26 - Prayers Please

7/10 During our trip, we have felt the effect of the prayers of many of our friends. Thank you! Maybe you can take the time to pray a bit more for us?

We received a call this morning from the US Consulate. There is a problem with our homestudy addendum and we have no way of making any changes from here in China. So, we must rely on our adoption agency to correct what should have been corrected before we traveled. We are allowing our local guide to talk with our agency to remedy the situation. We know that God is in control and can make everything right, inspite of the blunders and oversights. Our Consulate appointment is Tuesday at 4pm (3am CST Tuesday) and we are scheduled on the 9pm flight to LAX. Your prayers are appreciated.

While walking the area around our hotel, a kindly Chinese man stopped to talk with us about our daughters. He received his college education in the US and invited us to visit him later as we had time. We accepted his invite and are glad that we did. It was then that we learned that he is a Christian. He was very excited to talk about his faith and things God has done in his and his friend's lives. This visit lifted our spirits! God is very much alive.

After our visit, we went for ping pang, Kate's new passion---frozen ice cream on a stick. I can hardly wait to take her to Braums once we are home. Ok, maybe WE will enjoy that visit and a visit to Sonic and a visit to Ted's....

Gerald and I have given much thought about the Olympic 2008 slogan, One World, One People. We have added a phrase: One World, One People, One God! We've met so many precious people who may never hear of Christ's love and sacrafice for each one of us. We now have a new friend in China who we will remember in prayer.

The girls are doing well. I've talked much about Kate's adjustment during the past two weeks. The trip is also for Cora. She has never wanted to talk much about China or the fact she is Chinese by birth. Only during the months before we left did she begin to ask questions and talk about how she felt. She began asking questions about her past that nobody can answer. Today on the playground, she wandered around, mingling and blending in with the other children. Many times, people have a approached her, speaking Mandarin. She hasn't verbalized how all of this makes her feel, but I've sensed that she is comfortable with it all. I pray that her visit to China has filled voids that we can't. Now we can pray that God allows her to grow and enjoy her memories of this visit to the beautiful land of her birth.