and the feeling is in the air. Seems like everyone is feeling the "vacation here I come" feeling:-). In Taiwan, we get a week off. Chinese New Year is 2/2. On New Year's Eve, 2/1 it is the "reunion meal". So everyone needs to be at home, or with someone, no one should be alone. The children are allowed to stay up til midnight, and New Year's Eve, everyone is supposed to be in new clothing. At midnight you can hear fireworks and firecrackers all around. Children line up (well, this is traditionally, but not everyone is like this now) at midnight and one by one the older family members (grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, etc) give them red envelopes and the children will say happy new year or some Chinese idiom with meanings of blessing. The red envelopes have money in them and the money is to be in even number (like you can give $20 or $26 but not $25). Even money numbers are given for happy occassions. Candy is eaten ALL THE TIME......pumpkin seed, sunflower seeds, nuts in general are eaten (not sure why so don't ask me!). Everyone just shoves their face..................eh.....sounds like Christmas doesn't it? except Christmas has the wonderful meaning of God's gift to us. Chinese New Year unfortunately is filled with worship at the temples, people fighting to get to be the first inline to put their incense stick at the temple pot, etc. Luke though likes to preach on Chinese New Year (traditional customs) and the Passover. He has researched 10 points that are alike. Very neat.
This year will be year of the Rabbit. So we are thinking that maybe we'll have lots of little ones come through MLH?:-). I don' t know.
Recently, we had a mom bring a baby that was a week old. Sad situation, baby is healthy though. Still working on paperwork, so please pray. She is separated from her abusive husband for almost 3 years, and the baby is not his. So we have to do DNA and all that stuff. She was in hiding from her family cause no one knows she had a baby.
Also pray for Miss Liu as she is not going to have an abortion, but is not sure about keeping the baby because she is handicap, physically (missing fingers, that is all). She has a job til April. So she might come here then. We got another phone call of a mom that might come in April as well. So we need to get the house fixed.
Oh, we have been having fun with looking at colors for the rooms!!! Our ladies are having fun. Our kitchen/dining room area will be in mid shade yellow and all decorations will be sunflowers:-).....keeping it bright and cheerful!! One of the mom's room will be a lavendar on the wall, and then different shades will be used to sponge print flower shapes......trying to keep it nice......so happy to be working on this!! Keep the needs in prayer please. We hope to start painting the living room, dining room and one mom's room Feb.8, that week........will definetly show pictures!!!
Ok, off to do some work. Thank you for your prayers!
Deana
Thoughts and feelings as we minister to women in crisis here in Taitung. Our prayer is they see God when they need HIM most.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
So Monday begins.....
Well, so far it is not quite noon and all is quite. I am expecting this week to be quiet as next week is Chinese New Year. Last week ended rather busy, so we'll see how this week goes.
We had been asked to move from the current MLH place. Someone from the USA had gone through it and deemed unlivable. Funny, the Taiwanse go through and say, "I've seen worse." I wrote 2 pages of why I think we should not move and if there is financial struggles, then moving would not be a great option. Yes, alot needs to be done. We are not trying to make it the Naruwan:-)......I am not the greatest decorator (my mom is!!LOL!)..... but we can make it nice. We still hav 3.5years on that rental contract.
The biggest thing I see will be to get another electric box. Currently (and this was known when we did the place), the bedroom on the top floor, the a/c units and the electricity for them are wired to the 2nd floor box. Which means, when the 2nd floor water heater is running, you can't run the a/c on the top floor. Crazy? yes, but it has been like and workable. But it will take probably $600US to get it all up and running smoothly. But right now we do not need the a/c unit, plus we fill up the 2nd floor bedroom first:-).
I will try to get pictures of before and after. Show everyone the living room that we are going to work on so there is a great feeling as soon as you walk in the door, and the last feeling when you walk out. If the other rooms aren't as spiffy, that is fine, just first and last impressions are the most important!!!
The 28th our banner runs. Currently we have a Ms. Wang and a Ms. Liou we are counseling with. Please pray for them.
The reason I ask that those in the adoption process or on the wait list not be on this blog is because I don't want them counting up things or wondering if it their mom or if the next one is their baby. There had been some issues with that before and that is why facebook is rather quite now. So this will be private for a long long long time:-)
Love ya all
Deana
We had been asked to move from the current MLH place. Someone from the USA had gone through it and deemed unlivable. Funny, the Taiwanse go through and say, "I've seen worse." I wrote 2 pages of why I think we should not move and if there is financial struggles, then moving would not be a great option. Yes, alot needs to be done. We are not trying to make it the Naruwan:-)......I am not the greatest decorator (my mom is!!LOL!)..... but we can make it nice. We still hav 3.5years on that rental contract.
The biggest thing I see will be to get another electric box. Currently (and this was known when we did the place), the bedroom on the top floor, the a/c units and the electricity for them are wired to the 2nd floor box. Which means, when the 2nd floor water heater is running, you can't run the a/c on the top floor. Crazy? yes, but it has been like and workable. But it will take probably $600US to get it all up and running smoothly. But right now we do not need the a/c unit, plus we fill up the 2nd floor bedroom first:-).
I will try to get pictures of before and after. Show everyone the living room that we are going to work on so there is a great feeling as soon as you walk in the door, and the last feeling when you walk out. If the other rooms aren't as spiffy, that is fine, just first and last impressions are the most important!!!
The 28th our banner runs. Currently we have a Ms. Wang and a Ms. Liou we are counseling with. Please pray for them.
The reason I ask that those in the adoption process or on the wait list not be on this blog is because I don't want them counting up things or wondering if it their mom or if the next one is their baby. There had been some issues with that before and that is why facebook is rather quite now. So this will be private for a long long long time:-)
Love ya all
Deana
back in action....
I have not posted on here in 2years........so much has happened. But due to the nature of the ministry, I have to have this password protected.
Hope you all can understand.....I will be using this as a way of journaling the ministry started years ago and see how God is working, and how you can help!!
pray for us please!
Hope you all can understand.....I will be using this as a way of journaling the ministry started years ago and see how God is working, and how you can help!!
pray for us please!
Fight For Life
As director of a Crisis Pregnancy Center, often I hear many stories. My team and I have heard many that sound the same, and quite a few shockers. Just when we thought we had heard it all, or had gone through it all, someone comes around and brings us back to the reality of the war we are battling, a fight for life.
We have counseled a few young women who have told us their decision was not to abort, only to call them back a few days later to find, they did. They had fallen under the pressure of family. We had one young mom who had called us a few times, we had a number of phone counseling. We had confirmation through family that she was indeed pregnant. While out of town at a seminar, her family called us to say she had had an abortion. That caused a long period of silence among the team as this young mom was over 24 weeks along.
Recently, we received a phone call to meet a young couple, boyfriend/girlfriend, at our doctor's clinic. They wanted an abortion and a social worker was going with them, but could we meet with them. Two of our staff members met them at the clinic and talked a bit with them. Our doctor told the young couple, they had to receive counseling from me first before he would take their final decision. So our staff came back with this young couple.
We did all that we normally do. Discussed fetal development, determined she was 7-8weeks along in pregnancy and showed her pictures of the baby at this stage. I noticed they did take interest in that and looked at it all rather eagerly. But it seemed then that a cold heart set in. "I had a cousin who was unmarried and pregnant. The whole family ostricized her, said cruel things to her. My parents, even to this day will say 'you better not embarrass us and end up like your cousin'." This was said through tears as this 21year old university student sat their tearing to peices the tissue in her hands.
She was a rather pretty young lady, dressed fashionably. Her fingernails were well done and manicured with blue and white sparkly fingernail polish. She came from a well educated, middle class family. Her parents were not divorced, their marriage, in her eyes, was wonderful. She was the oldest, so the pressure was on. Her parents, as both her and her boyfriend commented more than once, are very traditional. If they found out, they would make her transfer to a university at home, she would not be able to see her boyfriend, she would have no freedom, nothing.
Her boyfriend, while saying he wished to save more money to marry, seemed to feel inadequate. His story was sad, growing up in a single parent family, just him, his 2 brothers and dad. The pains of hunger were common for him growing up, the pains of no parent seeing him through his ups and downs or just being with him was still, at age 23, a deep set pain. He started working as a dishwasher in 6th grade to help pay for daily necessities. In 11th grade he had to drop out due to lack of finances and start working. His dad's health was not good and his brothers were out of county working. He was working and taking care of his dad. To him, now was not the time to have a baby. He wants to save money so when his girlfriend finishes college, they can get married. A baby now was not in the plan.
No matter what we said, they both still felt sure their decision was right. Of course, in my heart, I knew it was their decision, but I also knew this one decision could have an impact on the rest of their lives. The decision of abortion often leaves a deep wound, often open and bleeding, but the pain does not show itself till emotions have boiled over in the relationship. Research will tell us that chances are, this couple will not be together in a few years. This secret though, they will share for a lifetime. Often, it is a secret that eats away at them til the grave.
We prayed with this couple and talked with her about coming back after the abortion, when she was feeling better, and talking with us. Lots of things changed after the abortion, emotions they did not know were there, suddenly appear. They left knowing that we did not judge them for their decision, they know we are here for them to talk to. They left, hand in hand, headed towards the clinic. My staff and I just stood at the door.
After they left, I went back to my office, sat on the sofa and cried. I knew that I had lost this fight for life. My team member, Alexia, who was with me during all of this, sat beside me. She sat and cried. We both just sat in silence. This was the first time that this type of situation had come to us. We had done all we knew to do, but Satan still had a strong pull on this young couple's heart. They were blind to what was going on, blinded by Satan's lies of "this will make it all better."
We know that we will encouter many more situations like this. This was a way of preparing us I guess. We can rest in the assurance that this young life was ushered into the arms of the Heavenly Father. We know that Satan is working overtime, but we can have peace that the victory belongs to the Lord. Satan will try in many ways, as we have seen numerous times, to discourage us, to kick us while down, but we know that our Heavenly Father is their with His strong arms to pick us up, and walk with us hand in hand down the path He has chosen for us. The prayer of my team at our center is that we can keep strong and fighting the good fight.
We have counseled a few young women who have told us their decision was not to abort, only to call them back a few days later to find, they did. They had fallen under the pressure of family. We had one young mom who had called us a few times, we had a number of phone counseling. We had confirmation through family that she was indeed pregnant. While out of town at a seminar, her family called us to say she had had an abortion. That caused a long period of silence among the team as this young mom was over 24 weeks along.
Recently, we received a phone call to meet a young couple, boyfriend/girlfriend, at our doctor's clinic. They wanted an abortion and a social worker was going with them, but could we meet with them. Two of our staff members met them at the clinic and talked a bit with them. Our doctor told the young couple, they had to receive counseling from me first before he would take their final decision. So our staff came back with this young couple.
We did all that we normally do. Discussed fetal development, determined she was 7-8weeks along in pregnancy and showed her pictures of the baby at this stage. I noticed they did take interest in that and looked at it all rather eagerly. But it seemed then that a cold heart set in. "I had a cousin who was unmarried and pregnant. The whole family ostricized her, said cruel things to her. My parents, even to this day will say 'you better not embarrass us and end up like your cousin'." This was said through tears as this 21year old university student sat their tearing to peices the tissue in her hands.
She was a rather pretty young lady, dressed fashionably. Her fingernails were well done and manicured with blue and white sparkly fingernail polish. She came from a well educated, middle class family. Her parents were not divorced, their marriage, in her eyes, was wonderful. She was the oldest, so the pressure was on. Her parents, as both her and her boyfriend commented more than once, are very traditional. If they found out, they would make her transfer to a university at home, she would not be able to see her boyfriend, she would have no freedom, nothing.
Her boyfriend, while saying he wished to save more money to marry, seemed to feel inadequate. His story was sad, growing up in a single parent family, just him, his 2 brothers and dad. The pains of hunger were common for him growing up, the pains of no parent seeing him through his ups and downs or just being with him was still, at age 23, a deep set pain. He started working as a dishwasher in 6th grade to help pay for daily necessities. In 11th grade he had to drop out due to lack of finances and start working. His dad's health was not good and his brothers were out of county working. He was working and taking care of his dad. To him, now was not the time to have a baby. He wants to save money so when his girlfriend finishes college, they can get married. A baby now was not in the plan.
No matter what we said, they both still felt sure their decision was right. Of course, in my heart, I knew it was their decision, but I also knew this one decision could have an impact on the rest of their lives. The decision of abortion often leaves a deep wound, often open and bleeding, but the pain does not show itself till emotions have boiled over in the relationship. Research will tell us that chances are, this couple will not be together in a few years. This secret though, they will share for a lifetime. Often, it is a secret that eats away at them til the grave.
We prayed with this couple and talked with her about coming back after the abortion, when she was feeling better, and talking with us. Lots of things changed after the abortion, emotions they did not know were there, suddenly appear. They left knowing that we did not judge them for their decision, they know we are here for them to talk to. They left, hand in hand, headed towards the clinic. My staff and I just stood at the door.
After they left, I went back to my office, sat on the sofa and cried. I knew that I had lost this fight for life. My team member, Alexia, who was with me during all of this, sat beside me. She sat and cried. We both just sat in silence. This was the first time that this type of situation had come to us. We had done all we knew to do, but Satan still had a strong pull on this young couple's heart. They were blind to what was going on, blinded by Satan's lies of "this will make it all better."
We know that we will encouter many more situations like this. This was a way of preparing us I guess. We can rest in the assurance that this young life was ushered into the arms of the Heavenly Father. We know that Satan is working overtime, but we can have peace that the victory belongs to the Lord. Satan will try in many ways, as we have seen numerous times, to discourage us, to kick us while down, but we know that our Heavenly Father is their with His strong arms to pick us up, and walk with us hand in hand down the path He has chosen for us. The prayer of my team at our center is that we can keep strong and fighting the good fight.
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