5 Days and counting

My homework is not done but my suitcase is packed. And packed also are the 250 knitted baby hats that we will be donating to the preemie hospital units. Many, many thanks to all of the knitters and crocheters who donated their time and skills to provide so many beautiful hats. Some of you had never knitted before and I say "well done" as you finished your first project that will benefit a little one in China. Those who have a place to go home to filled with love and those who will be going to an orphanage will know that someone halfway around the world cared enough to make them a little something to keep warm during there struggle to survive.

The first picture is of Janice Lambie and her girls learning to knit the baby hats we will take with us. Andrea Pearson who learned to knit while she was visiting us this summer also contributed to the hats going to China. Two of our neighbors at Casewick, Jane and her 7 year old daughter Amber, spend some time learning to knit the baby hats as well. Several of the ISE's have taken our project back to the USA over the summer and returned with more hats than I thought possible. Through their family, friends, and churches we have filled a suitcase. I can't wait to get the hats there so they can start using them. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you, to everyone who helped. And also a very big thank you to Jane, Amber, Jamie and Mark Anderson for bringing boxes and boxes of clothing over for us to take to the children.

Cathy Duffy and I have our passports and visa's in hand and our ride to the airport is arranged. We leave London at 2 pm with a short layover in Amsterdam. Arriving in Beijing around 10 a.m. we will be whisked off to climb the Great Wall. Most likely we will be tired but we need to keep moving so our bodies adjust to our new time zone. Saturday is a power shopping day and we want to be awake for that. Sunday we will go to church and I hope to run into a friend there. Although with 4000 people attending 3 separate services I am not sure if I will be able to find him. Monday we begin our work at the orphanages. I don't know what we will be doing, I don't know what shape the children will be in, and I don't know how badly my heart will break over leaving them behind to move on to the next orphanage. But I do know it will be worth it to the children and to me.

Thanks also to the ISE's here who donated 100 pounds to purchase vitamins for the orphanages. We have sent the money on ahead so that they could purchase them there and deliver to the orphanage in the most need. Apparently they cannot use vitamins purchased here as the containers are in a foreign language and therefore they are not allowed to dispence them out. Makes sense as they would not be able to read the proper dosage for the age of the child.

No Kevin Duffy, Cathy will not be able to bring one home. Oh how I wish we could but there are to many rules and to many other people who have been waiting for up to two years for their little bundle of joy. The best I can do at this point is sponsor a little guy to go to school. For those who live in the orphanges they do not attend a real school but are taught whatever the staff on hand can share with them. Through our yearly sponsorship, Dang Bo, can leave the orphanage each day and go to a school for the blind. I recieve updates on his progress and have been told he has become an aspiring musician. We were able to purchase a trumpet for him which he is very proud of.

I need to stop procrastinating and tackle that homework and hopefully in doing so the time will pass quickly so that eventually I will be boarding that jet plane to Beijing.