China Dolls

So let me apologize for two things 1) the fact that it has taken me this long to post on my China trip 2)the fact that this post is so long! I am actually just posting the update letter I sent out to all my supporters. If you have other questions or things I left out that you would like to know, just leave me a comment. I'll post a few of my favorite pictures next week, and maybe a few favorite memories as well.


Wow! Where to start? First, let me just say thank you, thank you, thank you! Your prayers and support throughout my preparation for and time in China were remarkable! I could feel your prayers surrounding me every single day. Thank you for sacrificing to support me financially as well. What a blessing! I will never be able to truly express to you the level of my gratitude, but thank you!

I’ll begin by giving you an overview of the activities we participated in while in China. Our Show Hope team first met in Newark, NJ. The team was composed of 19 women (17 of us girls and 2 team leaders). We came from all different areas of the country-Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Arkansas, Alabama, Montana, Indiana, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Mississippi. It was incredible to sit down with these girls and have everyone share how God had brought them here to this place, this mission, with this passion. It was evident from our first night together that God’s hand was all over our trip, including our two amazing team leaders. We flew out to Beijing the next day. After 13 hrs on a plane, we were finally there! We went straight to New Hope Healing Home right outside of Beijing. Let me give you a little history about the facility. New Hope is actually the foundation God used to start it all. The facility is run by Joyce and Robyn Hill. Joyce is a doctor from Australia and Robyn is an engineer from Britain. The couple met, married, and moved to China where through different circumstances they were allowed the opportunity to see the need for special needs orphan care. Through the guidance and blessing of the Lord the couple was able to found New Hope Healing Home-an orphan care center for special needs children in particular. Once again through the hand of the Lord, Steven Curtis Chapman was able to see the work of New Hope and partner along side them through Show Hope to build and fund Maria’s Big House of Hope—a six story facility committed to the care of special needs orphans. What an incredible experience to see and hear how the Lord has blessed these two facilities. God is doing big things for His name’s sake in China! We spent our first afternoon at New Hope meeting babies, touring the facility, and hearing and seeing the work of the Lord. The next day we attended an international church service. You had to present your passport in order to be allowed access to the service. We then went and hiked part of the Great Wall. This was our first immersion in the Chinese culture. So neat! Chinese people are very proud of their country and its accomplishments. After some Chinese Tex-Mex, we boarded a train bound for Luoyang, which is located in the Henan province, southwest of Beijing. What an experience! We discovered that until the lights go out on the train (which is at 10) the bottom beds are considered extra seating. We had several Chinese people come and sit with us and talk with us even though we were limited on the amount of Mandarin we could speak. One of our leaders, Katie, who lived in China for 6 years, was sweet enough to sit with us and help translate. The people were so friendly and curious. I loved it! We arrived in Luoyang the next morning around 7 and headed for Maria’s Big House of Hope. We would spend the next 7 or 8 days getting to love on the nannies, babies, and nurses, as well as our team members at Maria’s. The facility itself was incredible! Joyce and Robyn helped in the design. They knew what worked best for them, and how to make the facility most efficient and functional for the care it would be delivering. What a blessing! There are 6 floors at Maria’s. On the bottom level you will find the healthiest kids. They are kids awaiting surgeries, families, etc. They all have a special need, but their needs are not immediately life threatening. These were the active babies, the ones into everything! The first floor was also the home of the new Kindergarten. They are designing curriculum to provide the children who are developmentally ready with the experience and opportunities of a kindergarten classroom. It was incredible to see a few of the girls on our team contribute both to the curriculum and teaching opportunities there in the kindergarten. The second floor was all cleft lip, cleft palate babies. The best smiles you will ever see! They are awaiting corrective surgery. The nannies on this floor blew me away with their compassion and dedication to the children’s growth and development. The facility does not have many of the therapeutic, medical devices we are accustomed to here in the states that assist in the feeding of cleft lip/palate babies. But no matter how long or messy the feeding time, as long as that baby was still eating, the nannies persevered in feeding and nurturing these precious, growing, little ones. The third floor was home to many of the cerebral palsy, brain dysplasia children. You talk about a blessing. You had to watch your heart on the 3rd floor. The fourth floor, where I spent majority of my time, consisted of many of the chronic illness children; the children with downs syndrome, cerebral palsy, brain injury, heart defects, malnutrition/failure to thrive. Some of the children were post surgery, some were awaiting surgery, and some were simply there for comfort care. The fifth floor was a palliative care floor, or end of life care floor. These children had been medically assessed and found to be in either a critical condition or in a state that could not be treated aside from simply providing comfort care. The fifth floor also housed the operating room, which will actually be used for the first time at the end of June to perform 12 cleft lip/ cleft palate repairs. These surgeries will be the first in house procedures performed. Praise the Lord! The sixth floor was the residence of the doctor, facility coordinator, as well as extra room and board for teams such as ours. Everything about the facility was astonishing! So for the next few days, we fell in love with the babies, nannies, and nurses at Maria’s. We could not get enough of these kids. They were so full of life, personality, love, and joy. They were such blessings to us! We were able to participate in a few service projects at the facility. We organized and restocked the pharmacy, helped lay the foundation for the playground and put together some of the equipment, assisted with the kindergarten program, painted, and did a little gardening as well. A few of us were also able to make rounds with the doctor one morning.
I know God is moving and working among the orphan system in China, and I hold fast to His promise in John 14:18! Oh how desperately I need to pray for the Lord to break my heart for the things that break His. While in Luoyang, we were also able to experience the culture through walks and time in the old town area as well as the town square. Oh and authentic Chinese food is so good!! I know, I know. I can almost hear the wise cracks now, but let me just say that regardless of the animal it may have been that I consumed, it was some kind of tasty! After many tears and the heartbreak of leaving the place and people we had grown to love so deeply in Luoyang, we boarded yet another train. We headed back to Beijing and New Hope for our last few days. We loved on more adorable babies there at New Hope, did a prayer walk through Bei Wu village, as well as visited some of the tourist sites in Beijing. We went to the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, took rickshaw rides, walking tours, bargained in local markets, saw an acrobatic show, saw some of the Olympic sites (from a distance), visited the Summer Palace, etc.

Now that I have gone on and on about all that we did (and that actually probably was not everything), let me share with you my heart and a few prayer requests. My time in China was unbelievable! God never ceases to amaze me with the opportunities and blessings He lavishes upon us as His children. God not only opened my eyes to part of His heart, but He allowed me to grow in Him and to see His work—not only His work in China, but His work in my life as well. Even just to see how my job here in the states was preparing me for my trip, and possibly what is to come, was incredible. God truly will sustain us if we will trust in Him. I will never be able to help you to see and feel what I saw and felt while in China, but I can and will pray for God to break all of our hearts for the things that break His. I can pray for each and every one of us to make time to get alone with God and truly surrender our lives to the call He has placed on us individually. I can pray that God will reveal to us more intimately His passion for the nations, His desire for all to hear and worship His name, and His design that all come to salvation through belief in the sacrificial life, death, and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ. And you, you can pray for the millions of orphans in the world; the millions of precious children who desperately desire love, attention, care, and the embrace of a forever family. I know that adoption is a huge step. It is a big sacrifice for some, a challenge for others, and perhaps not an option for many; but, please pray and seek after the Lord’s will for you and your family concerning adoption. It may be that instead of adopting you could support a child through New Hope Healing Home or Show Hope or Compassion. It may be that you feel called to give to Show Hope's adoption aid grant fund. Whatever it may be, the Lord has charged us with the task of caring for orphans, so please seek after Him and His design for how you and your family can do just that. Pray that God will lead families to adopt these precious children of His. Pray that the Lord will continue to accomplish His work in China. As one of the pastors at the church I attend in Birmingham preached the other Sunday, in Ecclesiastes we read how everything “under the sun” or all that is apart from the Lord is futile or vain (all the work, material things, life in general), but everything above the sun, all the work of the Lord is eternal and worthy of all our time, effort, and resources. What a beautiful reminder of our call to count the cost for the sake of the gospel. What could be more wonderful and rewarding than a life spent with the soul aim of glorifying our Lord and Savior? “Let’s use the grace of God in us, for the glory of God around us!”
With Love and Thanks,
Lucinda

You can continue to follow the work of Show Hope through their blog, located online at http://blog.showhope.org.
Also if you have questions about supporting a child through one of the organizations I mentioned, I would be more than happy to help, just let me know.

Long time coming...

Sorry friends who actually read my posts, it's been awhile. I feel like there is so much to tell...not sure where exactly to start. Let's see...

Well first let me just say once again how blessed I am! The Lord has been so good to me. I recently had the opportunity to visit my bestie and her hubby in D.C. So much fun! I just love them! It is so amazing to see them already growing together as newlyweds and closer to the Lord as well. They seem so happy in D.C. and seem to have adjusted to life there so easily. I guess Joel has had a little bit longer to become acquainted with the area, but Caroline is catching up rather quickly. Anyway, while there, and upon my return, I was just overwhelmed by the reminder of how fortunate I am to have experienced and experience a friendship as precious as mine and Caroline's. I mean she has been my best friend for as long as I can remember, and I wouldn't trade it for anything...and I do mean anything. I was talking with a dear friend today and we were discussing how much we miss having close, godly, women/friends around. Friends who encourage, hold us accountable, rebuke us when needed (in love of course), teach us, challenge us, and just flat out make us laugh until our belly hurts. I was thinking about it and I began to wonder, does everyone get to experience a friendship like that? Or is our friendship so much deeper and sweeter than others because of our ultimate love and relationship with Jesus? I personally have been blessed with a handful of amazing Christian friends that have been there since birth, and they have all been incredible friends to me. Is that normal?
Then, I thought, once a child of God we are all capable of having a sweet, sweet fellowship/ friendship with our Savior. But do we truly seek after and long for a relationship with our heavenly Father the way we long for an earthly friendship? Just a thought, or more a challenge to myself I guess.
Thanks dear friends for always being there and for the blessing you are in my life! I love you all dearly!

Ok, next...um...Oh, I guess Secret Church would be next up. First let me explain what Secret Church is. Secret Church is this time of in-depth Biblical study that the Church at BrookHills does twice a year. All around the world, Christians face persecution and are not allowed to gather together and worship the Lord, so they meet in secret. Showing up at different times, from different places, and they gather together and study scripture and pray and praise the Lord for hours upon hours (for it may be weeks or even months before they can gather again). So with that in mind, BrookHills gathers for 6 hrs to do an intense study of the word and pray for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who are facing religious persecution. This particular study was on "The Gospel, Possessions, and Prosperity." Talk about a good ole' spanking from the Lord...ouch! I am so ashamed of the hold I have allowed to world to have on me. When I am honest before the Lord, I find myself physically sick over the use of my resources. After all why am I here on this earth? For riches? Success? Fame?...Absolutely not!! I am here to proclaim the gospel to the ends of the earth, to take the beautiful message of salvation through Christ to those who have never heard as well as those lost and caught in the holds of worldliness and the schemes of the devil, right? And how exactly is the American Dream, a retirement fund/ portfolio, and success in the business world going to help me do that? I'm not saying you can't use success in all of the above to the glory of the Lord, but don't you think it feeds the flesh and makes it easier for us to be distracted? All this to say, I recommend listening to the message from Secret Church, you can find it on the www.brookhills.org church website. Or if you don't really know when you could possibly listen to 7 hrs worth of podcast, I would like to recommend a book. Dr. Platt also just published his first book called "Radical." It is incredible and challenging all in one, and you should definitely check it out. It covers a lot of the material discussed at Secret Church.

What next?...Since I have rambled quite awhile, I guess I will end with a few words and pictures of my latest undertaking. I have decided to plant a garden! Haha...I know, I know. I'm from the country so this is really nothing new, right? Ha! I have always enjoyed the veggies from our garden at home, but never really had to do the labor associated with the production/growth process. So I planted a small garden here in Birmingham. I have planted herbs and veggies in hopes of making homemade salsa, summer pastas, and maybe making some flavored oils and things for cooking. Crazy? I know. Anyway, here are the pictures from my vigorous laboring. Let me just say it took at least two hours of intense ground breaking, root pulling to do this, so I am rather proud. Let's just hope the Lord makes my garden productive, because I have no clue what I'm doing : )







The picture of the garbage can is to show you all the roots I had to break and pull out. The tools are of course the players in the day's adventure. And the iris is just a really pretty flower in our back yard ; ) And no I didn't miss a spot on the dog house, the blank spot has dill seed and cilantro planted in it.

Update on China: I have 16 days until I fly out!! Yay!! I absolutely cannot contain the excitement I am feeling. God is oh so good! My trip is completely paid for, plus I received some extra support money that has been such a blessing. I had not calculated in the cost of the plane ticket I had to purchase to get me to Newark, NJ to meet my team or the cost of the immunizations I would need (almost $300 dollars worth!) But God has provided abundantly for every aspect of this trip and I absolutely cannot wait to see what else He has planned!! Thanks for all the prayers and support!

-With Love

Just some thoughts...

First, may I just say praise the Lord for a beautiful Easter Sunday!

Secondly, I would just like to share some personal things that will hopefully bring encouragement to those who need it.
Spring is often kind of hard for me. It's kind of like Christmas time. A time when all around you, you see families, couples, adorable children,...and you think-man, I wish I had that. This covetous desire of mine has resurfaced now, partly because, 1) today I had the opportunity to spend Easter with some dear cousins of mine, and they are fortunate enough to have 5 precious grandchildren. Spending time with my cousins and their children allowed me to see what wonderful relationships they have not only with their spouses and their children (my cousin's grandchildren), but also, and above all, with the Lord. And it shows! 2) because, I live near a park. And now that the weather has warmed up, there are constantly families and couples out there basking in and enjoying the weather as well as each other. All that to say, it arouses in me a sinful discontentment with my singleness and the milestones of life in which I find myself, in comparison to the milestones in which I feel I should be hurdling by now. I am a girl-which means I have dreamed about meeting that special someone since oh...six, ha ha. Ok so maybe more like 10 ; ) Anyway, I have had it all planned out. I would meet him at college, date, get engaged, and be married all within 2 yrs. (I'm not a fan of long relationships...I think they are hard and can create temptations and dangers that are difficult even for strong Christians). In this "plan," I would be married by 22 or 23 at the latest.[p.s. I'm turning 23 on the 8th] I would graduate and move with my husband wherever his job led us. AKA, I would rely on his call and job to find my own...wrong, completely wrong and sinful, I know. I told you this was personal. Subsequently, what I have discovered is that no matter how many times I read and discard 1 Cor. 7, it is indeed truth. I am a vessel, a vessel to be filled with and overflow with the love of my Savior. A vessel who's aim is to be on the Lord and His will...to be under the constant guide of His hand... to have undivided affections for Him. Easily said, but a daily struggle. (Oh, and the vessel part, not in 1 Cor. 7. I'm referring to the undivided affections part.) I have to remind myself that my identity is to be found in Christ and in Christ alone.
Tonight at BrookHills, David Platt preached from Ruth. You may be thinking, "Ruth?," "What kind of Easter message is that?" A beautiful one! I can in no way even begin to do the message he delivered from the Lord justice, but here is the part that struck me. (Oh, and by the way you should listen to the sermon on podcast, it's incredible!). He spoke of the kinsmen redeemer and how he 1)had to have the right to redeem her, 2) had to have the resources to redeem her, and 3) the resolve to redeem her or in other words the desire to redeem her. He briefly relayed the beautiful story of redemption and love found in Ruth and then turned our attention to the Cross, to Jesus, to our kinsmen redeemer! Jesus being divine and rightfully able to redeem us. Jesus having power over sin and death and therefore, the resources to redeem us. And last, but not least the resolve to redeem us in His willingness to seek and save us! These are all notes from the sermon, so please give credit where credit is due. But what an amazing picture! How selfish and ignorant I am to desire anything and anyone more than Jesus, my kinsmen redeemer! The one who's wing I can take refuge under. There is no one like Him! There is no other bridegroom who could ever replace or even compare to Him. Oh how much I have to transform in order to love and fear the Lord the way I should-in order to be the woman, better yet, the bride He desires.
I also recently found conviction and encouragement in Elisabeth Elliot's "Keep a Quite Heart" where in speaking of singleness she says,
"Is my Father in charge here or am I supposed to take over?" He is in charge if you want Him to be. He will not invade your freedom to choose to "take over." But if you want His way, nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else, you've got to leave it to Him. It's easy to be deceived here-telling ourselves we really want His will, but meaning "I want it so long as it includes marriage!"
Prior to this she reminds us,
"No good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly" (Psalm 84:11, KJV). If marriage is a good thing for you, God will see to it that you receive that gift. Only He knows whether it is good for you. Are you willing to be and have what He wants you to be and have, and nothing else? Will you surrender all your own hopes, dreams, and plans to Him?"
I guess my thought here is...why wouldn't I! I have a beautiful, merciful Savior! A Bridegroom who is willing to take me regardless of my faults, flaws, and sinfulness, and He is willing to cover me in His blood and redeem me, that I may have communion with my Father. How undeserving I am, yet how grateful I am!
I guess I've come full circle here, and I want to clarify that this is not to say that I do not still desire marriage. It is simply to speak honestly of my flawed nature in thinking that a marital relationship will satisfy. This post is a way for me to journal a struggle of my flesh and heart and a proclamation and reminder for myself of my need to find full satisfaction in Jesus. My need to daily die to self and to strive to rejoice in and magnify the love and Holiness of my Savior. My need to daily hit my knees in gratitude for the redemption my bridegroom offers. Just thought I would share. Feel free to comment.
Hope this serves as a reminder of how blessed we are to serve such a wonderful God.

Updates on China: 1st payment and Visa application mailed in...yay! We are writing team biographies this week, so we can get to know each other before the trip. Oh, and please pray that I can find someone to cover my scheduled weekend shift the weekend I am supposed to leave for China. My paid time off can not cover my scheduled weekend, so I am desperate to find someone to work for me.

Updates on Insanity: Completed wk 2. Still hurts and I still have to psych myself up to do it because I know how hard it is and how miserable I am in the middle of it. I can't really see a difference yet, but I feel like I'm getting stronger...maybe I'm just hoping ; )

-with love

New found respect...

Okay, so this is random and I fear that I will sound like a commercial, but I'm going to share anyway. Most of you have probably heard of P90X right? Well, I found something even worse!! (Worse in a good way of course.) There is this new conditioning program called "Insanity," and it truly is insanity. The program is a cardio intensive training program designed to deliver P90X results in 60 days without any extra exercise equipment. That's right, just you and your body. The guy (Shawn T?) developed the program based on his experience from years of track and field training. The program has you do max interval training for long periods of time with brief, and I would like to emphasize the brief, periods of rest. It has a heavy plyometric tone throughout the program. Which if you don't know what that means, here is the wikipedia definition. "Plyometrics is a type of exercise training designed to produce fast, powerful movements, and improve the functions of the nervous system, generally for the purpose of improving performance in sports. Plyometric movements, in which a muscle is loaded and then contracted in rapid sequence, use the strength, elasticity and innervation of muscle and surrounding tissues to jump higher, run faster, throw farther, or hit harder, depending on the desired training goal. Plyometrics is used to increase the speed or force of muscular contractions, providing explosiveness for a variety of sport-specific activities." All this to say it is horrible! I'm only on day 3 and I am super sore. Pathetic I know. What can I say, I'm out of shape for real! I mean, if my body looked the way it feels right now, I would be ripped from head to toe! Unfortunately, that is not the case. Anyway, the new found respect comes in for athletes such as football players, soccer players, military personnel, Olympians, and other athletes. I can't imagine how bad "2 a days" and basic training and those things must be! I mean this workout lasts about 40 minutes and I am ready to throw up, pass out, and cry all in one. So kudos to you!
There you have it, my promo for "Insanity." I'll keep you posted on how it's going if I can find the willpower to make myself keep it up : )

Okay one more...

One more video that will give you a better idea of what the facility is like, rather than just how adorable the children are!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GM-7wmcAzN0

Faces of Angels

If you don't know, which you might not, I will be serving on a mission trip with Show Hope... in China... for 2 weeks this summer!! First, let me just give you a little background about how all of this came about and how awesome our God is! So after the earthquake in Haiti, I was just overwhelmed with thoughts, emotions, and a desire to do something, anything to help. (I posted a long note about it on Facebook if you're interested.) Anywho, I began to be burdened in particular for the insane amount of orphans, both old and new, in Haiti. If you know me, you know that I love kids, and have a special love for orphans. So, I began looking at adoption information. Yes, I know, I'm not married, and I am not financially able to adopt at this time anyway, but it doesn't hurt to hope and prepare for the future, right? Well, this led me to Shaohannah's Hope, an organization founded by Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife as a movement to care for orphans. I remember first hearing about the organization in high school at a concert of his. Once on the website, I stumbled upon Maria's Big House of Hope (MBHOH). MBHOH is an orphange/medical facility in Luoyang, China dedicated to saving the lives of special needs orphans...my heart immediately began to pound out of my chest! I began looking for opportunities to serve/volunteer there, but found none at the moment. (In case you don't know, you should probably know that I am an RN, just one reason this facility in particular touched my heart.) I did find however, a place to sign up for updates on upcoming mission opportunities with Show Hope, which of course I did. About 2 weeks later, I received an email about Show Hope's summer mission trip...you ready for this...to MBHOH!! I immediately called my parents and sent them the link to check it out. I also called one of my very best friends who I knew would pray about the opportunity with me. I hastily filled out the application and mailed it to Show Hope. Then on March 5th I received a wonderful phone call inviting me to join the Show Hope team this summer! I could barely tell her yes due to the excitement I felt! I wanted to squeal and do a nice little dance around my room : ) All of that to say, our God is SO Good! He knew I had been battling discouragement. He knew/ knows my heart for orphans, missions, and children in general. He knows my desire to glorify Him with my life, my desire to die to self and live for Him alone...And our faithful Father is allowing me an opportunity to make that happen. Not to say this is the first time, but this is the most recent of His blessings to me. Oh how GREAT He is!! So, if you would like to know more or see a little bit more of MBHOH, here is the website as well as two video from MBHOH. The videos will explain the title of this post. I know this was a rather long post, but I just wanted to share.
-with love
http://www.showhope.org/OrphanCare/MariasBigHouseofHope.aspx
Videos: Sorry I can't figure out how to post the videos on here, but here are the links.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71Of0GBKQ5I and the 2nd one
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTs3_UCiLwg

Well Hello Friends!

In light of the recent overwhelming outpour of blessings from my Lord, I have decided to start a blog. Why, you ask? 1)to keep friends and family up-to-date on the happenings of my crazy yet wonderful life and 2)as a way to journal/ share thoughts, pictures, concerns, and life in general. In light of that, I should probably give you fair warning... this blog will be random. It will truly embrace its title- "skill-less raconteuring"! I hope though that you can find and see encouragement, laughter, love and my Jesus throughout my ramblings.
- with love