Sorry

For my friends whom I mentioned to check this site regarding a conversation at church yesterday in Sunday School, I chose not to post so as to avoid offense. I did however speak to each one of you one on one and felt that was a better way to handle my thoughts.

Christ Plays in Ten Thousand Places

This is quickly becoming one of my favorite books of all time. The subtitle at the bottom reads: A conversation in spiritual theology. And that is precisely what it is. It is not a book about theology. It is a book about how our spirits engage and interact with what we believe. The Chapter (2) on creation alone is worth every expensive penny that this book is. Check out this quote that talks about Jesus as he plays in creation...

You would think that believing that Jesus is God walking among us would be the most difficult thing [to believe about Christianity]. It is not. It turns our that the hardest thing to believe is that God's work - this dazzling creation, this astonishing creation, this cascade of blessings- is all being worked out in and under the conditions of our humanity: at picnics and around dinner tables, in conversations and while walking along road, in puzzled questions and homely stories with blind beggars and supporting lepers, at weddings and funerals. Everything that Jesus does takes place within the limits and conditions of our humanity. No fireworks. No special effects. Yes, there are miracles and plenty of them. But because for the most part they are so much a part of the fabric of everyday life, very few notice. The miraculousness of miracle is obscured by the familiarity of setting, the ordinariness of the people involved... [page 34]

...Everything Jesus does he does with his hands deep in the soil and flesh of creation. [P. 92]

What I love about this book is what Peterson doesn't do in this book. He isn't trying to convince us of a position. He's not trying to teach us some new perspective. It is not void of theology, but the main thrust of the book is not about learning it is about engaging. He is simply using the creation story and giving us a way in which we can begin to live within the context of the story. It is simply a MUST READ book.

31,000 ft to find...

Okay, so Saturday was my sisters wedding. Of course I traveled to California by airplane to be there (oh, what a story) and was so blessed to be a part of it. On the plane out of Orange County, I was reflecting on the past 23 hours, on a conversation I had with parents on the way to the airport, and on some things I have been reading lately in scripture and in other books. I was doing all this with my eyes closed and my ears full of Moby (which by the way if you don't listen to Moby, you may be missing one of the most underappreciated artists of our time). While I was doing all that I noticed with my sense of touch... heat... on my arms and it felt nice.
For those of you who don't know, I live in Michigan. For the past 90 days or so we have had cloud coverage and snow flurries. Within those 90 days I've been to China and California both. In 90 days the first glimpse of the sun that I have had was at 31,000 ft. For those of you who live in Michigan, let me assure you, the sun is still there and the sun is still warm.

We're still here

Wow, It's been 16 days since I've posted. Luczi is doing so good. We've heard from other couples in our group and most of the girls are doing great, but there are some who are not adjusting very well at all. Luczi is finding lots of attention in her two sisters and is loving that. She's eating a lot lately. Wendi is giving here two jars of baby food three times a day plus her 8oz. bottles. We can tell she is growing already. She's very curious about the world around her and we can't wait till spring when we can take her out to see the "real world".
All and all things are very good. I will be away for the weekend at my sisters wedding so Wendi will have lots of fun with the girls.
Posted is my on of my favorite pictures with Luczi thus far. Like a reptile Luczi sometimes checks the world around her with her tounge. She has done it less lately, but every once and while it reappears. And of course dad sometimes gets in the action too.

Home a few days now

Thanks for logging back on!!! Luczi is home 4 full days now and is doing pretty good. Luczi left China with a double ear infection the results of which were long hours of crying, frustration, vomiting, and to top things off a mild case of eczema. The bonus for us was that for the two long rides (China to LA and LA to Chicago) we had an extra seat between us. After some small doses medicine, Luczi slept for some long periods of the trip. All and all the fussiness and the illness helped keep her awake and have made the time transition quite easy. She has still had some rough days here at home and keeps herself on guard while sleeping. She hasn’t quite settled into the reality that this is forever. She has attached herself to Wendi and they have bonded well. I am a little jealous, but she and I do okay late at night where she finds comfort in my arms when she is overly tired and can’t find rest. I hold her tight (as I did my other two girls) and she falls asleep. The wonderful people in our church (we love you all) have helped by providing meals which takes some stress off Wendi as I am at work all day.

For the most part we are doing just fine and even with some health issues, Luczi is blossoming into a wonderful member of our little family. Chloe and Lilly are having some adjustment issues and every time Wendi leaves Chloe thinks Wendi is going away again for a long time. She has fits and screams for Mom, but she has always been a child full of anxiety. It will take time for her to “heal” from our 9 day abandonment of her too. We really felt that we would have seen this kind of thing from Lilly, but Lilly has been (other than battling for attention) doing great.

So there is the update, sorry it took a few days to post. Posted is picture of Luczi this morning playing in her exerciser and reflects one of the more long term periods of playing and happiness since our return home. And that of course makes us very happy.

Thanks again for tuning in and we’ll post more sometime this week.

Last Posting from China

Greetings. These are our final hours here in China. Posted is the famous Red Sofa shot that adoptive groups take with all the babies in a group (Luczi is at the far left in dark red). Our group had 10 babies. Nine families and one set of twins. On a whole, the babies have all done very well which has been great for all of us as a group. Some came with some health problems which frustrated some parents because it slightly delayed the bonding process. But within hours diagnosis' had been made and treatments helped each rebound quickly. Even as I am typing below Luczi is vomiting. I guess we'll be taking her to the doctor at 1pm.

All of are very ready to come to our homes but most of us are leary of long plane rides that await us. Fortuneately we have the advantage of the world spinning toward us this time. That cuts 3 hours off our ride. Oddly though we will leave Guanzhou at 9:30pm on Friday January 27th and arrive at Los Angles International Airport at 5:50pm Friday January 27th. We will be on a plane for more than 12 hours and arrive 4 hours before we leave. Fun Huh!!!

As to our arrivals... We arrive at Los Angeles International Airport at 5:50pm (flight number 327) and invite any of our friends who would like to meet Luczi to come and join us. We will need to go through customs so please don't show up at 5:50 as you will likely have a wait. Certainly all of our friends and family are welcome. Anyone interested can contact my (Jeremy's) parents for information.

We arrive in Grand Rapids on Saturday, January 28th at 10:00am (flight number7039). Again we invite any of our friends and family who would like to great us to come. We've missed you all and so many of you have been waiting for Luczi to come. We would be honored to see you there.

As we draw near the end of this trip, we want to thank each of you again for your support. So many have help us financially. Many more have been a prayer support. Our hearts are filled with gratitude as we think of each of you. And we pray God's blessing for your part in His work of bringing Luczi home. We love you all.

It's beautiful here

This was taken in the foyer of our hotel. Obviously there is a waterfall behind us. What you can't see is the pond below with huge gold fish swimming and some very large paper fish and paper flowers light up over the pond. It is a gorgeous site to see. At pond level and to our right is where we eat breakfast every morning. The expression on Luczi's face is indicative of how much she doesn't like to sit still... She's a very busy baby. Wendi thanks you in advance for your prayers.

A medical exam

Yesterday we had our final medical exam. We have a small fever (likely because we are teething), but other than a little exzema by our ears we're fit as fiddle. Luczi is a happy baby and has certainly bonded with us in such a short time. Personality wise... all I can say is look out Chloe and Lilly because here comes Luczi.

Another Picture

This is Wendi and I just outside the Ching Ping Market the day before we got Luczi. The red ball you see behind us lined the buildings and sky behind us. These are decorations in preparation for Chinese New Year. It really made the Plaza (we were on our way to) very beautiful. There is no American holiday that compares to the excitement that is present among the people here for the New Year. Not even Christmas. Chinese new year is based on the lunar cycle. Pretty cool huh!!

What are we up to?

Wow, we didn't post yesterday!! To recap yesterday, we traveled off the island and into the city to finalize our paperwork for the adoption. We had to go through a series of two interviews and and one paperwork completion. The interviews were quite interesting. The first interview was a series of questions that we had to answer in a "check-off" type manner. Here are some of the questions: How long have you been married? How old are you? What do you do for a living? What is your annual income? Why do you want to adopt? Can you promise to never abuse or abandon your daughter? Are you satisfied with this adoption? Piece of cake really. From there we did the paperwork to get Luczi's passport and visa, which needed to be expedited (an extra 50 US dollar). This was because our stay is so short.

Luczi did very well yesterday. She only fussed a little toward the evening and I think she had gas or an upset tummy. Other than that her disposition has been great. She's very curious (meaning we have to buy more toys today). She likes to kick Wendi and laugh. I think it's pretty funny too. She even did well when we were out shopping yesterday for a couple of hours. She doesn't like her stroller (unless it is nap time) which is okay since we're just borrowing it from a local shop.

So far Luczi hasn't shown much interest in other foods. She didn't like syrup, which I thought would be big hit. oatmeal didn't go over well either. Egg was out of the question. She did however to a liking to plane ol' fine ground sugar. We haven't tried chocolate yet... But she is female so I figure it is a given.

Our First Night

Our first night was absolutely fantastic. Luczi went to sleep at around 9:30pm and slept the entire night. I think she woke up breafly (to check in) and went right back to sleep. I (Jeremy) had some doubts even yesterday about my own attachments to her. Whether or not a love for her would come as naturally as my own children. Well those thoughts were pacified yesterday, what a gift I have been given. I turn my heart to heaven... and rejoice.

Luczi's Nanny

As part of our day, we got interview Luczi's nanny(ies) and ask them specific questions about her. There were some general information questions that we asked about her physical activities, eat habits, and other detail like what cribs/orphans she slept next to. The woman featured in the picture (left) seemed to be her primary care giver. When we were done with our specific questions, we asked if she had any questions for us. She had only the statement that she hopes we will love Luczi and take good care of her. Wendi and I felt completely blessed by her presence and indebted to her work. These caregivers are the real heroes of all of us adoptive parents.

Gotcha Day!!!

After almost 15 months of waiting, Luczi Grace is finally here. Thus far things are great!!! She has bonded well with both Wendi and myself. We have had her for 2 hours now and she shows an incredible amount of trust with us. As we speak, she is playing with a couple of toys on Wendi's lap. She is very curious about everything around her. On the bus ride back to the Hotel, she was in awe of all the activity outside the window. She is "talking" and I even heard the words Dada which is not a term of endearment, it means bye bye in Cantonese. We will not be able to use those words in reference to me. I guess I will have to be papa or abba for awhile. I am okay with that.

Wendi and I firmly believe that God answered our prayers for the Lord to go ahead of us and prepare the way. And so many of you joined us in that prayer. We believe our prayers were honored.

We have a short time to post, but I wanted to get this out there. We will post more about the whole experience later.

We love you all and can't wait to share her with you.

The Ching Ping Market

Today, just for giggles, we visted a local outdoor market called the Ching Ping Market. What an experience that was. On the menu at just about every shop was: live and/or dried scorpions, mushrooms, dried sea horse, dried starfish, turtles of all sizes, chickens, snake skin, tiger claws, many forms of animal horns, mountain goat heads, and so much more. Most of these things considered edible or medicinal. Each store front carried exactly the same things. When we got to the heart of market their was a plaza with many department stores and specialty shops. The women folk were excited about this part of the trip, and were it not for the great photo taking opportunities, I could have just as easily stayed back the hotel.

As a group we were accosted by many of the areas panhandlers. They know the "rich" westerners when they see them. It is sad that we are encouraged not to give them money, but like our tour guides explained, they will not leave you alone even after you give them money. We saw an old man literally eating out of the garbage can. I couldn't watch this knowing that in my hand was a few pieces of pizza I was likely not going to eat. Dan (Dan and Debbie are another couple we've been getting to know here- they are getting twins) and I took the pizza and "threw it away".

All and all, I really like the people here. They are kind. They are very curious. We had to have had dozens of people look us over, point, even laugh. A young girl in our group gets her head rubbed often because she has blond hair. I could imagine the line that would be around us had we brought Lilly.

Well it is 9pm our time now and it feels like 2am. I'll post more tomorrow on Gotcha Day!!!

In the eyes of adoptive parents

Were up and at it again. It's almost 9am local time Saturday morning. There are numerous chinese children with Western parents here at the White Swan. This particular hotel is notorious for having adoptive parents with children. Where ever we are inside and outside the building people want to know if we're adopting and where are children are. I wonder what really goes through their mind? To see so many chinese children leaving their native land. How would we feel as Americans if we lived in a area where we saw our children leaving? I wish I could jump inside their mind and heart. As a people, I am sure thier hearts are broken even if they know it is better for the children. On a whole, my heart is broken for these people. Socially, their country is quite a bind because they are facing an over population problem. Economically they have no means of saving for old age. It really is these two issues that have forced the predictament they are in... forcing them to abandon (or worse) their girls because their gender offers little "economic" advantage to parnets. Yet, in a great way, God's kingdom is breaking through here. Whether they know it or not, believers in Christ are following God's kingdom decloration to take care of the orphan. I can see Jesus in the eyes of adoptive parents here. In a small way, we're a part of whatever God is doing here, and that for us is exciting. I think in a very small way, we will get to know what it is like for God when one of his "children" turn to Him for adoption in his family.

An interesting development just happened. Wendi turned off all the lights in our hotel room. She doesn't feel that we need to have all the lights on. A great genetic irony is at play here... You can take a Americanized Dutch girl all the way to China, put her in a 5 star hotel (where the lights are free) , and she's still Dutch.

Wendi wanted to communicate that anyone can comment on our postings by clicking on the word "comment" at the end of each posting.

Our Last 12 Hours

Good (very early) early morning,

It is 1:30am here in Guangzhou, China. To recap our last twelve hours let us offer 2 words... JET LAG. We pushed through most of the day after our long journey yesterday (previous post). Once settled into our hotel (left) which is located on an "island" called Shamian Island (Below). We spent the majority day shopping in all the local tourist trap stores on the island. The only difference between these tourist trap stores and the ones around the all the tourist traps in the States is that everything is dirt cheap. While I know that the people here depend on our spending for their livelyhood, I find myself not interested in their products (Jeremy). We will likely buy plenty over the next few days and especially once we get Luczi. Once we were done shopping we came back to our room (around 5pm local time) and we were sleeping before 7pm.

Today we will spend the day recovering from yesterday. We will do some exploration off the island in Guanzhou proper, which by the way, is populated by 10,000,000 people (as a providence). Tomorrow we will get Luczi around 2pm (Saturday back in the States).

Well sleepiness is catching up with me again. We'll post more later.

P.S. Chloe and Lilly- we miss you both very much and we will call soon.

We're Here

Well after what seemed an eternity on an airplane, we have finally arrived. Local time in China is 10:35am. Back home in Grand Rapids it is 8:35pm on Thursday. Yes, we lost a whole day. Our flight was good, but there is certainly a difference in culture. I guess I didn't expect to meet on the plane, but we did. For those of you keeping track our flight time was 16 hours. We boarded the plane at 11:00pm Pacific Standard time in Los Angeles California (mind you that was 2:00am) our time. Once airborne (and thinking we would close our eyes) we were welcomed by our flight crew to a full course dinner of airplane Chinese food. More importantly, we were forced to keep our chairs in their full and upright position (like there is any other kind of airline seat position) until after the meal. We slept for about 3 hours. For the next 11 and a half hours we busied ourselves with card games, movies (the same two movies), and general fun on behalf of Chinese culture (in other words poking fun at the sutle differences). All in all we can't complain too much, except that after 20+ hours on a plane really allows one to build up body odor. The shower is what we will turn our attention to next.

Travel Notice

Wow, God is bigger than the Nation of China. Our friends and family have been praying for us the past two days that God would work a miracle and allow us to get Luczi during the Chinese New Year. Well we just got notice that we will be flying next week Wednesday or Thursday and return before Chinese New Year Sometime the 26th or 27th. For our friends and family who've been praying, we thank you for your prayers as this has been a very trying season for us. Your prayers have lifted us and carried us when our own seemed hard to pray and harder to believe that they were being heard. We love you all and thanks again.

Luczi Grace Fleming

Wendi and I would love to introduce our newest addition to our family Luczi (Lucy) Grace Fleming. Luczi is 9 months old and lives in southern China. We will be going to China sometime later this month or early February. For those of you following our story, please pray for safe travel for Wendi and I. Also please pray for Luczi and her world is going to be altered significantly (for the better obviously) and will need patience and endurance with her new parents who don't speak Chinese and look very funny. I always covet the prayers of our friends and family and we thank you in advance for them.

Jesus

Jesus never let me down. You know Jesus used to show me the score. Then they put Jesus in show business, now it’s hard to get in the door.
-Bono

Who knew a prophet could be a rock star. Blessings Bono on all that you do.