- We were serenaded today by the sweet 1st graders at Perry Hall Christian School as a sendoff to China. Their song promised us that their little hands would be praying for us while we are gone
- Joshua's teacher, Michelle Masemore, and Zachary's teacher, Mary Anne Hines, made sure that the boys' classmates left school with a prayer calendar for the Harding family. Each day we're gone, there's a reminder to pray for a specific person in the family or aspect of the trip.
- Our friend Jenni Thomas excitedly told Susanne that she would pray for us everyday we were gone; she would even write notes to herself to help her remember. Her husband called me the next day, telling me about how when he got home from work their were a bunch of stickies with the letter "H" on them all over the house.
- Zachary's baseball team, the Bruisers, had a tough loss yesterday. At the end of the game, Zach's coach Chris Robinson and his wife Laura (who are both completely sold out to Jesus Christ) presented us with a cake to celebrate our adoption. Talk about unexpected! They had to transport the cake in a cooler to fight off the 98 degree heat yesterday, worried all the time that the sweet picture of Weifeng on the icing would melt away. As I ate the deliciously cool cake in the heat of the evening, there was something so fundamentally juxtaposed about the whole scene...It had the fingerprints of God all over it.
- Trish Jacoby recently saved our family by volunteering to help Susanne with the most dangerous activity two married people can engage in - hanging wallpaper. Talk about above and beyond the call of duty. Weifeng's and Kit's room looks great!
- We were humbled a few weeks ago to see a table in our Church's foyer full of presents for Weifeng. Always exciting! Even more encouraging -- when we thanked Tracy Hammel for her obvious role in organizing the gifts, she assured us it was no big deal -- people had lit up her email account with responses eager to support our family.
- No list of shout outs would be complete without mentioning two families in particular that have been beyond generous in helping us with an expensive process. You know who you are, and we are deeply grateful.
- Just when you thought the draft was a dead issue, Kevin Krack gets called up to serve in the grass-cutting corps. Don't forget, Kevin, I want a checkerboard pattern. Thanks...one less thing that to worry about. While Kevin is slaving away, Joy has been asked to serve as pool maintenance officer, sorry we don't have a pool boy to bring you some iced tea. Just kidding! Thanks to the Kracks for being so willing to help.
Finally, let me say how awesome it is to be a Christian! If there was ever a life event fraught with potential anxiety, this would be it. There's the logistics of the trip, the vagaries of bureacracies, the language barrier we will face, bonding issues, and simply the unknown of it all.
Scripture teaches us to not be anxious for anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition, present our requests to God. Thank you all for making this possible! I have simply lost count of the times recently a brother or sister has earnestly reported that they are covering our trip in prayer.
Never have I felt the promise of Phillipians 4:6-7 more than I do tonight. We do have a peace that passes all understanding about this whole thing. I can only assume that there are a few speedbumps ahead for us, but I stand firm knowing that it is all according to His high and holy plans. As it says in Revelation, the prayers of the saints have gone up before God like the smoke of incense. What more reassurance do we need?
-Chris
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