Sweet Caleb

Sweet Caleb went to be with Jesus when he was barely 3 weeks old. Please pray with us that we can find a way to help Chaoyang get the best care the children need. Caleb's needs were not extraordinary, but the docotrs in Shenyang were unable to save his little life.

We have a job to do folks......a BIG job. Won't you join us?

DONATE NOW Please put "Chaoyang" in your memo.

The Cribs Have Arrived!

The director got a call that the cribs had made it as far as the JinZhou province. From what I'm told, he arranged pick from there! The staff assembled the cribs in the downstairs playroom. We look forward to seeing our precious little ones in their new beds.

Love in Any Language

One of my favorite clips from the week.

Safely Home!

Our trip home went just fine. Hats off to Air Canada! Their touch screens with many movie choices, really make the trip go faster. Amy and I were welcomed home by the house band! Mark did an absolutely fabulous job on the home-front. The kids haven't stopped hugging and kissing me. Amy is off with friends...of course. It is truly GREAT to be home!

Last Day in Beijing

Our last full day in China was amazing. It started off at the Beijing International Christian Fellowship. This is a church for foreigners only. They meet in the theater of a very large hotel. I've been blessed to have been able to attend this church 3 times before and was super excited to share it with the team. As always, it was wonderful to worship with other believers from around the world. It's hard to explain the feeling of hearing worship songs being sung simultaneously in Chinese and English.

We then went on a Hutong tour, which is a rickshaw ride through the old part of Beijing that is preserved mainly for tourists. It was originally inhabited by the Mongolians, where one extended family would live around a courtyard, according to Feng Shui beliefs. Now the courtyard is gone, and four different families will live in each area. We got to stop at one of the homes, where the husband and wife served us HOT tea and cherry tomatoes. The girls and I did a fab job hiding the cherry tomatoes until the man came by to serve us more! :)

More Philip Hayden

Philip Hayden Foundation

The day started with sunshine (a rarity in Beijing)! We boarded the bus at 7:30am for our 90 minute drive to Philip Hayden Foster Home. Philip Hayden Foundation (PHF) establishes children's villages in Mainland China for at-risk and special needs orphans. Again we were blown away at how the Lord has blessed the work of this foundation. The children are absolutely beautiful and although they are orphans, every effort is made to give them the feeling of being loved and nurtured in a home environment. The co-director, Leah, welcomed us with open arms and gave us a tour of the grounds. There is new construction everywhere as they strive to meet the needs of the kids. They are finishing up a home that will have a preschool and kindergarten on the first floor. Also a home is being built to house adolescents that have little hope on the streets. They will be taught much needed life skills. Again, the teachers in our group went a little nuts.

Tracie, Toni, Jake, Anna, and Meme ventured off to The Great Wall this afternoon. The rest of us are "chillin" back at the hotel. Tomorrow is church at Beijing International Christian Fellowship (who would think, we go to church more in China than in the states!) and then a Hutong tour.

Enjoy the photos and leave us some comments! We can read them this year!!

More Hope

Just thought I'd share so more pictures of our trip to Hope Foster Home. Words can't express what these amazing people are doing for children in the name of the Lord.

Hope Foster Home

It was a difficult journey, but after a delightful 3 hours at the Chaoyang Airport (we were delayed), we made it to Beijing! Upon arrival, we went to a market to buy supplies for the foster homes. It was another grand adventure, fortunately, we had our fearless leader, Liz and our over zealous tour guide, Che! It is obvious that all of us are missing the luxuries of America….many conversations have included fantasies about triple shot caramel frappacinos and cheese burgers! Luckily, Che with his sharp tour guide instincts, caught onto our need for some American food and took us to Subway for lunch! It wasn’t quite what we have in Texas, California, and Washington, but it was a close second (maybe not that close) minus the vegetables, cheese, variety of breads, and condiments!!!!

We spent the afternoon at Hope Foster Home, a lovely home for special needs orphans recovering from surgery. If you have time, you should check out their website, www.hopefosterhome.com . All of the teachers in the group were amazed at how organized Hope was! I think I can venture to say that is was a real dream come true for Toni, Tracie, Liz, and Meme! All teachers love everything labeled! Robyn, the co-founder gave us a tour and then we played with the kids. It was a great experience for us all! We hope that we a little help from Ying, that maybe a couple of the babies from Chaoyang will be able to come to Hope to received the specialized care required for their conditions.

Tomorrow we visit another foster home outside of Beijing, be sure to check back with us to check in on our adventures! As of now, we do not have a talent act planned for tomorrow, but perhaps Che can get something going for us! We didn’t have any real performances today, we attempted to “rehearse” in the Beijing hotel elevator, but sadly our audience scurried off the elevator puzzled. Clearly they were not ready for the musical talents of Team Chaoyang!


Stay tuned for more Chinese adventure!

Much love,
Team Chaoyang

Saying Goodbye

 

 

 

 

Goodbye Chaoyang...Hello Beijing!

Today, we reluctantly said goodbye to our friends at the orphanage, but in our usual Team Chaoyang fashion…we went out with a bang! Our birthday party was a huge success! The children had a wonderful time! We had cake, papayas, apples, and cherry tomatoes! Many of the kids had 2 and 3 pieces of cake! Needless to say, they were bouncing off the walls! Sadly the cribs never made it to the orphanage, but hopefully, Ying will be able to check up with the director and get pictures for everyone back home. We were able to present the beautiful quilts and bedding and everyone was very thankful! The refrigerator was also delivered today! That was quite a sight to see…1 man carried the side-by-side refrigerator up the stairs while 3 more were behind him! We are not all together sure how did it with such ease!

This evening we went to a Chinese Three Self Church and worshiped with the members there. The minister warmly welcomed us into their congregation, gave a short sermon, and then the members performed a dance for us! It was at the Three Self Church that we realized that we definitely are an American touring talent act! After the members of the church performed their dance, we were invited in join in and dance with them! We are quite a talented group of 12 unique individuals! After the dance, Angela played the piano and we were able to share some American praise songs! It was amazing; we all had chills!



Tomorrow we leave for Beijing to visit 2 foster homes. We are looking forward to meeting new children tomorrow, but each of left a piece of our heart with the orphans in Chaoyang. We will continue to keep you all updated on our adventures and our touring act!

Beijing or Bust,
Team Chaoyang

All Work and No Play?

Things are going great in Chaoyang! It is hard to believe that tomorrow (Thursday) is our last day at the orphanage. The past couple of days have been amazing and each of us has made memories to last a life time.

Tuesday was packed full of fun! We decorated foam visors with the kids, then, decided to decorated ourselves as well! For lunch, we went to "The Hot Pot" which is pretty much the Chinese equivalent to fondue! Everyone enjoy the experience and the delicious meal! Liz (our fearless leader) however, had a more difficult time with this meal and consequently ended up wearing more of the meal on her clothes than actually eating the meal!

Today (Wednesday) has been wild! This morning, we took the kids to a city park that had some carnival style rides! All of the children LOVED it! They were running around with their favorite VO team member, smiling, and having a ball! Jake has made a lot of progress with a special needs boy who lives upstairs. On the first day at the orphanage, Jake learned that the boy could walk with assistance. Throughout the week Jake has been spending time with the boy and today, the nannies and the director brought him in a wheelchair to the park! He was not a fan of all of the rides, but truly enjoyed the overall experience! Jake has really made a difference in that young man’s life! WAY TO GO JAKE! Later in the afternoon, Liz and Ying went and bought a refrigerator and a fax machine for the orphanage. They were in need of a ‘frig for the upstairs and needed a fax to assist in getting more children registered for the adoption process. Apparently, Liz was treated like a Queen and the people in the stores were amazed at the work we are doing here in Chaoyang! Tonight, as group, we went “out on the town” and went on a scenic walk around a Pagoda that is not too far from our hotel! It was quite an experience taking in all of the culture! Overwhelmed by all of the culture, a few of team members decided to provide a little American culture and put on a show for literally hundreds of innocent bystanders! Needless to say, the crowds roared with cheers (and laughter) as they were serenaded with The Dixie’s Chicks, “Good Bye Earl” and The Little Mermaid’s, “Part of Your World”! As if that was enough…the VO performers (who shall remain nameless) ended their triumphant performance with the dance, dance revolution, “The Electric Slide!” What sight Team Chaoyang was this evening!

Tomorrow will be a busy day. Sadly, it will be our last day at the orphanage, but we have great things planned for the kids! We will host a birthday party for all of the children and present our gifts to the children and the orphanage! It will be a wonderful day! Ying is continuing to help us locate the cribs. What would we do without Ying??? We are VERY hopeful that they will make it to the orphanage by tomorrow so that we can set all of them up for the children and nannies. The mattresses have already been delivered; we have a host of beautiful quilts, and lots of cribs sheets…now all we need are the cribs!

Sorry we have not been good at updating the blog, but we promise to do better! It has been quite difficult juggling our touring talent act and visiting the orphans! We hope all of you are doing well back home and we look forward to seeing you soon! Much love to you all!

Cheers and Chopsticks,
Team Chaoyang