The Last Time

So I met my soul mate at 19. Married him less than a year later. Don't freak out, it's a good thing.

We knew from the beginning that we were moving to China. God had put Unreached People Groups on our hearts and that was that. We moved to Kunming, China when our firstborn was 6 months old. Btw, UPG's are pockets of people with no real access to the Gospel.

Our family of five, almost seven, walking down our road

in Kunming, China

I don't even know what to say about our experience in China. It rocked our world. It changed us. It was a good experience. It was difficult. The language sucked. No, I think I just sucked at learning it. We always say that God did way more in us than thru us during those 4 years.

Yeah, God really shook me up. One of the days most vivid in my memory is one that involves two desperate kids. In our city there were a lot of beggars. Some were horribly disfigured. The world on the street was that a lot of them had owners that took their money and maybe even crippled them on purpose to stir up pity.

My husband and I tried to take along fruit or bread to give them or even buy them some hot rice but if we didn't have food we usually gave them some money. They always managed to make us feel uncomfortable.

So Jon and I are up by the universities, walking down a big road, one where few beggars hang out. College kids in China don't have much money either. Across the road I see such a pitiful sight.

There is an older brother, maybe 3 or 4 sitting by the bus stop, on the concrete. City streets in America may not be clean but in China they are much worse. There is nothing you don't see smeared on the sidewalks. This little boy is holding onto a rope tied around his little brother who, by the looks of it, is just learning to walk. The baby keeps trying to stand up and go somewhere but the responsible big brother keeps pulling him back where he belongs. The baby cries. The rice bowl sits besides them on the concrete. They are some of the dirtiest kids I have ever seen. Ever. And they look so alone.

I just stopped and stared.

Who are these kids? Surely their uncle or owner are somewhere nearby keeping an eye on them. That is usually how it works. But... this is awful! Those kids need a mom. They need a bath and some food and some lovin' and a chance to be carefree kids! What would happen if we would take them home with us? Could we get away with it? They would surely freak out at these strange white people.

Jon talked me out of it.

It was just another one of those weird moments. I really wished Jesus would have been walking down Dian Shi Lu with us that day. I really wanted to see what He would have done. I felt all this conflict in my soul. What can be done? What does He expect of me?

Both of us were too young to adopt a Chinese baby at that time and I felt stuck. I wiped the noses and fed the mouths of the babies I already had. And waited.