China Letter-News and Human Rights

China Letter-News and Human Rights

Fear not: for I am with you: I will bring your children from the east, and gather you from the west. Isaiah 43:5

Went to the Florida Aquarium with my mom, Jude, and Rachel. We had a really nice time. Afterwards, we had lunch at Bennigan's at Channelside and ate along side the window overlooking the port where the Carnival cruise ship docked. We had a great view.
I am posting a picture of a satellite image of the world with the Xinjiang Province of China encircled ( Jude's birthplace).

Some say that blood is thicker than water. I say that love is thicker than blood. --Author unknown

Hi all, It has been a week since I last posted. This past week I was able to arrange to get the house appraised on Wednesday and finish the story we are to submit to Shaohannah's Hope to have it published in their yearbook. My mom came over on Wed. morning and took the little one's to the zoo while I got those things done including the yard work. I also was able to go to church that evening. Yesterday I went to my sister's house ( it seems like I have been doing that every Thursday). Today I am going to the grocery store, picking Amber up early from school and taking her to the store to take some jeans back before she heads off with the church youth group to " Girls of Faith"( http://www.revolvetour.com) conference in Orlando. Please pray for her that she and the other girls will respond to the message.
They will have Natalie Grant and Tammy Trent sing and some speakers talk about Friendships, guys, self-esteem, etc. in light of God's word. So it is very good for girls' between the ages of 13- 18.
Bill has to go into work for a couple of hours on Sat. and I have to work on Sun. , so we'll get some time together in there somewhere. Bill has applied with Zephyhills Water ; we hope to hear back from them so Bill can leave his current position at NFI and there horrible schedule.
-Anita

I read Our Daily Bread this morning and it was out of Corinthians; it is a good one in light of what is happening in the aftermath of Katrina. Here it is http://www.rbc.org/odb/odb.shtml .
Today my mom is coming over so I can do my weekly grocery shopping. Nothing much going on today--Anita.

Praise Report!!!

Praise God!, after discussing our situation with a financial advisor, we decided to combine our first and second mortgages into one at a fixed rate of 5.5% with no origination fees and low closing costs for 15 year term loan. By doing this we are consolidating all of our debt and taking alittle cash out. It will be so much better.
It's funny, because I have been literally losing sleep over this for the past week or so. With Bill gone , I have to really do this on my own , while going over it with him when I get a chance.
I was cleaning under the bed - Bill's side- and found a bunch of old checking deposit statements from Bill's job, and found a flyer that was from a mortgage lending group that works with NFI that has special loan programs for their employees. They provide low interest rates and a significant reduction in fees. I called them yesterday and was approved -no problem - for exactly what we were looking for. I was so thankful and my mood was lifted ; I thanked God for it. I had been specifically praying for us to find that.
Today I took the little one's to my sister Selina's house to visit. She told me that they are finalizing the plans for the house. They are expanding and updating their house in Odessa. It has been a long road and the contractor is looking over the blueprints. They hope to begin construction real soon.
-Anita

Hi all,
Today I took the kids' to the zoo and we had a really nice time. I met a lady at the stingray exhibit who had a 4 year old son with her , I think his name was Andrew, who was adopted from Vietnam; very nice lady. Jude kept looking at him and he was really concerned about his boo-boo on his head because he had a band-aid on it. It is nice to meet other people who have also adopted and from Asia and a boy. I kind of wish we exchanged phone numbers, but then there is the age difference and he goes to pre-K.
Jude and Rachel played in the water and we saw the new Meerkat exhibit over in the fairly new Africa section that Lowry Park Zoo continues to expand. We were at the zoo a total of about 3 hours. I think that may be one of the longest times I have spent there at a given time.
On the way home , Jude and Rachel were fighting over a piece of felt clothe from an old church craft project and Jude got so mad he reached over and pulled out some of Rachel's hair while I was driving 70 mph on I-75. I was so angry I almost pulled off the road to give Jude a piece of my mind ( and maybe a bit of my hand) , but I just wanted to get home. They both fell asleep in the car and I let them sleep alittle in their carseats in the garage while I made a quick call to our associate pastor to ask him some financial advice. He referred me to a friend of his who is a financial advisor. I later called the financial advisor and he advised me to consolidate our first and second mortgage into a 15 year term at no more than 6.5% interest ( based on the current rates we are currently paying ). It is all so frustrating and confusing and humiliating to have to go through all of this again. I absolutely hate it!!
Well, nothing more going... Oh yeah! Amber got her report card and she had A's and B's. Good for you Amber!! We have been going round and round about her grades and the need for her to bring them up and keep them up because I know she is capable of doing well in school. Her grades dropped significantly last year and all the prior years had received virtually straight A's all the way through. Maybe all the hormonal changes and getting a new brother and the big trip to China through her off a bit. But I believe in her and love her very much and I want her to reach her potential in life.
--Anita

Hi all,
Just updating my journal:
I have a good offer from PNC re: a Home Equity Installment loan to pay off our debt. We are trying to get debt-free by the time Bill and I reach 45 years old. Bill and I are making plans to get our education in Theology and missions to one day become missionaries. We'll see. I , myself, have wanted to be a missionary since I was a little girl. I used to look at documentaries as a child about orphanages in Romania and China, listen to missionaries talk about their experiences ( my best friend , Leah, comes from a family with many missionaries and she may not know this , but it made a big impact on me), and I remember the Peace Corps commericals and think," I want to do that." Well, we will move forward and let the Lord decide. Bill agrees he interested in doing that . And we just want to go whereever the Lord leads us and we realize it won't be easy. Anyway, since this is my journl and sort of like a diary...it gives me the opprtunity to express things that I normally don't in casual conversation.
Well still working hard around the house to get things done. Bill will be going to work around noon and won't be back til early tomorrow morning.
My mom is coming over today and is going to watch the kids while I go grocery shopping and deal with a few banks re: the loan.
Amber is going to her youth group tomorrow to set up for Sunday 's fundraiser and she is going to the movies tomorrow with a friend.
Some good articles to read below links:
http://www.mnnonline.org/article/7741
http://www.mnnonline.org/article/7743
http://www.mnnonline.org/article/7746
http://www.mnnonline.org/article/7749
Love, Anita

Today, I am very busy trying to gather the paperwork necessary to refinance our home equity line of credit ; I have a couple of offers that seem promising. It is such a challenge to do it with the little one's in tow. I am often on the phone with individuals while they scream and fight in the background; it is one of the most frustrating experiences.
Bill got home at 7:00pm or so last night and we all went to bed at 9:30 pm with the Jude and Rachel sleeping on our floor. Rachel wouldn't go to bed last night because she said she was scared of Elmo , so we removed Elmo, then she said she was scared of the porcelin (sp?) dolls on the shelf , so we removed those. Then she said she was scared of the shadows on the walls and she began screaming and then Jude started crying and we let them sleep on the floor in our room because Bill had to be ready to call in at 2 am . When 2 am came around , Bill called in to work and they said the line went down and then they ended up calling him in around 7 am. Anyway... it has been a rough night ...I didn't sleep very well and now I am really sleepy.
I got a letter from Shaohannah's Hope, they are one of the foundations that helped fund our adoption with a grant. They gave us $2,500.00 and now I will write our adoption testimony and send them photos of Jude and the family so they can put it in their adoption yearbook. I also need to send story and photos to the other foundation that gave us a 2,500 dollar grant. Then I need to get together photos, video, and letter (translated) to send to a family with America World Adoption Association that are going to Xinjiang, China to adopt a little boy in November. They will be going to Urumqi Child Welfare Institute and they agreed to take our package to the Orphanage Director so we can update them on Jude's progress. After that I need to send photos of Jude to our adoption agency to enter Jude in their annual calendar contest. Shew!!! I am busy and a bit overwhelmed.
I have a few articles I read on Mission Network News that discuss the work that is being done in the name Christ and their need to get thousands of bibles to the people in that region that want them. http://www.mnnonline.org/article/7737 and http://www.mnnonline.org/article/7739.
Blessings to all, Love, Anita

Hi all!
I haven't made a journal entry for about 5 days.
On Friday, went to Marshall's with Amber ( she was off school) and bought a pair of sandals and some van Gogh stationary and then we went to Super Walmart to go grocery shopping. Bill got home about 9:00 pm from work. Went to bed early because I had to work on Sat.

On Saturday went to work on the Orthopedic unit and saw knee and hip replacement patients ; it was a good day at work. I came home and made ravioli's for dinner; the Celentano brand ( in the freezer section ) is very good. The kids' loved them ; I used Newman's Own Marinara sauce with them too. Amber, Bill, and I watched "The Hostage" when the little ones' went to bed. I didn't like it that much and I regret watching it, especially with Amber. It had graphic violence and bad language. As a Christian, I felt convicted watching it. And I also feel such images are not very good to watch.

Sunday we all went to church and we ended up going to the 11:00 service, my mom went too and she sat with us. A lady at church was there with some relatives that evacuated from New Orleans. At the end of the service, I could see members of the congregation go to her and her family ( she had chilidren, I think) and hug her, I wanted to talk to her and meet her and I had this feeling that I wanted to know what her family's needs are so I could help.

Now more than ever I think it is the responsbility of God's people to help the people devastated by this disaster. I feel an obligation to help, so many Christians sit in pews every Sunday listening to sermons on helping others and it is high time we do what we are called by Christ to do. I do think that many churches are rising up and doing their part and I know the media is biased when it comes to religious organizations and this type of help is under- reported. I hope when some of these people relocate to our area, it is the church body that comes along side them to help them in every need they have , from finding housing , finding jobs , finding furniture and clothes, transportation, etc. I hear so many people blaming the government , but the government will NEVER meet all our needs, only GOD can. It breaks my heart to see people suffer at this level and we are considered by the whole world to be a Christian nation. This disaster is going to cost more than $100 billion to fix and my God isn't short of cash. We are His hands and feet. I am sorry if I sound angry, I am not; I am just a frustrated individual that reads and sees these images on the news and I want to help and I am praying to God He puts me in a position to make an impact on a personal level. I am sure there are alot of people out there who want to help and don't know how and so they give money; I want to do more. Please continue to pray for the victims of this tragedy and for workers to continue to rise up and help.

Our church sent about 5 -6 people to work along side "Samaritan's Purse", they took chain saws, money, water, a generator, etc. to Biloxi, MS and worked to help set up a camp to shelter the people who have no homes to go back too.

Hi all.
Our church is sending about 6 men to help with the search/recovery and relief efforts in Mississippi/ Louisiana due to Hurricane Katrina. They will be doing this along side the Samaritan's Purse, the Christian relief organization in which Franklin Graham founded. You can make donations to http://www.samaritanspurse.org . I gave a donation to them at church yesterday. Please pray for their safety and outreach to the people in that area. It is so sad and I wish I could go to help. It is such a desperate situation there now.
Bill will not leave his position at National Frieght Ind. right now. We agreed that he should stay until the situation with the gas - shortage blows over. He also has a week left to take for his vacation and if he leaves , he'll end up using his vacation time to look for a job and he really needs a vacation. He will also take a day to shadow one of the drivers with Zephyrhills Water to see if that is what he wants. Anyway...
I had a friend over today; she is a COTA like me and she used to work at TGH. She has 2 boys - 5 months and 3 years old. It was nice seeing her , it had been a long time since I last saw her.
Tomorrow my mom comes over to watch the kids while I go grocery shopping.
I work this Saturday and Monday and Bill will , most likely , have to work this Sunday. So we won't be seeing much of eachother this weekend , which is depressing.