Our Life in a List

This list is a bunch of randomness, but it sums up some of the things we've been doing lately and thinking about:

• Elizabeth is going to have heart surgery, probably this week. She's 8 years old. She was abandoned just a few months ago, probably because her heart was so bad that her parents didn't know what else they could do. I don't judge them or think they are cruel; they are people with very few options. She's really weak and sick right now, but hopefully soon she'll look a whole lot different! In addition to praying for her physical heart, we're also really praying for her other "heart" right now -- the one that is hurting and broken from being separated from her family.
  
  
  
  
• Jacob's grandma died this morning. (Sunday night in the states.) She was older and had lived with Alzheimer's for years... it's good that she's not suffering. But, of course it is hard for everyone who misses her. Please pray for Jacob and his family.
  
  
• We have 2 new kids arriving this week. One is a baby with a heart problem; the other is a 4 year old girl with an esophageal problem. And, in addition to Elizabeth, we have 3 other kids in the hospital right now waiting for surgery -- an additional heart surgery and 2 hydrocephalus surgeries. Busy busy!
  
  
• I think this is funny. Someone sent it to me last week as part of a bunch of cute cartoons, but this one jumped out at me. It really does describe my thoughts about faith most days. :)
  
  
  
  
• Jacob has his driver's license! Woohoo! He made a 95 on his test, which is saying a lot considering that some of the questions involve what one should do if one comes across an accident which has left someone with his or her intestine's spread across the road. In case you are wondering, the correct answer is to put them in a clean jar and bind it tightly to their stomach. Another question is about where one should spit - out the window, in the floorboard, or in a piece of paper which one should then properly dispose of. Guess which is the right answer?
  
  
• Now that Jacob has a driver's license, we will "rent" a car from a friend and drive ourselves into Beijing! Woohhoooo! And, we'll work on finding a license plate for our scooter so that we can ride that as well. Yay for freedom!
  
  
• Remember my posts about Kerstin? She's doing so well now. And she's such a cutie. See?
  
  
  
• Because of an incredibly generous sponsor who hosted a 30th birthday party for his wife and asked all the guests to make donations to the foster home to be used for a field trip, we were able to take all the kiddos to the aquarium. I was matched with Julia for the day. We had a great time. That child has more enthusiasm than ANYONE I've ever met. So cute. She makes me laugh all the time.
  
  
  
  
  
• This little guy is in one of our partner orphanages, and he was diagnosed with MS. We've nicknamed him Scott. Would you please pray for him? There isn't much medically that can be done for him given where he lives, and he is deteriorating rapidly.
  
  
  
  
• We are planning our next trip home to the states, made possible because we're given frequent flier points that we can use for free air travel. We'll be in the states for most of August. We're hoping to use some of that time to connect with some new churches and build some new partnering relationships. If you think that your church might be interested in either helping us in our work or helping the foster home, please let us know. If your church is in Alaska, we probably won't make it to your "neck of the woods" -- but if your church is in TX, OK, NM, or other places within a reasonable driving distance, we might be able to visit and share in person.
  
  
• Next week we are starting a "Relationships Class" with some of the students in the language school.  Jacob and I are co-leading with another young married couple here.  We always seem to get alot of relationships questions, so we decided to lead a "class" on it.  It will be Thursdays in May, and we have 22(!) people who signed up!  Probably could use some prayers for that... we're not really relationships experts.  We didn't expect a huge response.  After all, my offers to teach a baking class and a pilates class were met with a whopping zero registrations.  Evidently people care about love more than brownies and flexibility.  :)
  
  
• And just because she is just too cute for words, here's another picture of little Julia. Here's what she did on our trip home from the aquarium. After running from exhibit to exhibit until even MY legs were tired (and I have long legs), she wore herself out and fell asleep on my lap on the bus ride home. So cute. And my scarf makes a pretty blanket, right?