Trust His Heart

All things work for the good


Though sometimes we can't

See how they could

Struggles that break our hearts in two

Sometimes blind us to the truth

Our Father knows what's best for us

His ways are not our own

So when your pathway grows dim

And you just can't see him,

Remember he's still on the throne



[Chorus:]



God is too wise to be mistaken

God is too good to be unkind

So when you don't understand

When don't see his plan

[ Find more Lyrics on http://mp3lyrics.org/863P ]

When you can't trace his hand

Trust His Heart



He sees the master plan

He holds the future in his hand,

don't live as those who have no hope,

While our hope is found in him.

We see the present clearly

But he sees the first and last

And like a tapestry he's weaving you and me,

To someday be just like him



[Chorus]



He alone is faithful and true

He alone knows what is best for you



[Chorus]



When you can't trace his hand

When you don't see his plan

When you don't understand

Trust His Heart

Amazing babies!

It's 7:30am and all fifteen babies are still in bed! I can see one peeking out at me from his crib, but he's content to just stay there for now. He knows the routine and usually sticks to it! It amazes me how smart these babies are! At four or five months old, they know the routine, can hear the microwave and know that means bottles are on the way, open their mouths as you're drinking from your water bottle because they want some too, and cry as soon as you walk in the room because they know you'll pick them up! Sometimes I have to remind myself that they are still so young!

Veggietales... in Chinese

Tonight we watched a movie in devotions. I never know what it is until they turn it on and then I usually recognize it as Hermie, Adventures in Odyssey, or McGee and Me (all great old movies!). As I watched the first few seconds of tonight's movie, I simply heard voices and there wasn't anything on the screen. I didn't recognize the voices, but heard all the kids saying the words with the movie and immediately thought "Veggietales!" Then, they all broke out into the song! I never really thought about kids in other countries loving Veggietales as much as kids in the U.S. do. I'm imagining a group of kids from all over the world singing the Veggietales theme song in their language all at once. How cool would that be?!

Kelsey, Adrian, and Kalyn left yesterday :-( Miss them already! It's so much different with just three volunteers left. I'm SOOOO thankful for Showhwa (who is here everyday except Sunday)!

14 babies right now, one possibly joining us soon, five leaving soon. I'll miss them, but I'm so excited to meet the families and see them finally get to go home! Then it will be my turn. Mixed emotions- excited to see family and friends, but I'll definitely miss the babies!

Thankful

I'm thankful for:

-Noodles two days in a row for lunch
-Skype (and my family who takes time out of their day to skype with me)
-Friends here who stay up late to talk
-Friends from school who are willing to help me out any way they can
-Friends from home who encourage me
-Our Saturday evening English services (though odd at times, they are a real blessing)
-Devotions every evening here, especially the praise and worship
-Babies who give kisses
-Our God who gives second chances.... and third.... and fourth.... and.....

Waiting

While I'm Waiting :

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait
I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait
I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve you while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord

This song has been running through my head for the past few days. I've been reading blogs and updates and it comes to mind. It pops in my head when I feed a baby or hug them or give them kisses. I can't stop singing it when I play with the babies, even when there is other music playing in the background. Every time I hold a baby, read a facebook note from an adoptive parent, or am feeding the babies, I remember that they are waiting and how hard it must be. I know it's hard. It has to be hard for them because it's hard for me to watch these babies grow up, knowing their parents are dying to have them in their arms. The parents are waiting to come get their babies while I'm waiting for them to come get them!

Over the last two days, I've really struggled knowing that I only have three and a half weeks left here. I'm excited to go home, see my family and friends, and start a new school year, but I don't want to leave these babies behind. I just wish all the adoptive parents could come get these babies before I leave. I know they will be well-cared for here and loved, but I would just feel so much better if I wasn't leaving them. So, I spend my days waiting for the court dates to be scheduled, waiting for their papers to come back, waiting for their parents to finally come get them.

It's easy to get caught up in the wait. It's so easy to worry about why papers haven't come or be frustrated when timing doesn't work out. As I've repeated the lyrics to the song above over and over, the words that stick out are "peaceful" and "faithfully." It's hard to wait peacefully. I find myself having to remind myself to wait without worrying and making sure that I'm focusing on the task at hand instead of focusing on the waiting.

Pacifier thief, shots, and camp

A few random things:

One of our babies is a huge pacifier thief (though I think she is following after one of our babies who already went home). She will grab all the other babies' pacifiers and try to suck on them. The other day, she grabbed a little boy's pacifier when he was sucking on it. We gave it back to him and he held onto it so she couldn't take it again, but she kept trying anyway. Babies can be SO funny!

The other day, Showhwa came out with a list of five baby names and told us to grab them because we were leaving. We didn't know where we were going at first, just that we were taking them somewhere. Along  the way, we found out we were taking all five of them for shots! I thought "Oh no! I hate shots! I'm not sure I can handle holding a baby while he gets shots!" The babies were called back one by one, measured, temperatures taken, ears, noses, and mouths checked, and then they were taken back for their shots. The nurse had me lay my baby on the table and hold his leg down. I prepared myself for the scream as she inserted the needle... only it never came! He didn't cry a bit! Such a brave little baby boy! The babies did all fall asleep in the van on the way back, but they were all SO good!

The older kids on the other side of the orphanage are all away at camp. The older kids left on Sunday and and the younger kids left on Wednesday. It seems so much quieter here without them and I think we all are looking forward to them coming back. However, we have found one advantage to them being gone: The water on the other side is always cold :-) Usually with so many people around, it gets hot by afternoon and we have lukewarm water, but now it's cold all day :-) We'd much rather have the kids around than have cold water though, and we'll be excited when they come home!

Haircut in the kitchen!

Today, one of the older girls cut my hair! She was cutting another volunteer's hair and I thought "Hey, I could use a haircut," so she did mine too! Just layered it a little, but it was much needed and she did a great job! The kids here have so much potential. I just pray that they have opportunities to succeed in whatever they have a passion to do.

I wish the language wasn't such a barrier! I would love to be able to have conversations with some of the kids here, but since I only know about 10 words in Chinese, that isn't really possible. Now I understand why missionaries often take the time to go to language school as soon as they move to a foreign country. It's "kind of" important :-)

Today, I'm thankful for: tuna, banana bread, encouraging volunteers, the couple who comes and helps with the babies on Sunday afternoons, and that Showhwa is coming back tomorrow from vacation!

I'm praying for all our sick little babies to get better soon!

Staying busy

Well, it has been quite a while since I've updated, probably for a couple reasons. First, I usually use my computer time to e-mail and skype, and secondly because sometimes I feel like there's not much new with the babies. Each day is different to us, but probably wouldn't be as exciting for anyone reading about it! However, I have had some exciting experiences over the past couple weeks.

4th of July

We had a fun 4th of July... took a bike ride, ate some great American food, dressed the babies in red, white, and blue, and took pictures, ate Bing (like an icee, but better), and the kids had some sparklers/ fireworks. A day that I didn't think would be any different from other days here, turned out to be fantastic!

The Temple

Some of us took a bike ride up to the temple that is nearby a couple weeks ago. It was a beautiful temple, but just reminded me of how lost people are and how much they need Christ. There were people all around us who were there to worship the idols and offer sacrifices to them. I was reminded while there how much hope I have in God. At night, they sometimes set off fireworks here to scare away the evil spirits. These people are living their lives in fear, but I have hope in Christ Jesus and I don't have to live in fear!

The view from the temple was beautiful! No picture can do it justice!

Lights Show

The other night we gathered up a bunch of them babies and went down to the lake to see a lights show. They played music during the show and some of the babies were just fascinated by the water lighting up! Not sure how often they do this (maybe every night?) but it was a nice evening and we enjoyed getting out for a little bit. Afterward, Shr Baba came out to the lake and led devotions. There were a few other people sitting around the lake and watching what was going on. I'm just praying that maybe they listened to the message Ted was sharing.

Taroko Gorge

Shr Baba (Ted) likes to take everyone who comes to visit to a place called Taroko Gorge (a National Park). On the way there, we stopped at this church, which has been dedicated to a woman who shared the Gospel in a cave(also shown below) at the risk of her own life. The time we spent in the cave (which was only about 5 minutes) was probably my favorite part of the whole day! Sometimes I forget the cost some have had to pay and what others have gone through to share the Gospel!

After visiting the church/cave, we headed onto Taroko Gorge. It was beautiful! Such a great reminder of how great our God is and how creative He is! We had a wonderful day out with some wonderful food (some sort of crepe thing with egg for breakfast; noodles, pineapple, and mango for lunch; snacks in between). I really missed the babies and was excited to get back to them after a full day of being gone! What am I going to do after I leave here! I think I'll be going through baby withdrawal!

Rafting

We also had the opportunity this week to go white water rafting. I don't have any pictures because if I'd had a camera, it wouldn't be any good anymore after getting wet, but thought I'd share a little about the experience. Picture this: our guides wearing Mickey Mouse life jackets and helmets with mouse ears sticking out! It was pretty great! Definitely wish I'd gotten some pictures of that! The water was pretty calm (I'm guessing. Since this was my first rafting experience, I don't know that for sure, but it seemed pretty calm). Only one person fell out. One of the other boats flipped. I did a full flip inside the boat. Fun times!

Earthquake

Woke up at around 3:45 the other morning to the whole house shaking! Yep, there was an earthquake. I guess it was a 5.4, which is pretty big for this area (or so I was told). It only lasted about 10 seconds and I wasn't positive it really happened (because I was still pretty groggy) until the next morning when others were talking about it. I guess there has been another one since I've been here, but I missed out on feeling that one.

Devotions

I love devotions time! Even if I don't understand what is being said, I look forward to it! My favorite time is the singing time. I love to hear the kids worship God in their own language! The other day, they memorized the following passage for devotions:

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

test me and know my anxious thoughts.

See if there is any offensive way in me

and lead me in the way everlasting

~Psalm 139:23-24

I love the message of the verse, but I was also struck by the fact that they were memorizing it in another language. It made me think about the people who don't have the Word of God in their own language, or the people who have only a few copies in their language. The longer I am here, the more I realize that I am blessed to be an American, as most people know at least a little English and most places have English writing. It's easy for me to learn about God and His Word, but it's not that way for everyone.

Prayer Requests

-Pray for a few babies who have been sick. Please pray for their health and that no other babies get sick.

-Pray for paperwork to come through quickly, so that families can get their babies home soon!

-Pray for a friend I've met here whose sister has lupus and is not doing well

-Pray for continued strength, health, enthusiasm, and unity among the volunteers

-Pray for the many people in Taiwan who do not know the true God. Pray that we can be a light while we are here, even with the language barrier.

This week....

-went shopping AGAIN! :-)
-two babies left to go home with their families :-)
-Ted and Bev, the orphanage directors, got back from vacation :-)
-I took two bike rides and didn't crash :-)
-We walked up to the temple that's right down the road. It was beautiful, but so sad to think about the many people who don't know the true God.
-A new baby came. He's tiny!
-Actually tried the soup at dinner.... it wasn't too bad
-Su Li went home :-(
-Ate Mac and Cheese :-)
-Had McDonald's :-)
-Changed lots of diapers :-/
-Fed lots of babies :-)
-Got lots of smiles, hugs, and kisses from babies! :-) :-) :-)

Pictures to come later.