Chinabush

this lady is making and selling popcorn

there is a LOT of corn grown out here in the countryside where we live.. everyone is involved in the cycle of planting, harvesting, sowing and reaping.. and everyone does it at the same time..

right now, corn is being harvested, shucked and bagged for market.. the corn is laid out on all of the streets, sidewalks, even on tops of houses, and everyone in the families from young to old are involved in the process..

sarah even shucked an ear or two herself

we were at the hospital all day and into the night for xiao xue’s surgery.. it was a long and at times tense day, but the doctor said all went well, and she is out of ICU and recovering now..

at peace before the surgery

going to ICU after 6-7 hour surgery

out of ICU and in her foster mom’s care

one of the benefits of the healing home is that we can now take orphans of any age, any physical condition, and even children outside of the official state orphanage system…

xiao xue is a 17 year old girl from central china with a serious heart defect (tetrallogy of fallot).. no one knows the whereabouts of her abusive father and her mother died a few years ago leaving no one to care for her..

there is no orphanage in her village, but a local couple with big hearts have taken xiao xue and 7 other orphan children into their hearts and home..

xiao xue is happy with her foster family, but they have not been able to provide her with the medical / surgical help she needs..

xiao xue is at new day now and awaiting surgery this week or next.. please pray for a successful surgery for this young lady

since we missed the olympics, we decided to venture out for the paralympics… we saw several track and field events at the bird’s nest.. we went on a saturday, the first day of a three day holiday in china, and tickets were cheap - all of which translated into EXTREME numbers of people.. without a doubt the most people per cubic meter that we have ever experienced in our years in china..

soon after we returned to china, we were asked to help a one month-old baby girl in critical condition with multiple physical problems… we knew that the odds were against little virginia, but we all agreed that we wanted to try and do what we could for this little girl.. we fought alongside virginia for a week, but ultimately her little body just wasn’t able to make it… these times are not easy for us here, but we are all glad that virginia did not die alone and uncared for

just before we returned back to china, we had all of the family together for ben’s “whitecoat” ceremony for the incoming students at UAB

we are happy for ben to see this lifelong dream of being a doctor coming closer and closer to reality, and it was especially good to be with all of the “boyz” and laura before returning back to beijing..

well, allow me this little diversion.. the little boy in me is always fascinated that our return flight is over the artic circle, instead of the horizontal route we think of when we look at a map.. usually, its either too clouded or dark to see anything, but this trip was an exception:

how bout them ‘bergs?

Well, it is with much mixed feelings that we find ourselves here in the US watching the Olympics on TV, when we had planned all along to be there! Truth is, I guess we will see much more this way than we would have in China.

We did try to visit the Olympic park before we left for the states, but this was close as we could get..

You’ll be seeing a lot of this structure in the upcoming days

March 12, 2008 – July 19, 2008

A few weeks ago, Liu Yi underwent a 10 hour heart surgery that initially appeared successful. However, the next day, I received the following email:

On Saturday night at 7:38 pm Beijing time Lui Yi stepped from this life into glory. At 6:00 pm we received a call saying she did not have much longer and we needed to get to the hospital. I know she was unconscious at the time- but I was so glad we were able to be with her in her last moments. We were able to touch her and tell her we loved her. She had been abandoned but in her last moments she was not alone. And as she stepped into glory I knew Jesus was there to meet her with open arms.

The doctors were so nice and were comforting us. Her surgeon had received a call at 2:00 am Saturday morning and rushed to the hospital. He was with her all day till the last moments doing all he could do to save her. We were so blessed to see all they did to try and help her. I would like to thank each one of you for all your prayers.