"Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west."
Isaiah 43:5
My favorite quotes:
"I have found that there are three stages in every great work of God: first, it is impossible, then it is difficult, then it is done." J. Hudson Taylor
"It will not do to say that you have no special call to go to China. With these facts before you and with the command of the Lord Jesus to go and preach the gospel to every creature, you need rather to ascertain whether you have a special call to stay at home." J. Hudson Taylor
Prayer by Billy Graham
"Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, O God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free! Amen!"
Our Itinerary
3/19 -- leave for China 3/20 --arrive in Beijing travel to Delilah's Province 3/21 -- free day likely explore the city try to meet an online friend who lives in TJ 3/22 -- meet with Hellen to prepare paperwork for tomorrow 3/23 -- meet DELILAH!!!! 3/24 -- finalize adoption in province. She is ours! 3/25 -- apply for Delilah's Chinese passport travel to Beijing 3/26 -- tour Beijing (with guide) 3/27 -- free day - likely explore on our own spend evening at a show 3/28 -- tour Beijing (with guide) 3/29 -- travel to Guangzhou 3/30 -- medical exam/consulate appt 3/31 -- free day - explore on our own 4/01 -- Swearing-In Ceremony 4/02 -- free day - explore on our own 4/03 -- return home!
Our guide will stay busy completing our paperwork in the local province so that we may have a few days to tour Beijing. With the kids being a bit older, we think it will be good for them to experience a bit of the Chinese culture. We really appreciate this opportunity since the family usually must stay in province until all paperwork is processed.
If you followed our journey last time, you will notice that I have not given as many details this time. This is simply because this blog is open to anyone who happens across it. If you want to know more (hotel, etc), please email me for the information. However, I will post hotel names after we leave each hotel. As long as we can access the website, I will post pictures and tell you about our day.
Please feel free to leave comments and stay in touch with us while we are gone.
As you may remember, we experienced a few difficulties while on our last trip to China. First, I was not feeling well, then we received word that Tiffany was very sick at home. For a short while, we thought I may need to return home to be with her. Then, my cousin lost four members of his family in a fire. It was with very heavy hearts we received that news. Please pray for our family here at home while we are gone. While we have loved our trips to China, it is incredibly hard to be away from our loved ones.