Day Three - New Hope, Beijing

Today we visited an American run orphanage in the Beijing area. We have friends who are very closely connected with this orphanage and it was really a great experience to visit.

 

Today Rachel and I woke up around 4:30 and were wide awake. I told myself I would go back to bed, but I just couldn’t fall back to sleep unfortunately :/.

 

After breakfast at the hotel we drove the orphanage. It was about an hour away from Beijing. I love driving away from the city and gradually watching it become less and less buildings and more agricultural.

 

When we arrived we met with the founder and heard his story. They have a really amazing facility. They started in 2000 with the intent to care for children who needed medical attention that their orphanages couldn’t give them. A lot of the times the orphanages don’t have the resources to give  children surgeries, so this family took them in and would give the kids surgeries and do whatever else needed. They now have 5 care facilities around the country, and combined can hold 360 kids at one time. Once the children are well enough, they file for their adoption paperwork, and once the paperwork is finished, they are brought back to their original orphanage in hopes that they will find an adoptive family. It was an amazing story to hear. It all started as a dream, and now 14 years later they have grown so much, and are changing so many lives.

 

I know a few of the babies that live at New Hope currently, and I was super anxious to see them again and see the progress that they’ve made. Rachel and I went to use the restroom at one point and I walked down the steps to find my sweet Sarah coming out of the cafeteria. I looked at Rachel and said, “Oh my gosh, that’s my baby. That’s her.” And started tearing up. I so badly wanted to snatch her up and play with her, but at the risk of scaring her, I resisted haha. I smiled and waved and could barely keep the tears in.

 

We visited the unit for the heart babies, and were amazed by the care they’re given. In fact, I’m just completely amazed by the whole orphanage in general. They are SO organized. The founder, Robin, told us details about the kids and how organized their nannies are and what not. My near OCD-type A personality was thrilled. They even said that they sterilize the place TWICE a day. Amazing.

 

At that time all the kids were about to take naps, so they were all laying down. I peaked in and saw my little baby, Charlotte, and she is so big now! She has a whole head of hair. We waved and smiled at her, and she smiled and giggled back! Such a cutie. I hope to be able to spend more time with her next week.

 

We toured the facility downstairs, and we were able to see where the kids sleep and play. They break them up into “Families”, which consists of 12 kids and 6 nannies. I like those numbers. So that’s who they play with and spend most of their time with. Some of the older toddlers go to preschool that they have in the orphanage, as well.

 

When we finished with the tour it was naptime for all of the kids, so we left for a little bit and ate lunch.

 

When we came back we went to find the babies to play with. We walked down to find my sweet Sarah. When we walked up to the door we were immediately greeted by two little ones at the door that were ready to play! J I was so happy to finally be playing with kids. We spent the whole afternoon playing with them. Most of them in Sarah’s room were probably 2-3 years old.

 

I had prepared myself for the fact that Sarah might be scared of strangers, and thus, may be nervous around me. But when I walked up to her, she put her arms out like she wanted me to pick her up. I grabbed her and we played for awhile.

 

She’s three and still very tiny, but doing much better than she was before. She has a double chin now! :)) She can sit up all on her own, which is something that we only dreamed of a year ago. She can stand up with help, and is taking steps with help as well. She’s a very happy baby, which was so wonderful to see. I mean, this was the child who I never saw smile, but she was giggling and smiling today. It did my heart good to see her doing so well.  Obviously she still has a long way to go. She has some developmental delays, but I can already see the improvement, and I’m believing she’ll continue to improve.

 

We had a blast spending the afternoon with the kids. We were able to crack the "shells" of some of the shy kids, and it was so fun to watch their personalities unfold in front of us. They’re very energetic and love to play. Each “family” has their own playroom, and they’re very nice! They all have a theme as well, which is super cute.

 

We stayed the whole afternoon, but the kids had to take another nap, so we decided it was time for us to go back to the hotel. On the drive home, all three of us slept for a little bit. It was a tiring day.

 

We went to a cute little walking street in Beijing and walked around and then stopped to eat some dinner. Our guide orders lots of food for us at every meal, and we can never finish it… but he always tries to get us to eat more and more food. Rachel and I are always so full but he scolds us for not eating enough. * sigh *

 

Anyways, that was pretty much our night. I’m currently exhausted because I’ve been up since 4:30 this morning. I’m hoping I’ll sleep very well tonight.

 

We take the train to Chenzhou tomorrow, and I’m very excited to be back in the city! J


(My mom is having trouble adding photos to the blog, so she will be posting them to Facebook for now.)

Day Two, Beijing - July 20

Today was a pretty exciting day. We were able to visit a church in Beijing and then we visited the Great Wall!

We all slept pretty well. Rachel and I slept almost 9-10 hours, which was great. Bob slept around 7 or 8 as well. So we were pretty well rested today.

Bob found a church online that we were able to visit in Beijing. They have lots of different services in many languages, but we were able to visit the English service this morning. It was funny because we pulled up to the hotel they meet in, and a girl behind us yelled out, “Excuse me! Are you going to the church too? I’m trying to find it.” It took me by surprise that she was speaking English to us! And then I remembered it was an English service.

It was a nice service, though. The church was probably around 100-150 people (I guess during the summer its much smaller), from all over the world. Some were visitors just like us, but mostly they all lived in the Beijing area.

We sang worship songs at the beginning. It was surreal to sing worship songs that I’ve sung many times at home or at school in Beijing, China. It was a very neat experience. The last song we sang was called “God of this City”, which is a song that we’ve 

always sung during my previous Chenzhou trips during our devotional time. It was so powerful to sing this song with a room full of believers, praying to God that HE has greater things for this city.

Greater things have yet to come, greater things have still to be done in this city…

What a powerful prayer and promise to hold on to.

I had tears welling up in my eyes as I sang, thanking God that He is the God of this city, and He has great and amazing plans for not 

only Beijing, but the whole country.

We were able to meet some really cool people at the church today. We visited with a young girl named Bonnie, who studied in the US but came back to China to teach English. It was really interesting to hear her tell us about her job and how the culture is very different in the US from China.

After the church we took the long drive to the Great Wall. I always 

joke that I should have a frequent customer punch card for the Great Wall. This is my 6th time up, and you would think that I would have a free visit by now ;). We ate lunch at the same restaurant that we ate at last year, which was kinda funny. The streets leading up to the entrance of the Wall has completely changed, though. There aren’t any street vendors on the street trying to sell us their souvenirs.

As we were walking to the entrance, we noticed that everyone 

coming down from the wall were drenched in sweat. It was a humid day, but at that point I couldn’t imagine ever being that sweaty… but boy was I wrong.

We took the cable car up to the part where we actually climb the Great Wall. Halfway through our ride up we noticed our car had writing on the top of it, and none of the others did. We read it and it told us that Michele Obama actually rode in that very cable car in March to get to the Great Wall! Haha. It was kinda funny.

Once we reached the Wall, Rachel, Steve, and I all climbed the wall together, and Bob walked around some of the other parts and took some pictures. Rachel and I got to spend some quality time with Steve on our hike up the Wall. I loved Steve as our guide last year, and I’m really glad we have him back this year. He’s got a great sense of humor and he is very good at his job.

The three of us made it to the top after climbing lots of stairs and a few ladders. At one point, the steps were so steep it felt like we were almost climbing a ladder with no handles. Very tricky. But we made it, and I will say it is very beautiful. I always enjoy the Great Wall, and every time I’m so amazed that the soldiers were able to run up and down the wall during the war… because walking it is no easy task.

Needless to say, we were all soaked in sweat by the time we reached the top. Haha.

Once we were finished we went back to the hotel and then went to dinner soon after. And that basically took up our entire day.

I know we’re all pretty exhausted from the long day, so hopefully we will sleep well tonight. We are so excited to go to New Hope 

just outside of Beijing tomorrow!

Hello from Beijing!

Well hello from Beijing!

Our team arrived safely AND we have all of our luggage. Praise!

I’m just going to write a short and sweet post because we haven’t been doing much for the past 24 hours. I think I sat on a plane for 15 of those.

As Rachel and I boarded the flight we heard lots of Chinese chatter around us, and it made me so excited. Obviously I have no idea what they’re saying, but it was just a reminder that we are so close to China.

I slept for most of the long flight from Detroit to Beijing. It was really wonderful, and I think it was the most I’ve ever slept on a flight before. The middle seat in my row was open, so I took turns 
with the girl on the aisle seat, and we laid down in that seat to 
sleep.

Rachel said she slept for a good amount on the flight, and poor Bob only slept for an hour or so. They’re both pretty tired tonight… I’m still pretty awake.

As soon as we stepped off of the airplane, we were immediately welcomed with all the sights and sounds of China. I love it. I took 
in all the characters around me and the mandarin being spoken 
around me.

It’s strangely comforting to hear the Chinese, even though I have 
no idea what it all means. It’s exciting and I’m just happy to finally 
be here.

We met up with our guide, Steve. I loved Steve last year and was very excited to have him again this year. Rachel has already gotten a taste of his sense of humor.

Favorite Steve moment today:

Bob told Steve that Rachel took a year of Mandarin, so she knows some of the language.

Rachel says, “Ni Hao!”

Steve replies, “A whole year and you know only two words??” 

We checked into our hotel and we went to dinner soon after.  We 
stopped at a Chinese fast food type restaurant, and we ordered food. 
The food was good, and I have to say… there’s nothing quite like rice in China. It tastes so much better here. And of course the chicken and vegetables were good too. ;)

Since our plans have changed a little bit this week, we have decided to do the Great Wall tomorrow, and then I think we will be visiting an orphanage in the Beijing area on Monday. We’re pretty excited about that.

That’s all I really have to say for now. Please continue to cover us in prayers. We appreciate them and have felt them the last 24 hours.

UPDATED: ALL IN

Well, it seems that our China trip has taken a turn.

I received news today that we won't be able to visit Chenzhou. A few things have come up, and we aren't able to visit at this time. 

I'm deeply grieved and very heartbroken. 

I'd be lying if I said that I didn't shed tears over the news.

I miss my kids, I miss the nannies. 

I miss Chenzhou. 

When traveling, I always expect for there to be little bumps. Especially when traveling on missions… it seems to be the devil's way of trying to mess with us. We've lost luggage, had cancelled flights, etc.

But I can honestly say that I never expected this. 

My heart hurts thinking of the kids in that orphanage. I had plans for them. I picked out crafts with these kids specifically in mind. 

But the fact of the matter is… there's nothing we can do about it at this time. 

We have decided as a team that we are still going to go to China. Our airline tickets have already been purchased, and there's really no point in staying home.

See the thing is, no matter where we go, God can still use us. 

Would I rather it have been in Chenzhou? Selfishly, yes. 

But I know that all we have to do is be available, ready to do His work, and He will use us. 

So, it seems that we will be finding a new orphanage to visit. There are 153 million orphans in the world. They need some love, too. We are looking into options on where we will go, and hopefully have the details nailed out in the next day.

We are still leaving as planned. Bright and early tomorrow morning! 

~~~~

Last year, our group leader asked us to come up with a word or a phrase for our trip. And I think if I had to choose one this year, my phrase would have to be, "All In". 

The way I see it, I have two options. 1) I can let this ruin my trip. It's upsetting that I won't be able to see my friends. OR 2) I can be excited for what this week holds and for what the Lord is going to do in and through us. 

I choose the second.

I've recently been talking to my mom about how in order to see change in a situation, you need to make sure that you're "all in", putting all your efforts in. 

So, this trip, I choose to be ALL IN. 

All my efforts, all my energy, all my ability. It is all for the Lord. I'm giving it to Him, and surrendering this situation to Him. We are having faith that He is in control and will lead us where we need to be.

Here's some ways you can pray for us:

Pray for high spirits in the days to come. Pray for safe flights, and that everything will go smoothly from here on out. Pray that the details are nailed out soon. Pray for those we come in contact with, and for the children we will be loving. Pray that the Lord will show up in amazing ways.

***UPDATE:
We have received word from China that we are now able to visit the orphanage for a few days next week. We are more than thankful for this opportunity. God is moving mountains!

Thank you so much to everyone who prayed today. God hears our prayers and He is answering them. He is working miracles! Excited for this week. We have some shifting around to do in regards to our schedule, but we will be there. Please pray as we smooth out the details still. Pray for our coordinator who is now working overtime to work all these details together. Thank you guys so much! 

Meet the Team!

Well… it's that time year where I start blogging again. And you know what that means: it's almost CHINA time! 

In fact, we're quickly approaching China. We leave on FRIDAY… THREE days! I am SO excited.

I've had a few people ask about who I'm traveling with this year, so before we take off I thought it would be nice to introduce the team.  We are a small team, but I am excited because we'll get to know each other very well. I'm believing that God is going to do amazing things this year. I've had the privilege to chat with them the last couple of weeks, and I love their enthusiasm and passion for the orphan. But I'll let you learn about them yourselves. :) 

Here's Team Chenzhou 2014:

Meet Bob (team leader)

Bob and his wife Tracey live in the Nashville, TN area where Bob is involved in the commercial real estate finance industry. Bob’s passion is people, especially building relationships and being an encourager. Being used by God to connect people with a need to someone who can help fill that need is one of his greatest joys. Having served as a teacher, elder and occasional fill in preacher for many years, Bob’s call to missions didn’t come until 2011 when he was introduced to Visiting Orphans.

In 2012 Bob took his first short term mission trip to Chaoyang China where his heart was broken for the orphans and for the Chinese people. Bob says that prior to this time neither orphan ministry or China were on his radar but God changed that in a matter of minutes! To be able to simply go and love on orphaned children demonstrating the love of our heavenly Father is a blessing beyond words. While the extent of the orphan’s needs in our world can seem overwhelming, we can all make a difference one child at a time. Since traveling with Visiting Orphans to China Bob has traveled to Haiti with a group his church supports and now serves as director of missions for his church. Returning to China in 2014 as a team leader is a joy and an honor.

Bob and Tracey have a daughter, a son, a daughter-in-law and were recently blessed with their first grandchild. In addition to being active in their church and community, they treasure spending time with their family, traveling together and hanging out with their two golden retrievers.

Meet Rachel 

(Rachel and her sister) 

Rachel grew up in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania with her parents, Jim and Cathy, her brother, Matthew, and sister, Jenni. In 2002, her family traveled to Nanjing, China to adopt Jenni at 10 months of age; all were forever changed by this precious life chosen specifically by God for their family. Jenni is blessed to share the connection of her Chinese heritage with three cousins that were adopted from Wuhan, Beihai, and Chenzhou, China.

Rachel moved to Lynchburg, Virginia in 2008 to attend Liberty University. She studied biology and health and competed for the University’s gymnastics team during her four years as an undergraduate student. Rachel is currently pursuing her Master’s in Public Health and Nutrition from Liberty University and is the coach of the gymnastics team. Aside from school and gymnastics, Rachel enjoys traveling, exercising, and hanging out with friends and family!

Meet Megan 

Megan grew up in Nashville, Tennessee with her parents, Cindy and Patrick, her brother Matthew, and two little sisters, Miyah and Mei Lin. Megan's family adopted Miyah in 2004, and Mei Lin in 2006. Megan is switching into first person now because writing in third person is difficult ;). I've loved China since I was three years old. I would continuously ask my mom to rent books from the library about China, and my favorite movie was Mulan. I was fortunate enough to travel to China when we adopted my two beautiful sisters. 

When I was 15, I took my first mission trip to Chenzhou, China with Visiting Orphans. Little did I know that my whole world would be shaken as a high school Sophomore. Over the week I spent in Chenzhou I fell in love with the city, the people, the sights, the smells, but most importantly, the orphanage. It was in 2010 that God completely broke my heart for the orphan, and I found my "second home". Since 2010 I have been back every summer to serve and love the children in the Chenzhou orphanage. This will be my 5th trip to Chenzhou. I've seen our relationship with the orphanage staff and children grow every year, and I am so thrilled to be back again this year.

I am currently a student at Lee University studying Elementary Education. Lord willing, I would love to teach in an orphanage someday! In my free time, I love spending time with friends and family, going to concerts, or catching up on my favorite tv shows. I'm also the writer of this blog! You can scroll through to find other posts about my previous trips to China, and find picture of the sweet children. :) 

I will be updating the blog (hopefully) everyday on the trip, so if you're looking to see what we do while we're over there, then stop by and check it out!

Please pray for us as we are in our final days of packing and preparing for the trip. Also pray for us as we travel, and for everyone that we come in contact with. Pray that God will open doors in Chenzhou and that He will do amazing things this month. We appreciate it so much! 

China 2014

I know some of you have asked me what my plans are for this summer.

And that's when it occurred to me, I've been MIA lately. School has just kept me so busy this year, that I haven't even thought to post about China.

Going into this year, I wasn't sure if I would be able to go back to China in the summer of 2014. I knew I would be in school, and I wasn't sure if I would have much time to work or fundraise. Or if I would even have time the next summer to take off of work/if I wanted to take classes in the summer or not.

I prayed and wrestled with the idea for most of my first semester. The faces of my beautiful children halfway across the world haunted my dreams at night. I longed to be able to return to my second home, but I knew that the chances were slim.

Many people from the previous trips were not able to return to Chenzhou for numerous reasons. Money, adoptions, school, etc. I totally understand all of these reasons, but it broke my heart thinking that no one from previous trips would be returning to Chenzhou. I struggled thinking that if I were to stay home this summer, no familiar faces would visit the Chenzhou orphanage, and the relationship that we have built with the orphanage director, nannies, and children, would be lost.

I prayed. I asked God for direction and trusted that He would provide an answer, and no matter what he chose to tell me, it would be in the best interest of Chenzhou.

As most of you know, I received my answer as a big surprise on Christmas morning.

Now, let me give you a little back story to this. A couple weeks before Christmas I had no idea what my parents were getting me for Christmas (I didn't really ask for/need anything). I'm the kid that usually knows what she'll be getting weeks in advance.

So when I asked if they already got my Christmas presents for me, and my mom answered yes, I was confused. I figured they were going to just give me money. Honestly, I was going to ask for printer ink, and I would've been happy with just that (you know you're an adult when you ask for printer ink for Christmas).

Come Christmas morning, I'm opening up my presents, and the biggest surprise came my way. My parents gave me a gift voucher to pay for most of my mission trip this summer.

I was in complete shock, and naturally started bawling my eyes out. The best present I could have ever asked for.

I guess this was God giving me my answer.

I'm going to China this summer.

I'm just so incredibly blessed to have parents who love and support me and my passion and heart for the orphan.

{{if anyone's wondering, I also received printer ink. So I guess you could say that this was a pretty good Christmas}}

So far, there are only three people signed up for the Chenzhou trip, including me and the group leader.

I am not intimidated by the small number, because I know the Lord can use any amount of people to do His will.

BUT, I will say, that if you feel called to work with orphans this summer, we are accepting more members to be apart of this trip. Check it out here. I'm willing to answer any questions you may have. :)

Currently we are leaving on July 18th, and I'm coming back on the 30th. The rest of the team will be returning July 28th, but I'm staying a couple extra days to spend at New Hope in Beijing. I'm thrilled that I'll be able to see my heart babies from last summer, and I'll be able to see the facility they're staying in/meet their nannies.

The team leader actually lives close to me, so I'm excited that I'll have a travel companion all the way to China, because that makes the trip a bit more enjoyable. :)

I'm really excited for what God has in store for Chenzhou this year, and I'm really believing for amazing things to happen.

I'll keep you posted on any other Chenzhou related news. We're going to start planning our trip soon, and I'll need donations for the kids and nannies.

So thrilled that I'll be back in less than 70 days! I cannot wait to hug Paul's sweet arms and see Joy's smiling face.

I Live in a Sauna

Yesterday I received this text from my roommate: 

Here, let me explain.

Monday night we came back to our dorm from a relaxing Easter weekend and before I left to visit with friends, I quickly turned the temp down a little bit, and came back realizing that it hadn't gotten much cooler. A couple days passed, and again, I realized that our room was still pretty hot. But it's getting warmer outside, so I thought maybe I was just going crazy and was just pretty warm in our room all the time.

Finally Emily came into the room the other day and said, "Is it really hot to you, too?!" And we checked the thermostat to see what was wrong. Apparently it's broken, and we don't know how to fix it. Lucky for us, maintenance hasn't come fix it yet. 

Our room is hot, ya'll. 

Like, we've been waking up at night sweating.

We took our fan and put it on the ground, and we took the mattresses and put them on the ground, so the fan blows on both of us at night now. I will say, it's like a little sleepover every night. But the excitement is quickly overshadowed by the fact that it's still steaming hot, and we currently can't walk anywhere in our room. 

My roommate and I have a tendency to jokingly complain about petty things. But unfortunately, I've let myself turn this into actual complaining. Everyday I wake up and I find myself upset by my current living conditions. I'm grumpy because I have to blow my hair dry in the sauna. As if I wasn't hot already. Or that I can't sit at my desk and do my hair/makeup because my mattress currently has my chair locked away under my desk. 

I dreamt about my beautiful China babies last night, and woke up feeling as if I was in China again. The sweat on my brow (ew, I know) reminded me of the hot nights spent tossing and turning in the hotel when the air conditioning turns off around 1 am. 

And that's when it occurred to me. It was as if God was giving me a big slap in the face. 

MEGAN. You're being so petty.

I was reminded of my sweet babies in the orphanage that don't have central air or heat. Suddenly I had flashbacks to summers spent in the orphanage, seeing the sweat drip off the kids' faces, and the heat rash all over the babies' skin.

And I started thinking of all the things that I am so privileged to have. I started to kick myself thinking of how broken and changed I am every year when coming back from my missions trips, seeing the living conditions these kids live in, but how quickly I slip back into my homey life back in the States. I realized that I take so much for granted. 

Instead of being upset that my room might be a couple (or 10) degrees hotter than I would like, I should be thankful for everything that I do have. Like, the fact that I even have a room to live in, a bed to sleep on, an education, a job, and so much more. 

And as it happens, when I sat down to do my quiet time today, a notecard with this verse fell out of my Bible:

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

~1 Thessalonians 15:16-18~

Okay, God. I get it. I haven't had a joyful attitude, and I haven't been thankful through it all. 

And I find that not only in this very minor situation, but even throughout this semester there have been times when I have forgotten this verse. There have been days when I have been devastated and angry about my situation instead of finding joy and thanking Him for my circumstances, thanking Him for this chance to learn, and to grow in deeper dependence on Him. 

Well, today I choose joy. A joy that only comes from relying on my savior and being thankful through very circumstance. Today I choose to fall into opportunities to rely on the Lord instead of resisting them. 

And on the bright side, I only have a week and a half left in the dorm room. And hey, maybe I'll lose some of that Freshman 15 from being in the sauna at night ;).