In retrospect

We have been back from China for 5 months now. It seems just like last week we were there. Everyday since we have been back, one of us mentions something that happened in China this summer. We laugh about a lot of the things that happened and we spend time praying for other things and people. The experience was truly one of a lifetime. Our children are different because of it and Jeff and I are different because of it.
Our perspective on life and "stuff" is SO different now. We are thankful everyday for what The Lord has provided for us and realized that we do have a purpose here on Earth-to serve HIM everyday, in anyway that we can. Some things are small and some are big.
We have learned to cherish life. Several of the precious children that we grew to love this summer have gone to meet their Heavenly Father, others have gone to meet their Forever Familes in the US and other countries and many are still waiting for their families at SFCV and in their home orphanages. Please pray for these children and the Ayi's and staff that care for them everyday.
We have learned about diversity. Race and nationality does not matter in The Lord's eyes. We met many people along our journey that love The Lord. It was an inspiration to us. Your physical appearance is not everything either. Being with special needs kids and teenagers taught us that The Lord looks at you from the inside out. When you look at a child that has a double cleft lip and you see a smile beneath it all and a smile in their eyes, it makes your heart sing. Knowing that outside the walls of SFCV, that sweet baby would be rejected but, because The Lord lead this child to SFCV, this child has a chance at a new life. Several of these kids have had repairs since this summer and they look so different to the World but, to The Lord he still loves them! These babies now await a new earthly home.
Because of this experience, we will never be the same. Our family is closer to each other and to The Lord. About a month after returning, we found out that Jeff's cancer was back. I feel as if The Lord sent us to China to get away together and to be able to focus on HIM and the wonderful things he does on this Earth. With HIS help we will fight this cancer!
Thank you for supporting us with your prayers, encouraging words and donations toward this trip. As you can tell, we will NEVER forget our time in China and SFCV! We hope to return someday. May the love of The Lord go with you during this Christmas season!
We love you!
Dawn, Jeff, Mary Morgan and Carter

China-winding down

This unfortunately is our next to last day in China.  It is going to be very hard to leave Friday morning.  We have bonded so here with the kids and staff!  Today has already been busy.  We witnessed the Solar Eclispe this morning.  It was neat to watch.  It got cloudy toward the end of it.

 

Our family took the Elementary class to McDonald's today. A few other "foreigners" went with us and the teacher of the class.  We bought lunch for 10 kids and 5 adults and it was only $34.00.  It was a blast.  These kids only get McDonalds 1-2 times a year.  Some of them even got seconds.  Timothy was eating the packs of ketchup and a lot of them dipped their fries in the sweet and sour sauce!! This was a very special treat for them.  I only have 2 more classes with them- today and tomorrow.  We were all suppose to go to Forbidden City tomorrow but, Mary Morgan and I have decided that we are going to stay here to see the kids 1 more day!! Jeff and Carter will go with the group.

 

I have attached 4 pics.  I hope they all come through. 1- Kids, Teacher Wang and our family at McDonald's, 2- Our family with Tim Baker- founder of SFCV (plus Stevie the dog-"goa"), 3- Joseph double fisting his 2nd burger, 4- solar eclipse from China!!

 

Please pray that our last 2 days here will be to the glory of God, that we will cherish every moment here and that I can get everything packed back in the suitcases. Until tomorrow!

The Great Wall of China

Today is Sunday, we made a trip to The Great Wall of China at Mutianyu. It is about 1 1/2 hours North of Beijing...2 1/2 hours from here. This site of The Wall has a chairlift up and a tobaggan down!!  The weather was hazy-typical of Beijing- and warm..the air temp was good 85 ish but, the humidity is like Memphis!!  The entire group that is at The Inn went with us..there were 28 of us on a bus. Matthew Winn and family joined us. It was a great experience for the kids and Jeff. The ride up was fun.  We walked to the left..if you have been there before you know this is the less steep of the 2 ways!!  It was still a lot of walking and climbing.  We got a good workout. The sights were good. It is amazing to experience a man-made object in conjuction with God's creation. We could not see very far because of the haze.  It was a wonder to be able to walk on something that is over 2500 years old.  Of course, Carter and Mary Morgan where asked to pose for several pictures with Chinese people!!  This has become a natural part of going out!! This part of The Wall has been restored but, you could see parts of it that were really old.  The ride down is just as much fun as The Wall itself! You sit in a plastic sled that has a handle that acts as a break .The tobaggan goes really fast and the workers along the 10 minute ride down tell you to "slow down".  We really had fun with this!! We also took in some shopping at the bottom.  Jeff actually got a taste of bartering for your purchases- we heard "You price too low..you make me lose money!" "ok,ok-I take you price", "for you my friend, I give you vewy, vewy good deal".  It was an experience!

We had a great day spending time and fellowshipping with Matthew, Karen, Christopher and Lee Winn. It is fun to share time with friends at The Great Wall. Mary Holland is doing well and is just another Hawkins now!!!  We love it!!

Please pray that our last week here is SLOW!!  Pray that we touch every child, staff member and visitor with the love of Jesus. 

In Him!

Our outings in China

Friday Jeff, the kids and I hired a taxi and went to Beijing for the day.  We started out at the Beijing Zoo.  It only cost 15RMB- 1.75 to get in and 5 RMB- .80 extra to see the Pandas.  It was really fun.  They have 2 different panda houses with (we saw) 6 pandas.  They were very active, eating their bamboo and hanging out. They were pretty.  We also saw Sun bears and Brown bears.  Therre were signs everywhere saying NOT to feed the animals and at the Brown bears people were ignoring that.  Some people were throwing food over to them and they were begging for food-it was hillarious!  The bears were sitting on there back legs and begging for more!  Noone form the Zoo every said anything.  They had a great selection of reptiles and amphibians.  When you walked into the exhibit, one of the main things they had was an Alligator from The Mississippi River!!!!  I had to come half way around the world to see an alligator!  It was hillarious!!  The weather that day was rainy, then it stopped and was 76 F they rest of the day..it was a nice treat from the scorching heat!!! We spent about 3 hours at the Zoo.  This was the first time our family had been by ourselves in weeks.  We then went to a shopping market and it was crazy.  They were selling all kinds of things..it was making our head spin so, I bought 2 things and we left. 

Our driver got us back to SFCV in time to visit with some of the kids before dinner.  A team of 13 students and parents from St. George's School in Collierville, TN- how crazy is that!!- got here late Thursday night. And another team of 5 ladies from WA state are here too.  The Inn is full again and full of life!  It will be full for the rest of our visit.

Please pray that our week goes slow...I don't want to leave..none of us do!

Carter's mei-mei

mei mei means little sister....This is one of my favorite pictures.  This is Carter and Nu Nu, or Margaret.  She loves Carter.  Everytime she sees him she runs to him and says "gugu"-big brother.  Nu Nu has heart problems and lives in the clinic or Samaritan's House.  She is a sweet heart.  In this picture she led Carter to the entrance to see the sheep across the street.  Please pray for this sweet little girl.  Her heart is very weak.  Pray for her heart to strenghten as she grows.  We love this little one..it will be hard to say goodbye. 

This week in China

Ni-Hao,

I can't believe that we have been here for 3 weeks!  I don't even want to think about coming home. We have been so blessed by each child that we have seen and played with.  Most of the week we stayed at SFCV.  We did take Jeff to Wal-mart and a Schezhuan resturant this was at Eric's request!  It was hot, hot, hot!! but very good.

 

This week I taught the Kindergarten kids, 6 of the kids from the clinic and the school kids.  The kids LOVE to have Art class.  Since we have been here for quite a while the kids see me coming and get so excited.  When I go into the classes the teacher usually speaks enough English to be able to translate for me.  The teacher from the clinic-Daisy-does not speak much English so, charades and the few Art words that I have learned came in handy.  I am getting the hang of speaking some Chinese now.  These clinic students are ages 3-5, I had them painting and it was messy and they had a blast!! They were sticking their fingers in the paint and trying to eat it!!

The Kindergarten kids painted too..there are 10 of them.  They had fun but, we had a few messes.  For those of you that know "Moses"- Shan Bei is his Chinese name- he is about 8 or 9 and deaf and is handful at times.  Mary Morgan started pouring the paint into the trays and Moses grabbed the bottle, fast as lighting and squirted it everywhere.  The teacher just shook her head and the ayi cleaned it up.  Then Zander, who is autistic, came into the room, painted and then dumped his water everywhere!!  He was escorted out of the room.   Moses saw this happen, thought it was funny and did the same thing!!  He was put into timeout and just smiled.  The kids did a really good job.  I am attempting to attach a picture of the class.

 

Carter has been helping out in Physical and Occupational Therapy.  He keeps the babies occupied while the therapists work with them.  For instance, he squeeks a toy to keep the baby awake, he talks to the older kids and makes them laugh and after everyone leaves it becomes his own littel work out room!  He really has been a help  to them.

 

That is all for now..keep the prayers coming!

 

Special family visits in China

This was a busy week.  There were no big teams staying at SFCV this week.  Just us, the interns and Jewel and Clay.  We did have a special family come visit.  Jamison is almost 12 years old, he is the one that made the cross in an earlier blog...well, his Mom and a family friend came to "get" him.  Our family had the pleasure to take them to dinner their first night here.  Jamison had never been to a restaurant- to our knowledge.  He was so excited to meet his Mom.  He must have said " Mommy-a" 200 times during dinner.  He loved the food and continued to eat as long as we gave him food. We took Stacy..mentioned earlier in the blog...with us so she could help translate with Jamison and with the menu.  Actually we are getting good at ordering at restaurants. We have a cheater menu that Shelby-one of the staff members- made us in Chinese with English translations.  We just point and say how many..I can actually count to 10 in Mandarin now!!!

 

Jamison's Mom is very sweet and he found out that he has 5 younger brothers..ages, 10, 8, 5, 5, and 2- one of the 5 yr olds is from China also.  He will blend in well with this family.  I will attempt to attach a video I have of Jamison with his cross he made!  Please pray for his family as they will be in China until the 24th and return home.  This will be a huge transition for him!