Zi Qing

This guy. My heart! Such a remarkable boy.

Today, I think I will start by just writing down some of the words that have come to mind about Zi Qing. (zuh- jih).

remarkable

resilient

joyful

good sport

hard worker

steadfast

manly

determined

observant

helpful

ambitious

trustworthy

cheerful

brave


All of these traits have been observed in the time since I met him at the airport on Tuesday.
We had a big debacle where he thought I was abducting him (funny-ish in retrospect, I guess).  He was steadfast in his refusal to budge until he found his American aunty (he was finally convinced this was me.)

We thought his name was pronounced ZEE and he has gently ignored us until we were able to communicate our interest in his ACTUAL name, where he was a good sport repeating himself until we got somewhere near an accurate pronunciation.

He smiles and laughs constantly. His joy is absolutely contagious.

He has determinedly and observantly worked his way in to our daily chores, doing dishes, feeding animals, collecting eggs, making his bed, etc. WITHOUT BEING ASKED. We have started teaching him how to do all jobs, because he hounds us until we let him do it.

He copies Joe at every chance, and refuses help on anything he thinks he can do on his own. he works patiently and calmly until he succeeds.

I think what impresses me most is his quiet, sweet way of communicating needs and wants. He asks for our attention with smiles and taps and leads us to whatever it is that he needs. He doesn't just take, he asks with confidence.

One of the coolest thing so far is when Arwyn asked for a piece of pizza last night. Zi Qing opened the box, ripped off a crust and handed it to her. For those of you who don't know, Arwyn has a dairy allergy and cannot have the cheese part of the pizza. Zi already figured that out and gave her the part she is allowed to have.

And one funny story: A young lady who speaks Mandarin tried to speak with him yesterday. He good-humoredly spoke slowly and clearly (and maybe a little disdainfully), "I don't speak Mandarin, I speak Louyang dialect."


This guy. A gem of human being. A gift of God.

Pray for him and his forever family. They don't want to miss this.

Little Z! Summertime!

We are raising money to help cover the cost of hosting our little Z-man for 5 weeks this summer. Tiny donations welcome. Speak life to Z!

James 1:27 "Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you."

Way back in October I got a phone call from the sweetest lady saying that she saw I was looking at pictures of Latvians to host but that deadline was past and would I maybe consider hosting from China?
I stuttered around a bit, because I had never considered hosting from China. She was such a soul-sister-kindred-spirit to me though, and I told her the truth and she was all like, "Well, what age and gender were you thinking of hosting? "
"A little boy," I said. What? Umm, I don't need anymore little boys. Why would I say that?!?
And she was like, "Well, there's this cute little guy, Z. He likes to play and run and doesn't play with girls."
I found his picture and my heart started to warm up to this crazy idea of China hosting.
And then she told me has mild CP. Cerebral palsy? Wow. God. I don't know.
And then my kids saw his picture and started talking about Chinese buffet and how they always wanted a boy to play with and and and! BAM! Yes. Yes we'll host little Z. God just filled all our hearts with love for this little guy.
So we started getting ready to host him over Christmas. And then there was a delay. And then we planned to host him January. The delay delayed. And then, "Sorry, hosting has been put on hold indefinitely while China figures things out."
I knew God had a good plan for Z anyway, and I kept praying. And then, last week? I got an email saying that China is open for hosting and do we still want to host lil' Z?
YAY! God is good, His timing is perfect, and He provides all our needs.
We would love for you to pray for our family as we prepare to have this little guy in our hearts and home this summer. If you would like to join our family on this mission-minded mission by helping us out financially, please contact us directly.
Help us share the love with Z this summer!

Donations can be given directly to our family to cover the costs of hosting.

Praying folks: 1. Pray for God to continue His good work in arranging all the details of Zi's arrival and time with our family. 2. Pray for God to work in the hearts of a family to adopt Zi. He needs a forever family!
Feeling called to host? go to www.P143.org
You'll never regret it.