Day 0 of week 2

Tomorrow, the orphans of week 2 will arrive. A few just pulled in this evening, but those who will be assigned to Dorinda and I will not get here until the morning. We have had a crazy weekend, and I will try to relate a bit about what we did.

Saturday: We left mid-morning for a lake several hours away in a place named "Dragon Gorge." It was a combination of natural wonder and Disneyland-style commercialization. Dramatic vistas with moss-covered crags set behind street vendors selling goat-kebabs and flimsy swords. It was definitely not like any other experience I have had. Only one place ever felt even remotely like it: the Bufadora in Ensanada, Mexico. Below is a photo of the boat ride we took to the bungee-jumping/zip line area.

Several people in our group jumped, and several others rode a zip line across the lake; Dori and I took pictures and ate lunch from the safety of the dock. After leaving the extreme sports complex, we rode a boat back to the entrance of the gorge and rode an alpine slide to the bottom. The views and the rides were worth the five hours it took to get there in a van made for oriental (read: short) legs.

After the gorge, we drove back to the suburbs of Beijing, ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant near Li Mai school, and spent about an hour at Starbucks, now a lush indulgence, after a week with no coffee.


Above are two pictures of where we went today. You may have heard of it: Tienanmen Square. It's huge. And there were a lot of Chinese people there--go figure. We walked a ton after our lunch of pizza and soda, and a sermon at the same international church we attended last week. We are exhausted, and in some ways, I am looking forward to a week with the orphans more than I would a week of pure touring. The kids are worth the trip, they are what we came for, and I am looking forward to another week with them.

There were several highlights from week 1, many of which came right at the very end. My translator, Ai Lin, really came out of her shell on her last night here. We talked about God and family, about her future and mine, about the boys we both learned to love in less than five days, and about next year. There's always next year.

But somehow that's not what you think as you watch the Chinese people--translators and kids alike--return to their homes. You think, "I wish there were more of this year to spend with them, more of today, more of this very moment." It is sad, but at the same time it puts everything in crystal-clear perspective. No amount of getting ahead in a career, no amount of toys, can take the place of loving other people, especially when those people need love so much.

Ai Lin wrote me a short note and gave it to me Friday night. She would not let me read it until she had left. When I did, several parts of it really hit home. She wrote, for example, that I had helped her understand that she should study English to communicate ideas to other people, not just to get a "high grade." And she demanded that I tell her when Dori and I "have the baby."

"I'll miss you," she concluded. "I love you."