Orphan Sunday: Part 1

We've learned that orphans are easier to ignore before you know their names. They are easier to ignore before you see their faces. It is easier to pretend they're not real before you hold them in your arms. But once you do, everything changes.   -David Platt

I know their names

I've seen their faces

I've held them in my arms

and everything has changed 

my life will never be the same

my prayers are filled with their faces

my arms yearn to rock them to sleep

I have to do something

part 2 and a HUGE announcement coming next!

Panjiayuan

Panjiayuan has become one of my favorite places in Beijing, so I had to be sure to go again before I leave.

 I love the colors of the items from Yunnan. This market is unique because it is a flea market. 

 People come with handmade items, antiques, and so much more.

 Everyone can easily find sometime they LOVE and it's easy to spend money on quality items.

 Some are neatly displayed, others thrown into piles begging to be searched through.

 But, if you are willing to search there are hidden gems waiting to be found.

 If you want mass produced items, go to the silk market, don't come here

 here you find minorities from Tibet, Yunnan, and other provinces selling items you can watch them make. They happily tell you that "I made this!" and you happily buy it knowing that you have a truly unique item.

I think I'm gonna miss this place...

Water...

This morning when I was brushing my teeth before church the water starting coming out very slowly. I thought to myself, the water must be out, I'll get some drinking water to finish brushing my teeth and it will hopefully be back on sometime in the afternoon.


Upon returning from church this note was on the board (please note is wan't translated until late evening)

Well, it must be a bigger deal than I originally thought, and something is going on, but I'll survive.


Fast forward to around 9:00 in the evening. Still no water, no timeline for when we will have water, so...a water truck arrives on campus! The following pictures are a few snapshots of what happens when a campus full of people (thankfully most of our students are home already) need to get water.

So, we now have containers full of water to use for important things like flushing the toilet and a pretty awesome story to tell about that one time when the whole campus was out of water and everyone was going crazy wanting to get water and it was cold and we got wet and oh yeah, it was a crazy adventure. Now its time to see how long it will last...

3 Country Concert

After last session ended I received a phone call from one of my students asking me if I wanted to go to a concert at the birds nest with her. I had no plans, and it was at the birds nest, so of course I said yes. I didn't have any expectations because I had NO idea what the concert was, but headed out with Kara, my co-facilitator for the session and our student Jane.


Little by little we found out about the concert. It was called the 3 country concert and was sponsored by CCTV to foster friendship between Japan, Korea, and China. It was taped to be televised on National Day, October first (yes, I am very late with this post). There were popular singers from each of these 3 countries.

Kara and I, and Jane and her TIP roommates

I was pretty excited to be in the birds nest. Probably more excited than I thought I would be. I had been to the Olympic park several times, but never actually inside. Our seats were amazing. They were 3rd row and much to my excitement we were right in front of the long jump pits. I took a minute to imagine what it would have been like to sit there during the Olympics and just soaked the moment in. This just made me realize how incredibly blessed I am and how many amazing opportunities God has given me during my time in China.

The concert itself was actually pretty cool. I recognized a few of the songs and it was pretty hilarious to see Chinese going CRAZY about the groups. I was also introduced to Super Junior (from Korea) and Super Junior M (their counterpart from China) and let me tell you, they are a BIG deal. Girls anywhere from middle school to college age were going crazy. Think boy band from the 90's, but maybe about 100 times more crazy. Yeah, it was a lot of fun!

All in all it was a great night and just a remind how blessed I truly am!

Class B!

I am so thankful I had the opportunity to be a facilitator for class B this past month. It was a huge blessing to get to know all of my students who came from Shenyang, Shaanxi, Gansu, and Xinjiang. Being able to help them, instill values, and give them hope always leaves me overwhelmed with joy by the end of the session.  Class B is Brave! Class be is the Best! We love Class B!!!

Clarity

I was reminded about clarity today, and how so often we are not able to see things clearly when we are in the middle of them.  As you probably know, Beijing is not what you would call a clear city. In fact most would call it one of the smoggiest cities int he world. However, every once in awhile it is blessed with a clear day. Today happened to be the clearest day I can remember experiencing during my time here. When it is clear you are able to see the mountains  Today you could see the layers of mountains that surround the city. That along with the bright blue sky made it a breathtakingly beautiful day.

Wanting to take advantage of the beautiful day I had to make a trip to Yuan Ming Yuan, which is probably one of my favorite places in the city. As I sat and watched the boats go by I was overwhelmed by thankfulness.  I am beyond thankful that God has allowed me this time in China and chooses to bless in me in ways that I couldn't even imagine. 


It also made me think more about clarity in my life. I think a lot of time you think things are crystal clear only to find out later that they could have been so much clearer. Living in Beijing I often forget the magnitude of the mountains surrounding the city, just like living my life it is far to easy to forget the magnitude of what God is doing each and every moment. This was a great reminder that even if I don't see things clearly, God does, and as long as I follow him clarity will eventually come.

and, just because my mom complains I never post pictures of myself...

Finally, I am linking up to a blog I LOVE, Ni Hao Yall and her awesome Sunday Snapshot posts :) I've only been meaning to start doing this for a year now!