Benjy, the kids and I just got back from spending some time visiting Doug and Janice Bush and their daughter, Sarah Grace.  Here are goofy pictures of us at KTV, which is a fancy karaoke establishment.  French provincial décor is very big here.   

The Bushes are family members of mine and they live just a two-hour ferry ride away from Hong Kong in a city called Zhongshan in mainland China.  Due to a couple of divorces, remarriages and various blended siblings in the mix, it gets a bit complicated for me to explain exactly how we’re related.  But, it is a wonderful thing that Jesus is in the business of redemption and has redeemed all of that familial dysfunction to bring the Bushes into our lives.  We likely would never have otherwise had the honor and pleasure of meeting them and getting to know the amazing ministry of which they are apart. 

Having said all of that, I think the most direct way to explain our family relation is to say that Doug and Janice are my half-sister’s mother and father-in-law.  There that wasn’t too bad.

Doug, Janice and their daughter, Sarah Grace work with a ministry called New Day Foster Home.  Based in Beijing, New Day Foster Home provides life-saving surgeries and a loving home to orphans with special needs.  Sixty percent of China’s orphanages, however, are located in the southernmost provinces of China.  New Day Foster Home wanted to do more for the children in these orphanages.  So that’s where the Bushes came in.  They opened a southern branch of New Day Foster Home in Zhongshan several years ago.  This southern branch is called New Day South. 

Benjy, the kids and I spent time holding the babies and playing with the toddlers. Because much of the children’s young lives are devoid of any human affection, they soak up every ounce of love and snuggling you give them.  It grabs your heart and it’s life-changing to be around them.

I’m not permitted to post pictures of the children on my blog, but you can visit New Day Foster Home’s website at http://www.newdaycreations.com/foster/

Please join me in prayer for the children and for the Bushes.  They do the work to which the Lord has called them joyfully, but I know (now firsthand) that it isn’t easy to be in a foreign country struggling with the language and cultural differences.  It can be lonely and isolating, so they need your prayer support for encouragement and assurance.

Doug and Janice provide inspiration to Benjy and me to stretch our faith further and do more to advance the Kingdom.  We look forward to spending more time with them and, of course, holding and loving on the precious babies.