不到长成，非好汉! (If you ain't been to the Great Wall, you ain't nothin'!)

That's the saying that all of us China-dwellers have no doubt heard a hundred thousand times, which really more accurately translates into something like, "If you haven't been to the Great Wall, you aren't a true man." With that pressure from within China, and the knowledge that when we returned to the States, Americans, too, will wonder if Phoebe ever made it to the Great Wall, we decided to make one more trek to Beijing so that she could see what we have seen and loved so well in the great capital city of China. We didn't mind one bit, because Beijing is one of our favorite places we have ever been!

Beijing is big, and grand. Large splashy opera houses and acrobat theatres vie with massive government buildings and ancient Ming architecture for grandeur. Tiananmen Square is massive, and the monuments, the flags, the soldiers, are all quite impressive. This is the city where China was finally declared to be unified, under communism, in 1949, by Chairman Mao ZeDong. This is the city, the very square, where he still lies in state, revered and paid respect to by thousands daily. This is the square, too, that saw the massive democracy rallies in 1989 and the unbelievable aftermath. It's a place of power, and of culmination, and as we took it all in for the last time in what will likely be a very long time, we experienced powerful emotions, and the eventual culmination of our lives in China, our first career, which we have dearly cherished. It's hard to let go, but our time in Beijing contributed to our sense of closure and helped us to say goodbye. 

On the way to the Great Wall the morning we went, we waited for half an hour at a seemingly random place where we would board our bus. While there, I noticed and went inside a nearby church building. It turns out it was established by Matteo Ricci in the 1600's. I was very moved to think of what he must have gone through to teach the gospel in that place at that time, and I was once again encouraged by evidence of God's long pursuit of the hearts of the Chinese people. 

Of all the times we have visited the Great Wall, this was my favorite. The location was amazing, and one we had never visited before. And it was so meaningful to get to take my child there and let her experience it firsthand. She embraced it wholeheartedly! She was convinced she might really catch a glimpse of Mulan fighting off some"bad guys" atop the wall that day! She wanted a sword of her own so she could help defend China if need be. 

Instead of actually climbing the mountain and tackling the sizeable stairways to top the wall, we opted to get to the top by cable car this time! The view was amazing! (Phoebe loved it; Jason was terrified. She consoled him: "Don't worry; God is with you!")

We were able to spend more than an hour on the wall, getting the best views and discovering the watchtowers that were up there. 

Then, when it was time to go down to the bus again, we rode down a toboggan slide back to the settlement below! This part was super fun and exciting for all of us, especially Phoebe!

Back in the city, we were able to eat some amazing meals. Beijing makes great jiaozi (Chinese dumplings), and roasts awesome Peiking Duck.

Also we took in some amazing shows. The shows are part of what make Beijing, Beijing. It's just awesome, and something that has got to be experienced to be understood. It just gets into your blood. Phoebe got right into it and enjoyed Beijing Opera like a Beijing native: cheering, clapping, talking loudly, and chomping away happily on a candied may haw on a stick. 

Our last night there, we attended the nightly lowering of the national flag in Tiananmen Square.There is always a crowd. The mood that night was silent, solemn. The soldiers marched out. Dusk crept in. The flag lowered, quickly, quietly, on the Square that night, and on our time in China. I felt that as the soldiers marched back into the Forbidden City that night carrying the flag, they were carrying much more with them than just that flag. They were carrying our time in China, with its struggles and victories, amazing highs and lows, breath-taking experiences, and what have become our fondest memories...It felt clear once again to me that China is theirs, not ours, and our time here has been God's grace and God's gift to us. I have been an alien, a stranger, a guest, a friend...I will go back where I came from, and they will go on, playing out their utterly amazing story, with their history and culture that could never fail to capture one's attention, one's heart, one's passion.

The flag was ushered into the Forbidden City that night, the great gates closed, and our time in China has now long since come to a close as well. We cannot fully express the thankfulness that overflows our hearts for the chance we had; to be sent was one of the greatest privileges I can imagine. To bear witness to and contribute to God's continuing work in China has built our faith in a thousand ways, big and small. To Him be the glory for His love, His justice, and His grace for the Chinese people. 

BONUS FOOTAGE:

Jason's impromptu underground concert beneath Tiananmen Square during a sudden Beijing summer thunderstorm.

The Whirlwind of Emotions

First my apologies on how long it has taken me to post. The last month can't actually be described with words, but as everything like that in life, I guess I will go ahead and try. It has been one of the most exhausting months of our lives to date. But very good and very meaningful. After living in China for five years straight, having a baby and accumulating all the stuff you accumulate as she grows to be three years old, after making friends, developing attachments, teaching hundreds of students and receiving gifts and momentos from them, etc...then, to pack up, pick up and move back "home" to Arkansas has just been the most amazing, draining experience. The jet lag this time has been the most incredibly intense out of the dozens of times we have experienced it, at least in part because when we started home this time, we were already exhausted from all the packing, saying good-bye, etc! The last day Phoebe attended preschool itself was an incredibly meaningful and sad experience for all of us. We had all our suitcases packed, we would leave China the next day, and we went to pick her up that last day. The teacher asked us to come early to take photos and say goodbye. In fact, they had a huge event in Phoebe's honor where they sang to her, she hugged and kissed all 24 of them, and then each child presented her with a gift! It was so moving, as their love was out poured to her and her to them. But can you think of any complications that 24 new gifts might cause on the day before an international flight? And yet, these things meant a lot to Phoebe for closure's sake, and we could not just leave them. An additional bag had to be procured and packed in those last hours. As we drove away from the school on the Taylor's ebike, it dawned on Phoebe what was really happening and that she wouldn't see those people again. She really understood it. She started begging to go back and crying, and even trying to jump off the bike to go back. It took all our strength to contain her and still drive and stay safe. When we got home, it took twenty minutes to get her to go inside, because she was crying and begging to go back again. Then, inside our apartment,  she cried choking sobs like the crying you would hear at a funeral, for like an hour, about how sad she was to be leaving. Comforting her in her intense grief took all we had. We were sad to leave China, but we had to summon our maturity to focus on her, because it was harder, much harder, for her. She was born there, and this is a part of her identity that she has never been without. Her name in Chinese is Wang Li Shan. Since we have been back in the States she has told us she wants to go HOME. We say, "Ok, let's go to Granny's house now." She says "No, I don't mean Granny's house. I want to go to Wang Li Shan's house." So, there's no doubt about what that means! But in fact, being back in the States she has been able to have a ton of fun in the local public parks, the Discovery Museum in Little Rock, attending Bible class, and of course, playing with her Papa and Granny. It's good, but it's an adjustment. There's a lot more I could say, but I will stop here for now. Please pray for us in this transition. Thanks!

王丽珊 (Phoebe) giving everyone hugs and kisses

The Final Group Photo of 星星班

Open Doors

Thinking of Christianity in China, certainly open doors do not first come to mind. However, the groups we have ministered with this year have seen God open doors.

The first open door is at 336 GuDun Road. God answered our prayers with ChongChong’s family opening their office space to our church family on Sunday mornings. We continue to encourage leadership in our worship service. We pray that our church family can reach out to teach more friends and family members of our Savior Jesus Christ.

The second open door is at the Cute Fish Art Center where Joy goes to half day daycare. GaoYan has built a relationship with the owner of the Cute Fish Art Center, so she said yes to us renting their space on Friday nights for our ladies/children’s Bible study. The study always begins by singing praise songs ladies and children all together. Then the ladies study and discuss challenges with raising children, relationships with their husband, and living with parents or in-laws always seeking God’s wisdom in the Bible and praying together. Meanwhile, Teacher Liu reads a short Bible story and prepares a craft project for the children. I help with the kids and hand out cookies if anyone gets restless. Grace, Linda, and XiLe MaMa are Christians and TongTong, XiXi, and CoCo moms are seeking to know more about Jesus..

The third open door is at GongDa (University of Technology). Actually we did not officially ask permission, but our Bible study is not an official class. However, God opened the door for us to study with some students. I talk too much and I teach too much. This semester we chose a Bible scripture, and students took turns preparing a list of questions to lead the Bible study. Gerald and Bill Gates became Christians through the student studies. Forrest is always welcome yet remains a faithfully attending skeptic. GongDa has also opened their door and hired me as English teacher next year.

Baby Bird

GaoYan's Dad is like a big kid. He found a baby bird that fell out of its nest. GaoYan’s Dad saved the baby birds life, because a neighborhood cat would have eaten it for lunch. So Caleb, Joy, GaoYan's Dad and all of us have been feeding the bird grasshoppers for the past week. Caleb and Joy take turns carrying the bird on a stick walking through our neighborhood to a grassy place where we catch grasshoppers. Living in our neighborhood four years now, we have kind of become like we know who we want to talk to and pass on by the other folks. With this baby bird we are talking to everybody. “Look at those kids carrying a bird on the stick.” “Isn’t it going to fly away?” “What kind of a bird is it?” “What does it eat?” GaoYan's Dad freezes little bits of meat on a fishing line, then at night catches crawdads from a creek to feed the baby bird. If you have a flashlight you can shine the light right down to the bottom of the creek and see the crawdads crawling. One night the flashlight ran out of battery. Three students came by trying to catch crawdads for their pet turtle. They had a really bright light, but no meat and fishing line. So GaoYan and her Dad worked together with the three students and caught loads of crawdads that night. Caleb and Joy really love the entertainment and responsibility. Caleb and Joy even fight less with each other since the baby bird has been around. I thought we should call it Larry Bird, Caleb calls it Spiderman, and Joy calls it Baby Jesus.

Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

Visiting the Old Homestead

One big to-do item before moving to the US for our family was going back to Jingzhou, Hubei. Seth and Caleb were both born there and that's where we lived & ministered for 6 years before coming to Shaoxing. So last week we took a couple of trains and made it back to our Chinese hometown. Our little Jingzhou is all grown up now and even has its own train station!

The weather in Jingzhou is much hotter (and much colder) than Shaoxing and the weather did a real number on us while we were there. Thankfully, a swimming pool that Lisa remembered was still open and we were able to go swimming a few days.

More importantly, we were able to visit a lot of people. We went to Seth's old pre-school where he got an overwhelming reception from his old teachers and classmates.

We hung out with a few of the Christians who are still around from our time there. Lisa volunteered to adopt someone's child. We also got to eat a meal with Derek's family. His mom was sick with cancer last year and this year, but is now doing much better. When Derek asked her why she was better, she quickly smiled and said, "God!"

We also got to visit the orphanage that Lisa & the boys used to go to every week. While we were there, a group from Harding also happened to be there including Jake's sister who told us lots of embarrassing stories about him that we promised not to share in public!

On our last day in Jingzhou, we also got to eat with some of our old neighbors. Our kids all grew up together and played together in the hot Jingzhou sun for several years. Even though our kids don't remember them at all, they had a great time running around the restaurant yelling Chinese and playing together.

One last highlight was getting to eat with Rob & Hannah Johnson during the trip. They are living in our old apartment building at our old school and doing really well. They love Jingzhou, are fitting in well, and seem to be getting into a good China groove. They also cast their vote (along with the Taylor family) for Jingzhou to be the new "go to" place for future individuals from Clear Creek who want to come work in China!

We've got a lot of other stuff to do before heading back to the US, but it was great to re-visit our China home and kind of close out this chapter of our lives.

Friday Night Ladies Children Study

On Friday night, we now have eight moms coming to the study. We have added two additional members, Tongtong’s mom and YiYi’s mom. Grace, Linda, and GaoYan take turns leading the ladies studies. In May, we have been studying a Bible based parenting book call “Shepherding a Child’s Heart” by Tedd Tripp translated to Chinese. It is a very good book. It teaches parents not just to correct the behavior of a child, but to lead and correct the heart. It reminds parents that our children will either believe in God or worship the idols of a material world. Their acknowledgement of God and relationship with God will shape their view towards everything. The book used the example of Joseph. He was sold as a slave by his brothers. He was in prison and forgotten by his friend. However, he did not turn bitter and hateful. Joseph knew that God was with him everywhere. He forgave his brothers. All the moms are amazed by the knowledge of the Bible. YiYi’s mom went home and read Matthew 5-7. TongTong’s dad said to TongTong’s mom, “I see a change in you. You have been a better wife to me and better mom.” We are all encouraged by the Friday night Bible study and see God’s hand working in our group.

Children's Day at the Little Sheep Church

XiLe MaMa invited us to the Little Sheep Church for June 1 Children’s Day celebration. The Little Sheep Church meets in a small movie studio among renovated warehouses in northern Hangzhou. It is a really cool place to visit. I’m guessing there were at least 500 people all packed in. Their church had prepared well. Attendants helped park cars in the little alleys around the warehouses. A line of people welcomed us at the door clapping and saying “Jesus loves you.” Each child received a gift bag of toys and snacks. Four hosts played games on the stage with kids and performed a short drama about surrendering your own objective to stop and help others. Finally the celebration ended with praise and worship songs. Caleb loved it. Joy sat back with me and GaoYan, but she had fun eating snacks and wearing the glow in the dark glasses.