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!!! 

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!