I can't believe it has been 6 months since the last post. So, so busy....but the wrap-up includes
1. Julie returned to Australia for 6 weeks to catch up with family friends, and speak about our work.
2. Sam returned to Australia for 4 weeks to work and boost the bank balance
3. We completed our home study in our attempt to adopt Maggie (lodging our application next month)
4. Just finished another month worth of camps for Bring Me Hope - sensational time, with 5 different orphanages from our province allowing us to care for their kids and shower them with love, fun and hope.
In amongst all of this, we have started Elim Kids (check out www.elimkids.com), caring for children with HIV, and providing community and health education to increase awareness and reduce fear.

Funny to think about where you were 10 years ago - could you have imagined you would be where you are now? We certainly had NO CLUE that we would have been in central China for 2 years already, with the 2 boys still young and in school, a long-term foster child who we want to adopt, AND....2 other 2 year-olds living under our roof.
Right now, it is foster children 3 v. biological children 2. Who knows what the ratio will be next year (I can assure you that the "biological children's" team will not be recruiting any more players!!!!
But it is amazing to think what can be achieved in 10 years. Each of us has such a huge potential for change - not just of ourselves but of others, and the small part of this planet in which we happen to live at the time.

There is still something a bit weird about spending Christmas in the "other" hemisphere - everything is cold, often snowing, having to wear 4 layers of clothes.
Here, Christmas day is an ordinary day, with all the shops open, everyone going to work. Very strange.

As we approach the end of 2009, we continue to seek
1. Medical Visa to get Maggie back to Australia with us for 2 months early next year - recently heard that the Australian Government are willing - now just need to wait on the Chinese Government

Having been here now 18 months, and seeing the remarkable transformation in our foster daughter, we have begun seeking permission to branch out into a new area of health - caring for children with HIV/Hepatitis B, whether they are orphaned children or still in some form of family care.
Having a loving family, good medical supervision and the right medications can give a new start to a life, and we would love to encourage, educate, and inspire others to give this opportunity to another child.

It has now been 1 year since we touched down and started living and working here in Central China. The work of village doctor training, orphanage visits, outpatient consultations and university teaching continues, as does our home schooling and developing our grasp on the Chinese language.
The other facet that continues to grow is our family, with Maggie now firmly entrenched as part of it, and our capacity to love and serve her also keeps expanding.
The needs here are vast, with more discovered each week. They mainly revolve around inadequate medical training, and lack of money for many people to access necessary medical care.