Monday with the babies

It was a beautiful day in Beijing today! Our morning was spent organizing supplies at the baby home, and we spent lots of time outside, and at the park with the babies in the afternoon. Tonight is our first night here without the nannies, and hopefully the night will go smoothly! One of the shifts of nannies comes back for tomorrow night, then they are gone until Saturday to celebrate with their families. The fireworks and firecrackers have been starting, so noisy and exciting. We are also enjoying getting to know the other 4 volunteer ladies who have come from Oregon. It was a good day!!

Beautiful babies

I hardly have words to desctibe how beautiful these kids are. And they need moms and dads, all of them. Oh they are loved, and well adjusted, and happy, but nothing can replace belonging to a family.
I lay awake in bed last night listening to a little one cry. I know that someone was up with the baby because I could hear her moving around. But i couldn't help thinking about how much this little one needed mama, and not just auntie.

Kim and Daniel

Little Daniel just cuddled right into me this morning, it made me cry. These children have already stolen my heart...... Angie

we arrived!

Well I certainly had butterflies from the moment I woke this morning. It’s really something when the day you have anticipated for several months actually arrives. I got my last minute things packed, grabbed some McDonald’s with the kids and headed out the door. Over the past two weeks I have been shopping, packing, gathering donations, cooking meals for the freezer, connecting with friends and family one last time before this trip. It’s been a little stressful, but mostly fun.

Kim had called earlier in the morning to tell me that her ticket had been upgraded to first class, and she was working on mine as well.  How exciting, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up, at least Kim was willing to share her seat with me for part of the flight.

Saying good bye to the kids and Glen at the airport was hard, but not as bad as I thought seeing that none of the kids cried. That helped me keep it together! Just the anticipation of leaving my family for 18 days has already made me appreciate them all more. I have never been away from them this long before, and Hannah and Udhay have never been without me for longer than 2 days, so it could be challenging, we’ll see.

Kim was able to obtain passes to the Maple Leaf lounge, so we had some time before boarding to relax in style. It was nice to sit in a comfortable chair and munch on some goodies while waiting. But we really just wanted to get to the gate to check on the status of my seat. As we got to our gate and checked with the agent there, we told her that my seat had been flagged for a possible upgrade. She immediately handed me my new boarding pass saying, ‘yes, that’s already done”.  We were so excited we started giggling like two little school girls!!! This feels like a huge gift, and a giant blessing from God!!!

Getting on the plane was fun, and settling into our “pods” or suites, as they call it! It will be hard to go  back to economy after flying in such style. We have about 13 hours on the plane, then we land in Beijing, ready to go. We are convinced that after starting our trip in such an amazing way, it is bound to be one of the greatest adventures of our lives...........

We arrived safely, at the same time as the other 4 volunteers from the US. It was great to meet Lynsay, our missionary host, who took us back to her place for spaghetti. Kim and I are staying at the baby's house, while the other volunteers are staying with Bill and Lynsay. The babies are so adorable, I can't wait to post pictures.

Well, time for bed.  Kim will add some personal thoughts tomorrow after a good nights sleep!

Our Itinerary

Hi Everyone
I thought I would post our itinerary so you can follow us on our journey.
Thursday January 27th we leave Pearson Airport at 2:30pm and arrive in Beijing on the 28th at 4:50pm
On the 12th of Feb. we are flying from Beijing to Luoyang to visit Maria's Big House of Hope
On the 14th of Feb we catch a flight back to Beijing at 10:10am. We are scheduled to leave Beijing at 6:45pm on the 14th and we'll arrive back in Toronto at 6:35pm, the same day!

The excitement is building!!!

Two weeks away

Can't believe that we leave for China in two weeks.....still so much to do!

Kim and Rob Miller

Angie Dempster



Thanks to everyone to has had the opportunity to support our trip to China on January 27th, with the Sushi Fundraiser (photos above), by donations or just by being interested!!  Kim and I are so excited to follow God's call to serve in China for these two and a half weeks at Morningstar Family home. Please pray for us!
You can check out the home we will be working at http://www.morningstarproject.org/
We are also very excited to be able to travel to Henan province the last weekend we are there to visit Maria's Big House of Hope http://www.showhope.org/OrphanCare/MariasBigHouseofHope.aspx which you should be able to see by clicking on that link. Both Kim and I have been very interested and inspired by the work of Show Hope in China.
I hope to be able to keep this blog current so you can follow us in our journey, and be current on any prayer needs that we may have.
Blessings!!!