On Tuesday a week ago, Jen stepped from a taxi in Chicago and was reunited with her friends from Zhuhai - Audrey and Alison. There, standing beneath the John Hancock Tower, we fulfilled our promise to help Jen reconnect with her sisters from Zhuhai. Three little Cantonese girls, so cute together, stood and talked as if they had just seen each other yesterday. It was the kind of meeting I had hoped for and thought about for a long time. In December, Jen had said goodbye in Zhuhai to the only family she had ever known -- the children at Zhuhai -- probably never imagining that she would see them once again.
You may remember that we were blessed to meet Alison and her parents back in February on a previous trip through the Midwest. This time it was 3 families coming from 3 states all converging on Chicago. We passed the hours at a nice restaurant as the girls entertained themselves with cell phones and cameras, good food and a lot of horseplay. We exchanged stories with the parents and gleaned some parental wisdom from their years in the trenches.
For us, it was an adventure just getting there. A car to O'Hare airport, a bus, 2 trains and a cab. Somehow we managed to go to the Sears Tower first but finally arrived at the John Hancock Tower an hour late. I wouldn't have missed meeting everyone for the world. We needed the encouragement and I hope they were encouraged by seeing us as well. The girls looked so cute together...three peas in a pod strolling down the street oblivious to their surroundings. And how could they really understand it all anyway? Over 8,000 miles from China and months later they met face to face in another time and another place. It was all planned by God.
My mother once shared a saying with me that I think about and it goes something like this...
Friends are the chocolate chips in the cookie of life...may you have lots of them!
We thank God for the "Cantonese chocolate chips" He has placed in Jen's life. May they be blessed now and always."Call to me, and I will answer you, and will show you great things, and difficult, which you don't know"
(Jer 33:3 - World English Version courtesy of ethnicharvest.org)
2 comments:
Oh precious Zhuahai sisters TOGETHER again! My heart is singing at the sight of them. God is faithful!
Blessings!
Tina
Oh how delicious this trip was for Audrey Hai Ping....She sang "It's the best day ever " (a sponge bob song) she has learned from her brothers and sisters- all the way home on the train from Chicago to Kalamazoo! How lucky we all are to have Zhu Hai friends!
Hugs from Michigan-
Steph, Brian And the Johnson Gang now including our Audrey Hai Ping!
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