ChinaBird

Through the years of having this blog, I've been pretty vocal about several aspects of living and working in China and for a non-profit organization. I've often shared about the kids, advocating for their adoptions, about our therapy program, and about God's goodness to me and us. ALL of which are true. There's no recanting any of those statements but there's so much more. I originally starting writing this blog to share with family, friends and supporters back in the U.S. about life and work here - but there's always been a part of me that has somewhat cushioned the realities so that it's more relatable. I don't feel that's necessary anymore. I'm sharing the rawness and realness of life. A while back I came across an article on WeChat (the main method of communication and social media here) that was titled, "Ten Things That Your Missionary Will Not Tell You". This article was thoughtfully written by a man, husband, and father of 11 ...

Hey y'all! Hope your summer has been as fun as ours! It's been almost 2 months since my last blog post, so I wanted to take a moment and share some of our summer highlights with you! Children's Day My FAVORITE Day of the year! Why? June 1, International Children's Day, is one of the biggest and bestest (😜) days of the year at SFCV, the kids perform, sing, dance, act and flaunt their incredible talents, what's not to love!?! We have the same routine/ schedule every year and it never gets old. Morning: kids perform, Lunch:McDonald's with the kids (a treat), Afternoon: campus-wide water fight! Just check out the photos... they say it all. July 4th: U.S. Independence Day! America's 241st birthday was celebrated in true American fashion: BBQ, Cornhole, fireworks, smores and lots of smiles! It was a great day celebrating the freedom that allows people like me to be able to come here to China and do what I do. All around spectacular day with the kids all...

Hey! Hi! How are ya?! Ok, ok, ok, enough already. I can't contain my excitement.... I'm going home !! Yay! My flight is booked, my bags are packed (well....almost!) and on Feb 23rd, it's Beijing or bust! Just a quick shout out to everyone who has donated and helped me along the way! So grateful for you all, your love, support and prayers they mean the world to me; I can't do what I do without them, so Thank you! Love this City! As some of you may know, in addition to waiting on funds, I've been waiting to receive a legal document from the IL state government that needed to be submitted to the Chinese Consulate here in Chicago prior to my return to China. After waiting 3 long, long weeks, I finally  received it in the mail last Saturday. Early Tuesday morning (of course there was a holiday that pushed me back yet another day - yay President's day!) anyway... Tuesday morning I took this document to the IL Secretary of State's office on State street in ...

Hey All! I know it's been awhile since I posted last. Life has been quite eventful and with the Christmas holiday and all...sadly, I just never got around to posting my thoughts, photos, etc from these last few weeks. All of that being said, lets back track a little and talk about all of the christmas celebrations and December happiness at SFCV and then move forward to present day :) December 10th: SFCV Inn Staff Thanks-Christmas dinner. As tradition would have it, we all (the SFCV Inn Staff members) gathered for a Thanksgiving/ Christmas dinner (turkey, stuffing, pie, the works...) with all of our foreign staff members and Inn staff.  The night was fill with Delicious food and even greater company!   December 11th: All Staff Christmas Party. Celebrating the Christmas season with all of our SFCV staff members (minus the Ayi's caring for the kids- they had a different party) with snacks, grab bag and awesome giveaways! Sadly, I was sick and had...