Answered Prayer

When Patrick's head ache subsided in the afternoon, he headed off to Macau this time instead of Hong Kong. The reason being that at the Macau border you can actually just walk across then turn around and walk back. Where as in Hong Kong you actually have to take a train in a ways and then back to a different part of the border, so going to Macau is actually cheaper, even though the time of the trip is a little longer. PTL that he is feeling alot better today and was able to go to work. 

Amariah is feeling and looking alot better too. Thanks for praying. 

Please Keep Praying

Thanks for praying for us. We feel as though we are facing an attck at the moment. We were supposed to have some people over for dinner, but because of Amariah's illness we decided it was best to re-schedule, we then found out that one of our guest had gone to the hospital ill. 

Then last night Patrick took Amariah to the hospital because Amariah was screaming that his ears hurt, and it was just what we suspected, ear infections. So, now we have eye and ear medicine for him. 

This morning Patrick woke up with a bad head ache and is still in bed, yet he must go to Hong Kong today for his visa. 

Please continue to think pf us in prayer. Our Father is good and we have our trust completely in Him. 

Please Pray

Please Pray...

Amariah has pink eye. We completely trust that our father has protected us all from catching it too. Please agree with us in prayer for Amariah's healing and protection of the family and also join us in praising Him for the healing and protection too. 

Yesterday we went had to go to the hospital to pick up Eternity's birth certificate and so we decided that we would take Amariah too and get his swollen pusy eyes checked out, and sure enough, it was pink eye. The doctor used some sort of vapor medicine for his eye and we have to take him back for 2 more days to get this treatment. We also have 2 oral medicnes and 3 different eye drops for him. Poor guy, but we will do whatever takes to get him healthy again. 

Upon arriving home we decided to wash everything he could have possibly had near his face, bed sheets, towels and clothing. What is the saddest part is how he doesn't understand why he can't love on his sister like he likes to do. 

Eternity officially has her Chinese birth certificate. YAY!!! I think that it is so cool. The space provided for the names of the baby, and parents on the certificate wasn't enough space for our names, as a result, the lady issuing the certificate had to hand write the last part of our names. Then to show that the handwriting on the certificate was official there was a Chinese stamp placed on top of each hand writing. So Chinese, so cool. We will have stories to tell for a life time. 

Eternity- The Story Behind Her Name

The name Eternity was inspired by this story that was told to me for the first time during YWAM. I had heard the story used since in other sermons and found it so incredibly inspiring and encouraging.

Beginning in the 1930s Arthur Stace spent his early morning hours writing the word "Eternity" in a distinctive cursive style in every doorway, on every street, and major entrance to a public area that he could find in Sydney.

For years, the citizens of the city wondered who was writing the "one word sermon" and why.

Every once in a while, someone would claim responsibility for the graffiti and the newspapers would print the stories.

In 1956, Stace was a member of the Burton Street Baptist Church, where he also served as the janitor and a prayer leader.

One day, the pastor of the church, Rev. Lisle M. Thompson, stumbled across Stace while he was writing his chalk message on a sidewalk and the mystery of the "Eternity" messages all over Sydney was solved.

Stace said that after his conversion to Christianity, he heard a sermon in which the evangelist said  "Eternity! Eternity! Oh, that this word could be emblazoned across the streets of Sydney!"

In his simple way, Stace decided to do that.

 

There is a huge illuminated sign on the Sydney Harbour Bridge that says "Eternity" in Stace's distinctive handwriting, a sign that was clearly seen by hundreds of millions of people during the fireworks display at the end of the opening ceremonies at the Olympics in Sidney in 2000.

Those who know Patrick and I well know that we can't just name our children because we think that a name sounds good. We are the kind of people that put a lot of thought into the meaning and believe that the meaning is incredibly important. Anyway, the quote, "Live for Eternity" has been inspirational to us over the years and decided that we wanted our child to hold this strong message. So, the search was on to find a name that meant, "Live for Eternity," or something close to it. And to our surprise we found the name Eternity on a baby name website. It was an instant winner for our daughter's name.  We explored other names, but nothing else ever seemed 'right' for this child.

Patrick and I had decided long ago that we would honor significant people in our lives with our children's middle names. Again the meanings of the names are taken into consideration. Angela (Ang) is one of my best friends who has been there for me, has been a huge encouragement spiritually, and is a great example of a woman who lives for the Lord. Joy is the middle name of the woman who was my mentor for years. Her and her husband have played a significant role in Patrick and I's lives, encouraging us spiritually, praying for us, and always being there.

We put the name together and our daughter's name means, "Eternal messenger of Joy." I think that is so powerful, and I pray that she will always feel valuable as a woman, and that she will know that she is an eternal Joy. 

Venturing Out

Today Eternity is 9 days old. The time has gone by so fast. The whole birthing and hospital experience seems so long ago and I can't imagine my life with out the new baby. It is crazy how we were created to adapt so well to these life changes that we can't image life the way it was before.

Today I will venture out of the house for the first time since coming home from the hospital. Patrick got a tutoring job for Wednesdays and is unable to pick Amariah up from school, so that leaves me the privilege. Eternity and I will be in the great outdoors of our little Chinese community for the first time. 

Conflict-Free Living

Today Eternity is one week old. I can't believe it has been a week already.

 

It is interesting how when you start studying a spiritual topic you either become grossly aware of the issue all around you or the issue becomes exaggerated in your life to test you. I am currently reading "Conflict-Free Living" by Joyce Meyer and I feel like conflict has become all that more evident in everyday life. Last night our Landlord came by to collect rent. Many of you who read my blog regularly know that we have been having troubles with our landlord. We had no fridge for 2 weeks, we lost all our food and he refused to do anything about it and still does. We had the fridge 'fixed', even though it is not totally fixed, it still leaks water, but at least it is keeping things cold now. But we paid for it. Our screen door is still broken, the kitchen sink leaks, we have no hot water in the kitchen, the shower leaks water all over the floor, the washing machine floods our deck every load, and not all the electrical outlets work.  I am incredibly frustrated because our landlord doesn't care and says he won't do anything about it.

You would think that the easy solution would be just to move, but it really isn't that easy. We have been here long enough to know that it is hard to find good landlords and an apartment that isn't completely filthy and in need of a lot of work when you move in. At this time we really don't want to move again and start over.

Anyway, I had to keep myself in the room last night and let Patrick talk to the Landlord because I was bound to say and/or do something that I really shouldn't. Patrick is far softer than I am. I would have given the landlord "a piece of my mind." Anyway, this is clearly a conflict, one of the many, that seem to have popped up forcing me to put to practice the lessons from 'Conflict-free Living."

One of solutions in Conflict-Free Living is to pray for your enemies. Not such a new concept, as it is a well-known Biblical principal, but I will admit that I am struggling with how to pray for this man and his wife. Every time I go to pray I find that I start dwelling on the negative and getting myself all worked up. Then the thought comes to mind, "pray for him." And I respond to myself, "Oh yeah." But the only word that comes to mind is "God." "Teach me Lord to pray for those I am in conflict with."

The Arrival of Eternity Angela-Joy

Hello agian.....

I am back and ready to make regular entries again. 

It was a week ago today that we went to hospital expecting to have Eternity that day, yet she surprised us by taking her time coming out and didn't come 'til the following day.

Saturday night after dinner I started to have some really bad cramps, then at 3:30 in the morning I was woken by what I knew were contractions. We waited until 10am to go to the hospital. Amariah stayed with a friend of ours who has 6 children. He did amazing there. He loved the built in playmates who also adored him. 

Sunday was spent watching movies and eating take out as we waited for my contractions to get below 5 minutes apart. That took until 11pm. We then were moved to the labouring room where we stayed for a few hours before being moved to the delivering room. 

We were in the delivering room for 2 hours. The doctor kept saying that this was taking too long and that we had to get the baby out. So, every time a contraction came I had 4 Chinese women yelling at me to push. Then the strangest thing happened, I personally think that it was a God thing, since I had been labouring for 30 hours and of course was completely exhausted and felt I had nothing left in me to continue, but my contractions just stopped. Pain, everything gone completely for 15 minutes or so. I enjoyed the rest, but definitely questioned if everything was ok. I didn't know if this was normal. After about 15 minutes of absolutely nothing the contractions started up again, one after the other.

At 4am the doctor broke my water. At 4:30 the doctor started to prepare some medicines that she said would make things move a lot faster, but before she was able to give me the medicine, Eternity decided to show, PTL!!!

Patrick and I would joke through out the labouring process that it must be a girl because we are going to call her Eternity and she is taking an Eternity to come out. And I will never forget hearing that Chinese doctor say "It's a girl." So exciting!!!! We absolutely love and adore our little princess. 

Kari Jones sent you a birth announcement.

Kari Jones sent you a birth announcement: It's a Girl! Eternity Angela-Joy See the announcement

Another Hospital Experience (But not the anicipated experience)

Still waiting.... Three days late. Maybe this baby will be like Amariah. If so, we won't see it for another week. 

I went to the doctor yesterday. Something different about this hospital that I haven't experienced with one back home is the 2 hour lunch break. I was there getting a movement scan just before lunch. The nurse attending me was busy cleaning things up, putting things away and getting ready to leave. I was the last lady to get this scan before the break and I was starting to feel like I was inconveniencing the staff by being so close to lunch. 

At noon the scan was still not complete. My doctor, then, came into scanning room, dressed in her regular clothes and looking like she was heading out the door, and told me that the other doctor was waiting for me, and that I should take my results to her when I was done. At about 12:05, I was finished the scan. The nurse gave me the results and I headed for the doctors office. As I exited the scanning room I was surprised to be greeted by darkness. All the lights had been turned off and not a soul was in sight. The only light that was guiding my way to the office was sun that was peering through the few windows from the stair case. I got to the office without stumbling into anything, and was with the doctor for all of 30 seconds. Just long enough for her to look over the results and say, "It's normal." YAY!!!! She too, was in her everyday clothes. She picked up her purse and and said that it was time to leave. We parted, leaving in different directions. I walked down the hall to the elevator. No one was in sight, it was dark all except a hint of sunlight and the glowing exit signs. Doors were closed and everything was silent. I had never experienced this kind of desertedness, emptiness in a hospital. It was almost creepy. 

Arriving on the main floor I was expecting it to be its normal lively self, since it was the main entrance, however, that too was dark and deserted. Outside where there are usually drivers waiting to be hired, and people waiting to be picked up, there was no one. I usually hire one of the drivers to take me home, and the sense of panic wanted to wiggle its way into me whispering, "how are you going to get home now? You may be stuck here until lunch is over." As soon as those thoughts entered my head I rebuked them and told my self that the Lord will provide. I started to head toward the street praying that when I arrived there would be a taxi there to take me home. Again panic tried to creep its way in by telling me "the last time you tried to catch a taxi on these streets you waited for quite some time. You may be stuck." Again I wouldn't believe the thought, I rebuked it and then thanked the Lord for providing my ride home, even though I hadn't had one yet, I knew the Lord would provide. 

As soon as I arrived at the street I looked to my left and saw a taxi turning on to the street. I waved him down and got in. I was on my way home. I didn't have to wait, the Lord provided. He had the taxi there waiting to take me home. 

A Gecko in the Grapes

Still anxiously awaiting....

Once upon a time Amariah and I took a walk to the market just outside of our community. It is a nice walk on sunny days, and the fresh fruit and vegetables are much cheaper there than in the grocery store, so that makes the walk so much more worth it. Amariah absolutely loves fruit, so it is the perfect place to stock up on all kinds, bananas, oranges, apples, pomellos, dragon fruit, and grapes. This one place had this beautiful display of fresh grapes, they were big, juicy and inviting to eat. I parked the stroller, grabbed a bag and went to pick up a small bunch when something caught my eye causing me to stop my hand just before touching the grape bunch. Something moved. I was sure of it. But I didn't see anything, so I went to grabbed the grape bunch again, but again I stopped. It felt like something was staring at me. I started to scan the grape display. This grape display was definitely staring at me and leaving me with this creepy feeling since I couldn't find the eyes. And then, there it was, it moved again. This time my eyes caught it, and it was a gecko hiding in the grapes. Once it knew that I had found it, it started to crawl all over the grapes. I quickly grabbed Amariah out of the stroller and held him up to see the gecko. He was excited to see the little critter crawling around. It soon crawled out of the display and diappeared. I put Amariah back in the stroller, put the bag back with the others and started to walk away. I was no longer interested in buying grapes. Usually it is the price that steers me away from buying grapes, but this was the first time an animal had. Even though we came away grapeless, we had story.

A PTL Moment

Well, my bags are packed and I'm ready to go. Someone should let baby J know.... According to China time, we are officially 1 day late. 

Crazy story, I was visiting a friend of mine in her apartment on the first floor. We were sitting out on her patio, which is enclosed by glass, chatting and having a good time. Then all of a sudden we heard this wierd whoosing sound progressively get louder causing us to pause our conversation and listen. The whoosing sound was quickly followed by a loud crashing sound that made us jump. Something had crashed right beside us on the other side of the glass barrier. The crash was so loud that everyone in her house came running to where we were asking what happened. We had know idea. We all immediately turned our attention to the ground outside to discover that the lawn was covered with shattered glass and bits and pieces of what looked like a frame. Did a window just fall out from an upper story of the building, because that is what it looked like. We were shocked and so thankful that her patio was enclosed by glass, otherwise we may have been showered by the shattered pieces as it crashed beside us. We were also thankful that no one was outside at that time, and that the glass wasn't accompanied by anything unpleasant. This was another one of those PTL moments. 

Fridge Update. Still no fridge. Yeah, not pleased with this landlord and still needing wisdom on how to deal with him. Another repair guy came to our house today to look at it. The repair guy looked like an Eskimo wearing a Texas cowboy hat and he had a very bubbly personality. All he did was, plug in our fridge, us our washroom, then talked on the phone, and came and sat next to me as I talked with my mom on skype. It was interesting. He started to talk to my mom in Chinese. My mom just smiled and said that she didn't know what to say, and really neither did I. He then stuck up his thumb and said good in Chinese. To what I don't know. I decided that it was time to call my friend to translate because I thought that he was here to look at the fridge and all he had done was plug it in. 

Just then my friend had called me. Perfect. I had her translate. Apparently the guy wanted to take the fridge to his shop and take it apart. Fine by me. It has now been over a week without a fridge. This seriously should have been taken care of right away. In need of continued wisdom. 

The Faith of a Child

This past Sunday in Sunday school Amariah sat in the front for story time and was very attentive. He learned about the lady who touched Jesus and then was all better.  He coloured a picture showing a lady touching Jesus. After colouring his picture he tried to recite the story back to me. It was really cute. Then after class he told Daddy about the story and was very proud of himself. At home we put the picture on the fridge and talked about it at dinner. I was so proud of him for showing such interest in the story. 

Last night after showering Amariah, he was being his squirmy self while I was trying to dry him off. During a fight with the towel he had lost his balance and fell on to his bum. It wasn't a hard fall, however, on the way down his chin hit my knee causing him to bite his own lip. I was sitting on a small stool allowing my knee to be in the perfect position for a collision. Amariah started to cry right away. I felt so bad. Scooping him up to cradel him in my arms I noticed that his bottom lip was bleeding. I quickly grabbed a clean cloth, dampened it with water and put it on his lip. He was grateful and took comfort in biting down on the cloth. 

I took him to the bedroom and put on his pajamas. I took the cloth from him to dampen it again. The lip hadn't bled that much, so there was hardly any blood on the cloth, which I was thankful for. But his lip was definitely swelling on the right hand side. I thought a cool cloth may offer more comfort to the sore lip. 

Returning with the cool cloth, I said, "Buddy, do you want this?" And he replied, "No, touch Jesus, all better." Then he continued playing with his stuffed whale as if nothing had happened. I pressed a little further, why, I don't know, "Are you sure you don't want the cloth for your lip." He answered with a tone that told me I was being foolish for asking, "No, I touch Jesus, all better." I put the cloth away and haven't heard another word about the lip since. 

The faith of a child. I sat and pondered that while watching him play with his whale. I had a moment when I started to realize that I have absolutely no idea the vast amout of things the Lord will teach me through my children. The thought is almost overwhelming, yet totally exciting at the same time. 

No Baby Yet

So, I just finiahed up the last thing that I was working on for work. YAY!!!! I now feel so much more at ease with the baby coming. Patrick and I are getting so excited to meet this new little one. I am praying that we don't have to wait another week. In church today they prayed for us and others that are due to have babies in the next couple of weeks. It felt really encouraging to be thought of in such a large congregation. 

Anyway, it is 3:30 in the morning and once again I can't sleep. Lately I haven't been able to get more than 2-3 hours of sleep at a time, and I know that this is the Lord preparing me for this new child to come. Well, what else to do at this hour than do some uninterrupted work, write on my blog, read, pray and hope that someone comes on skipe to chat. 

We still don't have a fridge and I am trusting in the Lord to provide. I am trying to focus on praising the Lord for His many blessings and not allow my angry emotions steal my joy. 

Talking about stealing joy, I totally got up in a Chinese woman's face at the subway. After eating lunch we were waiting for the subway and this group of Chinese ladies were staring at us, talking, and pointing, and being completely rude. At first I didn't really care, but then my son ran away from us and didn't respond to our telling him to come back. Patrick ran after him brought him back and was given Amariah a talking to about why he shouldn't run away in a crowded place and that he needed to listen and obey. Well, this for some reason was entertaining for these women, so they crowded around to watch Amariah get disciplined. Amariah was then looking at the people and not looking at his daddy anymore. So a stepped between these ladies and Amariah as a hint that they needed to back off and give us privacy. Well, one of the ladies then started to peer over my shoulder to watch Amariah get this talking to. I lost it. I turned around and got in this ladies face and with a raised voice told her what I thought of her inappropriate behaviour. I was so angry. The crowd, that shouldn't have been there in the first place, dispersed quickly. GOOD!!! This is why we only bring our son into the city on Sundays for church. We make it a point to not bring him into the city because the Chinese people, in general, not all, have no respect for others, and it is way too crowded. 

Then later Patrick fought this other lady for a taxi. Patrick was clearly there first, but she was actually getting physical with him trying to take the taxi, and at the same time Patrick had Amariah in his arms. What a day, I tell ya. After fighting the Chinese in the city, all three of us fell asleep on bus ride home. 

Thanks for all your prayers and support. 

We love you all, 

If I am up again tomorrow night, I will write again. 

Needing Wisdom

No baby yet. I will announce it the first chance I get, I promise. 

Patrick and I are in a battle with our landlord and are needing wisdom. We have been fridgeless for the past 5 days. It stopped working Monday night. We called a repair guy to come and look at it, then we called our landlord saying that our fridge isn't working and if he would please take care of it. I will also mention that we have been having problems with our fridge ever since we moved in. Last month we asked our landlord to fix the problem and he just told us to unplug it and plug it back in. Well, now it isn't working at all. 

So, we had someone from school call a repair guy for us, because we don't speak Chinese and he never showed up for 2 days in a row. We were very upset and when we asked why the repair guy never came we were told that our land lord called and canceled it because he doesn't want to pay for it. I was furious. I had our freezer full of food for when the baby comes and we lost all of it, either from going bad or me having to give it away. Everything in our fridge and freezer is gone. We have a baby coming and no food in the house except rice and noodles. 

We got someone at school to talk to our landlord about our fridge. He said that since we have lived here more than three months we should buy our own. We said "NO!" we have been going back and forth with this guy and we are so angry. The latest is, he will buy us a new fridge but then he will raise our rent. We obviously said, "NO!!" So, we are thinking, that we will use our rent money to get a new fridge and just give the landlord the receipt. 

It has been such a battle and with the new baby coming, it is far more stressfull because I can't store anything. And since this is the land of next to no canned goods, I can't just stock my shelves with canned stuff. For some reason the Chinese don't like canned foods. They have canned foods at the western food store for like $3.00 four a can of tomato soup- completely unaffordable to stock up on. I keep repeating to myself that my battle is not with flesh and blood. Trying to keep my eyes above and taking it to the Father is a chioce that we are having to make everyday. 

Please pray for wisdom for us, and that we will get this problem fixed asap. 

No More Fridge

I am officially 39 weeks today. Wow!!! That seemed to go by so quickly. 

Today feels like another beautiful summer morning. Even though I know the real heat is yet to come. It is 8 am and I am already sweating in my tank top and shorts. But I am not complaining, I actually love it. 

So, yesterday our fridge stopped working. It is so frustrating because we have told our landlord that we have been having troubles with our fridge and would like it fixed, and yet he has done nothing. Now it is completely not working and we have lost all of our food that was in there. Our landlords have been frustrating from the start. The day we moved in we gave him a list of things that do not work and 5 months later some of them still aren't fixed. Our kitchen sink leaks, we have no hot water in the kitchen, our screen door is broken (which would really be nice to have now that it is hotter and the mosquitos are so prevalent), and our fridge doesn't work. When we moved in the front door didn't close, we had no shower head, and the bathroom sink didn't drain (because it was clogged with nails, batteries and a paintbrush). And believe it or not we had to stand our ground to not pay for the sink repair. If we were in North America, we never woudl have moved in at all, but since this is a common Chinese apartment situation, we are having to deal with it. Cultural learning. 

Well, I should get on with my day, lots to do. 

Thanks for the love and prayers. 

Huge Blessings

Last night a friend of mine threw me a baby shower. We had so much fun. Baby showers aren't a common practice here in China, so some of my co-workers/friends had never been to one before and thought it was a good idea. One of my friends has a 4 month old baby. It was so cute watching Amariah with him. He was so gentle and interested in this little guy. At one point when the baby was sleeping in Amariah's room, I was visiting with the ladies I didn't realize that Amariah wasn't playing with the toys on the floor anymore. When I saw that, I jumped up and said, "Where is Amariah?" We found him sitting beside the sleeping baby on his bed just staring at him. When Amariah saw me in the door way he said, "Shhhhh! Baby sleeping." So cute. It makes me so much more excited to bring home our new baby. Amariah will be a great big brother.

The baby shower was a huge, huge blessing, especially in a country where it is not a common practice. At some of the girls request I had made a list of things that I still needed. Knowing that they were planning this shower I hadn't aggressively shop of certain items. Two of the things on my list was onesies and bum cream. Bum cream I have actually been searching for for awhile and have failed in my attempts to find any. One of the ladies at the shower said that China doesn't have stuff like that, alot of babies here have the 'peek-a-boo' bottoms and diapers is still not widely used. So, the use of a bum cream isn't a necessity. For those of you that aren't familiar with the 'peek-a-boo' bottoms they are baby pants with no bums, so the baby's naked toosh hangs out. As a result it is common to see mothers holding there babies over gardens, the side of the street and garbage cans as the baby relieves him/her self. At the playground I try to ignore it since it happens all the times when I take Amariah there. It is probably why the plants around the playground are so green. I actually had a mother tell me that diapers aren't good for a baby and that bum cream is unhealthy. 

Anyway, this friend of mine at the shower said that a friend of hers went to Hong Kong this week and that she will bring back some bum cream for me. That was very thoughful. 

The second thing, onesies, can't find those anywhere either. I bet it is because they don't have the 'peek-a-boo' bottoms. I do have some that I brought over, and with the heat here, the baby will likely just be in a diaper for the summer. So, it is no big deal.  Well, now I feel more set than ever with all these gifts, just waiting for the arrival of baby J.