Day of Showers

The first week of school was coming to a end, I woke up on Friday morning to be blessed with a downpour of rain as I was walking to work. Oh don't worry the rain stopped, however it was too wet to take my lower elementary classes outside. So I had my students in this little indoor area, which has no air conditioning or fans needless to say it was extremely...awesome! Wuhan is still reaching temperatures of 95+ mixed with the humidity of the rain means DEATH. After leading one class in a dance to the song "My God's not dead" I was literally DRIPPING with sweat, I did this for 3 classes which gives me my first 3 showers of sweat for the day. PS the kids love ROARING like lions! 

The rain had been off and on all morning so I decided to take my middle school classes outside, 6th grade had no problem then came 7/8th grade. As they were finishing their laps I felt a few rain drops. within 2 minutes the rain drops turned to a literal down pour, 30 students and  2 teachers, oh how fun. So I sent the majority of the class and the other teaching on their way back to school (about a 5 minute walk)... While I had the privilege of waiting for the 2 kids who sadly were on the far side of the track :-) Rain shower making my overall shower count to 3.

The last class of the day was High School PE which was inside. I decided to do a 30 minutes aerobic/strength training workout, of course being the awesome teacher I am I couldn't just tell them what to do I had to show it and do everything I was asking of them. So after thirty minutes I was drenched again, shower number 4. 

After school I walked home and felt so gross I had to take an actual shower, shower total = 5. After I took a shower I jumped on a bus headed towards HanKou (another part of Wuhan) to be in a Video/Photo event for my friend who was leading his first BodyPump class, yes the token white face! BodyPump can be described as Terrible tuesdays times 10!  Terrible tuesdays are what my sports teams know as the worse day of practice as we push ourselves to extreme levels of fitness. So after BodyPump I was again drenched in sweat equaling shower #6. 

As I walked back to the bus stop it again poured, I was walking in flip flops along side of the rode and found a pot hole that was covered with rain, yeah that was unfortunate. I got home about an hour after finally getting on the bus :-) Arriving home I immediately jumped in the REAL shower :-) Making my day complete with 7 showers!  

You might be thinking "wow, thats a crapy day"... And at first I thought that as well, but then I was reminded that God continually "showers" us with blessings. I had the privilege of leading 3 classes where I saw students get so excited to roar like lions, singing MY GOD'S NOT DEAD, yes sweating profusely and dancing hard enough to get their little heart rates up.  I am fully aware that every student doesn't understand the meaning nor can they actually speak english however, God isn't dead and he can turn our crapy days into days of blessings. Not only did I see God blessing that time with the young kids but, looking back I am reminded how God uses each storm to bless us, I pray that while I stood in the BodyPump class they didn't just see a simple foreign face but they saw something different and that is Christ. 

on a side note ... I was also grateful that the rain was real rain and not rocket fake acid rain. (China can actually "make it rain") 

I ask you today, where are the storms in your life? And how is God using those storms to be immense showers of blessings? 

Must read - GUIYANG TIME!

As I sit on the train and try to think about how I can sum up my last week in GuiYang my head hurts. How can I tell you the wonderful things God is doing in a single post? How can I explain the extreme need that is not only in GuiYang but around the world,part of what I saw this week? How can I describe the extreme faithfulness God and HIS people have shown? How can I, in a word or a paragraph, give you a picture of the kids smiles that came across their face when someone showed a single ounce of love for them? What I write below is a mere glimpse into a precious corner of the world  where God has chosen his people, my friends, to be a light. I encourage you to do something about it, get out and see the world, move from your comfort zone and experience God in a new way, allow HIM to guide you, allow him to give you nothing so that you can see HE is everything you need.

The day after Christmas I got on a train to GuiYang, after arriving and being met by two dutch girls (my friend wasn't home yet) who were volunteering at the orphanage/foster home I enter into a house full of joy. Let me stop here and say " I cannot express my admiration for the three dutch girls who not only came to serve through volunteering of their time, but also raised support to bring for the home.. AMAZing, plus these girls are just awesome." Okay so I got to see the kids, oh man... I was a littler overwhelmed at first because these precious kids had been so malnourished and not loved due to their down syndrome. One boy is almost two years old and looks like he is MAYBE 6 months.

Down Syndrome kids and adults hit me close to my heart. Some of you know my Aunt Martha who was a huge blessing too many, she had down syndrome and lived past 50 years old. I know that my Aunt Martha showed the love of Christ to many and was a major teammate in bringing people to the Lord. My grandparents could of given up but they didn't, my grandparents displayed patience and love unlike anyone else, they unconditionally loved her. Which then taught my dad and his siblings, which in essence taught me to love without judgement, to love past skin color, past physically or mental disabilities. Because, you see, no matter what we look like, how we act, or the problems we have GOD daily chooses to love us. These kids before coming to this house have been shown no love. They have been told they are not worth anything, why would their parents want to keep someone supposedly imperfect? They have been left alone without food, warmth or care. This is where my friend steps in, somehow the government has found favor in this place and will allow her to take kids in and throughout that God has been faithful in providing. Everyday in the afternoon they have a singing time, what a blessing to hear them sing"He's got the whole world in his hands." As mentioned above my aunt Martha had down syndrome her favorite song to sing was Jesus Loves Me... during singing time a girl named XingXing was asked what do you want to sing? She doesn't speak well but she started singing/screaming/humming Jesus Loves Me, my heart sunk and I was reminded of what an awesome God we serve. You see these children aren't simply getting their nutritional needs met but God is meeting them, loving them, and these kids are not stupid they KNOW JESUS LOVES them because the bible tells them so.

While I was there in GuiYang I basically helped in feeding the kid, giving them medicine, played with kids, helped the Chinese cook learn how to cook more nutritional food on a budget, and cleaned new apartments. See this home has to move at the end of this month because the local government is going to tear down their house to put a road in. Please keep them in their prayers as moving has already proven to be very hard. Below are pictures with some more stories, I like pictures and thought you all would enjoy them too.. Plus my time on the train is about up, I've been on my way back to Wuhan for about 15-16 hours, I lost track of how long I've been o here.. hahA!

This girl has recently been adopted, she is lovely!! Sooo cute, 2 years old!

These two are rejoice and xingxing they had to go and get shots one day.. Luckily they actually like getting shots so it wasn't a big deal :-) Kids can only be adopted if they are under 12 years old, I believe they are both around the age 6

His name is Daniel and he is almost 2 years old... He is soo cute and just a content baby!

Yeah he can sit up and hold him self up, he has gotten so much stronger sense being at the the house!

He really didn't want to let go of the chair.. If I could of taken him home I probably would of... When I put him down the last time he cried and didn't want me to g:-) in This picture he has on 3 layers of clothes, imagine how small he really is.

You could say I really like him! haha

This is MOSES.. he is soo precious.. 5 years old!!! Everytime you walk in the door he screams.. "HELLO" After saying Psalms 23 you can ask him "where is if found" and he will answer "BIBLE"

QingQing,,, so cute and well he was well nourished as a kids because he didn't look like anything was wrong but later they gave him up. They believe he has autism :- )

I got him to sit down only if I was singing OR making my lap a horse ride... hehe HE loved it!

Precious Sammy Sleeping!

Rejoice, she is soo precious.. REjoice in the Lord always and again I say REJOICE!  (She loves this song)

Such a precious girl, I know I've said that alot but really so lovely!

Learning to help each other!

The airplane works EVERYTIME, this is the same boy who liked the horse ride!

At this point he is just SMILING so big,, I was willing to make him "fly" anytime!

Dutch Girls! Love them and what a true blessing! 

I don't mean to sound "preachy" but as I sit here, tears flowing from my face, I can't help but want to scream.. "YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW BLESSED YOU ARE, if you eat two meals a day, STOP COMPLAINING. if you have a heater or air conditioner, STOP COMPLAINING. If you are privileged to have doctors, medicine, a church to attend , or a family, STOP COMPLAINING. I have just spent a week with children who would die to have that and right now your fellow sisters in Christ are serving them and being faithful to God. They don't know where next months rent is going to come from but they are completely trusting in HIM to provide for their every need. They don't complain, they don't want, they DO smile, they DO love, and they DO show Christ. This week I laughed more than I have in a long time. So before you think about complaining or perhaps before you buy that next dress, or that extra thing that you DESERVE think about this post and get involved. Be apart of Gods work around the world. I wasn't going to do this but I really feel called to CHALLENGE you to get out and help, we are so blessed. Actually we are BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING... I don't care if you do it in China or but do it somewhere. Just do something. I have information for this place in china that I have talked about, there are many ways you can help, prayer support, volunteering, donations, financial support, and more. Look at the website.

http://www.journeyofajoyfullife.org/