Jacob's Orphanage

December 24

This morning we went to see Jacob's orphanage.  It's just north of the city in the middle of a mountaintop forest park.  As far as college campuses go it's pretty OK.  However, as far as orphanages go it's fairly exceptional.  They have sensory therapy rooms, music rooms, a tea room where they teach the children both how to serve tea traditionally and about the culture of tea in China, therapy rooms where they do everything from acupuncture to massage therapy, they have vocational training, onsite foster families, a tennis court, private security, and I could go on.  Some of the rooms were even carpeted.  Joshua's orphanage had a TV and that's it.

The lady on the right is Jacob's favorite nanny.  The other lady is the head nanny.  This is the room where Jacob slept.

 Jacob did well at the orphanage.  Being a little older than Mae, I was more worried about him wanting to go back to his nannies and not come home with us.  A few times he did seem to prefer them but never fussed about coming back to us and did well when we left.  Overall it was a good visit.

After that we did some other stuff then went back to the hotel for naps.  After naps we headed out to the Chongqing zoo where we saw giant pandas and an assortment of other animals.  If you've ever been to a Chinese zoo then you'll understand when I say that the barricades between the animals and you are not what they are in the U.S.  Some of the animals you can just reach out and touch...

The family looking at a bear who was looking for some snacks.

We made Joshua pose by this statue, it just seemed to be a good fit for some reason.

After the zoo we had dinner with Sonia and her mom and then came back to the hotel.  When we got back we went through diapers again and cleaned up our third blowout of the day (Mae this time).  I think Heather came to the realization this evening that our lives (hers mostly) are going to be dominated by trying to feed kids and cleaning up poop - at least for the next few years.  Fortunately they're adorable so we don't mind.

The kids brought some "reindeer food" with them from home.  Since there's no yard to sprinkle it on we let them sprinkle it out of the hotel window.  Nobody below seemed to mind or notice.

Joshua sprinkling reindeer food out the window while Scott looks on.

Tomorrow is Christmas and we'll be celebrating the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ like many of you.  In some ways this will be like no other Christmas any of us have had before.  In other ways it'll be just like all the rest, spent with loved ones.  Wherever you are and however you celebrate, I hope you have a Merry Christmas and more importantly I hope you know what you're celebrating.

Speaking of, I have to tell you I was so proud of Heather the other day.  We were signing paperwork with our guide and he was asking about Christmas.  Heather immediately started walking him through how the real reason to celebrate Christmas is because Christmas makes Easter possible.  She went on the explain the gospel to him and we had what I would call a significant discussion with him about how Christ saves and what makes Christianity stand apart from every other world religion.  It's really hard to hear from people here how they try to believe in everything (which is the same thing as not really believing anything).  We pray that God will work in their hearts and I hope you'll join us in that prayer.

Our love to you all!