More Pictures from Chongqing

A woman practicing a sword "dance"

Gotta love those noodles!! We ate lots of them in China

Dancing on the plaza

Always working...

OK, so Starbucks is not really Chinese...but it was a lovely place for me. The coffee at the hotel in Chongqing was awful and trying to find coffee to "take away" was really difficult. And then came Starbucks. It looked a little like home, it smelled right, and the lady understood what a "tall non-fat latte" was with no other explanation or charades. It was a little bit of "home" in a foreign land!

...and working some more..

A dad with his daughter - checking out the fish

On to Chongqing!!

So here are some practical details about the next leg of the journey on our trip....
We arrived in Chongqing and were greeted by our wonderful CCAI representative. She was warm, caring, friendly and attentive to all the families.

We stayed on the 26th floor of a hotel in Chongqing. The rooms were lovely and we had a super fun time riding the glass elevator on the outside of the building!!

Of course the reason we were all in Chongqing was the babies. I wish I could show a picture of each one...they are so amazing!! However, if you want to read my thoughts about the night the babies came to us, see here.

We visited the Chongqing zoo...home of some handsome Pandas.

We saw quite a few baby carriers like this around China. It is a basket in which the child can sit on the little ledge or stand in the bottom.

Playing games in the park

The grocery store in Chongqing was crazy!!! It was very much like the rest of Chongqing in that it was ALWAYS busy, full of people, with lots of activity (including a little pushing and shoving in line). While I recognized much of the food, there was some that was quite new. Above are ONE of the types of chicken feet on sale at the store. (Needless to say, I refrained from that shopping experience!)

Up to 2 years of age, the Chinese put their children in these split pants. That way when the child needs to go "potty" he or she just pees (or something else) wherever they are. Interesting concept...but it makes for some cute little buns!!

A bed of spring flowers...

Each morning many people would gather out in the park to do Tai Chi or some sort of group exercise. My favorite was the large plaza that would fill with women each morning in order to spend the first hour or so of the day dancing. You know, there is something right about a country where dancing is the first activity of the day!

Especially Fond of Them

So it's three o'clock in the morning and I can't sleep. Partially because my husband is gone and I have a child (who likes to move) sleeping with me, and partly because I am grieving. Yesterday, as I was celebrating the accomplishment of having "finished" the China pictures, it dawned on me that I hadn't seen a few. As I went through the photos again, I realized there was a huge chunk (almost 300 photos) that were missing! I frantically searched for them...to no avail.

I am sure it is some fault of mine that they are gone, but I have no idea how. They included all my pictures of the Old City of Chongqing...pictures that hang in my minds eye, but the beauty of which are lost to the rest of the world. All the richness, colors, faces, and stories will be mine to treasure, but not to share. I am sad...I was especially fond of these images.

Some may think that out of a total of 3000 photos taken in China, what is 300? Really if you think about it, I still have A LOT of photos. But, as I said before, I was especially fond of these and so numbers and percentages do not rule the day, my affection does.

As I lay in bed thinking about all this, the Spirit began to stir my heart. On the heels of such devastating tradgedies in Myanmar and China, it is easy to "dehumanize" the events and fall into lumping them into the category of "natural disaster" that happened "over there". I can fall into looking at percentages or statistics of populations lost. Sure, this number or that number of people are gone, but in an area with with over 2 billion people....well...there's still a lot of people.

However, each life - each individual life - was a picture, a piece of art, an image-bearer of his or her Creator. Their beauty and story hang in the heart of the God who Sees, but are lost to all the rest of us. How sad. Great works of art that are removed from this earth forever and will be forgotten or never seen by the majority of the planet.

But God does not forget. He remembers...because He was especially fond of them!

(By the way, I'm not equating the value of a human life with a picture. I think the Spirit just helped me understand the fondness that a creator has for each creation. And the deep sadness that brings when those creations are lost. And for any of those who have read The Shack, I think I was allowed understanding to the phrase "especially fond of".)

Squares, Walls and Temples

When in Beijing, we visited a few famous sites. Above is the entrance to The Forbidden City. Originally, I believe it was the home of the Emperor and now it is used for governmental stuff and a tourist attraction.

Walking toward Tiananmen Square

I was very struck by the love and care that the Chinese have for their children. It is a WHOLE family affair - raising children. You often see grandparents attending to and doting over their grandchildren. I guess in a nation that only allows one child per family, there are a lot of dreams, expectations, and hopes for that one child.

Tiananmen Square

Our guide this day was a lovely, lovely lady who lives in Beijing. She was so gracious - arranging for 2 cars and a driver, taking us to the performing arts center, Tianenmen Square, the olympic facility, and sharing her insights with us. As a special treat, she took us to lunch for Dim Sum. We told her to order for us and just not tell us what we are eating until AFTER we were done. The food was mostly wonderful - except the chicken feet, which are not my favorite. I was once again struck by the generosity and hospitality of the Chinese people!

Scott, Quinlee and I went to the Temple of Heaven one day - and gave the other two beautiful ladies a day to rest. We traveled on the subway which was a fun adventure. The Temple is a huge plot of land in the middle of the city. The grounds are beautiful and the architechture is vibrant with color and full of detail.

Bike riders on the way to the Temple of Heaven

I wrote this after our day at the Temple:

Temple

Impressive, expansive grandeur
Beautiful colors, intricate craftsmanship
Throngs of people
Musical symphonies
Cacophony of voices
Detailed, ornate but...EMPTY

It struck me how all religious institutions try to erect beautiful buildings to inspire awe and wonder. However, as followers of Jesus, we are told that we are now the temple - the dwelling place of the Living God. How many of us treat one another that way? Do I look at my co-followers and stand in awe and wonder at them?

It reminds me of CS Lewis' take on it: "The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbour's glory should be laid on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is a serious thing to...remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you say it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship...It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal...Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses. If he is your Christian neighbour, he is holy in almost the same way, for in him also Christ vere latitat - the glorifier, and the glorified, Glory Himself, is truly hidden."

The next day we journeyed to the one place I REALLY wanted to go...The Great Wall. It was a great adventure, but a steep one, as you'll see in the next picture. It was a pretty good workout to climb all the way up to the top!

The most amazing part for me was walking on stones that had been there for generations! Who had put them into place? Who else had touched them or walked on them? What battles had they seen? If they could talk, what stories could they tell us?

A pagoda off to the side of the great wall - wish I could have shot a wedding there!!!

Praying for China...

The following was written by the friend I traveled to China with. I just chose to copy it and let God move us to do what He wants us to do:

As you all know China is under rubble.

The loss and devastation is enormous. Really unfathomable. And when you account for the towns that are hundreds of years old you can imagine how impossible it was for the homes to stand.

I am so saddened and I am asking why? Why? Especially right on the heals of the terrible cold and freeze that hit in Jan/Feb this year. But, naturally, life goes on and we have already forgotten. Even, I, who was just there had forgotten about the terrible storm. We could hardly imagine cold when we were wishing we had air conditioning.

To give you a sense, we were in Chongqing - about 100miles southeast of Chengdu. The epicenter was not too too far from Chengdu - about 60miles northwest of Chengdu. Gratefully, [our third daughter's] orphanage in Xiushan is about another 400miles southwest of Chongqing.

There is good news, though. According to Half the Sky foundation there were no injuries to orphans, although there is some structural damage to some of the orphanages. Love Without Boundaries reports that [our third daughter's] orphanage is fine. No injuries nor structural damage. Another contact was made by a family whose daughter is also from Xiushan and they have "friends" in Xiushan who report not having been affected at all. It may also be worth mentioning that [our first daughter's] orphanage is quite far from this area and presumably has had no problems.

If you are moved, please pray with us. We have - needless to say - special affections for China. If you are so inclined please consider making a financial gift through:

www.chinesechildren.org
www.halfthesky.org
www.lovewithoutboundaries.com

Season after Pentecost

This last Sunday marked Pentecost - the celebration of the coming (to stay) of the Holy Spirit. We, as those who are marked by God's story within the Christian calendar, now are entering a long season of growth, discipleship and service. Because the Spirit prompts and guides us, the church has been gifted with all that she needs to proclaim and participate in God's mission to and for the world.

WildFire

He comes
a gentle breeze
making music through the tree branches
loosening the feeble grip of the folliage

He comes
a small flicker
bringing light and warmth within His flame
consuming each wick He finds

He comes
a mighty wind current
raising dust from the dead into a swirling funnel
lifting and dropping the soaring bird

He comes
a wide-hearthed fire
frolicking upon logs and scorching stone
crackling with whispers of untamed flame

He comes
wind and fire
combining into unstoppable Force
crossing the landscape in a dance un-containable

He comes
a rushing wind, a tongue of fire
covering the planet in searing wildfire
gathering a people who play among the Flames

He is here
Spirit
Bold, tender, dangerous, unpredictable
The wildest member of the Trinity

One of My Favorite Days

One of my favorite days in China was the day we went to visit The Philip Hayden Foundation (www.chinaorphans.org). It is a orphanage for kids with special needs - many of which are quite "treatable" in the US. It was a place of incredible warmth, love, and beautiful children! It is a place I would love to return to - to spend an extended amount of time there, holding babies or helping with whatever other projects they may need. Anybody else want to join me????

-sign from outside the Philip Hayden Foundation/Chinese flag in focus

While in China, we got to walk along the Great Wall, which I will blog about in the next post, but at Shepherd's Village (the name of the orphanage) I got to visit an even greater wall, in my opinion. There in the middle of the compound is a wall of handprints. Families can design a tile to celebrate a child's adoption. I was glad that it was God and I walking along the wall together. I was brought to tears as I thought about the word "home" for the kids represented on the wall. But it was bittersweet as I pondered all the ones who have no home yet. I think the tiles speak for themselves....





The highlight of the day was getting to go into the houses where the kids live, get on the floor and play with them. Their smiles and giggles were infectious! In fact, after this trip, I believe that laughter is the universal language and we all need to follow the lead of our children on this. The kids I was with played, shared, giggled, rolled, and hugged along with all the other children despite the language barrier. Somehow words didn't matter, but playing did!!

When we got back to our hotel in Beijing, I skyped my family to tell them about the experience. The first thing my daughter asked was, "Well, are you going to bring some home??" I chuckled at her question, but on a deeper level it is an unsettling one. What does God want us to do with orphans? If called to do so, will we be courageous enough to open our homes and hearts to these special children?

Initial Reflections on China

As I begin to post thoughts, reflections and images about China, I want to make two small disclaimers: first, I loved the trip - so anything seemingly negative I seem to write is not really negative, it is simply a darker color. Two, the reason we all traveled - the adoption - is something I cannot show pictures of. I want to respect the privacy of all the families that were with us. However, I am sure that in my more than 2000 pictures, I can find something to show and I'm sure I can find some words to put with them!

We arrived in Beijing first to an enormous and amazing airport! It has been newly built for the Olympic games and it is pretty impressive. We also arrived to a thick blanket of air pollution (which never fully left us our whole time in China) and a definite smell. Yes, China has a smell. Not bad, not great...but a smell.


My next impression was the amount of people! Everywhere we went in China there were people, people, people. I am not sure how many live in Beijing, but in Chongqing (the second city we were in), there are 30 million people! The country I was born in only has about 33 million for the WHOLE country!

The sense I got was that of being in an ant hill. If you've ever been digging in the dirt and you've dug up an ant hill, you'll understand what I'm talking about. The ants start to scurry and spread and seem to multiply on the spot, until you are sitting in a full mound of ants. That was what China was like - a constant anthill of activity, movement, busyness, and tons of people!


Along with the people come the bikes. There are thousands (actually probably millions) of them - except in Chongqing, which evidently is one of the only Chinese cities with no bicycles. They line the street, people load them down with goods, stack boxes on them and ride them everywhere. (Of course , there were a lot of cars too - and if you were lucky enough to have played Frogger (the video game) during your younger years, you had a small chance of avoiding being hit. (Evidently, the person with the biggest vehicle has the right of way in China!)




My last "first impression" of China I'll share with you from a journal entry I wrote (although I wish I had a better picture to share):

I am struck by the constant buzz and busyness here in China. Traffic is always moving, bikes are always peddling, vendors always selling. The consumerism here is appalling!! Everything can be bought in the markets for almost any price. There is stuff...stuff....stuff...

What makes a society run like this? Has communism so annihilated any spirituality that the new "religion" is materialism? Is there such a void that only more stuff - such fine and rare trumpery - can fill it? (Although perhaps we are on our way to the same "religion" in America!)