Thursday, April 28, 2011

Thursday - Kids and paint


Our last full day at Maria's :( It was so sad thinking this is really our last full day here. It has gone by so fast! Today we spent finishing up some of the various projects we are all doing around the Big House for them. I was helping work on painting new clouds on the 6th floor. Each team that comes signs a cloud so you leave a part of you here! It is really special and all the clouds were filled up already so we painted about 5 new areas of the wall blue last night and today we went and painted lots and lots of blue clouds in the sky! Between now and September 17, the clouds will be filled. Isn't that amazing! God has some great plans for this place in the next couple of months! 

This afternoon we were able to take some of the older kids outside to play in the new sandbox. It was so much fun to see their faces when we first set them in the sand! Jessica was not too sure about it at first.  Then she loved it and had so much fun moving the sand between all the toys. I did have to laugh b/c anytime I made a sand turtle or shell, she would look at it and then crush it right away.  All the other kids thought they were just the coolest things. 

We ended our last night at Maria's with a roof top cookout with the nurses and staff. We had some yummy hamburgers thanks to Mikey, who can only cook 6 burgers at a time on this itty bitty grill. (Yes, they are working on getting a big one) We also had pasta salad and chips.  It was great fellowship.  We also prayed over the staff living here for their strength as they continue to live outside their home countries serving the Lord here at Maria’s. I have to get back to finishing up my packing.  Then, I have an early morning of goodbyes as we head back to Beijing. Thank you everyone for your prayers. 

~Stephanie

Wed- Preschool class and old town Luoyang


Today was an exciting day!!! We had preschool class in the morning! I was actually in class for 2 of the 3 classes.  We had so much fun painting and making a mess! There are about 3 kids per class and because we were there to help out, we got to paint pictures with them. They had so much fun picking colors and working on some English words. They are all just a bunch of sweethearts and some of the girls are so sassy!! Little Miss Jessica is just a mess.  She knows what she wants and it is so hard to tell her know b/c she is so cute!!! 

This afternoon we went to lunch in Old Town Luoyang and walked around there for a bit. This was something I did not do last time and it was really cool to see "real" China. I loved looking in all the local art shops where you could watch the artists work. Old Town has such a different feel then Beijing. Here is your trivia lesson of the day. What Chinese City, known for its local visiting Missionaries and an orphanage, was once the capital of China?  You guessed it…Luoyang used to be the capital of China! We had the chance to actually walk around within the city walls, find a tea room and have some afternoon tea. Then, back to Maria's for lots more afternoon play time!

Tuesday - Kids and toys



Today, we got to unpack the suitcases we brought over and all the goodies inside!!! One of the things most of you know that I brought over was a double stroller thanks to the IBC youth group kids! They loved it and have requested to see if more people will bring them over with the summer groups! I am going to repurpose the extra money that I raised for this trip originally destined to support Show Hope to buy another stroller that will be brought over by someone this summer. They are so exited and it is already getting lots of use! The Ayi's love taking the kids on walks and I have seen it out and about several times already! We had a couple of suitcases filled with new toys for all the rooms! We separated them all and then delivered them. It was so fun to watch all the kids and Ayi'sfaces as we brought in new toys for their rooms. One of the things in the suitcases I had the most fun with was the tutu’s!!! Some of the older girls were not quite sure what to do with them so I had to put one on.  Sorry, sadly no one got pictures of that. But one of the babies really enjoyed it, was so sweet and I have tons of pictures! Along, with playing with all the sweet little ones here, we have been having some wonderful evening bonding and devo time! I am here with an amazing group of people and it is so hard to believe we have not even known each other for a week! I feel so blessed to be a part of this team and I know God has great things planned for all of us! 


 

Easter fun!

Monday- Easter egg hunt


I cannot even explain how great it feels to be back at the Big Blue House! Since we got here late on Easter we had lots of fun Easter Monday activities! The Ayi's (Nanny's) love when we throw parties so it was so much fun setting up for our Easter party. We filled eggs for an egg hunt that was more like lay all the eggs out in the grass for the kids to pick up! We dyed hardboiled eggs. The Ayi's really got into that after we showed them how it worked. It was so funny watching them all over there with the crayons and egg dye and getting so excited when they pulled them out of the color. The kids had so much fun eating jelly beans, finding eggs, getting their faces painted and eating a yummy Easter cake! It was such a great way for us to reach out to all that work here and let them have an afternoon of fun!!! 

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Easter Sunday 2011




Sunday April 24, 2011 EASTER!

Easter morning! We went to a wonderful church service where 20 people were baptized. It was the CCC, which is only open to foreign passport holders. It was wonderful to just worship with this whole building full of people from all over the world on Easter morning! 

We grabbed lunch at Subway and then went to the Great Wall! It was such a clear beautiful day!!! It was amazing.  I saw mountains I had no idea existed the last time I was here! I could not get over how for 2 days in a row now we have seen BLUE skies. We enjoyed about 2 hours on the Great Wall and then back to the airport we went! The flight to Louyang was great and the plane was about same size as my flight from BE to US! We are now at the wonderful BIG BLUE HOUSE!!!!!!! 

CHINA!

 April 22 and 23, 2011

WE FLY TO CHINA!!!! We went the airport and met up with everyone else that was staying in different places or arriving in that morning!  We arrived at our gate and boarded the plane for a wonderful 13 hour flight.  I watched 3 movies, took a couple of naps and saw great views from the window! (Sorry, Margaret, for reaching over you to take all those pictures!) I was so excited to land in Beijing and start this next China journey! We went to our hotel and had devotion and group bonding time, which was wonderful. Then we headed out to dinner at an American style place. Back to the hotel to try and beat jet lag!

Newark NJ and meeting the rest of the ShowHope team!


Thursday April 21, 2011

Arriving in Newark via train with a double stroller, suitcase, backpack and purse! It was another adventure. Thank you so much Dawnie and Grandma for helping at the train station and with all the stairs. 

I was greeted by the lovely Chelsea at the airport! We were among the first ones there.  We had lots of time before the others arrived so we took the luggage to the hotel, hopped on the shuttle and went to the mall.  We walked around and talked and had a great dinner getting to know each other! It was so wonderful meeting the different team members as they were all arriving at the hotel!! We had a great first night just chatting, then heading to bed to get ready for an early morning!

The Journey begins.....

So, the journey begins!!! First step; fly to Philly and then to Maryland. All I can say was my first thought when I got on the plane was, “Am I on the wrong plane!!!” It was the smallest plane I have ever been on for an international flight.  It only had 31 rows (I was in row 30) and it had 6 seats per row! So on top of being super small, it had no TV’s!! They had a couple of overhead monitors that you had to buy headphones to use and they only played PG13 movies.  I am still not sure how they get away with that since they had a ton of kids on the flight. I was super happy to have my laptop, book and iPod. So, then came the exciting part.  They ran out of food before they got to me!!!! There were a total of 15 passengers that did not get any food!  They gave us instead a choice of one of the in-flight snacks you can buy, so I ended up with some pretzel M&M's, which I will have to say were yummy!! So after all that, we arrived safely, which is what really matters.

I had a short layover in Philly and stopped in at the USO (which is so nice) and then headed out to my very short next flight! I think I actually had more leg room on that flight then my long one. Go figure! I was only in the air for a whole 28 minutes!! I landed safely again and my suitcase was one of the first to come out, but I discovered that one of my wheels broke off somewhere in transit. It is a really good thing my suitcase has 4 wheels!! 

That ends my journey for now.  I am hanging out and visiting family here in Maryland until Thursday when I head to Newark! 


~Stephanie~

Friday, April 8, 2011

With all the wonderful support as I mention below I was able to buy a double stroller! Plus, I have 4 baby carriers and possibly 2 more coming! These are needed for transferring the babies around to care for different needs.

We had a wonderful team conference call earlier this week and the one American nurse Mariah is so excited about us being there over Easter! She is planning on spreading the holiday out over the whole trip! I am so happy that I will be able to bless the staff at MBHOH with a little taste of home! I am going to bring some American and Belgium chocolate! ( we found out that chocolate in China taste like WAX!) I also found out about a few other home like things they would love like coffee and candles so I am going to work on that and see what all I can fit in my suitcase! Whatever I can bring over to bless them I want to do!

Now , the not so fun part of packing comes! I am going to work on that this week start packing for both my few days in the States and China! We found out the weather is going to be mid- high 70's and have a low of 50's. So the weather will be nice and not too hot!

I will write more when I have a new update! Please just keep praying for my team and all the people we will be with while we are in China!

~Stephanie~

Saturday, April 2, 2011

20 more days!

I can hardly believe that in 20 days I will be heading to wonderful China again!!!

So here is a update on what is going on in preparing for my trip.

1st I would like to thank the wonderful youth group that I work with here! They helped with a parents night out fundraiser and we raised enough money to buy a double stroller for me to bring over and I am working on getting different baby carriers for the orphanage! I  continue to be amazed at all the wonderful support and encouragement I am receiving about my trip!

I have so many wonderful things to be thankful for! I raised over the amount of money I needed before my deadline! I was able to get the stroller and more! Also , we were having problems with my visa and God sorted it all out and it was able to get fixed and it is now back in my hands! Praise God!!!!!

We got our trip handbook and I was excited to see that we will be spending Easter morning on the Great Wall. I am excited that our trip is pretty packed to keep us all busy and we have lots and lots of play and loving on time with the kiddos! We will even be able to help out in the pre-k class some!!!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend and I will keep you all updated on any new happenings for my trip!

~Stephanie~