Bye, Bye, Beijing

Flying from Beijing to Xi'an to visit a friend. We had a blast with the Fadling family. Thanks you!

From China, Beijing4

From China, Beijing5

Record Snowfall In Beijing

The papers are reporting a record snowfall in Beijing (a whole 12 inches). Here are some photos. We walked with the girls to the local Hutong for heaping bowls of noodle soup costing a total of two dollars. It was piping hot and good.

We also received a phone call from their school. School is canceled tomorrow. The girls celebrated loudly when they heard the news.

Sent the Kids to School, but there is No School Today. Oops!

So Mariella worked tirelessly with Savannah and Shania on their homework last night. Lunches were packed and school clothes were picked out for the next morning. We woke the girls up at 6:30 am and assisted them with getting ready for school. Then we sent them hurriedly out the door to walk to their bus. By the way, they had to walk through the the foot and a half of fresh snow. Twenty-five minutes passed before to very cold crying girls came back through the door. They were sad because they missed the bus. They were crying because their feet were wet and frozen. When they took off their shoes and socks the socks stood straight up like a mold of their feet and ankle. We gathered some information them through intense questioning. Did you walk to the right place? Did you wait where your bus normally picks you up? Could the bus be late because of the recent snow fall? Did you stop to talk to or pet and dogs? We ended up checking out the school website. It turns out there is a teacher training day. School actually starts tomorrow. Oops! Sorry girls. At least they got some good exercise walking through the snowdrifts. : )

We'll try it again tomorrow. There should be a bus tomorrow.

Said Goodbye to the Children at Shepherd's Field

We said goodbye to the kiddos. Here are some photos of the last couple days. A couple days ago we visited the house where children do not get many visitors because they are quarantined off. Most of them have heart problems. Many are recovering from recent surgeries. There is a constant need for donations used for surgeries. Last night it snowed lightly. We are still chillin' in Beijing. We are watching the girls for a few more days while their parents fly south for a short vacation in 80 degree weather. I believe the projected high is twelve degrees and the low is negative four. We are feel blessed with each new day on this journey.

Happy New Year !

The longer we are with the kids the more we see how wonderful they are. Mariella, Savannah, Shania and I are having a great week. We’ve played with kids, hugged them, laughed with them, and danced with them. They are smart and energetic and full of laughter. Here are some recent photos. The dog in the photos is named Stevie. He knows everything going on around here. He follows us from house to house while were visiting children. Stevie thinks his main job is to chase the cats, which seems to be some kind of compulsive disorder. Stevie followed us as we walked down the street for dinner. He snuck in the restaurant during one of our visits. The second time he waited patiently outside the restaurant door. The paintings in the slide show are displayed in the guest house and in some of the children’s houses. Have a Happy New Year!

Shepherd's Field

We are having a great time loving on the little kiddos. Here are some photos.

To the Dickerson family:
Here is Elizabeth, the child you write, pray for and sponsor. She is a sharp young lady who speaks great English. I passed on your message to her. She blushed a little when we told her that you "love her and think she is beautiful and wonderful". We repeated your words a few times so it would sink in and ring in her heart and ears.

Scammed at The Forbidden City

Well, today we were humbled. We’ve read about different scams in different countries, but we were not educated on the Beijing Tea Scam run by seemingly nice Chinese college English majors eager to practice their English. It is difficult to swallow my pride and admit being taken advantage of, but it happened. We brushed shoulders with three college aged girls at the Forbidden City next to Tiananmen Square. We had friendly conversation and before we knew it we found some nice friends or so we thought. We decided to grab a quick drink with them. The con was so subtle. We ended up going to a tea shop with them where we tried some fantastic teas. We foolishly did not ask to see the prices of the teas (heavily inflated prices). We drank tea and ate snacks and a couple hours later the bill came. It was off the charts expensive. The girls were also shocked by the price and were forced to pay with their so called credit cards, but they were in on the scam. We payed our share which was too much money for “gourmet” tea. The whole thing was a set up and it was good.

Here is another victim’s internet post:
“Update: I don't think this Tea House goes by this name in China, but you can use a simple rule of thumb. If you go to ANY TEA HOUSE make sure the sampling is FREE - this is the normal situation and you are NOT obligated to buy tea, which even in China can be very expensive. In general if you are uncertain of fees.... ASK!

I fell for the Beijing Tea Scam (also common in Shanghai) where you are approached by a person claiming to want to practice English, then subtly lured to a Tea House for a "Tea Ceremony" that is hugely overpriced.

The scam is so good I later found that some savvy travelers had also been duped by this because it preys on the fact that you don't want to insult anybody and generally are unfamiliar enough with the landscape, money, etec. that you just pay the bill. My bill was $85 for a few tea samples. I'm guessing some who fall for this never even realize that they have been scammed - rather just think they paid "a lot" for Tea.

The China Tourism groups and guidebooks are guilty of NOT warning people enough about the fact that generally if you are approached in popular tourism areas by people who can speak English they are usually working some sort of sale or scam. Sadly, the notion that people are looking to practice their English is only true in that that they are improving on these very clever short cons.”

It is difficult to admit what happened, but it is an unfortunate reality of the journey. I usually try to paint myself in a positive light especially when I screw up, but I am trying to become more transparent and honest about the good, bad and embarrassing things in my life. It will be difficult for us to trust nice Chinese people in the future as we will be expecting they may want to take advantage of us. We pray that we will still be able to love people well despite being lied to and robbed. The last photo in the slide show is a picture of our con artist friends. The ringleader is not pictured because her “Buddhist faith” does not allow her to get her picture taken. Interesting!



We plan on spending the next week living and volunteering at an orphanage. We will bring our friend's two daughters who were adopted. We anticipate a fruitful visit where Christ will work in and around each of us. May love overflow and bring glory to Jesus. We may even bring our complementary tea gift to share with others.