A Visit to Zijing Shan Park

Jack had a difficult night with his chest congestion - he ended up lying on my bed where I tried to prop him up with pillows etc. Still he thrashed about and each breath seemed so labored. It was an anxious time which necessitated much prayer. I was exhausted and heading toward 3am I just had to leave Jack completely in the Lord's hands as I could barely stay awake. As I committed Jack and the whole matter to God again, a little children's chorus came to my mind, providing much comfort that my Heavenly Father was particularly and specifically interested in our present source of distress:

He's got the little itty babies in His Hands... (x3)
He's got the whole world in His Hands.

One of our party has a sister who is a pediatrician and who was visiting them from Shanghai for 2 days. She kindly offered to look at Jack and offer advice as the Agency Rep was strongly suggesting we take him to the hospital. He was indeed pretty congested and wheezing badly. She had some Ventolin/Albuterol and a children's spacer with her that we are able to administer 3 times a day to open up his airway and this has helped immensely. Another Dr in our group has offered us antibiotics which we can use tomorrow if he doesn't improve but so far things are looking much better. A huge thank you to all who have specifically prayed about this.

A day of rest today - that is, a day without prearranged appointments and trips. We went with the Williams family to McDonalds at lunchtime to celebrate their son Matthew's eighth birthday. On the way back we stopped at Zijing Shan Park. It is a beautifully kept park, a real oasis in such an urban environment. Jack enjoyed splashing in a puddle there as you can see.

Zijing Shan Park entrance



Jack finds a puddle

Jack investigates puddle along with his friend Matthew.

The children's Chinese passports arrived this afternoon along with various pieces of official documentation, some for us to keep forever, some for the U.S. Consulate next week.

We packed up all our stuff tonight as our party move to Guangzhou ("GWAN-JOE") early tomorrow morning. Looking forward to moving to the next stage.

Stephen