Hands of Love

Hands of Love is the name our team decided to call ourselves, since there is already a "Team HengFeng" that visits this orphanage. The director wanted something he could put on the plaque he had made to hang in honor of our team, and we thought it represented what we did with our time, holding babies and woodwork. We also had a running joke about making hearts with our hands, as that is a symbol the girls in the restaurant made when we answered their questions of why we came to China.

We were pleased to learn this morning that we would not be touring in the afternoon after all, which meant more baby time. The wood crew finished the tables and horses in the am, and the director came up with the great idea of having us all sign our names on each piece. He said that way they would always be reminded of our love, and they would get to tell about us when people asked what all the signatures meant. Also on each piece, one of our girls drew the heart hand symbol and Ying wrote "Hands of Love" in Chinese characters. What I also love about it is that in Chaoyang we painted a vine with our handprints and signature on the wall, so this is in the same tradition. They also hired a professional photographer to take group photos, and by the end, we were all soaked in sweat!

Melanie bought some cakes for a celebration this afternoon. They were beautifully made, and it was nice to serve the staff since they had been so hospitable with us all week. Some of the nannies shared with their little ones, so a lot of the kids had "cake face" this afternoon. They were like little baby birds to their momma, begging for more:)

Leaving is always so tough, and this time was no different. I, personally, am always able to hold it in until I see the nannies crying, and then I lose it. With the help of Ying, I was able to tell the nanny of the room I hung out in a lot that I know how hard she works, and I know how much she loves the children in her room, and I really appreciate it. I may not choose to do it the way the nannies do, but I tell you what, they are pretty amazing ladies. They are on the job all the time, taking care of 6 young babies, doing the laundry, fetching warm water from a building down the way, etc. I can't imagine they get paid much for what they do either. I want to remember to keep them in my prayers, as they have a huge job!

Once again we had local college age kids join us at the orphanage, and they were great help with the woodwork and in the rooms. Also, the staff of the hotel restaurant where we have eaten our last 16 meals wanted a group photo with us. It is always a comedy to watch the poor person who volunteers to take the photo, as they have 10 or so cameras dangling off their arm. What started as a simple photo request ends up quite the production.

Well tomorrow we have to be in the lobby by 5:30, where the director will send us off on our drive back to Nanchang for an 11:45 flight to Beijing. He gave us all copies of the letter he wrote for us, which again, put us all in tears, where along with many other things, he said he would keep us in his prayers. He and all the people of HengFeng have been so sweet and accomodating. I am so thankful for our special, ordained time here.

Day 4 Heng Feng

Today was another hot and humid one in HengFeng! You would never know it by looking at the children's clothing though, as they are always dressed as if it were the middle of the winter. The children are mostly in long sleeves, some in flannel, and usually in layers. If they are in their crib, they are covered in a blanket. When the nannies aren't in the rooms, sometimes we will go uncover them:) Many of the girls on the team have enjoyed shopping for cooler clothing for the kids, and dressing them when we get to the orphanage.

There are only 3 kids who are above 2 years old, and we brought them coloring books (they had to be shown how to hold the crayons), sidewalk chalk, and some riding toys. The five rooms are set up in a square around a courtyard, so those kids can pretty much wander where they like without getting into trouble or lost, and seem to be free to go in and out of the rooms.

Today the woodworking crew finished 21 chairs, are almost finished with the five tables, and got the wood cutout for two rocking horses. They have been working incredibly hard in a very hot room with no air conditioning. You can taste the sawdust when you walk in the room! They have to be done tomorrow morning, as we are saying goodbye to the children and nannies at noon so that the director can take us on a tour of the area.

Our drive to and from the orphanage may only be 5 minutes from our hotel, but it is never lacking in adventure! Today on the way to their, we got stuck in a big traffic jam as there was a parked bus in our way and the incoming traffic kept coming without letting us past, but then they got stuck due to motorcycles, mopeds, and three-wheeled taxis that kept going around them. It really was quite hysterical, especially since I could reach out and touch the cars next to us. Our driver finally had to get out and tell the people behind us to back up so that he could maneuver around. While we were sitting in all of this, some of the girls were talking to a street vendor through their window, and a passerby bought them a watermelon and passed it through the window. Only in China!

On the way home we asked the busdriver to pull over so that we could take a photo of a roadside stall for a dentist. A dentist had donated a bunch of toothbrushes for the kids and nannies, so one of the girls wanted to take a photo for him. She even got to sit in the chair.

The Girls With Their Babies!

 

More Adventures...Day 3

Guess what we did today??? More snuggling with babies and building tables and chairs! A couple of the girls also brought brushes and barrettes, so we went around combing hair and making the girls look like girls. For the most part they really enjoyed the head massage....I even put one girl to sleep standing up!


Just four people on this one...I missed the photo op of the moped with five


Ying, Mark and I, escorted by the director and assistant director, also shopped for air conditioners for the orphanage. Mark and I stayed in the bus while they negotiated with the shop, so that they would get a better price than if the "rich" Americans were with them!

Day 2 by Toni Crebbin

The boys spent all day at a local lumber mill that let them use their tools, preparing the wood for the tables. They basically started with logs and planed, cut, and sanded wood for 4 tables and 20 chairs. Guess they had quite the experience. They were definitely tired and hungry at the end of the day, as the building was not air conditioned and they worked through lunch.

Us girls played with babies again all day. We now feel comfortable enough to change diapers when they need it, and some also got to bathe the babies. As you can see in the photo below, the nannies do it on their lap and much quicker than us!

We get many visitors throughout our day. Usually a relative of someone from the orphanage or hotel who want their teenager to hang out with us to practice their english. We never know who is going to show up at dinner, on our bus, or at the orphanage. This young lady was at the orphanage for the first time, because her uncle told her to come.

This evening was spent by most doing some local shopping, except two of the guys on the team headed back to the orphanage to finish a repair job on a broken door. The fix-it list seems to be getting longer....hopefully we have enough time to fulfill their wishes.

I had the interesting experience today of visiting the orphanage doctor. I got a mosquito bite on my ankle a couple nights ago that has become quite swollen and red. She put some ointment on it and sent the medication with me to use the next couple of days. One of the nannies told our guide that she would bring some aloe tomorrow. I'm thinking bottle of aloe, but not 15 minutes later, someone walked in with two aloe leaves! I love the service and thoughtfulness in China:) Please keep my foot in your thoughts, as it is doing better now, but swells up when I'm on my feet and in the humidity.

Babies!

Babies, Babies Everywhere!
What a joy today was, doing nothing but hanging out with 30 beautiful babies! I'll mainly let the photos speak for themselves, as you can see how we all spent our time. It was such a blessing to be able to hold and play with these little ones. The majority of them can't be older than 8-10 months, as only a couple walk. There was even a five day old baby. One of the men on our team is a cabinet maker, so he and a couple others made a table and chair for the kids, with plans to make more over the next few days (if they can figure out how to replace the two chargers that burned out....).

Tonight we headed back to the sqare where we were once again the center of attention. People were pushing their babies at me to get Mike to take polaroid pictures of us, and we sang songs to one of our teams guitar playing. It was a special time, being that we were in the government square.

Building and Babies

Jim got to visit the mill in Heng Feng today. He and his crew are getting ready to build 5 tables, 20 chairs, and new cabinet for the medical center and 3 dish cabinets for in between each room. He is seen here with the "head of the mill." Go Jim and crew!



So, Mark said he wasn't going to bring home a baby this year......he was looking more for a "nanny." This picture makes me wonder. :)

Trip to Heng Feng

Well it was a long day, but we made it safely to HengFeng. We had an early flight out of Beijing, and about 2 hours later we landed in Nanching where the orphanage director met us.







It was a beautiful drive through many rice fields and lush green scenery. Close to four hours later we were in HengFeng, where everyone has been extremely hospitable to us. We definitely are the local attractions here, especially when we went out to the county square where everyone gathers at night. It is very kid friendly, with glow-in-the-dark rollerblades and skateboards, art activities, funny looking inflatable rides (some of the girls rode for 5 yuan, which is less than a dollar, for 5 minutes), break dancing, while the adults have an opportunity to ball room dance. Some of the girls danced with local partners, and then led the electric slide. Crowds gathered around us wherever we walked, especially when I pulled out the polaroid camera that Joyce gave me (thanks Joyce!). Once I took one photo and they saw the results, mothers were bringing their babies to me for photos and children tugging on my arm. The only thing that could've made the evening a wee bit better would be lower humidity. Wow, the sweat just drips off, especially when the crowds would gather around. Oh yeah, and maybe the girls that got stuck for a few minutes would wish for an elevator that works consistently. I think I'm going to get a great workout this week going up and down the stairs to the fifth floor.

Crazy Day!

By Toni Crebbin:

I'm not sure how I can talk about today in just a couple paragraphs, but I'll give it a shot. For the longer versions and personal stories, be sure and ask after we're back in the states. For most of us, today is a day we will never forget, but as we all had different experiences, our stories will not be the same.

We started the morning at Beijing International Fellowship, which as usual, is a little taste of heaven with people coming together under the same roof, praising the same person. We then headed off to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall where when you are finished climbing the wall, you can choose to walk back down, take a cable car, ride the speed chute (toboggan), or ride the ski lift. Just beginning our journey was like an Abbott and Costello experience of "Who's on first," but alas, our journey began. As we began our climb, two groups splintered off, one that was planning on going down the cable car, and one that was going to toboggan. I was in the toboggan group, and after celebrating at the top we bought our tickets to toboggan down.







Kristen and Caleb were the first to get on their sleds, and after some quick photos, Caleb headed off. Suddenly we were told that the ride was closing down due to rain. What? But it's not raining....
The response was that it was raining down below, which would make the ride unsafe. Oops, poor Caleb was already on his way down! We headed back to the ticket booth and traded our toboggan tickets for ski lift tickets, feeling soft rain drops as we prepared for takeoff. As we began our slow descent, the raindrops became heavier, and that's when the thunder and lightning began. Let's just say I think all of us on the ski lifts grew closer to God during that time:) Fortunately we safely made it down to the bottom as the downpour continued, but Caleb was not to be found. We headed to the shopping stalls to get out of the rain and do a little bargaining. We found Caleb, who had waited at the bottom of the toboggan for quite sometime waiting for us, before he went shopping. But where was the cable car group??? We huddled under the stalls long after the shopping was done, and still, no cable car people. We were to be back at the bus no later than 5:00, to which now was past. Finally someone got a text from one of them, and they were stuck on top the wall, waiting the storm out. I have never seen such rain come down, like a flood down the cobblestone street. When the storm passed the group up top was allowed to come down the Cable Car and we all breathed a sigh of relief. As we drove the route back to Beijing the bus had to maneuver many lakes of water, but many cars were not as fortunate.

Despite all the hair-raising experiences we all had a good time, and topped it off with dessert at Dairy Queen! Although we played tourists today, our real journey begins tomorrow, as we head out to HengFeng very early in the morning. We can't wait to start interacting with the children, which we all desire and which is what pulled us all together here in China.y T

Philip Hayden Day

Today the team spent the day at Sheperd's Field Children's Village playing with and loving on the children. The team visited this foster home last year, so was fun to see some familiar faces and buildings that were under construction, but now complete. Everyone is still adjusting to the time difference and jet lag, so we are exhausted, but the joy that many of the chilren exemplified was energizing! You can see the happiness in the photos below. I'm not posting names with the photos, as I am still trying to learn all my team members names....

Update from Toni.....

Finally....

Hello friends and family. Sorry about the delay in letting you all know that we made it safe and sound, but we got in very late/early this morning, coupled with problems getting to blogger (Thank goodness for my husband's savvy of getting around things, if you know what I mean), so we're just now getting around to posting. No pictures yet though, but hope to tonight after our busy day. All the team made it uneventfully, with no quarantine issues. While everyone's body clocks are getting readjusted, we have a quiet morning, then off to Philip Hayden, a western-ran foster home, to love on some kids! Hopefully we have some good pictures to post tonight. Please keep us all in your thoughts....

Update on Team Chaoyang

As many of your now our team of 19 people were planning our third trip with Visiting Orphans to the Chaoyang, China in the Liaoning province. Mark was leading the team to Chaoyang this year and I was so excited for him to finally meet "our kids." However, it seems the Lord had other plans. Due to the H1N1 virus (Swine Flu) the province we were to visit has had 10 confirmed cases of the swine flu, supposedly brought back by students visiting the west, and the provincial government recommended closing the orphanage to outsiders. We were told that the orphanage director petitioned for permission on our behalf, but was turned down. This really came as a blow to me, as I always get my way and was quite sure the government would change their mind and let us in. Not so.

Fortunately another orphanage has opened up their doors to us. The Jiangxi province has not had any documented cases, plus it is a much poorer region, and so their restrictions are fewer. Mark and the team will be working in the HengFeng SWI (Social Welfare Institute). The team has never been to this part of China (well, half of them has never been to ANY part of China), so those that have traveled before are looking forward to seeing a new area. However they are not looking forward to the heat and humidity of the south at this time of the year. We are very thankful that doors opened up at such a short notice, as the situation could have been much worse. We are very disappointed that we won't be able to see the "Faces of Chaoyang," but know that God has great plans for us.

Please keep the team's travel in your prayers. There are many chances for complications to arise. The team will have their temperatures taken while still on the tarmac in Beijing. We have also had to change our trip itinerary to allow for extra "quarantine" days in Beijing, just in case. Usually we site see at the end, but it made sense to add it to the beginning as a precaution. Also, check back here daily, as Toni Crebbin will be sending me blog updates of the journey. She's been told however, that when the hotel in HengFeng has the air conditioning on, the Internet doesn't work. Gotta love China!

An Update...... THE TEAM OF 19 PEOPLE ARE SAFE AND SOUND IN THE HOTEL IN BEIJING. PRAISING GOD FOR ANSWERED PRAYERS!

Prayers Needed for Team Tehachapi!

These are just some of my favorite people going to love some of my favorite people. Your prayers would greatly be appreciated. They will meet up with 2 people on the team in LAX, 3 more people in Tokyo, and then......praying all goes well, 8 more people in Beijing!

I will be updating the blog from home and will keep you all posted.