Penny's Gang

Therefore I will give thanks to You, O LORD, among the Gentiles, And sing praises to Your name. 2 Samuel 22:50

To those of you who know me well, you know that I often have the best intentions. That is exactly what this blog is...the best intentions. This is about an event that happened almost two weeks ago but it was still worth blogging about. Hope you don't mind that my intentions of getting it out to you is a little delayed.

Two weeks ago, we were blessed here at Shepherd's Field to have some artists from Oregon and California come visit us and perform for the staff and children. it was such an amazing blessing.

Penny's Gang in our Outreach Center

These artists are working with Penny's Gang Records and have these HUGE hearts. The Outreach Center will eventually be the area where meals will be served to the staff, the school aged children and guests. This will also be a gathering place for events such as this one. We had a team come through in the fall when it was not yet completed. We sang in here then and knew this building was designed for worsh*p! And worsh*p we did, then and now!

(From L to R) Cal Coyle, Shelley James, Patrick Paegel and Chris Bolden

Cal and Shelley are married and listening to them harmonize is truly music to your ears. You know that they were designed for each other. Patrick is a very humble man. He will not speak much about what he has done but I believe he has written many worship songs. He has been given a gift. One of his latest can be heard on http://www.pennysgangrecords.com/. I find myself singing it many mornings. It is called "The Great I am". Actually you can hear all the artist on the Christm*s CD. Chris Bolden is their producer and another amazing man.

Teacher Wang and Bea

For those of you that may not know, this little beauty is the one I have been pr*ying about. As I walked around singing, there was one moment that Bea turned and stared at me. She was no longer watching the people singing, but watching me. The thought that ran through my head as she watched me was "Is this a daughter watching her mother?". Time will tell if that truly was the case or not.

Shelley James

I was in my glory singing with them. I just kept walking around the back, taking pictures and loving the sound of singing in a building that was made for it. The sound was glorious. As the words were sung, I just kept thinking of how each one of them may or may not know our Savi*r. I just pr*yed that the words we sang touched them in a way that other things have not yet reached them. Shelley sang a version of Amazing Grace that has a chorus that says "Amazing Grace, Amazing Mercy, Amazing Love for me." I have seen that Grace. I have felt that Mercy. I know that Love. I so want everyone here to know it too though I know it is highly unlikely that all will accept Him.

Though many of the staff and children do not understand English, I do believe many of them were enjoying the music.

Cameron, Josiah, Jerak Robbins and friends

Hayden, Joy and Kathy

Teacher Wang and Henry

a little help from a loving nanny

This little guy wanted to get closer to the music. He got up from his chair and walked up to Bill. Bill was sitting right next to Cal, the bass guitarist. What better seat than this one to enjoy the show from!

After the show, the children shared there talents as well. Our first singer was Grady. Grady is a 13 year old boy with Scoliosis. He has a great heart and a great smile and longs for a family. what child doesn't want to be a part of a family?

Our next young man was Jamison. He is 11 years old. He suffers from burns but it didn't effect his voice. It was beautiful. He has been given a gift, a wonderful gift, one we were glad to have him share with us.

Our next performers were Seth, 13 and Christina, 9.

Our last performers were from some of the youngest ones in the bunch. Kathy, 6, Jerak Robbins, 4, and Joy, 4 joined friends in singing a Chinese song for us and also Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes. They were so precious.

Join me in praising Him for giving us these children to care for. What a gift we are given. Pr*y we are able to share His love with all of them here and they will come to know Him too. The older children long for a baba (a father) and they have one that wants to wrap His loving arms around each and every one of them. He is already watching over them. May they one day come to truly know Him and know that the comfort they have comes from Him. Nothing would be more glorious.

A weekend of birthdays

"Therefore know that the L*RD your G*d, He is G*d, the faithful G*d who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; Deuteronomy 7:9

I love knowing He is faithful! He is not only faithful to me but to these orphans all around me! He has blessed them with loving nannies and people who come from around the world to give them love. He has also given you a desire to see what is happening in their lives otherwise you would be reading this right now. Let me get to the point of today's blog.

MORE BIRTHDAYS! Woohoo! On Saturday, March 7th, Peyton (Fu De) turned 2. He has a cleft lip and palate. I love teasing him when I go into the House of Blessings. He LOVES his nanny and when I pretend to try to take him from her, he clings tighter. He doesn't mind getting tickled though. He looks at me really strange when I laugh but he loves to blow me kisses or let me kiss his forehead when I am leaving. :)

Peyton

Shepherd's Field's next birthday was celebrated by Emily (Chang Mengyan). She turned 4 on March 8th. She has Thalessemia. From what little I know of it, it is an inherited recessive blood disorder. She was very excited to get her card from the boys. Her friend Margaret enjoyed checking out what she got too.

Emily

On March 9th, we celebrated 2 birthdays. (I got to celebrate 3 because that was my daddy's birthday too...and yes at 43, he is still my daddy!) Evan (Fu XinXing) turned 2. He has cleft lip and palate.

Evan

Luke (Tian Yi) also turned 2. He is one of our heart babies. He immediately started to cry as the boys and I came into the room. Fortunately, his loving nanny comforted him enough to let us take his picture with his card.

Luke

I feel so blessed to be able to share this with you. I hope you enjoy celebrating their birthdays as much as we do here. Join me in wishing them a belated Sheng ri kuai le!

Happy Belated Birthday Will and Kathy!

And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. Luke 1:14

On March 4th, we rejoiced over the birthday of Will (Fu Zhihua). He turned 3 years old. I realized when I sat down to write this that I don't have Will's picture. Sorry about that. I will try to remember and add it later.

On March 5th, it was Kathy's turn. Kathy (Gao Shenrong) turned 6 years old. She has a heart condition.

(front row L to R: Hayden, Joy and Kathy)

One of the things my boys do here is make cards for the children on their birthdays. We deliver them and sing Happy Birthday in Chinese to them. Zack has become very confident doing this. Nack has come a long way but this is still not comfortable for him. As we entered into the House of Peace to deliver Kathy's card, they told us she was upstairs. She was already in her room. Fortunately, she wasn't asleep and the nannies let us in. What we thought was joyous was not so for one of her roommates. Joy didn't mind but Holly started crying immediately. So much for bringing joy to the children! :) Kathy liked it...I guess that was all that mattered.

Join me in wishing them a Happy Belated Birthday. Sheng ri kuai le!

How Great is our G*d

The L*RD will demonstrate his holy power before the eyes of all the nations. The ends of the earth will see the salvation of our G*d. Isaiah 52:10

There is so much that has gone on in the past week. Wow, where to start! Guess I'll start with today.

My view of the courtyard

As I stand in my apartment overlooking the courtyard here at Sh*pherd’s Field, I have this overwhelming urge to pray for the salv*tion of the nannies, the workers, the driver’s the office staff, the accountants, the gardeners and most importantly, the orphans. I was singing Chris Tomlin’s How Great is Our G*d this afternoon. The lyric line that brought me to my knees was “All will see how Great is our G*d.” I know that there will come a time in each person’s life that they will stand in court: G*d’s court. There, they will see that J*sus really does exist and always did. Many have heard about Him but reject living a life that is for Him. “It’s too hard” they say or “Look at all the fun I am missing out on” or “I have time”. Many think they have given their life to Him because they faithfully go to church, serve on many committees or prayer groups in their church and think this will get them to heaven. There are those like the ones I live with that don’t believe in Him at all and have rejected Him. Without a personal relationship with J*sus, our L*rd and S*vior, there will be judgement in that court. I have felt overwhelmed for the people and children of Ch*na and their need for a S*vior. All will see how great is our G*d. Why not see it now? You won’t have to face those courts when He is your S*vior! He has saved you from that! He doesn’t want you to choose that court. You have a much easier choice. Choose Him as your S*vior and save yourself from damn*tion. Your choice…what do you want? I know there is truth in John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. He was sacrificed for you and for me so that we won’t have to go to Hell. Please join me in pr*ying for the unsaved.

Happy Birthday Joseph

How precious is Your loving kindness, O G*d! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings. Psalm 36:7

March is a busy month for birthdays here at Shepherd's Field Children's Village. Yesterday was the first of many. On March 1, 1999, Joseph was born.

Joseph and Christina

Joseph is such a good friend. He has a friend, Jamison, who he helps get around. Jamison suffered damage to his eyes and needs help to get around. Joseph is that friend that makes sure Jamison has someone to hold onto and follow.

Gregg, Grady, Ling Ling and Joseph

He is quite the artist. I have seen his work and he has really enjoyed doing a variety of art projects. Leah recently posted more about Joseph on our PHF blog. Check it out here. http://chinaorphans.org/phfblog/2009/02/04/joseph-dang-feilong/

Joseph has a heart condition. In reality, don't we all have a heart condition? Where is your heart right now? Who holds your heart? For me, it is my L*rd and Savi*r, J*sus Chr*st. My hope and pr*yer for all of you is that one day, He will hold yours too. The last six years of my life have been the best part of my life. In February 2003, my heart was healed. The Great Physician healed my brokenness. I pr*y that the children here come to know Him so their brokenness of being an orphan can be healed. May you let Him into your heart so He can heal yours too.