We were able to bring in restaurant food for the House of Love on Monday night, before our team member, Annie, had to leave us to go on her mission trip to the Philippines. By the time we got to the house, the food had already arrived - both the children and the nannies were enjoying a six course dinner. Thanks to a family from QCAC who wanted us to treat kids with restaurant food, these kids were all very grateful and kept on thanking us for the delicious meal. The kids then put on an impromptu show of songs for us, with Henry and Eric leading the singing of various Chinese songs as well as some English Children’s Worship Songs.
We had a good time of fellowship and prayer with Annie after dinner, as she went on to pack for the rest of her journey. We said goodbye to her early this morning. It was really good to have gotten to know her a lot more deeply and we are encouraged by her purity of faith and purpose-drivenness.
Alan and Elissa then went back to Noel’s class, taking her out to the Speech Therapist’s office to play with her, reinforcing physical coordination, helping her to sit in a chair to strengthen her core, and to encourage her to use her left hand, which has only 15% functionality. Noel had such a great time blowing bubbles, learning to vary her breath in order to get different size and speed of bubbles. She and Alan had formed this special bond where they’d dip a finger into the bubble solution and dab the other person’s nose with it. Noel would laugh and then pick up tissue to wipe Alan’s nose after wetting it. She also has relegated Alan to be the garbage thrower, pointing her finger toward the waste basket whenever something needed to be thrown away. Alan would make a big show of having to get to the waste basket, not being able to throw it in just right, making Noel double over with laughter.
Alan has found Noel to be an extremely neat and persistent little girl, with exceptional frustration tolerance: she peels every single sticker off a sheet, and places them one by one on the dry erase board. No matter how hard it was for some of the stickers to come off (one of the sets of stickers was especially sticky, designed for scrapbooking), she kept at it, without ever getting frustrated or giving up. Whenever a mistake is made in anything, she simply laughs and keeps on going.
Alan also got to witness how voracious an eater Noel is. She scarfs up food, stuffing it into her mouth before fully chewing and swallowing the previous bite. She quickly wipes off her mouth in between bites. If we laugh at her athletic approach to eating, she’ll giggle with us and then get right back to the business of eating. She can eat and eat and not stop until you stop her!
The temperature here at Tianjin has been in the 70’s and school children went to play today on the sand filled playground. They all had a wonderful time. Noel enjoyed sliding down the slide on either Alan or Elissa’s lap. She then wanted Alan to take her up the steep, curvy rungs of the ladder that seemed to be the most popular playground attraction today. When we told her Alan couldn’t do so (without risking her falling through the steps), she was one unhappy camper…until Alan tried carrying her up three steps and lifting her to the next two. Only then did she give a triumphant, satisfied smile.
Alan and Elissa then spent time with Dr. Anna Moody and had a good time of fellowship with her. The takeaway from her sharing is how much the people at SFCV value prayer support. That’s one way that absolutely anyone, regardless of ability to give financially, can vitally support this ministry. Dr. Anna suggested that Alan lead a time of worship with the kids during our stay. We are therefore thinking and planning on how to do so with “all hands on deck,” possibly on Saturday, May 28th, when the rest of team (Winsome and Katherine) will show up, along with two QCAC members who now live in Beijing: Mike and Laura, who will be joining us that day. The thought is that we can have a time of worship with all the kids with an Object Lesson and Bible Memory Verse, and then have QCAC host a meal from a neighborhood restaurant.
We also have been told that June 1st is Children’s Day, which promises to be a wonderfully fun event with a show that the children will put up. We are looking forward to the rest of our time here!
Blessings,
Elissa
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| Elissa, Alan & Noel |
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| Playing dabbing noses |
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| Alan helping Grady with English |
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| Take-out Meal |
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| House of Love Kids enjoying the food |
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| Pre-K at Play |
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| Primary Class |
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| Eric and Henry Singing |
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| Fun in the Playground |
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| Kindergarten Afternoon Free Play |
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