Back Home Again

你好
Nǐ hǎo

Hello everyone!

My mom and I are back home again. Adjusting to life at home will be quite a challenge.  Leaving was definitely the hardest part of the whole trip.

We have been reflecting on our last Saturday church.  It was amazing to worship with the new families for the first time. We talked about Luke 22 when Jesus was in human form and was feeling the human emotion of being scared and overwhelmed. When he was going to be sacrificed he asked many times if he could have this cup taken from him. However, when we was given a sure sign from the Father this was the way it was going to be done, he said, "Arise, let us go!" He said it with confidence, with an exclamation point! We know this message can be used in every aspect of our lives.  With my mom and I at home, we can be motivated and willing to do the work the Lord has us to do here. The families who are adopting can apply it to their everyday lives, while waiting for this process and after they have taken their child home.

Within the month, we experienced the Lord in so many different ways.  We learned through our faith all things are for a reason and God has a plan. We experienced amazing growth with the babies and watching them develop brought so much joy.

I am just overwhelmed and grateful for the friendships and memories that were made in four short weeks. Our new friends were so generous and some gave us gifts. I love having these friendships.  Not a day will go by that I won't think about all the amazing friends and memories.

Although it is extremely hard leaving a place like The Home Of God's Love and leaving the lifestyle we lived for a month, we have a purpose and love having faces to pray for and friendships all the way across the world.

A previous blog post my mom found put the emotions we immediately felt upon leaving into great words:

Post-Taiwan Syndrome

I heard about this phenomenon from past volunteers at The Home of God’s Love: a sense of a newly emptiness/confusion/worthlessness upon returning home. I miss that life. And it’s hitting me hard right now. Reading the blog of a woman volunteering at a South African orphanage did it.

Reading her words was as if I was reading my thoughts rehashed from my time in Taiwan.

It has been a daily routine of the simplest tasks- hours of dishes,

hours of washing laundry, sorting laundry, folding laundry, where’s the laundry?

hours of washing faces, scrubbing bodies, blowing noses.

hours of spoon feeding little ones, and hours of bottle feeding littler ones.

there have been hours of rocking and humming and kissing and cheek squeezing.

and all through these hours of simple tasks, I’ve been living life here with no hands.

I’ve been living life here with a baby settled snugly against my chest wherever I go, doing whatever I do.

I have a baby on me when I wash the dishes.

I have a baby on me when I do the laundry.

I have a baby on me when I walk across the grounds.

I miss that simple yet complicated, purposeful, unselfish life. 

 littlethingsbigstuff.com/category/taiwan (used with permission)

We both felt a little crazy on the way home when we would just hear babies all the time and we would catch ourselves rocking like we did with the babies. Going from 22 babies all day, everyday for a month to not holding one baby in a day was very challenging.

I, Debbie,  don't know if I would call these past four weeks life changing, but my life was definitely enriched. To be able to see first hand the mission of The Home of God's Love was an incredible experience.  The light they are in this spiritually dark part of the world is ongoing.

When we ate our delicious meals, we joined the older kids.  The hugs and smiles from them were just as rewarding as from the babies we cared for. Getting to know the babies and then having the wonderful opportunity to meet a few of the parents and listening to their stories showed how God was/is at work in their lives.

I will forever be humbled that I was a small part of his glorious plan in Lotung, T'Ai-Wan, Taiwan. I pray that God will make a way to return, but if not, I am very thankful to have shared this experience with Kimberly. 

We hope you enjoyed some of the experiences with us and thank you for reading, supporting us with your donations, and praying for our journey.

我们爱你

Wǒmen ài nǐ

We love you!

                                         Two of the wonderful ladies that work with the babies

                        (We are missing our picture with Showhwa due to a baby being in the picture)

Friends on our last night there

 Beautiful gifts

                        The Lord blessed us with a beautiful sunrise as we left for the airport on 

                                                                    Tuesday morning.

                                                 About 27 hours later we arrived home

                                             Our wonderful friends and family surprised us

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!

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

                                                                      ~~~~~~~~~~~

                 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

                                                                   ~~~~~~~~~~~

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.  

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.