The shape of my heart

Hey everyone! This could potentially be the last post before we head home.. so I'll try to make it a good one. We had an amazing last week of camp. I can't even begin to explain all the experiences we have had in the past three weeks, but I can tell you God knows what He is doing and it is a privilege to be part of it. We started out this week with the death and resurrection of Christ. The children had so many questions, many that only God can answer and it is so inspiring. These children that are seven and eight years old were just asking questions that I haven't even ever thought about - there is no doubt God used these children to teach me how to grow in my relationship with Him.

Our week continued with teaching the children about the Great Commission, as well as the story of Paul and Silas. We were able to buy them all picture frames and put a group picture in each so that they could remember their time with us. They really loved them, and I am sure they all took the home and put them in a special place.

Today went by so quickly. We began our day with our last field trip. We went to the water park again, which the children were certainly thrilled about. We spent our morning there and then headed back to camp for lunch. After lunch, the children took their nap as usual, and we set up everything for the big luau. They woke up to a room filled with candy, oreos, etc. and an unlimited supply of Sprite and Orange Juice. After they were all sugared-up, we taught them how to do a limbo (I will just say they didn't exactly get, but they had fun anyway). Then it was time to say our goodbyes.... and boy was that hard. Tears were shed all over the room. Seeing the children cry just made us not want to leave and cry even harder. We can't imagine our lives without these 21 children and our 3 fellow teachers. It's mind boggling to think that less than 20 days ago we didn't know these children and now they are in our lives forever. God has and will continue to use them to mold our lives for His future. We will always have 14 days of each others lives in which we are the only ones who can truly understand what happened.

As we pack our bags and head home... we are all beginning to reflect and find how this experience God gave us will affect our lives we left at home. We pray for open hearts (on both sides) to hear about what happened while we have been away. We pray that these young children will continue to allow God to work in their hearts. We pray that the seeds planted will continue to be watered and get stronger. We serve a great God, a God bigger than our wildest imagination, a God that's so personal He cares about our every need - what an amazing opportunity we have had to serve Him here in China. Pray for China!

Rise and Shine..

Thursday was our last day with Steve and Caroline. Seems like the had just gotten here and it was already time for them to leave. It was nice having Steve as the PE director and the children loved playing with Caroline. She picked up more Chinese in her 4 days here than we have in 2 weeks.

In the morning we did some races with the children. They got a kick out of wrapping each other in toilet paper, unfortunately we don't have any pictures to upload to the computer (sorry folks!). Story time was about The Last Supper and The Washing of the Feet. We thought that it would be a great opportunity to serve the children and have them serve one another by washing each others feet. In the beginning they were a little hesitant, but once they got started it seemed like everyone's feet were washed and some more than once.
After we washed feet, we then put our t-shirts on that we all made for a group picture. You look for yourself, but I think we are a pretty good-looking group of children loved by God.... Friday was field trip day again! This week we went to the botanical gardens. It was amazing! It was an all day trip. The gardens were separated into seven different regions of China. There was architecture from each of the region.














At the end of the day, it felt like we had been
on a 10 day trip of China. The children really enjoyed their time and when we reached the end of the tour there was a nice little playground for them to hang out on. At the end of the day everyone was exhausted (some even needed to be carried), adults included! We headed back to camp and the children played a couple of games of capture the flag, which is their favorite game!

It was a great week..... and we don't even want to think about the fact that next Thursday is our last day of camp. We are certainly becoming more and more attached to the children each and every day. God has truly blessed each and everyone of us in these past two weeks. We are so thankful to be able to serve Him and His children halfway around the world. Hope that we will be able to post a couple of things before we head out next Sunday.

Cause I want it that way....

Sorry the blog hasn't been updated in almost a week. It's been pretty hectic around here the past week. It's Mandy and Tatum on blog reporting duty so we will just take it from where we left off....

Friday was ridiculously amazing! It started off by going to the water park. I should preface it by saying that this would probably be the only time this year that most of our children get in the pool
so it just made it that much more special that we were able to share that time with them. So as you can see in the picture, everyone had a great time. We got to play in the water and then they turned on some different slides for us to ride, which the children loved even more!

Saturday we found ourselves touring around another island that
is really close by. We hopped on the ferry and were there in no time. We set off to one of the teacher's houses and she prepared us a traditional meal to the area. It included mouth water spring rolls and dumplings made by hand that morning. Certainly an experience that none of of will ever forget.


After we left her house, we did a little bit of shopping on the island. Found some great deals and got lots of souveniors. We left the island and found our way to a little slice of home. A restaurant that had some flavors we and our stomachs were used to was great! We had a great time of fellowship with other teams in the same area, as well as friends we have met while we have been here.





Sunday we thought might be a day to chill out, but it was just as busy as Saturday. We got up, went to the opposite side of the island for a little "family gathering". Then we met up with the new team that arrived for a little bit of lunch. It's nice having new faces around. It certainly put a little pep in our step (Thanks so much you guys!). After lunch, we head back over to the island that we were at on Saturday. We had a few things to pick up, then Mandy, Amanda, Jennifer, and I had the bright idea that we were going to climb to the top. God is so amazing! He is such a wonderful Creator. When we reached the top of the island all we saw was His beauty. In every direction we had an amazing view of God's creation.

Yesterday, we headed back to school. The children were so excited to see us, as we were them! It was great, our weekend felt a little incomplete without their bright, shinning faces. It was Christmas! We made a manager craft and an angel ornament. The children loved it and the day went by so quickly. Today, Jesus fed the 5,000. They were amazed that he fed that many with people with such little food. It was absolutely adorable watching their faces light up for those who hadn't heard the story before. We also started off our Olympic week. Today we did the dizzy bat relay and a running race. The children are really competitive. It was enjoyable to watch them try their hardest. After the two events were over, we handed out medals to everyone. We even set up a little podium. They had so much fun with it.

Well that's about it for now. Tomorrow is the story of Lazarus and I'll just leave you with a teaser... mummy race. You'll have to come back for the pictures is all I am going to say.

Much love, we miss you all very much and are so excited you are taking this journey with us!

Update: Tatum 5, Rebekah 3 in the "yo mama" contest... that's right mom, I've been scoring points right and left.

~ Tatum and Mandy.

Wer're Still Alive

So, we haven't blogged cause we've been so busy having the time of our lives! So much has happened and we hope to fill you in soon, maybe tomorrow! We need to get some sleep now. night night!

Stop, Collaborate and Listen

Hey kids!

I should pre-warn you that this blog posting might be a little out of the ordinary. Rebekah is doped up on nothing, but acting like she is seeing stars everywhere (warning: ambien doesn't wear off after sleep time). So it's Tatum, with Mandy over my shoulder, posting you a little something something....

Today was amazing! Each day just keeps getting better and better. Our morning started out with devotionals, which included teaching the children "Rise and shine and give God the glory, glory". They did a great job of singing it in English and doing the hand motions. We then moved on to kickball. So we spent a good portion of the time teaching the children how to play. They seemed to catch on really quickly. I am sure there will be lots more games of kickball in our near future. After a short break, we read and illustrated (with our fabulous felt board) the story of Moses (Mandy did a great job of leading us today!). we busted out some homemade play-dough. The children loved it! They each got their own ball of dough, and were able to pick which color of food coloring they wanted. After kneading in the color, they began to shape their play-dough into different animals and such (look at the pictures cause you must see how creative these children are!). In the afternoon, we played an amazing game of boil tag (pictures below to explain the non-sense that Rebekah came up). We certainly can't wait for tomorrow to come cause it's going to rock. Then on Friday we are making a trip to the water park, what what!

Shout out to all the cool kids in Waumba Weekday (and Buckhead staffers). Miss you guys tons!

On a highly random side note... Rebekah wanted me to inform that she is winning the "your mom" contest. Sorry mom, I will try harder tomorrow.

We're Here

Hello America!

We are here, safe and happy. The trip was great, other than a long layover in Shanghai and some interesting time at customs explaining the Elmers glue, powder paint and bubble the trip was a breeze. We arrived Saturday night our time (remember, we are 12 hours ahead of Atlanta time, it is Tuesday evening here). We have toured the island a little (we are just off the mainland) and spent 2 days with our new little friends. We are having a blast during the days. They are so excited to see all of the fun arts and crafts things that we have brought for them. We have been enjoying the local food, so far everything has been delicious. Tonight we are going to Matt and Michelle Sneads house (our hosts) for pizza!! Yumm. We can't wait to share more but because the internet has only been working for a few minutes, everyone is dying to get online and see whats going on in their worlds!

Rebekah, Mandy, Amanda, Tatum

Blog us: http://globalxeacc.blogspot.com/
Skype Us: GlobalXEACC

The Day After Tomorrow...by, Mandy

Only two days until we leave and I feel every emotion heightened. We've been planning and praying for months now and to think it's finally here is unreal! Our materials are packed, and I've got three weeks of clothes smashed into one suitcase (with every type medicine known-to-man included). Seems like I'm prepared, but no one can fully be prepared for something like this.

God has so much in store for this trip, not only for the children that we will be serving, but for us as well. He has hand-picked each one of us for a specific reason, and I feel so blessed to get to be a part of the seeds he is going to plant, and the lives he is going to change. I pray we can be a light to this city- and when we leave they will have experienced the love of Christ through us. I pray that each of us go with a servant attitude and that God is continually reminding us that this is all for Him.

I just ask that you all pray pray pray for safety, health, and guidance for our team as we make this journey. Keep reading our posts to stay updated on how the Lord is working in our lives and the lives of these children.

Mandy

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

Isaiah 6:8