Yes, I found a picture I took at Lunch the day we ate Worms!

Liz did Not try the dish in the right hand corner!

Each Child Matters to God

We already Miss China!!! Look at those eyes! What Now, You Might Ask... and I would say there are Three things I want to do

1. Bring Gideon to the USA so he can get a leg and walk

2. Build a House for Bethel so they can HELP more blind orphans and get them adopted

(WE Need to raise $50,000)

3. Provide life saving formula to the sick orphan babies

If you want to help Please let me know!

www.amotherslovechina.com under contact us

Thank you

Sweet....

Turn your head to see Joyce who I think should be called Mother Teresa...Each child will get a special baby book just about them! Joyce gets all the babies that the state run orphanages can't help. She loves each one of them as her own!!!!

This handsome boy will be having surgery very soon... A Mother's Love is sponsoring the surgery.

This is sweet Anna...She is two years old and is such a doll baby! Anna is as sweet as Pie! She is paralyzed from the waist down but is 100% Smart and is just Perfect! PLEASE...Please pray for Anna to Find a family....

Our Time is Coming to an End.

Well, I will keep it short and sweet tonight, it's late and we are exhausted. I promise to finish tomorrow once we get to the airport.

We had the priviledge of going to New Hope Foster Home today. What an incredible place! Joyce and Robin Hill are two of the most amazing individuals I have ever met. The amount of person concern and care they provide the 150 or so babies is overwhelming. Today we were able to meet and hold little babies that without Joyce and Robin would not have made it long on this earth. Their passion for helping these little babies is incredible. We met a little girl today that came to Hope at the age of one weighing six pounds, after one year she is around 20 or so pounds. The before and after pictures are unbelievable. We spent the better part of today with Joyce telling us stories each of the babies, the new Louyang Palative care unit and the 100 plus babies they are going to be able to help once it opens. It was incredible to hear Joyce give specific details about each of the children we saw. She loves these kids as if they were her very own. Today was a tough day at Hope for all of us too, as you can imagine not every story ends in success, but we know God always has a plan. It feels good to know that AML has three very impressive organizations that we support here in Beijing.

OK funny story....well not that funny but good. Today for lunch Robin the master chef that he is prepared lunch for us.....I thought for sure we were having fish and chips (Robin is British) but we had pasta and as Elizabeth said the best mashed potatoes she has ever eaten. They were good. Anyway we got to meet Katie as well, their adopted daughter, just imagine Annalei at eight, high energy - full throtle. She helped us bargain at one of the markets. What a kid! We will post more tomorrow with some pictures, I don't have the camera and I am sitting in Starbucks for the free internet. Say a prayer that our flight home goes well.


the canters

Jam Packed Day!

Well, not only did we go to Church today, we had lunch with the two couples that run the foster homes. For those of you who think Grandmas Kitchen is the best American food in Beijing, I think I have been introduced to a new place that is even better. Pete's Tex Mex located directly across from the Western Sizzler, oh yes, Western Sizzler, and as I was told today they have great food. All I could think of was Golden Coral. Anyway, we had a terrific lunch and were able to chat with both couples. They tried to talk us into moving to Beijing. Maybe not today, maybe tomorrow, I sink so! There was another profound learning from today luncheon. We were all discussing the small restaurant that we went with Guillaume to in the Village outside of Beijing. I told you he was rather kind to us in the food selection department, well.....apparently he asked the owner to bring a couple of Green Vegetables to put on the table for us. When they came one was the Garlic dish and the other we were told had bits of chicken sprinkled on it. It wasn't chicken! I was a little suspicious when the bits looked like chicken toes, but I thought Chickens don't have toes.....it turns out that they were baby silk worms, yes worms...remember the book we all read in 5th grade 100 ways to eat worms, I found number 101 and I am re- releasing the book.

After lunch we all headed to the Forbidden City and Tienanmen Square with the kids to take in the sights. Let me tell you there are a lot of people in China and I think half of them were there. I t reminded me a lot like Disney with the tour groups from south America and the little bouncing flag. I am still amazed at the shear volume of people and all of them want to have a picture with a Westerner. Elizabeth was set up a couple of times, Nolan and Christopher are little blond emperors in the eyes of the Chinese people. Elizabeth has always been a bit timid with the constant barrage of people selling stuff and following you around. Well today she over came her fear at the Silk Market...she worked the girl selling sunglasses over...it was like watching Sugar Ray Leonard go at it. Oh yeah, she got her price and two pair of sunglasses.

Tomorrow morning we are heading to Hope Foster Home to see Joyce and Robin Hill. It will be another wonderful day with these precious little kids. Sorry for the long message here is a couple of pictures of us today.

The Crew from Lunch, Byron and Karen Brenamen, Guillaume and Daphine, Emily ( Nurse at New Day) and the Canters.

At the Gardens of the Forbidden City. Amazing!

Saturday

God is so cool and cares about all of us in such a special way! Today out of Millions of people and hundreds of hotels, we were coming out of the elevator and Yes, we saw Zoe- the little girl being adopted that loved Nolan! She pointed at us first... Her parents are first time parents who could not have children. They are from Sweden, and they were very special people. They are so kind, and we got to spend a lot of time with them last night.

We let Elizabeth, Christopher and Nolan run around...We went to the Great Wall and they had a great time! The Mountains at Mu Tain U (not how you spell) were so big and the Wall is so incredible. We climbed the stairs on the Great Wall for a long time and then we rode the alpine slide down! What Fun...

We also stopped at a local resort and Nolan went fishing...It was so funny!

It was such a great day!!!! We just woke up, and we are on our way to the passport only (not Chinese) Church BICF. How I take for granted going to Church! Then we are meeting with two different Childrens Home Directors...
I have received emails that many have tried to comment on the blog but can't (I am sorry).

Sorry!

Hello to all. Sorry for the delay in posting. We have had some problems with Blogger. I am working on getting the issues worked out. Shannon is posting for Tracie tonight. Hope everyone is well.

On my last post, I mentioned this little one, she stole my heart today, not sure why, actually I think it was her smile. This little girl had some much happiness and when she spoke to us in English, she spoke with confidence as if I don't have a handicap and I have this world under control. By the way, this is Chris. Tracie wanted everyone to know I was writing.

The other thing I wanted to mention about what they are doing at Bethel with this 17 acres. Guillaume has a plan to be self sufficient with raising vegetables to sell and to be able to teach the children a trade that they can implement once they leave. Each of the children have their own little flower box that they keep their own garden in. Most seem to be doing well, there were a couple that do not have the green thumb. The interesting thing I learned today about blindness in china is that those who are have very little self confidence and are looked on as if they have no self worth or worth to society. One of the priorities for Bethel is to teach these kids independence and self worth. They are told to hold their heads up and to speak with confidence, they are taught how to read in both Chinese and English Brail and to Speak English and French ( Guillaume is French) Tracie sang the French national anthem for him today and he said that he didn't even know it all. Actually being around these kids made me feel a little humbled, I could not even attempt to read Brail, let alone both Chinese and English.

Christopher liked this little guy. Have a great day today and remember you do not have to have eyes to see God change your life.

Action Packed Day!

This is how our day started!!! Yes, we were hit by a truck...Thank the Lord we were fine! We had to sit there for a LONG time...all over what amounted to be a scratch. Tracie is planning on filing a lawsuit against the cabbie....and then giving the money to the orphans.(HA HA). We finally made it to Bethel, where I have to say, is absolutely amazing. Guillaume and is wife have an incredible system and facility that the recently moved into. Their home is located on 17 acres southwest of Beijing, much of it is under construction or is being renovated to create a complex that will accommodate the children. As you can all imagine it only takes money...The picture above is of us in one of the new houses that they are building (one of seven) that will house 9 children each. They will have three bedrooms, two baths (one for handicapped children) a kitchen, living room and a study/library. Guillaume said it best today, How big is your vision...God will bless what you can imagine.

We also had the privilege of a performance by the Bethel Choir led by Master pianist Guillaume. What struck me as I was listening to 9 Blind orphans sing Open the Eyes of My Heart Lord, was that we do not need a set of physical eyes to see our God work in our lives. Faith comes from the heart!

This little one is Sophie, you can see her below singing just as loud as you can imaging. By the way she wants to be a teacher when she grows up, she is eight.

By the way, this is Guillaume the guy who runs Bethel. He took us to a local restaurant in the village. He was kind to us with the food selection, the Canter's had the opportunity to taste Chinese pizza, kind of a philly cheese steak without the cheese along with a vegetable that looked a lot like Spinach and Bok Choy combined but had more garlic and onions than an Italian market. We all had some strong mint gum afterwords. I have to tell you story that Guillaume told me today about a boy that is 19 years old and lives at the home. His name was Sam. Sam came to live at Bethel when he was 14, completely blind, he lived the first 14 years of his life in a dark room alone. No one taught him to walk and when he came to Bethel he could barely stand. At his orphanage they would burn his feet with cigarettes and kick him to get him to stand. They would throw his food on the floor and he had to find it to eat. Guillaume told me the first thing he asked him was if they were going to beat him at this new place. I got to meet Sam today and let me tell you that he walks around the place on his own as if he runs it, which by the way is what he wants to do when he gets older, run Bethe. The joy on his face when he was singing about the Lord was incredible. I guess I don't have to tell you who lives in Sam's heart.

Can't Sleep!

I am not sure what time it shows on the post but it is wrong...It is 2:08am here and I can't sleep. I have visions of little China children in my head who sooo need a family! Each sweet child was so special and special in a different way! When we first walked in a 5 year old name Zoe was so excited and super happy, she jumped up on Nolan and kissed him sooo many times...We soon learned why there was such eager spirit about her and it was she is being adopted Today!!! Zoe was getting a Family YOU can't have a Better day than that. Five yes 5 years waiting on a family she now will have a Mom, a Dad and a brother!!! I know each one of those children deserve a family....

Annie was a little one born with three fingers all fussed together, a club foot and a cleft lip. That did not stop her! She was 9 months old and was full of smiles, giggles and wiggles!

Olivia is the little one in the picture with the lime green head band. She has a heart condition and she is four years old. She just kept touching me, she would touch my shoulder then my face and then smile and laugh...Olivia has such a tender heart...pray for her healing and her a family-Her paperwork has been sent in for adoption...

A Great Day!

This is sweet Faith, she is such a happy little girl. She just giggled every time you smiled at her. She will be having surgery soon to repair her cleft lip. A Mother's Love is helping sponsor the surgery.
Cheryl is a quite little one who was born with a much shorter leg and three cute toes on her right leg. We also casted her leg, in hopes to help her get a better lift for shoe.

Today we and casted Gideons little stump for a new leg. It took five of us to hold him and cast him with wet casting material. When we were all most done I realized I forgot to take pictures....

Good Thursday Morning!

We have been up since 5am and we are going to Cast Gideon today! Gideon is a sweet little orphan who lives at New Day. He was born with with one leg and a little stump on the other. Chris will be casting his stump today so our "leg maker" Stan can make Gideon his first leg.
I will take lots of pictures of the sweet little China babies.... Check in for updates when you wake up on your Thursday Morning... PS..I LOVE CHINA

We Are in Beijing arrived at 3:40PM...

Getting Ready for China....

Thank You for the Great Stuff!!! We are starting to Pack.....

We leave for Beijing, China Tuesday the 8th of April at 5am. We arrive in Beijing, Wednesday at 2 pm.