July and August in Shenyang
August 25, 2011
Dear Folks,
As most of you know, the first part of July, the 7th, to be exact, I discovered that my hotmail account had been “hacked” by evil persons and the email addresses that they stole were being used by them to perpetrate a hoax about how I was in London with a sick relative and needed emergency cash to provide for myself and my cousin. Without going into the gory details, these were pros that saw to it that all subsequent emails would be forwarded to their email account and captured and responded to by them and not me. I finally cancelled my hotmail account to save my contacts from further abuse. This invasion of my privacy has haunted me ever since and that plus the fact that I have lost so many email addresses has somehow prevented me from sending a newsletter since that time. I now realize that they are still controlling me as long as I let them so this is my declaration of independence and acceptance of a hard lesson well learned!
Fortunately, there was plenty going on during that time to take my mind off my computer problems. One wonderful gift was a visit by John Daley and his Chinese/American daughter, MingGe! They drifted into Shenyang during the first full week in July and were around until the end of the month affording us with many hours of joy while visiting with them! While visiting the orphanage, MingGe made the acquaintance of ZhiLei, the precious four year old whose only problem is having fragile bones. He is the bright and shining star of our group and, unfortunately, has virtually no one of his mental level to play with. He took to MingGe right away and constantly asked for her to return and play with him which she did while spending several days with Migyeong and me. After John and MingGe returned to the States, we took advantage of having a volunteer to help and took ZhiLei for his first outing: to a nearby KFC and shopping mall! He is totally smitten and can’t wait to go back!
Two of our school boys, LiangLiang and LuPing have completed middle school and will be moving along to trade schools in September, LiangLiang to learn to be an accountant and LuPing to learn the design and tailoring business. The third boy, YongEn (aka DaPing or Sam) will be continuing his education in the middle school because he got a late start due to being confined to a wheelchair. He has received wonderful help in achieving independence from the kind folks at Bombardier who donated the funds to purchase what we are calling a “bike truck”. This vehicle is driven completely by hand controls so his club feet are not a problem any more! He and his buddy, LuPing, have been practicing with it most of the summer and he is ready to mosey to school the first part of September without the assistance of Wu Laoshi, his house parent! LiangLiang will be staying in a dormitory at his new school and LuPing will be able to walk to his new school and continue to stay with YongEn and Wu Laoshi.
We have continued to encourage our friend, Cindy, with prayers and visits. Her condition has had its ups and downs but she has been able to overcome some pretty terrible times. She has been getting regular calls from a Pastor in Texas as well as visits from her friends and colleagues at her work place. Her faithful parents and grandma, not to mention faithful pooch, Emma, have joined in the constant prayers that keep Cindy going. Emma has been know to chase demons right out of the room and does constant guard duty for her favorite person every time a stranger comes around. To Emma, almost everybody is a stranger! I can testify that snacks are not very successful as a bribe and that I am still kept at paw’s length! At least the rest of the family seems to like me! Please continue to pray for Cindy’s complete recovery. We all believe that she will be a strong force here in many ways including helping other Chinese women faced with cancer. She definitely has a book in her and she is ready to write it as soon as she is strong enough to do so! Her faith continues to amaze everyone!
July was also spent in getting the Chinese teenagers ready to go to Tulsa to start Victory Christian School there. Several of them along with their Mom’s wanted to visit the orphanage during their last days here so out we went! There was even another Grandmotherly type along (besides me, that is)! They were warmly welcomed by ZhiLei and the other children who love visitors. XuCun, the young man with the large head was especially thrilled at all the attention! The teenagers were so good with the handicapped children as were their Moms and the Grandma. I hope that the Mom’s and the Grandma will visit again now that the teens are safely in Tulsa! That means that there are at least six Chinese students studying at VCS and no telling how many more in the pipeline! This doesn’t even count the college aged kids at various schools around the US!
Besides all of these activities, we have celebrated the coming of autumn and cooler weather by getting together with friends, old and new, and stepping out into our neighborhood to check out the cats and dogs, also old and new, while shopping for our veggies, etc. Guess it won’t be long before winter will be upon us!
We really appreciate your prayers and financial support of us and our work here with the orphans! It would be impossible without you all coming alongside us. Please feel free to email and/or give us a call (918-289-2150). We’d love to hear from you!
Love, Migyeong and Elaine
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