Home Scenes

Before we go on to pictures of Light House, it is best to show these scenes taken out the window of, or around our Gudang apartment.  The white dog is Chicken, who is deeplly devoted to us, though he spent only a few weeks of his babyhood as our puppy.

A country couple who had had nothing to eat for two days met Christian and Annelisa and asked for help.  When  taken to a restaurant and asked to choose what they wanted, they demured, saying whatever was cheap.  It was a blessing to be able to buy their meal!

Xixi Wetlands Park

Praise the Lord we now have pictures uploaded succesfully!  Here you see a tower, in front of which anyone who wished could beat rice with a gigantic pestle.  Next you see one of our activities: learning to fly (how's your high jump?)  A pose on one of the bridges shows the children enjoying the bright sunshine.  Last Friday the weatherman said "snow" and God said "sunshine"....and we've had it ever since.

Baby Joseph is in the foreground of the last picture, getting ready to eat.  He was delighted with the books about bears that we gave him.  He looked at the first and said "Wang wang wang!" (which is what all Chinese-speaking dogs say instead of "bow wow wow!")  "No, it's a bear," his mother corrected, "What's this?"and he was shown the next book.  "Wang wang, wang!" he guessed again.  By the third one his "Wang wang wang" was uncertain, and he quickly changed to "Laosu"  (mouse)) while we laughed.  "What does the bear like?"   Joseph (excitedly): "HONEY!"  (in English).   What a cute age he is!

       

Widow Wen

Nothing has come up in my wee garden yet---but since it's only two days since it was planted, I won't give up hope yet.  Well, sometimes we give up on praying about that fast, don't we?

One person who really needs prayer is dear Sister Wen, a Yunnan lady Annelisa and I rescued from drowning when she fell into deep water a few years ago.  She and her husband, a meek, talented man, were house church leaders in the little town of Louping, one of our out-stations. They served us a marvelous feast with plenty of wild herbs the last time we were there in Louping (two or three years ago?).  Then last year her husband fell off a building he was constructing and she was thus widowed.  Life has been very hard for her since then, and a Buddhist man is pursuing her.  I think she's is  "deep water" again and she says she would like to come east and see us. 

I often remind myself of Bro. Lawrence's word " Count as wasted any day you have not spent in loving God."  That has helped me as much as anything.

LOVE REVEALED

Night intercepted by startide;

     Anguish exchanged for bliss;

Death yeilding life everlasting--

     Have you known LOVE like this?

Wounds of His love heal my heart wounds;

     Rebel knows pardoning kiss;

Fear turned to glorious praises--

     Have you known LOVE like this?

Darkness is turned to bright dawning;

     Bitter is changed to sweet;

Weakness is transformed to power--

      What can with LOVE compete?

Longings so deep none can utter,

      Thirst for Life's water spring,

Hunger for LOVE never-failing--

      All met in Christ, LOVE's KING !                   2-8- 2000

Reminiscing

Requests for pictures of Light House cannot be granted at this time, as we are being blocked somehow here in Hangzhou from getting the pictures to print onto the blog.  Hopefully the problem will be resolved, as pictures are worth a thousand words.

My eight-month -old great niece just came through brain stem surgery, and the post-op photo of little Maddy lying there intubated, brought back memories of another very special baby girl looking much the same after open-heart surgery. It looks like Maddy should do fine, unlike our little orphan whose life so impacted mine.  In China, nobody is allowed into intensive care, so that  when I was given permission to enter to see "my baby", all the parents waiting outside wanted me to check on their little ones they were not allowed to see.   Child visitors were not allowed to even enter the hospital, yet miraculously our children were invited into intensive care to see nine-month-old Davonne, who entered the world on my birthday and left on Frank's.  For the record, here is my feeble effort at a word-picture: (please omit if not emotionally stable, or if you dislike "pathos".) 

BABY DAVONNE'S FAREWELL

I see by your faces that you do not know

That this is the last I shall see you below.

On suffering before me I would not know dwell

But gaze on you deeply in lingering farewell.

Oh, MaMa, Big Brother, and Sister so dear,

You dream of my sharing a happy home here;

But I go to a happier home in the skies,

So please do not grieve as you say your goodbyes. 

You'll see me again, when my eyes cannot see;

Life flickering out in such misery:

My arms pinned out-stretched as if nailed to a cross;

You'll suffer my suffering and later my loss.

Mist-clouded these loved eyes so wide and so wise,

As your hands stroke my hands so dainty in size.

My wee hand shall curl so tight round your finger

And squeeze with a love that would evermore linger.

For deep inside I will know you are there,

Will hear your sweet songs and the words of your prayer,

And feel your soft touch on what's left of my hair.

But now is my last time to look in your eyes

Before I'm adopted to a home in the Skies,

Where never are heard an orphaned babe's cries.

So, MaMa, I'm going, but will send back my love

In a beam of pure sweetness from Heaven above.

To that Heaven of Love, I shortly shall fly

To await your arrival---until then, good bye.

On Teaching

During the service yesterday, Joseph, 20-month-old son of Jacob and Rachel, began chanting,"Yi, er! Yi, er!"  (1,2! 1,2!) meaning we had sat long enough and it was time to march out of there.  He is at the cutest stage where all he says and does delights everybody.  After dinner, as is the custom, quite a few did "march" off on a hike.  As they admired the scenery, Bro. Hsi was describing his work to Christian, who was all ears.  At Zhejiang University he teaches not just computer, but artificial intelligence.....this means he was involved in implanting microchips in rat brains, so that the rats could be computer-controlled.  I wonder if he has ever thought of implanting a chip in his second grade son (just joking, but seriously he was confessing in the service that he had failed to properly train Harley, and was seeing the need.)  (Annelisa has a lively English class of two that  Harley is in, Saturdays at our house.)  Well, looking back over raising my two, I feel every  effort should have been toward the goal of raising respectful, responsible, resourceful children... and I wonder what I might do differently now.  I mentioned today that one of my favorite things my mother did for us children, was give us each a plot of land, no more than ten feet by ten feet, for us to plan, prepare, plant and raise garden in.  I was not able to do that for my children..... how happy I would be to have a little plot myself!  (I did go out this afternoon and buy some potted flowers, and some soil and a container for my wee "garden".  I love growing things --no green thumb, though-- and have a need to nurture!)

I close my rambling on a note of praise for this beautiful day.

DAYSPRING

Thou Dayspring from on High,

The brightness of Thy rising

We hail with joyous cry,

Thy radiance us baptizing.

Thou Dayspring from on High,

With joy You make to quiver

Outgoings of morn's sky,

Abounding grace deliver.

Thou Dayspring from on High,

Arise!  Let shadow's flee Thee!

Thy presence ever nigh

In purest light shall free me.

Thou Dayspring from on High,

Dispell earth's deepening twilight.

Shine forth till bye and bye

Thy coming flames the sky bright.

Thou Dayspring from on High,

Blest Light of Life unfailing!

Rose dawning tints east's sky,

Against dark clouds prevailing.            ---3-23-05

Theme Song

What a blessing to find the long-lost theme song of this blog:  God is Love !   Have you heard it?  Oh, I had wanted it so badly!  In the music you can hear the surging of the ocean waves, while the words are so fitting, I'd like to sing for you:

God is love--and like the tide

Flows his mercy deep and wide;

And His grace tow'rd you and me

Is as boundless as the sea.

On the clouds, so dark above

Shines the rainbow of His love;

Praise His name with heart and voice,

God is love--let earth rejoice.

God is love --I will not fear,

For He says, "Be of good cheer."

He will give me what is best,

So in Him my heart shall rest.

On the clouds so dark above,

Shines the rainbow of His love.

Looking up I see and know

God is love, in weal or woe.

God is love---He giveth peace;

Strife shall end and tumult cease.

God who doeth all things well

Will thy doubts and fears dispel.                                                                                                                

On the clouds so dark above,

Shines the rainbow of His love,

He will all His goodness prove,

Hallelujah!  God is love.

                                     --Gertrude R. Dugan

Does it speak to you as though written just for you in this tumultous time?    Remember to seek for the rainbow of His love in those dark clouds gathering overhead!  

LiJin, whose early death capsized the dawning faith of his mother, had an idolatrous funeral.  All the family were idol worshipers, and the mother, stunned by the loss of her son a week after he accepted the Lord, refused all calls from believers.  The latest news is that  when told to consider the hope of her son being in Heaven, Mrs. Wang turned toward the light again, --for neither idol worship nor Buddism hold out such a hope.

We are praying for direction as to where to move next (do we go ahead and buy a larger apartment  now, and if so, where?)  The nice part of moving so much is it makes it easy to get rid of excess stuff, and who doesn't need to streamline?

Poems from the Past

"Greeting from the Untied States!" wrote a friend recently, and I marveled that with a creative typo she could express more than I could with a well-thought-out paragraph! In reviewing my history, I have come across some poems that I reluctantly share to try to fill in my lack of pictures and adventures. (Three samples follow.)

NEW MERCIES
New are Thy mercies each morning;
Fresh dew Thy grace falls on me,
Bathing my soul in Thy beauty,
Light, life, love, liberty.
Let the bright dawn of Thy glory
All hosts of darkness o'erthrow.
Let Thy sweet sunrise of favor
Life's clouds set rosy aglow.

Let Thy bright rainbow of promise
Span the dark clouds in my sky.
Let raindrops fallling refresh Thee;
Someday Thou'lt wipe these tears dry.
Ever to live in Thy presence--
Now and when dawns cloudless Day!
East clouds I'm watching while longing.
"Come for me with no delay!"

ELW. 8-13-99
Here's one where a bit of Chinese technique was attempted:

MOON SEA

Moon sea;
Silk mist;
Waves free,
Star-kissed.

Moon hides;
Spray chill;
Wild tides
Bode ill.

Fierce gail
Whips shore.
Winds wail,
Waves roar,

Surge, dash,
Beat , rip,
Crash, smash,
Sink ship.

Lone gull,
Wild cry.
Ship's hull
'Gainst sky.

Night flies,
Storm's gone.
Hopes rise
With Dawn.

Storm -dark
Life's wreck:
Sunk, stark,
Lost speck.

Mad waves,
Hopes gone.
Christ saves!
Hopes dawn:

Grace heals;
Faith springs;
Love seals;
Joy sings!

ELW 6-14-99

Trying to put Oswald Chamber's prose into poetry resulted in this:

SHADOW OF AN AGONY

Through the shadow of an agony,
Redeemed and reconciled;
By the tragedy of Calvary
Transformed to be Thy child.
It's by virtue of Thy death that I
Thy life enter into.
In forgiveness, Thy heredity
Makes me a creature new.

Not God's Fatherhood, but Babyhood
Bought back the human race--
Weakest thing in His creation,
Wee Baby bringing Grace!
Absolutely single-handedly
He levered back creation
To a better place than ever was
It's original station.

In the shadow of His agony
I rest me undismayed;
Face dark Suffering's shadows trusting He
Will keep me unafraid.
Shade of Hand stretched caressingly,
This shadow over life.
Understanding baffled, Faith yet stands
Courageous in the strife.
ELW 8-13-99