准备A time of preparation.
Michelle and I have thought about going back to get our bachelors degree to try and help learn how to better serve the children in our program and to set an example for them to never give up. With things changing like they have been in China, to get future work visa, a bachelors degree would be very helpful. I am attending online classes at Liberty University to earn a bachelors degree in Developmental Psychology. We hope in the near future that Michelle will also start school too.
Jaxin is our eldest son and was the eldest boy at the Home of Hope in Pingyu. He, along with Gabe, Eddy, Debbie, and Abby (pictured below) are all seniors in high school this year. Jaxin graduated high school this last week. He will be attending the Southern Illinois University of Edwardsville. Debbie did a work study program learning how to be a kindergarten teacher. She can speak English well, which has helped her get a job at one of the best kindergartens in Pingyu. She will be attending University in LuoHe, Henan where she can continue her studies as a teacher. The other children will take their university exam this coming July. This exam will let them know where they can attend. Please lift them up as this is a very stressful time for them.
As you may have read in previous blogs, we are temporarily living in the States waiting for the border to open back up for us to return. One of the things we are doing while waiting here, is to help Jaxin acclimate back to life in America. He got a job at Chick-fil-A and even helped Eli get a job there too.
We contact the children everyday to see how they are doing and encourage them to study hard. Anna, Jake and Joey have been staying with their special needs mother until things open back up. Though they have been safe, they could not do their daily online schooling because their mama is too poor and does not own a TV or a smart phone. They live close to our office and go there daily to catch up on their studies. Our staff feed them lunch everyday too with hopes this will help give some relief to their mama.
Jessica, Shirley and Nicky are really good cooks. They came up with a great idea, now that things are opening back up in China, to welcome the kids for a Saturday meal. They make a big meal and invite several of the kids to our office to enjoy lunch together before school starts back up. We are so glad to see them getting together like this.
Shortly after we left the Home of Hope, Dana decided she did not want to live there anymore either. She moved back in with her grandmother. She comes and visits the office nearly everyday. Unfortunately, she has had severe seizures issues and takes medication twice a day. When she arrived in our home back in 2013, she was already far behind the other children her age. We think the medication she takes to help her not have seizures causes her mind to be a little slow. She is over three grades behind other children her age. With that, she decided to quit school. Though there are very strict laws in children quitting school, we work within those laws to try and help her and teach her life skills.
This is a hard time for everyone right now. Michelle and I have always been “silver-lining” type of thinkers. We have come up against some tough and ugly situations, but we know that our source of joy does not come from situations, places or people…though those things can be joyful, they are not our source of J.O.Y.
We are so thankful for your continued support. We have received words of encouragement and prayers, we have received continued financial support…even in a time like this, on and on people show their faithfulness to our family and to all these beautiful treasures who have blessed our lives. We will continue to push forward and trust that HE is in control and is such a good, good Father.
