There and Back Again....

"Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,

 for everything in heaven and earth is yours. 

Yours, Lord, is the kingdom: you are exalted as head over all."

1 Chronicles 29:11

 



I am going to finish this up.  I have been back a little over a month, and I could go on and on about China and my experiences there but its time to bring this part of the story to a close. 

 

Everyday while we were there we had a photography workshop for the older kids in the orphanage.  The kids loved it, and I got the rockstar of the class as my buddy.   There was a photographer on our team that led the class.  He and his wife would stay up late at night editing the pics and they turned out really amazing.  It was so amazing to see this young married couple serve God together and use their gifts for His kingdom.  You can read more about the class and see pics on our team leaders blog here.  She also has several other posts on her blog from our trip (like the time she got to tell a little girl she was adopted and her American name) so you should make a cup pot of coffee, get comfy on your sofa and head on over there and read.the.whole.thing.
 

Saturday, we left the town were the orphanage was to start our trip home.  We made our way to X'ian and went to the Muslim market the night we were there.  The Muslim market was way crowded (picture one of these local fairs in TX like the Strawberry festival with 3x's as many people as they have on dollar night and motorcycles and garbage trunks driving thru it--no lie).  There were four of us that stuck together that night.  We were tired and hungry for some good ol' fashioned  American processed food.  Not the animal on the stick kind of food that they had at the market.  Off in the distance, we saw those beautiful golden arches.  Yes, they aren't so beautiful in the US, but when you have been watching a Lazy Susan spin around and eating with chopsticks for over a week, McDonalds becomes a beacon in the night for lost souls.  We managed to find McDonalds without much trouble.  Finding our way back to the market was a different story.

We walked thru some underground tunnel thing (which is wayyyy safer than crossing the street in China for those of you that think this sounds unsafe), and we got out one or two exits too soon.  For a while we thought we were on the right path.  There were bright neon signs in Chinese or English that made no sense at all.  Yes, we had definitely seen all this before; it all looked so familiar.  We kept walking and walking and never saw the entrance to the Market where we were to meet our team.  We turned down some side streets and saw little markets and little old Chinese men sitting outside playing dominoes.  It was like the background scenes in Karate Kid 2010 version.  We kept heading down streets toward neon signs and not ending up at the market.  I told the others not to worry because I had a translator ap, our room key (I could point to it and tell a cab driver where to take us) and a credit card.  Yes, I could teach a survival class.  Anyway, someone wiser in our little quartet thought we should stop and ask for directions.  The initial lady didnt speak English but sent us across the street to some kind of wig shop.  The guy in there couldnt really speak English either but then I whipped out my phone with the ap.  I typed in Muslim.  He pointed a direction and laughed.  He said it was a long way.  Two blocks later in that direction and we were there (a guess a long way means something else in China).  I am not sure what part of town we were in (good or bad), and I have a feeling I dont really want to know.  Anyway, our tour guide saw us and hurried us back into the flock of crazy Americans.  I think we almost gave her a heart attack.

Sunday we took our flight to Beijing and that is where we were to get our connection back to the US.  Those of us that had to spend a night in Newark were to fly home thru Chicago.  I had been a little stressed all week because my connection time in Chicago was only an hour and a half, and I knew I would have to go thru customs and all that mess.  Realizing there was nothing I could do about it; I tried to keep it out of my mind.  Well the morning we were to leave for Beijing, I discovered that my flight to Chicago had been bumped back an hour and now my connection time was only 30 minutes.  I knew I would never make that connection in time, but my plan was to take care of changing my flight to SA when I got to the US and everyone spoke the same language and since the majority of my flights on this airline had already been delayed I figured the odds of my one from Chicago to SA being delayed were probably pretty high as well.  The airline had a different plan.  They insisted they put me on the later flight to SA that wouldn't leave till the next morning but that they would pay for my room in Chicago...ummm thanks.  I was so HOMESICK.  I think I could have started crying right there, but the guy in the line next to me was in a similar situation and was being a complete jerk.  Since I came to be Jesus to the people of China, I figured I should be nice to the poor lady issuing tickets so I decided to suck it up and be gracious.  Besides, I didn't want them to think all Americans acted like the guy next to me.

You can probably guess what happened in Chicago, my flight from Beijing landed a little earlier than thought, my original Chicago to SA flight got delayed an hour, but I no longer had a seat on that plane.  After talking to 3 people that worked for the airline, the last one rather firmly (or maybe she could tell I was about to do my ugly cry), I got booked standby for my original flight.  When I was told I had a seat on the plane, I literally started jumping up and down and crying.  Poor people who had to witness that in the gate.   I was sooo happy walking on that plane and hearing Spanish.  I sat next to a professor that had been in Chicago for a conference.  I was telling her my story and she said "so you have literally flown around the world".  I guess I have.  There's one for the books.

So to say that my trip to China was "amazing" is an understatement.  I got to get to know a group of really amazing people.  I got to immerse myself in a culture that is completely different than my own.  I got to see God work thru people in an orphanage that don't even know Him.  I was reminded how blessed we are as Americans to be able to be a member of a church and worship God openly and tell others about Him without all the risks they have in China.  There are some risks but compared to theirs....well we need to get off our booties and get to work people.  It hit me hard how lucky I am as a PT in the US to have all the resources we have available to help children with special needs.  It reminded me that voting is an honor and made me very thankful for all the people I know and love that have fought for me to have that privilege.  It also reminded me that we dont have to fly around the world to be the hands and feet of Jesus.  We can be Him to the people we come in contact with everyday.  Now thats something I really need to work on.....

Gift giving....

"If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your father in Heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"

Matthew 7:11

 

 

There were three of us on the infant room team.  A NICU nurse, my roommate for China (who had already adopted 2 kids from there and has another adoption in process), and myself.  Yes we were pretty much the dream team...ok maybe not but we I thought we were.  Now those of you that know me....well most of you are NICU nurses anyway, and you know how much I love you guys.  The NICU nurse that was in the infant room with me also has a dry sense of humor and is mom to 4 boys.  Yep, she was my hero.  I cant tell you how many times I requested her to listen to a baby to figure out his heart defect or drop a NG tube (of course we had none of those supplies in China and the nannies would have REALLY thought we had lost it) but it would have been nice.  She would hand me babies to assess for tone, and I would ask her a kazzilion questions like is this teeny tiny baby really suppose to drink all 3oz of this brown liquid.  To which she would reply "good luck".

There were a few things that we wanted to educate the nannies about while we were there.  We were trying to decide what the best way was to open the door for this.  I remembered I had brought some necklaces that I had made so I planned to bring them the next day to give them as gifts to the nannies to help facilitate that.  No, I am not above bribing, and yes, I do use that as a parenting technique for my own children as well sometimes...

 

Anyway, the next day I gave the necklaces to the nannies.  After a conversation that went something like. "Gift for you" followed by our favorite little fiery nanny , WL, shaking her head no.  Then me typing in my phone "gift" and it spitting out the Chinese word for gift.  Finally, a nanny tending to the babies decided she wanted one and came and took one that led to the rest taking one.  What I did not fully realize is that when you give a gift in China, you should expect gifts in return.  Their gifts of choice for us was food, and yes, it was as scary as it sounds.  I left for a minute to go assess some babies in the next room and when I came back to my room WL starting putting things in my mouth.  Yes, she was physically putting things in my mouth, and yes, I had only known her for 2-3 days.  Personal space has a whole different meaning in China.  Luckily, that first day of gift giving was only candy and chips.  The next day she brought prepackaged meat looking things on a stick and chicken feet.  My two other teammates ate that mystery meat on a stick like champs.  I took one teeny tiny nibble and told her that it was too spicey and she thought that was the funniest thing she had ever heard.  Who doesnt love a whimpy American?

 

The rest of the week went well in that room.  They switched one of the infants to a slower nipple while we were there.  I reinforced tummy time some more.  They finally would let us go and pick up and love on those babies in the corner that maybe didnt get it as much as the others.  We put the crib mirrors on all the cribs.  My roommate got to bound with a baby that reminded her of her daughter that she had adopted from China.  I kind of learned how to fold Chinese diapers.  I got to do some serious work on my poker face although I probably could still use some more practice :), and I feel like I made some lifelong friends from St Louis, Philadelphia and China.