging on my arm. The only thing that could've made the evening a wee bit better would be lower humidity. Wow, the sweat just drips off, especially when the crowds would gather around. Oh yeah, and maybe the girls that got stuck for a few minutes would wish for an elevator that works consistently. I think I'm going to get a great workout this week going up and down the stairs to the fifth floor.

Great Wall Adventure Video....

Here's a video from yesterday's adventure:

Crazy Day!!!

I'm not sure how I can talk about today in just a couple paragraphs, but I'll give it a shot. For the longer versions and personal stories, be sure and ask after we're back in the states. For most of us, today is a day we will never forget, but as we all had different experiences, our stories will not be the same.

We started the morning at Beijing International Fellowship, which as usual, is a little taste of heaven with people coming together under the same roof, praising the same person. We then headed off to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall where when you are finished climbing the wall, you can choose to walk back down, take a cable car, ride the speed chute (toboggan), or ride the ski lift. Just beginning our journey was like an Abbott and Costello experience of "Who's on first," but alas, our journey began. As we began our climb, two groups splintered off, one that was planning on going down the cable car, and one that was going to toboggan. I was in the toboggan group, and after celebrating at the top we bought our tickets to toboggan down.
Caleb and Kristen were the first to get on their sleds, and after some quick photos, Caleb headed off. Suddenly we were told that the ride was closing down due to rain. What? But it's not raining....
The response was that it was raining down below, which would make the ride unsafe. Oops, poor Caleb was already on his way down! We headed back to the ticket booth and traded our toboggan tickets for ski lift tickets, feeling soft rain drops as we prepared for takeoff. As we began our slow descent, the raindrops became heavier, and that's when the thunder and lightning began. Let's just say I think all of us on the ski lifts grew closer to God during that time:) Fortunately we safely made it down to the bottom as the downpour continued, but Caleb was not to be found. We headed to the shopping stalls to get out of the rain and do a little bargaining. We found Caleb, who had waited at the bottom of the toboggan for quite sometime waiting for us, before he went shopping. But where was the cable car group??? We huddled under the stalls long after the shopping was done, and still, no cable car people. We were to be back at the bus no later than 5:00, to which now was past. Finally someone got a text from one of them, and they were stuck on top the wall, waiting the storm out. I have never seen such rain come down, like a flood down the cobblestone street. When the storm passed the group up top was allowed to come down the Cable Car and we all breathed a sigh of relief. As we drove the route back to Beijing the bus had to maneuver many lakes of water, but many cars were not as fortunate.

Despite all the hair-raising experiences we all had a good time, and topped it off with dessert at Dairy Queen! Although we played tourists today, our real journey begins tomorrow, as we head out to HengFeng very early in the morning. We can't wait to start interacting with the children, which we all desire and which is what pulled us all together here in China.

Philip Hayden

Today the team spent the day at Sheperd's Field Children's Village playing with and loving on the children. The team visited this foster home last year, so was fun to see some familiar faces and buildings that were under construction, but now complete. Everyone is still adjusting to the time difference and jet lag, so we are exhausted, but the joy that many of the chilren exemplified was energizing! You can see the happiness in the photos below. I'm not posting names with the photos, as I am still trying to learn all my team members names....

Finally....

Hello friends and family. Sorry about the delay in letting you all know that we made it safe and sound, but we got in very late/early this morning, coupled with problems getting to blogger (Thank goodness for my husband's savvy of getting around things, if you know what I mean), so we're just now getting around to posting. No pictures yet though, but hope to tonight after our busy day. All the team made it uneventfully, with no quarantine issues. While everyone's body clocks are getting readjusted, we have a quiet morning, then off to Philip Hayden, a western-ran foster home, to love on some kids! Hopefully we have some good pictures to post tonight. Please keep us all in your thoughts....