Lily Grace and the Sprinkled Water

Today, we presented Lily Grace to Jesus and baptized her in the Holy Spirit, signifying her place in our congregation and our commitment to raise her in Christ. Awesome Day! To God Be the Glory! The story is below. I call it "Back to the Future," because a good bit of it is from last year. You may have read parts of this story on this web log last August when we returned, but with Lily's baptism, we wanted to remind ourselves of the important moments in what seemed liked a month of magical days spent in Beijing. Lori, you might want to call for a Starbucks delivery ...


One year ago today, we were in Beijing, China ready to board an airplane for Nanchung, where God would add Lily Grace to our lives. But first, God had some training to do - on me. You see, I had this notion that our mission to China was simply to get Lily Grace and get back home. We'd sweep in, spend a day or two getting acclimated to local weather, customs, food, etc., learn a little bit about China, and then pick up Lily Grace on the way out! But God knew what plans He had in store for Lily and He knew what my part in it was, even if I didn't. He also had plans for Austin in China to share His gospel. Austin was busy planning his evangelical outreach, carefully selecting clothing articles with Christian and Jesus messages, while I was busy with logistics and other issues associated with air travel and lodging, etc. Connie was rightfuly focused on Lily Grace. Funny, Austin had asked me before we left if we'd be able to share about Jesus. My response was guarded at best, as I explained to Austin that our mission was the bring Lily Grace home. I think God was listening in. "Hmm, is that what you think?" I can imagine Him saying now. "We'll see about that."


We had spent the last few days in Beijing taking in as much culture and knowledge as we could. Partly because I was in awe of the beauty of this country and partly because I knew one day I'd be called upon to share with Lily Grace what her birth country was like. We had visited many sites and had learned much about the culture. We saw the Forbidden City, now filled with the less fortunate and the beggars. We learned that the Forbidden City was the imperial palace during the Ming and Qing dynasties and that 24 emperors had once lived here. How ironic that it is now inhabited by the less fortunate and least among the Chinese. We experienced the significance and the shear physical intimidation of Tian'anmen Square, with its many gigantic portraits of Chairman Mao. We saw the Ming Tombs and the treasures buried therein. We climbed the Great Wall (actually, we rode the cable car) outside the city and experienced the breath-taking awe of seeing something so significant built by man so many centuries ago. We learned how the Chinese made silk, jade, and pearl jewelry. We learned their customs and sampled their food and daily lives. God was really doing some educating here. We were treated to amazing acrobats in one of Beijing's premier Theatres and we saw the manner in which many of the Chinese inner-city people lived in the Hutong. But in all this, God was not evident. In fact, in three days, we had yet to see even a single church. But, He had other plans which became known to me only at the last instant before leaving Beijing.


So, on the day we were to leave Beijing, God had some extra special training in mind for one wayward soul on a mission he thought he understood well. You see, on that morning at about 3:00 am, I was awakened by God and given the opportunity to study His word. God was planning a meeting later in the morning and I would need the extra discipleship. By 5:00 am, I was fully awake, dressed, and headed out the door of our hotel. I had spent the past two hours trying to sleep, fighting human alarm clocks, reading my Bible, writing in a journal for Lily, and wondering if I'd be able to navigate Beijing's airport and get us all on the right plane. I have to sleep. "No you don't says God," Go out and walk to where I tell you.


And so I walked. Aimlessly for a while and then with some purpose. After a few blocks in the wrong direction (don't we always go in the wrong direction until God sets us straight?), I turned around and walked back to the hotel, not knowing why but passing it up and walking several more blocks. That was when I found it, the "East Church," a Catholic/State church in the shopping district of downtown Beijing. Most beautiful church I have ever seen, before or since. Inside the foyer, God's meeting was fully taking shape. As I strolled around looking up the whole time, I was amazed by the mosiacs of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph and the scriptures in Chinese covering the entire open air foyer. When I looked down, the other half of God's little meeting was there waiting. A young Chinese girl, probably in her teens, but they all look so young it's hard to tell. She wore a white dress and white tenns shoes. "Remember your thoughts about evangelism and missions," I could imagine Him saying to me. When God has a point to make, He doesn't beat around the bush. Hot or cold, not lukewarm, we are told to be. When I asked the young girl about the church ("Is this a Christian Church?" I stammered), she simply stared at me with eyes that seemed ten miles deep, piercing me with her gaze and stunning me with her own question: "Yes, and I want to know who this Jesus is?"


After I recovered my composure somewhat, we had a wonderful conversation. I don't remember to this day everything we said, but I know that I left with an awesome feeling of having learned something important. We parted ways and it still hadn't occurred to me exactly what had happened. Until later that day, when I talked to my pastor and related the story to him. When we ended our conversation, it finally occurred to me that God was showing me that my mission field, my evangelism, my focus was to be on ensuring that Lily Grace never has to stand in the foyer of a strange building and ask a stranger, indeed a foreigner, "Who this Jesus is?"

And so today, one year to the date of this little training session, we baptized Lily Grace. Lily did wonderfully during the baptism, only seeming to be concerned when the pastor sprinkled water over her little head and some of it dripped down her face and onto her pretty new dress. We showed a slideshow with pictures of Lily's orphanage and many pictures of China and her lost girls. And we encouraged our congregation that God's lesson to me that morning applied to all of us, whether we travel around the world or across the pew to a meeting arranged by God to tell someone "Who this Jesus is." We hope that from this exciting day, Lily will always know how much she is loved and we pray for the Chinese girl in the foyer of the East Church on that awesome day.

Love,
Jerry, Connie, Austin, and Lily Grace
Green, Party of Four

Beijing, Here We Come!

Got cha! Didn't I? Oh, don't think for a minute that we wouldn't board the plane for the far east again. If that's what God would have us do, I'm all over it. But for now, we celebrate the one year anniversary of the day we left Huntsville for Beijing on a journey that only God could plan. On July 18th, 2006, we left Huntsville with both of Lily's new grandmothers, Memaw and Granny, on what would prove to be the most awesome journey in our lives. Awesome for many reasons, but primarily because God was in it big time. As I think back to those days, the feelings and emotions are still so strong, I can easily close my eyes and find myself instantly in the beautiful land where God created our precious miracle, Lily Grace. We left Huntsville that day with only a few pictures of our little girl and came home with a lifetime of memories and the memory of a lifetime. And the most awesome little girl ever created as icing on the cake!


Just like last year at this time, our church (Isom's Chapel UMC) held revival services this week. "Maybe." That's a word our revival pastor used quite a bit this week. Maybe, if I go out on a "maybe" God will find favor in me and bless me. Let me tell you, we were on the "maybe" of a lifetime last year as we set out for China. Maybe we would get safely to Beijing. Maybe we would be able to collect our luggage. Maybe we would get through customs. Maybe we would be able to barter for transportation to a hotel we had no clue how to find. Maybe a taxi driver would understand English and get us to the Wangfujing Grand Hotel in Beijing. Maybe ... But when you ask something of God in full faithfulness, He doesn't say Maybe, He sends angels. That was His first act of kindness on our behalf during this trip. God sent Yichi, a college student on her way home after 9 months in the states to help us find our way. He even recruited Yichi's parents to get us safely there. What an angel you are Yichi. Wherever you are, know that we are forever thankful for you and your family's acts of kindness. We pray for special blessings for your life and that you also would find favor with God.


Maybe. Maybe, we would be able to get accustomed to China and the time change. Maybe we would be able to find food we could eat and something to drink. Maybe no one will get sick. Maybe the people will be nice to us. Maybe we will be able to hear from our family and friends while we are in China. Maybe ... But when you ask something of God in full faithfulness, He doesn't say Maybe, He answers prayers. He provided for our every need, even when we had no clue (which was often in the first few days). The people He placed in our walk were some of the nicest and most humble people we ever met. Our prayer for them is that someday, they too will find God at work in their lives as He is in ours. By the grace of God, we were able to communicate with our friends and family through this very web log. The strength that we drew from the encouragement from each of you cannot be adequately described by mere words. Your prayers and kind comments were our refuge during the difficult times. God answers prayers.


Maybe. Maybe our little angel will bond with us quickly and know that we are hers and she is ours forver. Maybe she will laugh and not cry. Maybe she'll be happy and eat well. Maybe she'll love her new grandmothers instantly. Maybe ... But when you ask something of God in full faithfulness, He doesn't say Maybe, He creates miracles. Consider the words below which I wrote on a napkin on the way over to China:


"Do you think that she will love us, will she smile a great big smile?
Or will she simply stare and wonder, is this only for a while?
Until the day we met she had no family of her own
Her days were spent in solitude, with so many all alone"

"Do you think that she will love us, will she smile and laugh out loud?
Will she know when she first sees us, she has a family without a doubt?
She's spent her life entirely, in a room they call her own
Waiting for someone to come for her, someone to take her home."

"I hope and pray His love for her, will be the light she needs
His Grace and Mercy abound for her, so in Jesus I believe."


I've kept these words tucked away in my Bible for a year now, reading them occassionally and standing in awe and amazement at how God has answered our "Maybe" with His "Miracle."

Tomorrow, I will try to post some more of our trip last year to China. Maybe.

Love,
Jerry, Connie, Austin, and Lily Grace
Green, Party of Four

Another Installment of Beach Fun

Last year, we came to Ft Walton Beach about this same time after enduring several false hopes of traveling to China. We thought we'd go before Memorial Day, then certainly early June, then late June, then early July, then who knows. Those of you who have endured this roller coaster know exactly the emotions that get rocked by this ebb and flow. We had been up and down for two months and just decided at the last minute to get away for a long weekend. It was one of the most enjoyable trips to the beach we ever had. We knew that God would eventually pave the way for us to go to China and we knew that this would be our last vacation as just the three of us (Jerry, Connie, and Austin). So we quit worrying about when we would go to China and just enjoyed being with each other and spending quality time. I think it meant a lot to Austin because we had been so focused on Lily Grace. So during the trip last year, we did everything we could to focus on our time with Austin. On that trip, God introduced us to a couple from Arkansas at dinner one night who had adopted a little girl from China. She was beautiful and we knew then that God had everything worked out for us to go as soon as we got back. And we did, on July the 17th. It's hard to believe that it's already been a year. In less than two weeks, we will celebrate the first anniversary of Lily Grace's "Gotcha Day!"



Now, back to the future. Today was our last day at the beach. Tomorrow, we pack up and head north with lots of great memories of Austin and Lily Grace at the beach. Lily's first trip to the beach would have to be catergorized as a huge success. This year, we had two kids to enjoy and share time with. We spent time today doing a little site seeing, first going on a Dolphin cruise and then watching the shows at the Gulfarium. The coolest thing about our Dolphin cruise was the name of the boat - Expect a Miracle!




One last story and then you can enjoy the pictures. God had been telling me all week, that this was not just a vacation, He wanted me to tell someone about Him. He even sent an entire youth group or two to carry around their Bibles as a reminder of what He wanted done. So, I kept asking Him to tell me who or to give me something as a help. You know it's not the easiest thing to do to walk up to someone on the beach and strike up a conversation about Jesus. I'm thinking they will probably tell me to leave them alone. So I kept asking for help. Today, I took a long walk alone on the beach and there by the pier at the Gulfarium was a young man tossing a fishing net out to sea! I thought OK, that's who I'm supposed to talk to and now God has given me the opportunity. What better clue could I have been given? It turns out that "Mike" is a soldier in the U.S. Army with a temporary duty station here in Ft Walton Beach. His wife "Ashleigh" was his helper today, as she always is. Says she can either sit home and wait for him or come with him where ever he goes. The fishing wasn't good today, so Mike didn't mind my interruption into his day. Anyway, we talked about Jesus and about praying. He said that he didn't pray as often as he should - who among us can claim that we do? I told him about Psalm 91, the soldiers' prayer, and suggested that he read it when he gets a chance. He said he would. I also told him that I would pray for him and for Ashleigh and I think it was a comfort to him. And, oh, by the way, thank you God for the opportunity and the clue. Maybe one day, I'll be able to focus more on You and less on things that won't live past today.




Love,
Green, Party of Four

More Pictures from the Beach and the Lotion

Every summer when I was a kid, mother would load up the Volkswagon Beetle and take all three of us to Mobile to see grandmother and all our aunts, uncles, and cousins that lived in South Alabama. The trip down took 10 or 12 hours because there was no I-65 to bypass all the little towns along the way (anybody else remember those days?). For the entire drive down, my sister, my brother, and I would talk about our favorite part of the vacation. It was always the trip to Dauphin Island for a day at the beach. It seemed like that day lasted a week (maybe it was a week?), with all the fun that we had. Well, if it's possible that God put some of me into Lily Grace, she too was given a fondness for the beach. Every morning she is eager to get to the beach to play in the sand and swim in the "lotion." She is so excited by it that she finds it difficult to waste any time eating. We're probably going to have to double up on her food intake after the vacation just to get her back on track.




Austin really enjoys the beach too. His favorite thing is building sand stadiums - we've already built AT&T Park (SF Giants baseball stadium), Turner Field (Atlanta Braves), Fenway Park (Boston Red Sox), and the New England Patriots home stadium. He also likes to check out the local golf courses - he played Shalimar Pointe and Indian Bayou this week. Oh yeah, as Austin was telling Connie about Indian Bayou, every time he would say Bayou, Lily Grace chimed in "No Austin, Boo-ya!" [Boo-ya means no in Chinese]. It was hilarious!



Some other things that Lily really enjoys include swimming in the swimming pool, chasing sea gulls, and watching people. Connie always says I stare too much and Lily Grace apparently has that trait as well. She'll stop on the beach to watch whatever someone is doing, occassionally turning to one of us to say "What's doing?" She likes picking up shells and covering herself with sand. She really enjoys pouring water on mommy to cool her off. "Skin red mommy!" We thought about getting one of those canopies before coming down, but decided to wait. Turns out it would have been a waste - Lily wouldn't be under it more than 5 minutes a day! She loves going out to dinner each night (remember, we spent all that money at Publix, but have no food for dinner!). Tonight, she told mommy to "get her party dress for dinner - it's my birthday." She has met and played with some older kids of friends of ours while here in Ft Walton Beach, even allowing them to take her swimming or to the playground without mommy, daddy, or Austin!


As for Connie and I, we have really enjoyed watching the kids have a great time on the beach. We've also enjoyed the dinners (Hog's Breath, Fudpuckers, Pompano Joe's, and Anglers). We got to visit with some our very favorite friends who live here in Niceville. We hadn't seen Chris and Debbie and their girls Nikki and Becca in a long time. Austin enjoyed spending time talking with the girls while we caught up on old times.

Tomorrow, we'll take a short Dolphin cruise and visit the Gulfarium so Austin can teach Lily Grace about sea life. Can't wait to see what she thinks about the dolphins and sea lions. Anyway, here's some more pictures from the beach and the "lotion."




Love,
Green, Party of Four

Goin' to the Beach, Swim in da Lotion

All she could say the whole past week was "goin' to the beach, swim in the lotion" (Lilyese for ocean). Somehow she seemed to know exactly what the beach and the ocean were. Maybe from TV or something (probably Austin), but obviously, she had never been to the beach, so we were surprised at how excited she was to be going. She buckled into her car seat early on Thursday morning and said "Let's go!" Turns out she's a pretty good car rider on a lengthy trip. She played in the back seat and sang to herself when there wasn't much conversation, occasionally interrupting herself to tell each of us that she loved us - and to be told be each of us that we loved her. She told us when she needed to stop and when she was hungry. And we only had to stop twice the whole way!

When we finally arrived in Ft Walton Beach, the weather couln't have been better for her introduction to sand and sea. It had rained and was still a bit overcast, keeping the temperature down a little. Good, no sweating and searing heat to contend with - at least not yet. Lily was so excited about seeing the beach that we went straight there - even without the obligatory stop at Wal Mart to purchase all the food we never eat! "Goin' to the beach, swim in the lotion!"

Enjoy the initial pictures of Lily and Austin's Beach Vacation below. I'll post some more a little later. Right now, Austin and I have to leave to make his Tee time at Indian Bayou Country Club.


"Hurry, Austin. Hurry Mommy."


"Here we go!"


"Take sandals off, Austin!"



"So, this is it!"


"Whoa swimmin' pool, big swimmin' pool!"

Now, about those groceries? You'd think that after at least one trip a year (or maybe two) for the last, er well several, years that we'd have figured out how to economize at the grocery store when on vacation. Naaa. We haven't a clue. Tracie, help please! This time was even worse. We decided to go to the Publix because it was closer and we'd probably spend more than necessary at Wal Mart (don't we all?). So after viewing the beach, we unpacked the truck (the idea of a small moving company like 'two men and a truck' did cross my mind) and headed to the grocery store. After and hour or so and a whopping bill, we got back to the condominum and unloaded (yet again). What we discovered was that we had very little to eat and more toys than we needed. Seems Publix has figured out that Wal Mart impulse buying thing. We even had a bottle of ketchup and nothing to put it on. Not even and Oscar Meyer hot dog! So we had to go out to dinner after all. Oh well, Hog's Breath is better than no breath at all. Check out the pics from the ill advised shopping spree.

A Soldier's Day Off ...

Austin and Lily Grace's cousin Dave is a soldier in the U.S. Army National Guard and has been deployed to Iraq for a long time. We are very thankful that Dave and others like him have the courage and the patriotism to do the things they do to ensure that we as Americans don't have to endure another 9/11. You don't hear much positive said about the war in Iraq and Afghanistan on the news and the soldiers don't often get the respect they so greatly deserve. The sacrifices that our soldiers make provide us the luxury of taking for granted the freedoms that we enjoy. A soldier once told me that the reason he fought was so that those who would protest have the freedom to do so. A funny twist on things, wouldn't you agree. Our soldiers are doing a hard job, a job that many of us would simply be unable to accomplish. They face life and death circumstances each and every day, sometimes many times a day. The stress they endure is immeasurable, and so they need our prayers. Lift them up with Psalm 91, the Soldier's Prayer, when you get a chance - this is an amazing prayer that has worked miracles in the lives of many who have faced combat. I know this because they told me so. And there cannot be a stronger witness to God's glory than testimony of answered prayers to specific requests like Psalm 91. Dave's been in the service nearly 7 years now and plans to retire to civilian life after his last tour which starts next week. Please pray for Dave and his wife Tiffany and for his mother Carol.

Psalm 91: My Refuge and My Fortress
91:1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say [1] to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”

3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes
and see the recompense of the wicked.

9 Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place—
the Most High, who is my refuge [2]—
10 no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
no plague come near your tent.

11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

14 “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
I will protect him, because he knows my name.
15 When he calls to me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”




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