Treasures Of Taiwan : June 2013

Friday, June 28, 2013

June 28th

Last Saturday, for our church on the roof, Tim had an awesome talk about being alert. I love taking it all in and seeing everything around me before I go home to fences and houses and street lights- my cup is full.

It's been a huge blessing to meet 4 of the adopting parents. They are so sweet and are going to be awesome for their children. One mom gave all of us girls a pair of earrings for looking after their child. Every single parent we have met just brings us closer to Christ and the amazement we have for Him and his plans in life. One of the families took their daughter home yesterday! The other families are here for court dates.

The haircuts have continued. I did about 5 and my mom gave a little boy a Mohawk- at the request of the parents. He looks so cute!

I've grown so attached to the babies, and friendships from the children on the other side of the home and friendships with the other workers. I can't thank Christ enough for allowing this trip in my life. I also thank all of you who have supported and made this happen!

On our day off this week, we went to the market one last time. We had a great time!

We also had the opportunitiy to go to the night market one evening. Which was a great cultural experience.

I've grown so attached to the babies, and friendships from the children at the other side of the home and friendships with the other workers. I can't thank Christ enough for allowing this trip in my life. I also thank all of you who have supported and made this happen!

Prayer list this week-
- continued prayer for the construction of the home.
- the families and the adoptions, praising for more family's papers coming in
- praying for the health of the children
- preparing our hearts for leaving and re-adjusting to life at home.

Beautiful scenery on the way to the market

Rice

We had Vanilla Pasta on Thursday and it was delicious!

Souvenir and gift shopping!
We are excited to have Asian nights at my house-
We bought some curry and chopsticks

Dragon fruit at the Orphanage!

My friend and I and the large vegetables!

Mom hanging out laundry

A sweet note one of the girls gave me

Praying with a family before they took their child home

The night market

No where in the world is there better Mango!

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Fun Times in Taiwan

On Thursday during our six hour break we rode a free bus into the city

We had Pizza Hut, which we were all really excited about.
I have enjoyed the food here and have started using chopsticks.

We absolutely love all their delicious drinks!

We went on about a 25 min. train ride

It was an overcast day which was really nice due to the sun being so hot here.
We all enjoyed jumping in the waves that were over our heads.

We enjoyed Mister Brown's Coffee

Some friends we met while waiting for our train back home

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On Saturday we went out to lunch during our break as an alternative to having fish balls.
We also stopped at a local food truck

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Yesterday together my mom and I cut about 20 haircuts for the kids in the orphanage. It was really fun and we enjoyed bonding with some of the older kids.

We are very excited, a family here had their first court date and tonight a family is coming in to bring their baby home later this week. We continue to pray for the babies here as well as the older kids.

Thursday, June 20, 2013

June 19th

Yesterday during our lunch break all of us girls went on a hike; which was a beautiful hike. We walked to a huge Dao temple straight up the mountain. This temple is the headquarters for daoism in the country. It was amazing to see, however, we all just felt the deep dark sense that came with it. Most people here live in poverty however they go to the elaborate temple and burn "god money", incense, fruit, and much more to their idols. Many were praying and casting lots. As sad as it is to see it makes me so thankful we worship the one, true God and for the sacrifice he made by sending Jesus to die for us. We could feel the Holy Spirit within us while we were there. Romans 5:5 says “God has poured his love into our hearts. He did it through the Holy Spirit, whom he has given to us.” We all took turns praying which gave many of us goosebumps in the 90 degree heat. God is so good and we know one day every knee will bow and confess that He is the one, true God.

Within our culture we might not pray to our idols but we sure have them. Even though the people here have it wrong, they sure have faith in what they are doing. If they can have this much faith and go pray and worship their idols; us as believers in the one, true God can take a lesson from their faith and apply it to our lives.

Getting ready to hike- You can see the temple in the background

At the top

They have thousands of gods they pray to

Matthew 18:20 “Where two or three gather in my name, I am there with them”

If your reading this I encourage you to take a moment and say a prayer-

We prayed for the darkness to be lifted and that Christ will shine

-The new orphanage will have a big cross on the top that will be seen from many angles and we praised God for that.

- For the children in the home and thanked God for the opportunities they have to live with a Christian families and that they will come to know Christ

-For the children that end up going back to their families that they will have a glimpse of Christ which was shown to them at the home and bring it back to their family.

-We praised Him that we are His temple and that we don't have to have to go to an elaborate building to talk to Him.

-Ultimately we praised God for His forgiveness and the price He paid.

Monday, June 17, 2013

American Ladies with Asian Babies

June 18th

I can't believe I have been here two weeks now. I am amazed at how much a baby can change and develop in as little as two weeks! It’s so wonderful to see.

Yesterday my mom and I had the joy of accompanying a lady who works here, Anna, along with two of the babies to get their passport applications. We went to Taipei which is a good hour and a half drive. The city felt a little more like home but I have to admit I was happy to see the mountains and the jungle atmosphere again when we got back to the Home of God's Love. We had fun playing “mom” for a little while. We both carried a baby with our diaper bag in hand. At the passport office, a lady asked us if we were adopting; we both secretly wished we were. We are beyond excited for these two little ones, with this being one of the last steps in the process. One if them will be going home within a week. Which will be so bitter sweet to see. After we went to the passport office Anna had paper work to do at a different area of the town so we took the two on a walk. We sure had some interesting looks with two American ladies pushing Asian babies in strollers. Many people commented on how cute they were or asked if they were twins. We enjoyed looking at the pretty scenery. We walked around the Chiang kai-shek memorial. It was a really warm and humid day so after we walked a little we took the babies back to the Handicraft mart for some air. They both fell right to sleep but they seemed to really enjoy their day out.

When we got home it was around one o 'clock so the babies were napping so we took a quick walk and ate some ice cream.

In the evenings the older kids always have devotions and hold the babies. Last night they sang Our God Is Greater in English and it just gave me chills. I love brining a baby over myself and watching during this time. It is so amazing to see all these, two years - high school children worship every night.

Thank you all for praying for the inspection. We are told it went really well. Please continue to pray as they have more inspections coming up; which are also very big deals. The adoptions are always in need of constant prayer due to twist and turns that are likely to come up and most often do in the process.

God bless!