Proud Sponsor Parents

Barb and Tim meet their sponsor son!

God gets the glory

We are in the process of processing what has happened over the past two weeks. We arrived home on friday and are almost over jetlag, but just beginning to get over what we've experienced. The time with the kids in HengYang was amazing, even more so the time with the staff. To meet these women who have given years of their lives for these kids was so encouraging. They are just young professionals with simple hearts ready to serve. God let them in on His heart for the kids of China and they've come to help out. It was amazing to be led in worship by them, both in musical worship (thanks Alison) and the worship of serving the kids (thanks Kyla, Allison, Karen, Liesel, Annah, Hannah, Suzie and Barbara). God receives glory everyday as these people serve these little ones.

Hengyang

We arrived at the newer Hengyang Spring Project, where ICC has been working the last 5 years. Conditions are much improved since they've started and the lives of kids are being radically transformed. A big part of being on a short term team here is just to be extra hands with the kids. They have the ratio of caregivers to kids down to 1:4 instead of 1:20, but they know the kids long for much more personal interaction with adults. we've spent the last two days doing that and loving it. We've seen some hard things - heart breaking, but when we shared around the table tonight our highs and lows, we had plenty of highs and the only lows was that we wish we had more energy and time to give.

It's also great to get to know the local caregivers who give so much to the kids.

Tomorrow we will be meeting with the ICC ex-pat team where we hope to bless them in many ways. Its been wonderful to hear their stories as they've come from the UK, Canada, Australia and elsewhere to give their lives for this little ones.
oh ya and tonight we had pig feet for dinner :) and the ladies were asking for men to father their children - they mean the orphans ;)

A whole lot more pics (via facebook imperialism)

Here are a bunch of pics from the trip on facebook - come join us on our journey!

http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=606665660&k=34AX54RRRZYM5EDFPG54VT
http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=606665660&k=R3FU2XPRRY6M5EDFPG54VT

the abominable cupcake

After a road-trip that some thought harrowing (and Barb thought positively exhilirating) we've made it down from Changsha to Hengyang. This is another big city, but with with very few foreigners, and the ICC work is less developed. We've enjoyed spending time at the big child centre here, holding the babies and playing with the kids, hearing moving stories from the ICC staff about the journeys on which these disabled children have travelled. Stay tuned for more photos (or if you're lucky enough to have him as your friend, check Randy's facebook!)

Back in Changsha a few days ago I drew a little maze for Miranda to work through in our spare time. She solved it in record time ("I'm so good at mazes!" she said) and the prize, I promised, was a cupcake. Easily produced, I thought, and I found one that same day at a bakeshop. It had purple icing and Miranda was very impressed. After supper that night, family-style, after we had finished our dozens of delicious and spicy entrees, M opened her cupcake and took a bite. It was a traumatic bite for her: the cheery purple icing concealed densely packed chunks of red-bean. So that was the only bite she took - who could blame her? But the rest of us didn't want to waste a perfectly good (if somewhat culturally surprising) cupcake, so we took turns digging a little deeper into it. You can imagine our chagrin when we found beneath the red-bean density a heart of pork floss! Purple candy-icing, red-bean chunks and pork-floss - now THAT's a cultural experience!

I'll feel terrible if Miranda never wants to come back to China. But the good news is she seems to have taken it all in stride! This morning at the children's centre she was taking the lead in reaching out to children with down's syndrome and cerebral palsy, hugging them and letting herself receive their often overenthusiastic hugs. She's become a good friend of the ICC "poster girl," Liang-liang - you'll see some photos of them shortly. Miranda doesn't seem to be intimidated by some of the gaps that I feel between myself and these ICC kids.

I was thinking of that line from somewhere in the Bible - "and a little child shall lead them."

-Steve

We meet the kids in Changsha

It is truly amazing to see what ICC has done here in Changsha. To see the life in these kids - the hope, love and opportunity is incredible. They have given them life. We have been especially impressed by the local care givers and therapists. As we struggle to communicate verbally with them, there is no doubt in their love and commitment to the children.
We (the Hamms) met our sponsor daughter, Liu Mi, yesterday and spent some more time with her today. She is a total riot! So excited to see us! She proudly showed her the necklace she was making (they make serious jewerly - I know stores in Vancouver will want to carry it) and then she danced for us - some wonderful hula/bollywood mix. Her joy is contagious. And her downs syndrome hardly holds her back.
Also precious was to see the staff working with cerebral palsey children, giving them opportunity for art on a computer, gentle touch and massage, and the hard work of walking. 15 years ago these children would never have been given any hope, locked away to slowly die without love or touch.
Tomorrow we head to Hengyang - 2 hours south, to spend 4 days with kids in a newer project - kids who haven't been worked with as long - who need more love, touch and care - may God give us His hands and heart for them.

Before you ditch the plane!

We have learned that traffic rules do not apply, pork floss can appear in dessert,there are lots of rules in China and the you don't disembark from the plane in an emergency...you ditch!

It is wonderful to be in Changsha. Hong Kong was a vibrant city...but it felt like a larger version of Vancouver crossed with New York. Today was our first experience with the ICC children. We spent the morning at the Lighthouse project and met some of the older children who were busy in the ICC workshop making beautiful jewelry. They create wonderful handiwork despite their challenges with physical coordination and many of us bought some lovely jewelry from the kids. We also toured the rest of the facility which houses toddlers through to young adults. We each had our own unique experiences connecting with the kids. I enjoyed meeting Wan Ge who is a happy friendly young woman who engages well with people and blows a lot of kisses! The children have wonderful carers who spend the days doing therapy with them and providing them with education opportunities. The younger children seranaded us with action songs and got many hugs from all of us.

In the afternoon we went to the Welfare Centre for more severely disabled children and I spent the afternoon with a young man with Cerebral Palsy. He isn't able to speak or visibly engage but we sat together and I did my best to figure out how to connect with him. Others in our group tossed a ball with some of the kids and we observed their sensory therapy session.

We have experienced wonderful hospitality so far and we are all getting fat on the yummy food in Hunan Province but I think we are all fairly tired from a full day today and all of yesterday's travels.

Sandra