Nearing the End

It's always amazing how fast the time goes and our days here have flown by. Today was our last full day and we had a blast. This afternoon in the hot and humid China sun we setup 5 kiddie swimming pools for our pool party day. Little did we know that there would be a minimal amount of swimming and instead a whole lot of water wars. Children and staff alike really got into it and we had about an hour and a half water war with buckets, bowls, squirt guns, and hoses. It was hard to tell who was having more fun, the adults or the kids. In the evening we took the 4 teachers here at the orphanage who helped translate during VBS out to dinner and a little Karaoke. Tomorrow we spend the morning hours in the houses with the kids, then a last Chinese meal and off to the airport. Thank you all for your prayers! We look forward to seeing you and sharing pictures and stories about all that happened.

Finishing Strong

What an amazing time these last days have been. Every day we spend time in the morning in prayer and the word before we go to individual houses to play and interact with the orphans. These times of interaction have been powerful and have been great because in the afternoon with our VBS we see the same kids again and get to build off of the unstructured morning time with a bit more of a structured program. Each day has truly been better than the next as we've poured out and been blessed to interact with the children. It's been great to see each member of the team use their own gifts and passions in a tangible way. Tomorrow afternoon we will be hosting a pool party for all the kids and then our last hours will be spent with them on Saturday morning before we head off to the airport. To say each one of us have been deeply affected in our hearts by these children and God's heart for orphans is truly an understatement.

VBS

Today is our last day of VBS with the kids and then tomorrow we are having a special pool day. We have 5 kiddie pools that we'll be setting up for the kids but it's hard to tell who's more excited...the kids or their teachers. A couple of team members are fighting sickness (cold and stomach stuff) so your prayers are appreciated. We want to finish strong in our final days here and have already been deeply impacted by what our Papa is doing here in this place. Plenty of stories to come in the days ahead!

Orphans

James 1:27 has never been as tangible as it has been this week. God's heart for children is a theme that sticks out in the ministry of Jesus and flows through the New Testament. This morning our team sung a song about having childlike faith and a half hour later we found ourselves surrounded by children - placing faces with the words. When you look into the face of a child with special needs you don't see deformity, disease, or developmental issues. What you do see is innocence, faith, and unconditional love. To say that our team will never be the same having encountered these kids is an understatement.

We're Alive!

Hello all...
It's been a very busy few days since we arrived in China and we would have updated this blog sooner but found out that access was blocked from this side of the pond. We found a work around obviously.

We've been busy since we hit the ground a few days ago and just finished up our first day of VBS with the orphans. They've already got our hearts and we've cherished the time we've had to spend with them.

The team is all in great health and has been making the most of every opportunity. Thank you for your prayers and stay tuned for more updates!

Is this exciting or what!! I am nervous but excited at the same time. Thanks Andrew for doing this. See you all in the morning!

Here we go!

In just over 12 hours we'll be boarding our plane, headed for Beijing! We are excited to experience China, serve at PHF, and expectant that our Abba will use us in big ways in the days ahead. Your prayers are appreciated! Check back here for thoughts and updates from other team members in the days ahead. Check out www.chinaorphans.org to learn more about the Phillip Hayden Foundation and their desire to live out James 1:27.