Piling up those little stones of Grace...

Greeting the morning sunrise at the Yellow River

The everyday little reminders that allow me to see Grace...Even when they come in tiny bottles from a friend and just smell good.

Smiles and hugs of friends who are more like sisters

Tail gate party at sunrise- complete with muffins and hot coffee or cocoa

 Feeling connected- thankful that I have cargo pockets on my scrub pants- helps with carrying all six phones...

New sweaters for the ayis all ready to be passed out- the looks on their faces!

 Bundles of pure joy that I have the gift of unwrapping...

Lighting advent candles

Dr. Steve's Mom bringing the ingredients and making pecan fudge pie!

That Nerf bullets can be used even if you don't have a gun

That my job does not consist of individually wrapping tablets- yes someone somewhere does have that job

That randomly opening a drawer on the 3rd floor brought this huge smile and a tear of thankfulness that though none of these faces are here with me now they have brought such blessing and richness to my life- Abundant Grace

Christmas is Coming!

With all the Christmas spirit decking the halls of our Big House I just had to break into my little Christmas box and give my little Haven some Christmas sparkle!  I am a very happy girl now during my mid-night wakings as the Christmas lights twinkle- I think there should be Christmas lights up year round in my room! mmmmm it's a thought!

Happy Thanksgiving!

 November 28, 2013- Thanksgiving day in China

This was my 5th Thanksgiving away from Home (4 in China and 1 in India)  Each one unique, nothing but the fellowship of friends, and the fact that we once again take special opportunity to verbalize some of the blessings that overflow in abundant Grace on this day.  Each year there are different people present, different food is prepared, and tradition becomes the non-tradition of it all...

This year I made a turkey- and if you look closely you will even notice that he began to cry when we placed the platter of chicken in front of him- no it was not on purpose but it brought ripples of laughter as we all took lots of pictures.  

With a grateful heart for each of you!

The Osm Christmas Belles of CCC

The Boxes Arrived- Lots of Boxes...

 November 21-24, 2013

The Women of CCC in Beijing Arrived

Creativity poured out and lots of work was done by all hands

Christmas Twinkles- delight for all to See

 There was food prepared- Christmas cookies and coffee for all to share, Glitter and lights, tree trimming delights, stars and wreaths in abundance, pictures of children and ornaments made, puzzles worked and laughter in every hall.  There was Christmas music and heartfelt conversations as we laughed, cried, worshiped, learned, watch Christmas reruns, played silly games, and had a beautiful time together.

SIngles Day- 11-11

Our medical assistant came in this morning wishing all of us nurses a "Happy Single's Day"

11-11

We had to smile later when we were out getting groceries for the Martin family when this sign was prominently displayed at a photo booth- you just have to love "chinglish"

Joy is the Flag

November 9, 2013

Dear Ones,

  The day was long; I was tired, the drizzling rain outside, and events of the past hours seeped in making the walk to the nurseries seem even longer than usual.  In the cold hallway I found myself shivering just a little more.  Rounds on little ones for goodnight snuggles and checks on lung sounds and fevers shouldn’t come this late but here I was just starting.  I would bend over cribs for goodnights whispered into sleeping ears and pray that I did not wake the ones who had fought sleep, but it is a necessary evil when you are their nurse listening and looking for any hint of coming trouble. 

  I opened the last door quietly and glanced about scanning for who was where and what needed checking on.  Up popped a bouncy body from the corner crib- “Ma Lie Ya!  Castle Song!”  The two little ones playing quietly on the floor still awake chimed in, “Yes, yes- Castle song!”  I saw several sleep laden eyes flutter open and smiles- Oh, how I love these children!  Ayis smiled and said- they were waiting for you they said they couldn’t sleep until you sang their song with them…

  Several weeks ago Dr. Steve purchased a small pop up castle for their nursery and they have been delighted by it.  One afternoon while we were playing in it (yes, I do get into the castle with them) I began singing,

“Joy is the flag flown high from the castle of my heart, from the castle of my heart, from the castle of my heart, joy is the flag flown high from the castle of my heart for The King is in residence there.”

    They were thrilled!  So began our castle song time, we gather together and sing whenever we can and to hear their little voices raised in song is a beautiful thing. 

   I pulled those sleepy bodies to me and we sang about Joy.  Not happy, not everything fun, but Joy- a Joy that comes because the King of Kings is on His Throne in the Castle of my heart and He has raised His banner high over it.  It means Joy is still present when I am leaning into the hard, when I am confused, tired, lonely, and cold.  It is a joy that the world cannot understand a joy that sings from the heart of an orphan child’s lips that there is a flag flying high for The King is in residence here.  We sang, we snuggled, and little bodies were tucked into cribs now ready to allow sleep to claim them and I smiled as I left that nursery humming.  I was given yet another grace, a good gift, a lesson, another reason to praise and give thanks for He is my Joy.

Counting it all Joy,

Mariah  

Surgery Days

 The MKI Surgery team has arrived and they were greeted by their surgical candidates- So cute!  The next week will be filled with surgeries and recovery time with lots and lots of trips back and forth to the local hospital where the surgeries are being done.  Please pray for these precious little ones as they undergo their various procedures and for wisdom of the medical team in caring for them

Selfish Syndrome...

I am about to enter the nursery for evening rounds when I pause for a moment to survey the scene inside...The small group sitting in the middle of the floor is being lectured by the stern faced little girl sitting front and center her finger up and pointing at each of them in turn and being shaken in a "No, no" fashion.  Before her on the floor, between her spread legs is a collection of beautiful pink and purple pieces and parts of a princess's dream world.  

She is thrilled, but the tear stained faces before her are not so very excited with the pretty, they are more concerned with the, "Don't touch, and the not for you for me, it was given to me not you, I am loved, I am missed, I have a gift." 

Oh, yes the hurts and heartaches of every little child growing up. 

 But here I find in her actions a reflection of me.  How often do I find myself being given the incredible gifts and graces of my Heavenly Father who lavishes upon me so much and I chose to pull it close and not to share, not only do I chose not to share but I often flaunt the gifts with a "mine, not yours" mentality.  How proud and arrogant I become in my sinful human nature, how often I need reminders that though I have been given gifts, I am not the only one that the gifts have been offered to.  My God wishes to give the gift of eternal life to ALL not just me, not just a few but ALL.  He is waiting with arms outstretched offering it...am I encouraging others to reach out and take it, am I causing others to long for His ultimate gift or am I causing them to sit on the outside of my little circle looking on with tears spilling over and flowing down the cheeks of faces that are sad and feeling left out?

Sometimes we need reminders- of where we would be if it were not for Jesus, I need reminders to share, to be compassionate, and filled with loving kindness, to overflow with the Grace that has been poured into my life.

Now, I open the door...ready to sit down in the midst of little bodies pull them close and begin to share.  We will walk through this lesson together, we will learn to love, and care, and be compassionate together.

Give Us Clean Hands

I stand at the ready holding gown and gloves, packaged just so, and to be held just a certain way to be taken from me, and I watch as the surgeon's skilled hands scrub, and scrub, and scrub...There are brushes, and soaps, and a nail cleaner, and sponges impregnated with bacteria killing suds and bubbles.  I begin to hum... 

 "Give us clean hands, 

and give us pure hearts, 

Let us not raise our souls to another

Oh, Give us clean hands, 

and give us pure hearts 

let us not raise our souls to another

Oh, God let us be a generation that seeks

Who seeks Your face, Oh God of Jacob."

He looks up from his washing and smiles my direction, we have done this together so many times before.  He begins to sing along as he finishes with the final rinsing and waits for me to pull the tabs back on the package exposing the sterile towels inside.  As he preps we talk I share how I am struck with the song and the scrubbing, how we must first be cleansed before God can greatly use us, we must be washed in the blood, white, pure, without spot or blemish or germs.  Then we can be used for Him in the service He has called us to- just as in a few short moments those scrubbed hands, clean and pure will begin to dance about as in a ballet with an opening and closing curtain to mend the tiny body beneath the folds of blue drape.  Skilled hands, cleansed for service, scrubbed clean, ready, and willing to be used.    

Fall Contemplation-

"Fall" has arrived, I could tell by the color of the sky the past couple of days, instead of the smell of crisp days and fall leaves it is the cloud of coal fires and the brown glow of early setting sun, along with the cold that is beginning to set in...I had my coffee on the roof this afternoon trying to squeeze just one more "fall" day out and I smiled to myself thinking I should name this cup of coffee something creative so that it would feel more like Fall in a cup- you know the images that pop into your mind when you holding something with a name like Pumpkin Spice Latte or maybe something like that wonderful mocha I enjoyed from Bongo Java while I was in Nashville, "Fall Moonlight Forrest"  These all had those warm fall spices that I can only come close to when I puree my own pumpkin and add cinnamon and nutmeg imported from the States (Yes, I have been known to do this, however the orange puree on the bottom of the cup just never quite has the same effect as the sweet savor of coffee flavors at home)

Fall Moonlight Forest Complete with it's own Leaf...Happy in a cup! Thank you Dan for the recommendation

Feeling Fall...Coffee

Little Boy Blue Lost his sheep...at the prison!  I just had to put this picture in as it made me laugh today, they do actually graze various sheep and goats inside the prison walls but today they got loose and were in the prison garden so it was quite a "Horn blowing" as Boy Blue tried to move them elsewhere.

Birthday Dinner

Celebrating 3!

Happy Birthday Samuel

October 10th Birthday Celebration Dinner with my sweet friends.

I love that it was dinner with just their family grandparents, sister-in-law, cousin and Me...

It was such a special everyday moment.

Has it really been a Year?

 I awoke this morning remembering...It has been a year, a year since I boarded a flight to India with a bundle of a little boy knowing not the road my Heavenly Father would choose for me to walk but being completely confident of the fact that He had prepared the way and would walk it with me.  I had no idea the depth to which I would know that very fact at the end of my two months there but this morning I am praising him for the stains and the scars that time has left on my life and for the place in my heart that will always belong to my precious gift  of grace given by my Loving God to enrich my life

Normal Day…What Does That Look Like?

October 5, 2013

Dear Ones,

  I am frequently asked the question, “What does a normal day look like for you?”  And my usual response is, “When I have one, I will let you know.”  Nothing about my world would be considered by most as “normal” whatever “normal” is supposed to look like  but in a way it has become normal for me, the unknown , the “Oh, wow, didn’t see that coming.” The shrug of the shoulders and the smiling face saying, “Ah , yes, this is China.”  Take today for example, in general it actually followed a pretty typical routine…

0030- IV Antibiotic infusion completed, Ayis given final instructions and I walk to my bedroom, wash face, pull on pajamas, phones (all three) placed on chargers, and I slip into bed.

0230- Phone rings, ayi needs me to check on baby with a fever

0245- Back in bed, baby simply needed a dose of Motrin.

0430- Time to change fluid syringe on IV pump.

0440- Slip back in bed for just “5 more minutes.”

0520- Alarm goes off, coffee pot is turned on, clothes pulled on, grab phones and head for the roof, question is always, “Will I make it through a work out and quiet time this morning without one ringing?”

0645- Almost made it…phone rings another fever, instructions given, back to morning routine. 

0710- Shower… better make it fast someone will call or there will be a knock on the door if you choose to linger.

0740- Pre- Round on my nurseries…

0800- Round with Doctor, new orders received, medications refilled, questions answered, instructions given, snuggles, tickles, loving…more of the same to follow all throughout the day!

0945- Attempt to do some computer charting, network is pretty slow today it will take a while….

1030- Meet other nurses in 4^th Floor kitchen for more coffee and breakfast, this is also the time when we touch base with one another in person rather than by the almost constant Viber and texting that we do the rest of the time, finding out what everyone is doing, how they are doing, and in general what is happening in our world.

1100- Call from an ayi to check on a baby, quick run down to the 1^st floor.

1110- Call from Linda saying that there are foreigners in the lobby who want to visit.  I go down to meet those who have come to see our Big House and have the opportunity to take them on a tour and share with them a little of what is happening in our Home.

1245- Stand on front porch waving goodbye having given instructions to their driver on where to find the local McDonald’s.  Back to trying to chart and reply to MD emails.

1315- Walk through nurseries to check on a couple little ones who are having some problems, that need tending to…along with hugs and snuggles of “helper” children.

1400- Chinese Teacher arrives in my office about the same time that my ayi tells me there is something wrong with the IV line and I get a text saying there will be two new babies admitted this afternoon.

1445- IV has been restarted, and I have a few minutes left in my Chinese lesson time slot, my teacher is incredibly understanding of the whole situation, this is not the first time and she has actually stood by to watch, she now corrects some of the grammar that she heard me use while working on the baby and she gives me some new vocabulary to help with the next time.  She then corrects my Chinese Character practice book and gives me homework for next lesson.

1545- New IV infusion up, text received, new babies have arrived and are on their way to 4^th Floor office for admission work up.

1800- New babies are settled in, one was transported to the hospital for further testing but is back now and we have finished all the admission paperwork, assessments, ID tags, and e-mails to our physicians.

1815- I have started a load of laundry, and pull on normal clothes as the Boss is in town and we are all going out to dinner.

2015- Arrive home, change into scrubs, and check on all my little ones for evening rounds.  Lean over cribs, hug necks, sing lullabies, say prayers, hand out coloring books to the little rascals who are refusing to sleep and are sitting on the floor with a box of crayons, trying their hardest to obey when the ayi says not to color on the floor- they are adorable!  As I walk through my last room I pick up the tiny fussy bundle from his ayi and carry him with me back to the office where I hold and bounce him as I once again sit at my desk working on charting.

2130- Move Clothes from washer to dryer…

0000- Remove clothes from dryer (yes, it actually does take 2.5 hours to dry a load of clothes in our dryers.)  Hang up IV antibiotic to infuse and sit down once again to rock my precious bundle of still fussing baby.  Saying a prayer of thankfulness for the grace of little ones who have done well, they are all still with me at the close of this day…I will hold and rock this one until he falls asleep or until the next call comes and after that midnight med is infused I will fall into bed once again.  Knowing my God will provide all the strength I need to face whatever He brings in the next 24 hours.

Grace for the Journey,

Mariah

Nashville Top 20 Countdown...

Trying out a friend's favorite coffee shop at 0630 on my way to class

My precious Friend Carissa

 Ok- So it really won't be a countdown but since I was in the Country music capital I thought it went with the theme...These are a few shots in absolutely no particular order of twenty themes that brought huge smiles and fun amidst long days of lectures

Spending long days with these Nurses...making class fun

Saying thank you in person for equipment that was donated to the Big House

Time with my BFF Vanessa

Visiting with my Show Hope family- short but always sweet

Reminders that I was in the South when the veggie special is Macaroni and Cheese

Breaking Bread and Fellowship with Friends

Baby Sisters!!!!!

Blue Sky beautiful and sunrise drives to class

Christmas Countdown teddy bears for little sisters to snuggle in anticipation of my next return home

Matching Boots- Sister poses

Cheesecake- Need I say more

Daddy's Girl

Mommy hugs!

Breakfast (and coffee time) with this guy!

Music for Missy fund Raiser Concert with these Friends

Sitting in class with chocolate that tells me to "Be Spontaneous"

Time with my Family- Missed the rest of you, Christmas is only a short time away