August 20, 2012

Dear Friends,

Since the last newsletter, it feels like the world has dealt us more of a hand than we ever thought we could handle: BUT with His help, we HAVE!

On July 20, Migyeong was going to the orphanage, as usual, but when she arrived out in the countryside on the bus, embarked from the bus and while attempting to cross the very busy street, she was hit by a car, thrown over six feet in the air and landed squarely on the back of her head resulting in a concussion, various other injuries and a ride in an ambulance to a hospital in the city! I was blithely ignorant of this situation until much later in the day because she didn’t want to worry me! Actually, she was not sure she was going to survive! In the little over the month since the accident, she has been admitted to the hospital two times and is now recovering at home.

This is a “Joseph” story in part because even though the “evil one” no doubt intended to take her out, we have both been abundantly blessed instead although not without many scary moments and a recuperation that is still not complete. While staying in the hospital, she was visited by scads of Chinese friends although we purposefully did not inform many of them because we knew that their culture would lead them to visit her bringing bunches of fruit at a time when she really needed concentrated REST. There was some concern as to what we would do with all the fruit, too!

Since it is summer, there were several of our college aged friends home from the USA or just home from college here in China. Because we felt that having round the clock company of a solitary nature was needed, these college kids, with PLENTY else to keep them occupied, stepped up to the plate and volunteered! One VERY special angel turned out to be our next door neighbor who we knew but not nearly as well as we were to come to know (and appreciate) her! After being home a week after the first hospitalization, Migyeong began to feel very bad so I summoned this neighbor who called an ambulance. She went with us to the hospital and even spent one night with Migyeong. The best part of this story is that once Migyeong was back home, this sweet heart of a neighbor became Migyeong’s “raven” as in Elijah in the OT by preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner for her every day up until this very day! Those of you who know me know that cooking is NOT one of my giftings much less for an Asian palate! We have come to love and depend on this lady who seems perfectly happy to continue for who knows how long? She is actually one of a bunch of Chinese friends who helped out by taking Migyeong to additional hospital visits, by bringing delicious food to the hospital and just being there for her in any way she needed!

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that the administration of the orphanage played a major part in Migyeong’s care and comfort in the hospital. The President of the orphanage just happened to be a good friend of the President of the hospital so before we knew it, she was in a PRIVATE room with a BATH rather than the six bed ward she started off in! Also, the Manager of the Children’s Building was a frequent visitor and her college aged daughter along with her boy friend stayed one night with Migyeong after she was re-admitted too late to get the private room again. We are so blessed by the kindness of our Chinese friends. We truly love them all and feel like we have a special family relationship with them, now more than ever.

One interesting item: the administrator of the orphanage, without prompting of any kind, came right out and said that God had saved Migyeong! She was quite sincere about it and said that she thought without God, Migyeong would have not survived the accident – it was that terrible.

During this same timeframe but prior to the accident, we were also blessed with volunteers from the States: one that we expected from California who visited the orphanage and was a blessing to the kids and the staff along with an unexpected new friend who found us on our “website”! I am so embarrassed because I never update that website and never expect anyone to actually link to it! Jessica from California we knew well since she had been so helpful to us when we were in need for medications for our orphans to keep them from having IV’s all the time if they got the least fever! She is very JC-like and a servant in every way! She’s also a lot of fun and I still miss having her around.

The other volunteer, Margaret, had been living in China this summer interning for her college degree and just wanted to experience a Chinese orphanage! We also hit it off right away and had many good times going out to the orphanage and playing with the kids. We even joined up sides one Saturday with Jessica and took Zhi Lei to KFC for lunch including “bing qi ling” or ice cream for those lacking in Mandarin! We were tempted to just steal him and run off for the rest of the day! We didn’t want him to miss his Chinese fans back at the orphanage waiting for him, though!

I hope you enjoy the assortment of photos this month. I’ve captioned them so you can figure them out some. We are always grateful for your support for our work and any emails you want to send our way! Also any comments or questions - we just love to hear from our friends for any reason at all!

Love,
Migyeong and Elaine

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