Yen Yen

Today was another wonderful day, falling more and more in love with Chaeli. We woke up early just to look at her and play with her before we left for our city tour.

Chaeli is really remarkable because she lets you kiss her (over and over again) and love her (as much as your heart desires) and she never pushes you away.

I cannot believe how God has made and designed this child, especially for me & Dan. I wish you could see the way that danny looks at her. He is head over heels with Chaeli and it makes me cry when I see him look at her the way that he does. He doesn’t even look at me that way, nor should he. Chaeli is in a camp all by herself. A camp that we call the love of God.

Chaeli has been saying Momma and Daddy quite often now, and everytime she does we pick her up in the air and twirl her around! Oh the joy for Chaeli is a great joy indeed! I never would have imagined something so precious as her coming into our lives at a time when we thought we were past raising babies. She has made turning 40 a youthful, fun remembrance for me and I think I have only begun to see what she is all about.

Today we visited a Buddhist temple and really got to see the heart of the Chinese people for the only God that they know. The Chinese people are so humble and so genuine in their worship. As I watched them bowing over and over again to Buddha, and lighting incense so that their prayers would be received and heard, I got choked up. I stood very close to them and silently prayed for God to bless each one of these noble, excellent people with a knowledge of Him. There is a hungering darkness here and you can feel it in this place.

I have so much love and respect for Chaeli’s people that it is hard for me to even write about it. They are some of the loveliest human beings that walk on the face of this earth. I am proud of Chaeli’s heritage and where she comes from. I know that I could not have produced a Chaeli myself. It took the lovely Chinese people to give me such a gift, and the hand of the Lord to send me here to receive her. Praise God that I heard the call and that we came.

After the temple we visited some beautiful art shops and had a chop made for Chaeli with her Chinese name on it.

There was also a local artist who pained with only the side of his hand and did the most incredible images. He actually had one completed of a Banyan tree along a river in Guangdong with the Gunagdong mountains behind it. As most of you know, Chaeli was found under a Banyan tree along the Zhouxin river in Guangdong, so the Banyan tree is very, very special to us.

We bought this painting from the young man and will have it framed in our house so that Chaeli will always know her roots and how it is that God brought her to us. God bless the Banyan tree! Everytime we see one here in China we remember Chaeli and we photograph it in honor of her life and how she came to us. This child has such an incredible story already and we have only known her for 4 days now. That is almost too much for me to think about because it feels as if we have always had Chaeli.

Today is Christmas Eve in China. We have a dinner planned with the group of families that we are traveling with. It is a very good group of people. There is a couple named Dave & Robin and we have really become fond of them and their little girl Mia. Their daughter is also from the same orphanange as Chaeli and guess what??? Tomorrow, on China’s Cristmas Day, we are going to Chaeli’s orphanage to see where she lived for the ten months before we received her. This has been a long awaited dream of mine and I am so excited to go! What a gift to even be invited into the orphanage because there is never a guarantee that this will be possible for adoptive parents. I can hardly wait! We will see hundreds of babies tomorrow morning, waiting for homes and families of their own, knowing that their are aching parents out there right now who are connected to each one of these children – who are just waiting for permission to come and get them, like we came and got Chaeli. It is going to be a very touching, moving day as we look into places we have never been before. Please pray for our visit tomorrow, that God would grant us favor to go in and to hold and love and touch these waiting children as much as possible. We want to see where God is, understand the things He cares about, and join Him in where He is moving on this earth. We know for certain that He loves the little children in China…We want to love them on them too.

Before I end this blog today I ahve to tell you about the “foot” massage that I experienced yesterday with our fun group. We had a 70 minute appointment for a foot massage that was in actuality an ENTIRE body massage! They rubbed our heads, shouldres, backs, hips, arms, legs and feet in the most amamzing way that I have ever experienced massage before. I couldn’t talk or move for the entire time! We were served tea and fruit and our feet were placed in large barrels of very warm water while Chinese herbs were pured into the basins. As we soaked our feet they rubbed and massaged and chopped at our sore, strained, muscles. It was delicious! All of that was only $6 – hard to believe I know. We would have handed them our entire wallets if they had asked, so great was their massaging techniques. Why is it that the Chinese do everything so well?

Well I must sign off today becasue my little Yen Yen has woken up from her nap and this is my favorite time when I can pick her up and be right there for her when she opens her eyes.

I love you all and am enjoying your postings so very much! Be blessed this Holiday season!

Love Sheila & Dan & Chaeli.

(P.S. Someone please tell my boys to write to their Mommy & Daddy before too long. I miss my sons voices!!!!!!!!!!)