Me and Mike before the ball
A closer view of the dragon boats
Can you see that little white dot on the water? That's the Ford team:-)
Today, we had such a wonderful experience, in church. A woman named Amanda De Lange came to church today with two beautiful little Chinese children from her orphanage. Yes, her orphanage! Amanda is from South Africa. About a year ago, she was in Xian, getting ready to go to Korea for a great job. She had been volunteering in an orphanage, and she was deeply saddened by the state of so many of the children. She prayed to be able to help in some way, and wanted to care for a few of the children from the orphanage. She told the orphanage her idea, and though it is normally, such a difficult thing to get clearance, she was given six children immediately. All of the children had medical problems. She has twelve children now. She is here in Nanjing with two of the children for cleft palate surgery. Our group just ate up those cute little children! One boy, and one girl. We get to help Amanda take care of the children this week at the hospital. She has gone through all of her savings, and spends 24 hours a day with hardly any sleep (as many of the children are infants). It is such a blessing to get to help. She shared her experiences with us today, and it was so touching.
The end of the school year is coming. The children are so excited to go to Utah for a visit with family. Eli is so excited to be in the same school as the older kids next year. Rachel went to Shanghai this week for her last CISSA tournament for the year. This was a basketball tournament. Though our school didn't have a real strong team this year, Rachel had a good time. She got to see a friend she met in Beijing and the youth conference.
Saturday morning were the annual Dragon Boat Races. We were invited to a friend's home who lives in a high-rise apartment building on the edge of Mochu Lake, where the races were held. Companies from Nanjing put together teams of 16 to compete in a rowing competition. It was lots of fun to watch. Unfortunately for the rowers, it was one of the most windy days I've seen here in Nanjing! Ford had three different teams. Some teams are really serious about practicing. Teams have been out on the lake constantly the last two months all day long. Unfortunately, Ford didn't win their races, but Mike's office came in first out of the three Ford teams, and that's all he cared about. :-) Sadly, or luckily, for Mike, his size isn't a great benefit for a rowing race, so he wasn't on the team. There was a joke made about forming a Ford wives' team next year, and some of the ladies seemed pretty serious about it. We'll see...
Last night, Mike and I went to the Spring Ball. It was lots of fun. The theme was Arabian Nights, and there was some great Mediterranean food served. They even had a dancer who would come out periodically. I was happy to see that Mike was embarrassed and wouldn't watch her! Good Boy! There was a Philippino band, who was really good. They played lots of 80's music, so that kept us all happy. Mike was a good sport and danced with me. Unfortunately, there were technical difficulties, and we spent much of the night without a sound system. To make up for this, the hotel offered drinks on the house. Mike and I didn't stay long after this. It's interesting to see how, hmmmm, uninhibited,people become with unlimited free drinks. All I can say is WOW!
