As we conclude our amazing journey we thought we would share some highlights of our trip as a final post from the Beijing Airport. Here they are:
Being together,
Visiting the Kunming infant orphanage that SCF is supporting and spending time with the babies,
Tea with a Monk at the Zhongdian Lamasery,
Visiting the school project at Tsing Yi - buying desks with money from sister Jennie and mom - Max and Jake teaching a boy about football - the first of the Wartburg Orange balls as a way to make friends and bring smiles to faces,
Hiking in the Himalayan foothills,
The beautiful mountain drives,
The "road" trip to the REMOTE village where we worshiped in a church and ate AUTHENTIC food in a village that had never seen young or female foreigners,
Spending time with the dentist and doctor at the Ren Li Clinic; delivering more dental equipment to them; and have them so proud to be using the equipment we have previously delivered and purchased for them,
Climbing to over 14,900 at the Snow Mountain Glacier,
The amazing and sometimes strange meals and food - yak, squid, grasshoppers, shark lip, fish fin, chicken tongue, quail eggs, and soft pig bone just to mention a few,
The boys becoming master bargainers in Zhongdian and Old Town LiJiang,
Walking the food markets and seeing a completely different culture of buying food and supplies - including live animals,
Learning of the success of the SCF scholarship initiatives including Orphan J who is blind,
Visiting the Education Center that SCF has helped develop,
Visiting a place of worship on Sunday,
Meeting with the "bottle man's family" to learn of their continued efforts to impact the lives of others,
Dinner with Dr. Ruth (who SCF supported through medical school) and her husband, Gao Ming, to learn of her life saving medical career to date and her vision to have her own clinic in a remote area,
The Great Wall where we indulged Scott on photo ops, had Martha's famous cookies, a Coke (and Beer), the Doctor, tossing the football, and riding the sled down the mountain,
A walk through Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, and most importantly,
Coming Home to those we love and who love us!
