It's 3:00 AM Thursday morning and I find myself wide awake.  We left LA at 6:30 AM yesterday morning and arrived at Midway at 12:30 PM.  My sister Lois picked us up from the airport and we got to Morris a little after 2:00 only to find a dear friend putting the finishing touches on a welcome home banner.  She and others from our small group Bible study had pooled their resources and stocked our refrigerator with goodies that should last us a bit.  We appreciate their kindnesses so much.

Jet lag is interesting.  I'm so very tired but sleep will not come.  I did doze off early last night but awoke confused as to where I was.  Hopefully this is a temporary thing and I will soon get back on schedule.

As we unpacked our suitcases yesterday we unpacked so many memories.  All of our students gave us gifts so that "We will never forget them."  Little did they know we didn't need gifts to remember them.  "Becky's" sense of humor, "Jane's" sweet nature, "Sara's" intrigue of American culture, "Mary's" quiet ways, "Lily's" obsession with her mirror...all of these things are now a part of me.  I think of these people often and wonder how their day is going.  Most of them are already back teaching at their schools, trying some new techniques learned from their month-long study with us.  We gave them small gifts from us as well in hopes that they too will never forget us.  I hope we will not be forgotten. 

I know our task this summer was to share some teaching techniques with teachers from China to try out in their classroom.  I sometimes wonder who learned more...them or me.

Rollin and I would love to return in the future.  We would love to connect with the ones we met this summer and meet some new ones.  We don't know what the future holds but we do know the One who holds the future.

We're back on US soil.  We left our hotel at 5:00 AM on August 5 but our plane was delayed so we waited on the plane for about 2 hours before they finally took off.  We were going to be late getting to our connecting flight in Hong Kong but they held it as our plane had 50 of their passengers waiting to board it.  We took off only 1 hour late and arrived in Los Angeles at 12:00 noon on August 5.  Now, most people would assume the process only took about 7 hours but factor in the time change and crossing the international date line and it was actually about 22 hours.  We're setting up shop at Noah and Bailey's for a few days while we try to find our wits and then will be heading back to Morris on Wednesday very early in the morning.

Yesterday was a day of highs and lows.  The morning began at 8:30 with our commencement service for our Chinese teachers.  It was full of pomp and circumstance as most Chinese things are.  Each class was required to perform something in English.  There were songs, raps and even a debate about whether parents or grandparents should raise the young children.  The North American teachers performed the Michael W. Smith song "Friends" and then acted out Shel Silverstein's Giving Tree (Rollin acting as the tree and I was the girl).  The head of Heilongjiang Provincial Education Dept. thanked everyone, our team leader spoke and then it was over (2 hours later).  Hugs and tears flowed as we said our good-byes to our Chinese teachers.  Neither of us do well with good-byes so that was a tough time.

In the afternoon "Anna" came to pick us up to go her parent's house.  Anna was the lady I spoke about earlier who had known us when we lived in China before.  She is a high energy young lady to begin with, but all the excitement had her floating as we made our way across town.  Her parents greeted us with more enthusiasm than I had EVER been greeted in any home anywhere.  Anna has a rather sad story.  She is presently a single mother raising her 12 year old boy.  Her husband was abusive so they divorced when her son was only 1 year old.  She now feels she has no chance to find anyone who may love her as she has a son.  When a son gets married it is the parent's responsibility to provide housing and a car for the new couple.  She said no man would want to assume that responsibility so she is not a good candidate.

Her mother also had a sad story to share.  She was a math professor at the university.  One of her students did not want to complete his work but wanted her to give him a passing score him anyway.  He came to her mother's home with a mutual friend to negotiate the "deal".  Anna's mother refused to do this and later that evening the young man came and threw something (we're not sure exactly what it was) that burned her face, arms and hands.  Her face is disfigured and her hands are greatly disfigured.  She even lost one finger through it all.  She has the most radiant smile shining through that face, though.  

Anna's family remembered our family quite well.  I gave them a picture of our family as a gift and they immediately placed it in a prominent spot in their common room.  We ate a simple lunch with them, sang songs together and then left hoping to see them again sometime in the future.  

Last evening was our closing banquet with the provincial authorities.  We were taken to an extremely nice Russian restaurant in another part of town.  We used FORKS, KNIVES and SPOONS for the first time in about 5 weeks.  The food was delicious and the surroundings made us feel like we were not in China at all.  

Today we leave for Beijing where we will spend two nights before beginning our trek home on Sunday.  We'll be spending a few nights in Fullerton, CA with Noah and Bailey before heading back to Illinois.  We're going to miss it here but we are anxious to get back and see everyone in Illinois (and Ohio).  :)