Family and Friends Wait for Team to Arrive

All kinds of people gathered at the Spokane International Airport to

welcome the 30 of the 31 team members who traveled to China.

Husbands waited for wives... wives waited for husbands...parents

waited for their children...children waited for parents... and friends

waited for friends.

Life is a Box of Chocolates

Our hours are drawing to close and tears are slowly creeping into the picture. What an incredible opportunity to serve the God that made us. Across the board people are saying that this exceeded expectations in all facets. It has been so good to walk that soil that so many who have gone before us have--Taylor, Goforth, Nee--great pillars of faith. But now, we are making preparations to return to the place that we call home leaving behind lives that we touched and touched ours. Speaking of touching, let me give you a recap of how things were touched yesterday.

We walked outside at 8:30 to a driveway full of kids with nametags and their nanny trying to get matched up for the day. It felt a bit like 8th grade PE where those final words of "we get the girl, you get Don" still reverberate through Mullan Idaho. It started well. OK, not that well as 3 of the kids who were being assigned to us wanted nothing to do with us when that first hand of kindness touched them. So, they went with the three teachers who were escorting us. As we sat on the bus, I was in the 2nd seat with Ling Ling, since the first seat was reserved for potential vomiters. Oops, I guess the 3rd seat housed those kids as Melissa Andrews said those sweet words 30 minutes into the trip, "I think my kid vomited." Melissa really is astute as the regurgitated fruit leather pouring down the front of the shirt was the first clue, and the gagging sound was the second, and the stench was the 3rd. Melissa sorted through all of that and said those profound words, "I think my kid vomited." Megan must be proud. Now in the back of the bus, Mary Baxter was a lot cooler about it 5 minutes later, "Anyone got some towels?" As we drove into the city, my conversation with Ling Ling was nearly as profound, "Wo men qu Beijing" she said about 2,138 times--we go to Beijing!. Almost as astute as Melissa decoding of vomiting. 72 of us heading to the Blue Zoo aquarium on two buses and lunch at McDonalds. We found our way there and then it was bathroom time which we all knew would be an adventure. Using a squat pot for yourself is always fun, but to help a 3 year old is nearly as fun. Stephan Jutila brought his child in who was pretty adamant that he could go on his own. Stephan being the gentleman he is, turned his back to the child, but we all got to watch as the child dropped his pants and promptly fell in the squat pot. I would never have guessed that a 3 year would be a perfect fit in a squatpot. Stephan's face was priceless as we let him know that there might be trouble behind him. Melissa would have said, "I think my child fell in the toilet," but Stephan just let out a brief shrill reminiscent of his dad's when Dean Hazeltine intercepted him in the 1982 State semifinal game. Once that was all taken care of, we went through the zoo. I told our team that I would switch kids if they had trouble since Ling Ling is pretty self-sufficient and she knew she was going to Beijing--2138 times. A few minutes in, Josh Moody, whose dad is the PHF doctor, asked to switch. I should have thought that one through when the kid who lives here wanted to switch. Now Xander, I'm sure is a sweet boy and Spencer Tracy would have loved him too. But Xander apparently doesn't love the aquarium. A 3 year old, 28 pound,autisitc boy matched up with a 43 year old, father of five, hired to work with kids for the past 22 years, tipping the scales at just a hair over 200 should be a fair fight. Somewhere between the head hitting, voice repetition, dumping bottles of water, spitting cookies, Xander began to wear me down. But, being the leader of the team I sometimes get to play the leader card. I thought about following Melissa's lead and say, "I think my child is misbehaving" but that doesn't work at home. So as we were beginning to leave, I knew Patrick didn't have a child with him since his boy is either afraid of the dark in the aquarium, or of beards, but I gently affirmed him--that would be Patrick--and handed off this boy so I could pay for lunch. So I don't know if that makes it a draw, or if Xander really did win. Taking 72 people, 34 of them being special need orphans, and of course Steve Ruby's special needs being thrown in the mix because he finally got to ride a
long bus, to McDonalds, is an adventure. Sort of like hearding cats I guess. It was so good, I'm not going to tell you 2138 times that it was so good, but no one got lost, Melissa enjoyed her lunch, and we made it through another bathroom stop. We did make it home that day. As Dicken's said, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." As Forrest said, "You never know what you're gonna get." And as Melissa said, "I think my child had a good time" and oh yeah, as Ling Ling said.....

Day 11 - Field Trip to Beijing

Monday proved to be a first for PHF. The team got to be the first of visiting teams that got to take the kids off site. Twenty or so kids we escorted by our team members by bus to the Blue Zoo in Beijing and then to lunch at KFC or McDonalds. This experience was a treat for the kids as well as the teens and adults.

And the Score is....

There's a lot of things to do when bells ring--go to class, wake up, answer the door, see angles get their wings, or you can do what Jim Andrews and Don Jutila do. Well, let me back you up a bit. We needed to get from Wangfujing which is next to the Forbidden City in central Beijing to the 4th ring road on the outskirts of town. I was thinking Sunday night at 9:00 there would be a lot of room available on the train. As we got to the platform, my expectations were accurate as there were only a couple dozen other people wanting to get on. I heard the train in the distance coming and people began getting ready to go. We were standing with our roommates so no one would get left behind. As the subway rolled in the first cars were crammed with people and I was expectant of the latter ones having space. As the train stopped, I stared at a sea of black haired people who had to be looking out the window saying, "you have got to be kidding me if these people think they can fit on this." The girls seemed to be getting in without much problem and the first boys were barely getting on. I, though, used my gentle demeanor and lithe shape to nustle between two young teenagers who got their excursion into town interrrupted and and a businessman who didn't seem so eager to have a sweaty bodied American almost riding piggy-back on him. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Jim and Don still standing on the outside. Then the bell rang. Doors closing in about 5 seconds, a train heading off into the distance and two men who can say hello to anyone they meet and not much else, were going to be left standing in a place that no one knew existed or could find again. Well, they did what any two healthy American former-athletes would do, they made their surge. All I felt was a business man buried in one armpit, a teenage girl presseed up into my back and 60 able-bodied people get pushed aside as Jim and Don lowered shoulders and got on the train. The doors closed, Chinese people said something that is probably good that none of us understood, and the train moved on into the night. America-2, China-0.
Serving Him Well.
Steve and the team