We are safe

Hey y'all - just a quick note to let everyone know we are all fine and where we are at in China is nowhere near the earthquake. I don't have much access since my computer died but our team leader let me use his computer for a minute so I just wanted to make sure everyone knows we are safe. We leave here tomorrow night at 9pm (that's 9am Eastern time) and we get back on Friday morning to our individual cities. 

Will post more about our last few days when I get home. 

Thanks for your prayers. 

---

The New Busy is not the old busy. Search, chat and e-mail from your inbox. Get started.

technical difficulties

Hello all! Well, I was planning to do some more blogging but my access has been severely hindered by the fact that my mac laptop locked up last night for no apparent reason and will not restart. I am praying that all of my hundreds and hundreds of photos can be recovered since I had put them on the computer each day and deleted them off the camera to make room for more. Would love prayers that they could be recovered. I don't know what happened to the computer. 

Keep praying for everyone's health too - Sammie didn't go shopping with us this morning to buy orphanage gifts because she wasn't feeling very good. She hasn't thrown up but is feeling nauseous and has a headache. We have to leave this hotel in 30 minutes, go say goodbye to the kids and head to the airport. The flight to Beijing was a rough one on the way here - several of us felt sick. So we are praying it is better on the way there and Sammie is ok to fly. Please keep her in prayer. 

One thing I was going to put in my blog last night had I been able to get on - was that the little girl I named Jordan, I found out her real name - sounds like Jun Tien Luen so Jordan is not that far of a stretch - I got to play with her a ton yesterday and then she let me hold her. I was so happy!!! I have a sweet picture of her snuggling up to me - she is so precious. I am not looking forward to saying goodbye today. Our hearts will all be breaking for sure. This is the hard part. The kids have really opened up to us over the past 5 days - yesterday, we saw several who had not been interacting much with us just totally open up and come to life. It was so neat. This has been an amazing trip. We have all fallen in love with these kids. 

Today we were able to take the director shopping - with the orphanage donation money that some of the team raised - we were able to buy 3 washing machines and 4 microwaves. Totally awesome! This will be so beneficial to them. Praise God!

I'm gonna log off here - may not blog much until I get home. And hopefully will be able to get all my photos off my laptop to upload. 

Thanks for all the prayers. We get back to the states Friday so lots of traveling between now and then. 

Blessings,

Autumn

---

The New Busy is not the old busy. Search, chat and e-mail from your inbox. Get started.

A winter wonderland

Woke up about 30 minutes ago. Bella just knocked on our outside door and I opened the shades to get the door and to my surprise - it is a winter wonderland out there. It snowed during the night and is a pretty thick covering. It's so pretty. I do not think we will be going outside today. Today is our last full day with the kids - the other kids are back in school so we will spend the day with the babies and special needs kids. I'm hoping we get to see the school kids today or tomorrow morning before we go. I'm not sure if we will though. Tomorrow night we fly back to Beijing. In the morning, I think we are using the leftover money from orphanage donations to take the director shopping to get a microwave and washing machine. I can't believe today is our last day with the kids already. It went by so fast. 

We are back in Beijing Tuesday night and then we go see the Great Wall of China on Wednesday. Thursday morning we see the Forbidden City and then we fly out Thursday night. We do an all night flight again which is the best way to go - sleeping most of the way - it goes by so much faster. We fly to LAX and then we part ways to go to our homes. I fly to Atlanta and then to Nashville - arriving in Nashville around 7:30 am. I am quite sure I'll be ready to crash in my own bed at that point. The beds here are pretty much box springs - not soft at all. So my pillowtop mattress at home is sounding really great right now. 

Gotta run and get ready for another fabulous day with these precious little ones. TTYS

---

The New Busy is not the old busy. Search, chat and e-mail from your inbox. Get started.

A fabulous day!

Today was so much fun. We got to spend the day with the school age kids we spent yesterday with. We went to the orphanage at 10 am and went in to the room where they all do homework - they were in there waiting for us. We pulled out the arts & crafts - foam airplanes, bracelets and beads, and face paint. The face paint was hilarious - I was trying to get them to pick out a photo in the book of what I could paint on their face - they kept shaking their heads no and pointing to me. They wanted to paint me! So we never did get to paint their faces - they had no interest in that. But they had a blast painting all of us - mostly our hands and arms. The pictures tell the story best - these photos are of Kara and Bella totally painted up by the kids. The kids loved it! And we loved how we had gone in expecting one thing and the plan totally changed. These kids are so creative and amazing! We tossed balloons back and forth, bounced balls, did art and lots of laughing. Some of the kids spoke a little bit of English so we got to learn some Chinese and teach them some words in English. One very smart young boy had us use the foam letters to put our names on a piece of paper. Very great idea! The youngest boy in there is 6 - he is the one I mentioned yesterday who has two digits on his feet and small legs but gets around great and is the happiest little guy I've ever seen. He is a total ham - he is the center of attention and so joyful. I just adore him. I got to play with him so much today. In the art room - we tossed a balloon and then he had me help him make a necklace. I took tons of photos - will have to add them all on facebook when I get home - I can only pick a few for the blog. When it was lunchtime, the kids went down to the eating room to have lunch and we left for a few hours so they could rest. We went out to lunch at a place we went to a few nights ago that we all liked the best so far. It was yummy. Sammie was feeling a bit better this morning but stayed behind to rest. And Frank was much better and able to join us all day. After our lunch break, Sammie was feeling so much better - she was able to join us for the afternoon activities with the kids. Thank you all for your prayers - they are working! Praise God! 

So after lunch, our driver picked some of the kids up and brought them here to a park across from our hotel. It was very cold today but we still had fun - we got in a circle and kicked a soccer ball back and forth. And we played with the bouncy balls there too. It was mostly just the older kids that came in the afternoon. But they also brought the 6 year old boy I mentioned earlier whose name is Su-un (not sure how you spell it but it's much easier to say than most of the names so far). I'm so glad they brought him to the park. He and I had so much fun - he kept grabbing my hand and arm and wanting me to walk with him. You'll see in the attached picture how he was holding on to me - melted my heart! And I let him take pictures with my camera and he was so happy to be doing that. Needless to say, I have a lot of pictures of my forehead, the ground and other random items. But he was having fun so that's all that mattered. I'm attaching a picture that he took of me and him - I showed him how I do that and he picked it right up and did it too. Most of the time, our heads were not fully in the picture but this one was pretty good. Isn't he so adorable? My goodness, I want to bring him home. He is a joy! Unfortunately, I found out today that single women cannot adopt at all from China. That is so sad. There are 20 million orphans here and they have all these strict rules on adoption. Lily said even a new rule about body mass - so basically you can't adopt if you are over a certain weight. I'm gonna be praying that China changes some of their policies to make it easier for kids to be adopted here. Lily asked me at dinner if I could adopt Su-un and I told her I would love to but I'm single. She said "you get married and then you adopt from China!" Sounds like a plan to me:) We'll have to wait and see what God's plan is though. All in His timing. In the meantime, I get to go around the world and love on His precious little ones. What a joy and honor. It's also hard because everywhere I go - I fall in love with the children and leave part of my heart there when I leave and go home. I love all the children here but there are 2 in particular that I have fallen in love with and would love to bring home and be a mother to - Su-un and Jordan. Jordan is the toddler I've been talking about a lot - she had the IV put in and her head shaved the other day. I haven't gotten to see her for 2 days - I am looking forward to checking in on her tomorrow. And we are going to bring the beanie babies - I am going to pick out one for her. Maybe she'll warm up to me tomorrow and actually let me hold her. We'll see. 

My favorite part of today was this next part - about 4:30, we were really cold and ready to take the kids indoors. So... we took them across the street to the place we had lunch - it was awesome. Way better than KFC - and so much more like a family meal. There were about 7 kids with us, us 7 plus Lily, one lady from the orphanage and our bus driver and we got a room with a round table and had a delicious meal together. We had SOOO much food - eggplant, green beans with pork, breaded chicken, beef with green peppers, beef on a bone with potatoes (kind of like pot roast), a mushroom dish with cabbage, sweet and sour pork, tofu with seaweed, salad (which we didn't eat to be safe) and pepsi! The kids ate a ton - we could not believe how much they were able to eat. Come to find out - they had never been out to a restaurant like that before. They were so happy and so enjoying the food. Su-un sat next to me and he ate quite a bit for a little guy too. And the best part was that every time he would take a drink of his pepsi - he would cheers glasses with me. There is a photo here of us doing that - it was so much fun. I loved it! He is a little talker - he is always saying something. The nice thing about the round table was that we could talk to the kids during the meal and Lily could translate what they were saying and what we wanted to say to them. Su-un said "thanking you very much" in English and the way he pronounced it was so cute. I got a great video of that which I will post on facebook when I get home. Too cute! The kids told Lily to tell us thank you and that they were so happy we came to see them and took them for such a great meal. We had her tell them that we were glad they could come with us. At one point, we were asking the kids how to say some words in chinese and one of the girls said "if we tell them how to say it in Chinese, they will forget when they get home". We all laughed. I told her to tell them - we may forget the Chinese words but we will not forget them. They all said "thank you" in English and smiled really big. They said they hope we come back every year. Su-un gave me a kiss on my cheek - I think Lily told him too - but nevertheless - it was so cute. Yup, he has my heart. 

After dinner, was sat at the table for quite a while talking with the kids. A few of the girls were eating and eating and eating. We were afraid they were going to get sick. Lily said they said they were loving the meat - they don't get meat like that very often - so they were really enjoying it and not wanting to waste any. We told them not to worry, we would take the leftovers back for the other kids. In fact, Su-un told Lily after he tried the beef and potatoes - that he wanted to take it home and share with the other kids. So sweet that he was thinking of them and wanting to share. They really all look out for each other there. It was a delicious meal. And so neat to see their joy in us spending time with them and doing that with them. I truly feel that we have made them feel special this week - that they truly matter. And that is exactly why we came. They are precious, beautiful children. 

When we got back to the hotel, we hopped online and looked at the photos on visitingorphans.org from the last team who came here two years ago. All of the kids in the pictures were the same kids there now, except for 2 or 3 we didn't recognize. The kids and staff speak often of that former team - they really made an impact - I will make sure to contact them when I get home to let them know that. They have not been forgotten. In fact, today - Lily took about 80 of our best pictures that I put on a disc for her to get printed to give to the kids. And she had some saved from the last team and printed those out for them too. I know they will love that. I think we can give them to them tomorrow. I tried to pick pictures out so that every single kids was in at least one. I hope that we didn't miss anyone. If we did - we will take more to get developed to make sure. 

I am already thinking how hard it will be to say goodbye. Part of my heart was left in Costa Rica in March and part of it is definitely being left here this week. I hope to return next year to see these kids again. And we do see that they are being well cared for and loved here by the amazing orphanage staff. They are very loving and this orphanage feels very much like a big family. That really makes me glad to know - it's even harder to leave a place when you do not feel like the kids are being cared for. But here, thankfully, that is not the case so I know they are in good hands. But I also know I would love to see a lot of them adopted into loving families because I know so many of these kids long for that. And that is most definitely the way God originally intended for it to be. 

I long for the day when I can adopt. Every time I go to visit orphans, the deeper that desire gets. I know the Lord is working on me, continuing to prepare me for the day when that desire will become a reality. And I know that in His perfect timing, that will happen because I know it was Him who put that desire in my heart. It is a fallen world - and sadly, there are many, many orphans who have been abandoned and rejected by their parents. But the Lord has not forgotten them - He uses hearts like mine and yours - who are willing to be opened up to these precious children and who will go and care for them and who will be willing to open up their hearts and their homes to adopt them in to our families. What a perfect picture of the father heart of God. 

---

The New Busy is not the old busy. Search, chat and e-mail from your inbox. Get started.

A day full of surprises

Today was full of surprises - not all of them were good. Our team leader Frank was sick with some sort of stomach bug so he stayed behind. That was definitely bad. Kara wasn't feeling too hot either - she has a cold of some sort. We did some serious praying after breakfast for physical health, protection and healing for Frank and Kara. After an amazing day out with the school kids from the orphanage - this evening, Sammie got sick with a stomach bug. Please keep the team in your prayers - there is definitely a spiritual battle going on. Pray for health and healing for Frank, Sammie and Kara and that none of the rest of us will get sick in any way. So appreciate you prayer warriors backing home keeping us and the kids in prayer. 

Kara was able to join us for the day with the kids and ended up feeing pretty good most of the day so that was a blessing. We checked on Frank this evening and he said he is feeling better and fully expects to join us tomorrow. I pray that he and Sammie will be 100% by morning! 

The sun was shining today and we were able to take the kids on an outing to a local park - we had so much fun. The kids loved it. It was quite a bit of a hike to walk there - the younger kids took the van but the older kids walked with us. It was an adventure to say the least. We walked through what Lily called Old Chifeng - it was hopping. Traffic was crazy and a bit scary to try and cross the roads - pedestrians DO NOT have the right away here. I took a video of this road crossing adventure. I will put it on facebook when I get back - it'll be very amusing. 

There were 17 kids who went with us today - these are the kids who have been in school the other days we've been there so it was our first day with them. They were so precious! The park turned out to be a lot more like a zoo - with monkeys and big birds and stuff. We saw a few animals and then the kids got distracted by a street vendor who had these art things where it has a black outline and the kids sit down at little tables and fill in the spaces with colors from a tube of paint - once they are done, they take it to a guy who sticks it basically in a toaster oven and heats it up - it dries like a rubber and will peel off to stick on a window. Pretty neat. I'm attaching a photo of one of the kids holding his up - they were so careful and detailed doing these - they were adorable to watch. We played some games after this in the park - and we got them these spinny wind mill things that they loved. After the park, we took all the kids to KFC - they loved that! It was so awesome to see them treated like they are important - cause they are! We bought their lunch with the donation money and KFC found out they were orphans and gave them all the bday gift bag for parties and put crowns (sort of like Burger King back home) on all their heads. I couldn't help but think about how they are all princes and princesses - daughters and sons of the most high King. KFC is more expensive than the places we have been going that give you WAY more food - total opposite of home where fast food is cheap. Here it is not. So it was a big deal for the kids to get to go there - they do not get to do that much. They were so happy and fun to watch. There was this one little boy who is 6 who is absolutely adorable. He is very small and we found out only has two digits on each foot - but he is able to walk pretty well and he is just full of life and joy. Adorable. He is the one in the picture holding the wind mill and in the photo sitting across the table from me at KFC. It was a fabulous day with the kids. They loved it. We loved it. It went so well and I truly believe they felt special and loved! Praise the Lord!

We did not get to see the little ones or special needs kids today. The little girl who had the IV put in her head yesterday - I do not know her name so I decided for now to call her Jordan since it is a name I've always had in mind for a daughter. The last photo attached is a photo of her from yesterday after having her head shaved (she's the one on the left) - thanks to Marsha I was able to get my pictures to load. Isn't she so beautiful? I so want to bring her home. 

Tomorrow, depending on weather - we may have another outing with the kids. Either way, we will get to spend the day with them - they are such a joy! I'm hoping also to see Jordan tomorrow. I may have to peak my head in there even if we don't get to go in there and play. 

Thank you for praying for our team and these precious, beautiful children. 

---

Hotmail is redefining busy with tools for the New Busy. Get more from your inbox. See how.

Prayer needed

We are about to head to the orphanage but I wanted to put a blog on and ask y'all to pray. Our team leader, Frank, has been sick since about 3 am - he thinks probably something he ate. He is not able to go with us this morning so I will take over as leader for the time being. Please be praying for healing in his body- that whatever made him throw up would be out of his body asap and he would be able to join us soon - possibly even this afternoon. Also, Kara is having major sinus issues - coughing and runny nose and not feeling well - so please also pray for her. And just for health for all of us. 

Thanks so much!

---

The New Busy think 9 to 5 is a cute idea. Combine multiple calendars with Hotmail. Get busy.

Snow in China

Good morning! Well, I know it's Friday evening for you but it's Saturday morning for us here in China - 7:15 am - I woke up again at 6 am. I like that I'm waking up before my alarm and ready to go. 

It started snowing last night when we were at the orphanage. I just peaked outside our hotel room glass door and took this photo - a little bit of snow still on the ground. It's really sunny out there right now so I'm hoping and praying for weather that allows us to take the kids out of the orphanage. 

Dinner last night was crazy - they brought us so much food, it was ridiculous. It was all pretty spicey compared to what we are all used to but good. There was fish - you had to be careful, lots of bones in it. There was pork, duck, veggies, beef on a bone (sort of like ribs), a dessert made out of eggs and cocoa powder (interesting) and chicken. I took pictures but again, that's the memory card that doesn't seem to be working. I'm glad to see the other one is working so far today. We had so much leftovers, it looked like we hadn't touched anything - but we were all very happy when Lily boxed it up to take to the orphanage for the kids. That is a great idea - I am sure they will love it. 

I am excited for today - we get to meet all the school children who have been in school the other days and we hopefully get to take them someplace fun. I am sure it'll be a fabulous day. I will be sure to add a detailed blog later on. 

Thank you for all the prayers from back home. We so appreciate it!

---

The New Busy think 9 to 5 is a cute idea. Combine multiple calendars with Hotmail. Get busy.