Anyone can pray.

After being in Beijing for over a week now I have many observations from our time here.  While I miss Porter and am ready to get home to him, I am just getting  comfortable with the babies and what the needs are here in the Hope Healing Home. I will miss these babies and think about them everyday once we leave, wondering if I will ever get to care for them again.

The needs are so great and diverse here.   One child may be just need to grow following cleft lip repair, while the next is struggling for each breath striving to gain enough strength to have a major heart repair.  Bowel issues, urinary tract defects, cleft lips, cleft palates, extreme failure to thrive, complex heart defects.  These are "normal" here, and some of the kids have more than one of these problems. By all accounts these kids shouldn't be alive, but they are and many are thriving because of the care they have been provided.  Some will live to be adopted, some will stay in the orphan system until they are too old, and some will not make it.  These are the harsh realities of orphan life in China.

After making every reader sufficiently depressed now what is my point to sharing all of this. Jesus says in Matthew 9:37, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” (still depressing but I'm getting to the point.) Everyone reading this can be a worker.  Not everyone can come to China, but anyone can pray, and that is what these babies need more than anything.

Early Saturday morning I was called to the room of one of the smaller heart babies.  The baby was blue, and was struggling for every breath.  Going to the Emergency Room is not really an option so we did everything within our means to make her better.  We gave her oxygen, nebulizer treatments, and a fluid medicine but she was still struggling. I had nothing else medical that I could do. However, I could pray.  I put my hand on her precious head and started praying that God would relieve her distress. I knew that He might relieve her by comforting her here on earth, or He might choose to comfort her in His arms in Heaven. Not long after her breathing slowed, her color improved, and she was slowly getting better. The doctor in me struggles not to say that it just took time for the medicine to take effect, but I know that it was certainly God's hand that was at work that day.  The next day when I went to check on her she smiled the biggest smile, and I knew that for now she was going to be okay.

I'm thankful that the Lord has led Lauren, the kids, and me here to spend time with these precious children, and I pray that one day we will get to return.  After we return home, and are not able to see them everyday, we will pray.  We will pray for the 33 month old baby who weighs 11 pounds and can't have heart surgery until she gains enough weight.  We will pray for the child who gets closer to complete renal failure everyday and has no surgical option for treating his problem.  We will pray for the baby with a cleft palate that has been repaired who just needs a family to see his precious face and choose to bring him into their home.

We ask that you do the same.  It would be great if you would give, and sponsor a child, and adopt, and travel here to love on these babies, but that isn't a reality for many.  Prayer is a reality, and these babies need to be lifted up to our Heavenly Father more than anything.

Below are pictures so you can see who we have been able to spend our time with.  I have to show a few of our kids having fun too!!!

It's our 4th full day here in Beijng, and I've wanted to post sooner, but honestly I just haven't had the energy. Adjustment to the time has been much more difficult for me this time. It may be because I'm old, or it may be because Davidson didn't want to sleep very much when we arrived!!! Our first few days have been relatively uneventful. I've been trying to learn each of the children and their medical needs, while Lauren and the kids have enjoyed spending time with the preschoolers and time in the various nurseries. As always some of the kids stand out more for various reasons  (Pictures to follow).  It's amazing how some of the babies just melt your heart instantly. Everyone asked before our trip how many I thought we would bring home.  The one good thing about the length of the adoption process is that it prevents us from loading up the plane when we leave next week.  Between Lauren and the girls they have exactly 47 "favorites". By the way there are 47 kids here.

A new child arrived Monday. Her case is a little different than most. She recently had surgery and is coming here to heal before returning to her orphanage. Also different is that her grandfather came with her to be dropped off, and that she is 8, much older than the rest of the kids here. She was tearful as the people she knew said their goodbyes.  We assessed her then her ayis took over, and she was made to feel at home quickly. It made me proud to see my girls immediately start trying to love on her. They took her snacks and candy, and before I knew it Rebecca was painting her fingernails.  Ming Yu was able to communicate with her as well. I'm pray that her fears were lessened by the love she received.

I ask that you continue to pray for Joyce Hill, the founder and medical director of New Hope Foundation.  While in rehab today she was found to have a complication of her recent cerebral hemorrhage.  My hope is that it is only a short term setback on her long road to recovery.

Mighty to Save

Today during our Sunday service Ming Yu, Maggie, Rebecca, Janie, and two of their friends, Joy and Emily performed Mighty to Save.  They have been working for several weeks on the arrangement and learning Chinese for the chorus.  The video link is below. We are very proud of them.  For those of you who have Chinese children Hillsong has a collection of worship songs in Chinese that can be downloaded on iTunes. 

Our prayer is that Ming Yu will start to believe the words that are in the song.  We know God is Mighty and can save anyone...even teenagers who have spent the majority of life thinking that God doesn't exist.


Mighty to Save

Ups and Downs

I guess it's been a while since we have updated our blog.  A lot has happened since we have been home, some worthy of mentioning and some definitely not.  We have been home for 4 months, and one thing is for sure, being the parents of six children definitely keeps us busy.  The meals, the dishes, the laundry, the school work seem to never end.  It is definitely challenging but if you ask any of the 8 of us, we wouldn't do anything differently.  A common question we get from the kids is, "Do you think we will adopt anymore babies?"  Our response, "Who knows?"  After the last year we have learned that no and never are words we don't commonly use when it comes to adoption, family, and God's plan. 

So I guess everyone wants to hear how the kids are doing.  Davidson is such a joy to be around and has become quite the entertainer.  Just mention Gangnam Style and he starts the dance.  Today we ate lunch out, and before we could finish, he had every waitress in the restaurant smiling and laughing.  Sorry if you were there and got less than stellar service.  I must admit that his laugh and his smile are very infectious.  It's hard to ignore him once he gets going.   He loves his brother and sisters, his grandparents, but most of all his Mama.  He can't get enough hugs and kisses from her.  She certainly doesn't mind.  I'm not too bad either, especially if I'm headed out the door.  If someone mentions leaving the house he is coming along.  He turned two this week.  He seemed to enjoy his cake and opening presents.  It took him a few tries to learn to blow out his candles, but he got the hang of it.  I had a really cute video to put here but for some reason I can't get it to work.  Maybe I can add it later. 

Ming Yu seems to be adapting to a new family, culture, and language fairly well also.  It is definitely harder on her, but she has made great strides.  We seem to resort to electronic translators less and less these days.  She enjoys our food, and has definitely learned the importance of shopping!!!  It hasn't all been pretty as some of you have witnessed, but with frequent talks with Lauren about what it means to be a daughter, what it means to be a sister, and what it means to have unconditional love she seems generally happy to be here.  She has started taking piano lessons, and is playing a song at church tomorrow morning.  She, her sisters, and several friends have been practicing Mighty to Save.  They plan to sing it at church soon, with the chorus in Chinese.  She asks lots of questions about Jesus, that frankly I don't always know how to answer.  Imagine spending almost 14 years of your life being told that the Bible and its stories are just fiction, then ending up in a home where Jesus is talked about and worshipped daily.  The Chinese are very prideful people, so she struggles to let go of her Chinese beliefs in order to accept our American ways and beliefs.  It's probably not much different for us as Christians as we have a hard time letting go of our earthly desires, in order to accept God's plan for our lives. I know God will work it all out in time.  In the meantime we are enjoying watching Ming Yu and DiDi experience many "firsts" - like cheese, grass, play doh, Six Flags, Easter, riding a bike, trips to the aquarium, stormy weather causing several days without power, concerts, youth group activities, birthday parties, and many more that so many of us take for granted every day. 

We had planned on a few more "firsts" this summer, but as we have come to expect, God had a different plan.  Our first family beach trip will be postponed this summer, as we found out last weekend that we will be making a return trip to China much sooner than expected.  No, we won't be bringing any new children home this trip, but in the end I'm sure we will see many that we would love to add to our family.  During August we will be spending two weeks in Beijing at Hope Healing Home, one of the care centers of the New Hope Foundation.  The doctor and director of the orphanage needs to travel out of the country, and has asked us if we could come care for the babies in her absence.  She is the one who coordinated all of Davidson's care when he was sick as an infant.  Needless to say we are thrilled, and thankful that God has called our family to care for even more orphans, if only for a short while.  We are travelling as a family.  It may be difficult for the little ones, but no one wanted to miss this trip.  We all pray that this is the first of many return trips to China.

Overall, it is pretty exciting in the Ayres' house these days.  Summer is coming.  The new kids are settling in to their new environment, as the "old" ones are getting used to new routines. Most of all we are thankful for the blessings God has given us and for the fact that he continues to use us in his Kingdom.  

 

New Discoveries

Well it's been a while, but we have been a little busy.  It's been 2 1/2 weeks since we arrived home.  We have been trying to create what we are calling "the new normal."  If our life were a fairy tale I would be typing how perfect everything has been since we have been home, and how we are living happily ever after.  I wish this were the truth but Disney is not yet planning a movie based on the Ayres.  The variety of emotions that we have experienced has been endless. 

Except for learning to sleep, Davidson has adapted perfectly.  He is a joy to be around.  He entertains.  He snuggles. He plays with his siblings.  He still loves his Mama more than anyone else, but we all are moving up the ladder.  With a little help from Melatonin, he is sleeping much better now too.  Last weekend we were able to visit one of Davidson's roomates from MBHOH who now lives in Madison.  I really feel like they remembered each other.  We feel so blessed to have him.

Ming Yu has been a little more difficult.  She has had plenty of wonderful moments, and we feel just as blessed to have her.  However, her adjustment has been not quite as easy.  I try to put myself in her shoes, and to be honest, I can't.  She lives in a country for almost 14 years then a couple of strange Americans come, take her from her comfortable surroundings, then bring her to a country with different food, different smells, and a completely different culture. Oh yeah, did I mention that those people don't speak the same language?  How can anyone expect her to be anything but overwhelmed and scared?  She doesn't yet know that in the long run she will be better off in a Christian family rather than in an orphanage in China. She doesn't want to hear how "blessed" she is to have been adopted.  She wants to go back to China!!!  Last week she never said that, but I'll just say she did everything she could with the hopes that we would put her on a plane and send her back.  We obviously didn't do that.  What did we do?  We prayed...a lot.  Last week tested our faith more than anything has.  We knew, however, that God didn't bring us this far, to forget about us.  We called on friends and social workers for assistance and advice.  We are thankful for the advice we received, but in the end our reliance on God is what got us through.  We prayed for God to soften her heart.  We prayed that God would teach us how to handle this situation.  We prayed for patience and understanding.  We prayed for sympathy toward our daughter when it would be easy to just be angry.  Countless friends were praying along with us, and late last week things started to change.  We then had a great weekend and our week is improving day by day.  We interact. We laugh. We talk through iPhone translators and charades.  Ming Yu has really started to open up.  She has been to classes with her sisters.  She spent the night with her cousins at her grandparent's house.  She seems to even enjoy church despite the language barrier.  She is exploring her new world in so many ways, and it is wonderful to watch.    She is working hard to learn English and will only rest when she gets 100% on her lessons.  She may not love us as much as we love her, but we are definitely growing on her.  Last week I would have said we were light years from the point we are at right now.  God, as always, had a better timeline.  It is still not a perfect world in our house, nor will it be any time soon.  However, this week we are praying prayers of thanksgiving for what God has provided.  Even if we go through another challenging week, we can rely on the fact that God will be there with us every step of the way. 

I have to share a story that just makes us laugh.  Apparently, our Chicken feet post made an impact.  Today I got a call from Greg Allred.  He and Susan wanted to come by and bring Ming Yu a gift.  Maggie and Rebecca started giggling because they knew what was coming, but were sworn to secrecy.  Greg walked in later with a cooler that he gladly presented to Ming Yu.  What was in it?  Of course, a bag of frozen chicken feet! It was certainly the most interesting gift we have received.   My next order of business is to find a recipe for preparing chicken feet that will be acceptable to Ming Yu.

Also, please be prepared to see a white Acadia going down the road with bubbles blowing out a window rolled down in the 40 degree weather!  That is exactly what happened today, when I, Lauren took Ming Yu and Rebecca with me to the optical on Broad Street.  When was the last time your teenager got excited over a small bottle of bubbles?  Sweet, sweet moments that make us laugh and just enjoy being together keep happening multiple times a day.  Ming Yu started blowing bubbles in the car and thought it would be more fun to roll down the window and share bubbles with Broad Street and Third Street, all the way to Chick fil a!  Rebecca claimed tonight that she had more fun today than ever and just loved it when her new sister spread the love of bubbles with the city of downtown Gadsden with country music blaring on the radio. (Ming Yu chose the station!) My country-Chinese girl is enjoying life.  Please continue to pray for her heart as she learns to love her new family.

What an arrival!!

Wow.  Just wow!!  Those are the only words to say when I think about our arrival home last night.  We arrived in Birmingham last night, January 5, at 10 pm.  We knew that our family would be there and we expected a few friends who told us that they were coming.  As we walked up the terminal we were completely overwhelmed by what we saw.  We could hear clapping and screaming, and as we got closer we saw over 100 of our friends and family ready to welcome our newest family members home.  Unbelievable.  I'm not going to name individuals because I will certainly forget someone, but to those of you who were there, we are so thankful to you for making our night so special.  Those of you who wanted to come but could not, we are thankful for your prayers and support too.  Ming Yu, who acted quite shy throughout our trip, started beaming the closer we got to the reception.  I had not seen her smile the way she smiled last night.  I was afraid that she would be overwhelmed but it was exactly the opposite.  As she was met by her MASS of balloons and flowers given to her by John and Kendra (I know I said no names), she stood there like a princess getting picture after picture.  It was exactly what Lauren and I wanted and exactly what she deserved.  She normally will not have her picture taken.  She normally doesn't like hugs, but last night was different.  She welcomed each as she was welcomed by so many friends and family.  She stood and talked to her sisters, cousins, and new friends just like they didn't speak different languages.  God is amazing.  Davidson stayed close to Mom, and he did great through the endless hugs and kisses.  It is hard to believe how well he did throughout 25 hours of travel.  He had to be held almost every part of the trip, and of course Lauren did that holding 95% of the time (that may be a low estimate).  She is completely worn out, but so thankful to hold him in her arms that she didn't want to put him down. 

As we arrived home Lauren and I were so thankful for what happened next.  We weren't sure how Ming Yu would react, but we were fairly certain that we wouldn't see what we saw.  Maggie started introducing Ming Yu to her new home, and they began talking and laughing like they had been sisters forever.  They looked at Ming Yu's picture albums and then our family albums.  They ate noodles and cupcakes.  They stayed up until after 3 am, but we were not about to stop what was happening.  Ming Yu talked more to Maggie last night than she did to us in 3 weeks.  The smiles and laughs just kept coming.  All Lauren and I could do was shed tears of joy.  We had been praying that God would prepare Ming Yu's heart for her family.  We never doubted that he would do just that.  We were just waiting for his timing.  As always, he timed it perfectly. 

We begin the next phase of our adoption journey now.  I am still amazed at what God has done in the past 10 months.  I am more thankful to Him than words can express.  I can not wait to see what He does next...

Coming home

Our almost three weeks in China are drawing to a close, on one hand it seems like it has flown by. On the other I feel like I've been here an eternity.  From home I miss holding my biological children and singing with them before bed. Believe it or not I miss my work, I miss my bed, I miss running and the peace that it brings to my brain, I miss my church, being able to drink from the sink, being able to jump in the car and get to anything I need in 10 minutes. I miss being able to send a text to anyone to ask a question or offer encouragement.   I miss coffee with Lauren after getting the kids to bed every night.  There are so many things that I miss about the US, but honestly I will miss things about China as well. China is the birthplace of my two newest children.  It is the only country that they have ever known. Davidson won't remember it, but Ming Yu has spent almost 14 years here.  She loves her country, and she is sad to leave it.  It makes me miss it with her. I will also miss the families who we have met here while they were adopting children. Adoption brings children into families, but it also brings families together. I am so thankful that on our trip we met Robert and Pam Frederickson and their two precious newly adopted daughters.  We spent multiple meals and shopping trips together, but most of all we laughed and talked and enjoyed getting to know each other. Right now, we are hotel neighbors and it is easy to get together. When we return to the US we will be in Alabama, while they will return to Maryland. Through emails and Facebook we can keep in contact, but that is nothing like sitting around the table watching our daughters eat Chicken Feet or some other Chinese "delicacy." I will miss getting to spend every part of the day with my children. When I get back home, work will resume and all of the business that goes along with managing a family of 8 will too. I'm thankful for the time that Lauren and I have gotten to spend together with our newest family members. I am also very excited to bring them home to reunite us all together as one big, happy family.

Tomorrow we will begin our 24 hours of airports and airplanes. We've never travelled on an airplane with a baby, especially for that length of time. Please pray that he is calm during the trip. Pray that God will also calm Ming Yu's fears of leaving her country to start a new life in the US. We've never been a family of 8, so pray that God will give everyone patience as we learn how to all get along. We land in Birmingham at 10pm Saturday night. I know it's a crazy time, but we would love to have our kids welcomed by anyone able to come.   We are excited to introduce our new son and daughter to everyone who has supported us through our adoption journey.  And for those of you coming, I'll take a Diet Dr. Pepper and Lauren a Diet Coke!!!! (with ice)