Lankui's Appointment in Tennessee

Lankui's appointments went well yesterday. We saw Dr. Kevin Kelly in the morning, then went to pre-op, then had a CT scan before lunch. Her MRI was around seven at night. It was a long day, but she did very well and stayed happy through it all. Dr. Kelly said it shouldn't be hard to fix her jaw. We all presume her jaw was broken and not set right. He said this is not an uncommon situation.

She held very still for her 10 min. CT scan and her 2+ hr. MRI. She got to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks during the MRI and was concerned she might have messed things up when she laughed at the movie!

We'll go back to see Dr. Kelly on March 31. He will have looked at the MRI and CT scans by that time, then he can get a plan going and set the surgery date. Lankui is a wonderful, brave girl. She said she was only nervous a little bit before the MRI, but she did a great job. I showed her the newest letter from Gary Headrick while we waited for the MRI. She was so happy to get it!

She's eating everything and keeping happy! She called Peter and her friends at the center the other day and will call them again this weekend. She wrote a letter for them.

Love you all,
Faith

March 24, 2010

Grand Opening of New Kitchen & Dining Room

The new kitchen and dining room at John Connor Brown is ready. The children will have their first lunch in the new building on March 2nd, 2010.

Ronald is pleased that he has accomplished the construction of a good facility as his first major construction project in China. The new building is spacious and very serviceable for the staff and children. Most women would love to have such a kitchen.

We know the difficulties an American has working in China but even with language barriers and differences in construction concepts, it has come together to be a very beautiful place for the children to enjoy their meals. Most of all, it is a clean place that is easily washable and easy to keep clean. There are ceiling fans for comfort, floor drains for mopping floors and spilled water and more than adequate cooking equipment.

Ronald is threatening the kitchen workers with their lives if they let it get back to be a rat's den. He said he will tell them he will be back to see it and it better be kept in good order. He's proud of it so he's getting tough!

Way to go, Ronald! We are proud of the good work you are doing for our foundation but especially for the children!

Here We Go Again!

Since I made the last trip to China without mishap, Ron was brave enough to give me the schedule of the next one before we board the plane! I guess he thinks I can take it.

We will depart Atlanta March 24th. Jonathan Goode from Nashville, TN and Dave Halligan from Endicott, NY will travel with us on this three-week trip. Jonathan will fly with us from Atlanta but Dave will meet us in Shanghai. We will spend the night in Shanghai and fly to Guilin the next day. From there, we take a train to Rongshui to visit the Neil Taylor Christian Care Center.

From Rongshui, we take an overnight train to Pingxiang, Jiangxi Province. Our son, Ronald, will go with us because this will be the location for our 7th orphanage. Ronald and Ron will survey the buildings given to us by the government and decide what needs to be done to remodel them. This will be the second orphanage funded by the Jackson Family Foundation. It will be named Refuge of Grace Christian Care Center.

We expect this project can be completed by August so the children can be brought in for the September school term. This is a coal mining area and it is predicted that there are as many as 3,000 orphans due to coal mining accidents. We will house 200 children in these buildings.

When we leave Pingxiang, we travel to Shaoyang where a worker will meet us to take us to the North Canton Christian Care Center in Longhui. From there, we depart by train for Zhumadian, the closest location we can travel to by train in order to visit Mama Jo's House Christian Care Center in Biyang. We will take a bus from Zhumadian or a worker will come meet us and drive us to Biyang. It is probably a two-hour drive from Zhumadian.

From Mama Jo's House, we will return to Zhumadian and take an overnight train to Beijing.

In Beijing, Ron has meetings scheduled but our fellow travelers will be able to tour some of the famous sites in Beijing. We will be in Beijing for several days.

This doesn't sound like a difficult trip when you read the locations but if you had traveled there before, you would know the difficulties. Although trains are often the best way to go (airports are not located in every area), it's not the most comfortable. After traveling all night, you may not have a shower for two days or more. We will stay in some locations several days and a hotel will be a blessed refuge for us.

We will become better friends with Jonathan and Dave as we spend time together. We are excited that they will travel with us to see the four orphanages and give us their input. It will be a trip they will never forget.

Our son, Ronald, is now in charge of all construction and maintenance of the buildings in China. He is eager to improve the quality of the buildings and standard of life for the children. It will be good to spend some time with him as we visit these locations to make a list of what needs to be done.

I don't have a lot of input into these kinds of things. I suggested that I stay home since Ron will have traveling companions, but he was not too pleased that I might not go. I will go and take my crocheting (I'm working on baby blankets to give babies at our next cleft palate medical mission). It will help pass the time as we spend a lot of time in train stations and on trains.

We ask for your prayers that we will be safe and healthy throughout this time.

New Kitchen and Dining

Our son, Ronald, has worked very hard to complete the new building at John Connor Brown Christian Care Center.

He is working many hours a day to have it ready when the children return to the care center following their Chinese New Year holidays about March 1st. The care center is on the left of the picture in the background. It is not as far away as it appears.
This nice new building will house a sanitary kitchen and dining room because the tile walls and floors can easily be cleaned.

The cook will also have a room and bath in this new building.

One room in the care center has been used as a kitchen and another room for the dining room. We will now have two extra rooms available to house more orphaned children.

Ronald will miss the children very much. They have called him Uncle Ron and enjoy being around him. He's not embarrassed to clown with the children and even hold one of their toys for a picture. He said life has been hard for him (he has a small room at the orphanage, shares it with a mouse named "Iron Gut" since he can eat anything and not get sick, and eats the same food given to the children). He's had no special privileges living there. When Faith Borck was going to our North Canton Christian Care Center to teach English, she asked what it would be like living at the care center. I told her "camping" "really bad camping accommodations". We continue to improve the cleanliness and food at each care center but without a good bed and heat in the winter, it is still substandard for Americans. Having a heart for the work is the key. Ronald said the precious children make it all worthwhile.

Ronald will go to other care centers when he has time to see what improvements need to be made at each one. He is ready to begin remodeling on some old buildings the government will let us use for our 7th orphanage.

Happy New Year

As this year draws to a close, we have grateful hearts for our supporters. Without you, our work would not be possible. We can do the "leg work" but you must dig from your pockets to make it active. All of our staff in the U.S. works very hard. We are often at our desks 10 hours a day, at night or on weekends but no one complains. We accept the challenge of each new day's work and stay with it until the task is done. It takes a lot of time to handle everything. When you love your work and feel that it is worthwhile, the tiredness you feel at the end of the day is a good tiredness. As a woman, I can compare it to cleaning house. How nice it is to feel tired when you can sit down and enjoy a clean house, the laundry done and everything in order. Accomplishing what is needed to help poor children gives us the same feeling of accomplishment. Thanks to our supporters for believing in us and the work we are doing. Thank you for sacrificing to help the poor children. Best wishes for a wonderful New Year!

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is!

We have not been able to get contracts for either of the nearly perfect buildings we found and hoped would serve as orphanages. The one that is definitely perfect will house more elderly people, which is a good thing. They are moving about 100 older people from a run-down building to this new and nice building. The building that is about half-finished is still sitting there. The officials from the Department of Education and some of the local people visited our orphanages in Pingguo and Tien Deng and had no complaints but the local people are still concerned about signing a contract with us. Often there's fear of the unknown and especially if it's with foreigners. So, the beautiful building may just sit there and deteriorate. Jackie, our worker in Xi'an has found an older building in a city southwest of Shanghai and we are working on a contract to take over that building and remodel it for our next care center. I have some pictures but they are not very good so I don't want to post them until we have better pictures to show you. No one would be impressed with what I have seen so far but I'm sure the building is sound and can be transformed into a beautiful home for children. There are about 1000 orphans in this area so our presence is greatly needed to start providing a place to live for these poor children. There are just more opportunities for us that we can keep up with.

Our son, Ronald, is doing a great job with the kitchen and dining room construction at John Connor Brown Christian Care Center. He says it will be completed by Chinese New Year and he will be ready to move to the next location. If the contract is signed for this older building, he will go there to begin renovations. He knows what we want an orphanage to look like and he agrees that we need to do our best to give these children a clean and beautiful place to live. He said he would miss the children at John Connor Brown very much. They have loved him like he's their uncle and called him "Uncle Ron." We know they have touched his heart as they touch ours when we go to visit for only a short time.

Home Again!

We left Beijing early in the morning of November 17. The weather is very cold there. It is below freezing with a 15 mph wind and snow on the ground. We were ready to come home. The flight to Toyko was no problem but we ended up waiting five hours in the Narita airport to get our flight to Atlanta. There was a mechanical problem with the airplane and they kept pushing back the time of departure. We were unable to upgrade to first class accommodations so we were cramped into middle seats in coach. I think we got the last two seats available on that plane. Although airlines have cut many international flights, there are often a shortage of seats on those that are flying. The services have been cut drastically and that makes a long trip even more uncomfortable.

We arrived in Atlanta more than 24 hours after we left Beijing. The last two days of jetlag have been difficult. We can hardly stay up until bedtime but then can't sleep the entire night. The body clock just does not want to readjust quickly.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers and interest in our travels. As contracts are signed for the new orphanages, I will continue to update the blog. It's a small way I can keep everyone informed that follows my blog. Please check it from time-to-time in between our trips to find out the progress of our work.

May all of you have a blessed Thanksgiving. We can surely count our numerous blessings every year as they outweigh the negatives of this life. God bless you!