Timewarp Thursday

I am going to start a "Timewarp Thursday" on Thursdays.

September 2006 on a Sunday evening, I received a call from a lady asking if we would take a foreign exchange student (Angie Burkhardt gave her our name and number). At first I said no, we just don't have time to do that. She continued to talk and I told her I would pray about it and talk to Ed. We had BIG reservations about it. We are so busy with our kids that we just wasn't sure about it but, the host family that was supposed to take him had a medical emergency and couldn't and he was flying in on Friday with no where to go. She called me on Monday and I told her yes we would take him.

We were so scared! Would he like us, would the kids like him, 9 months with a stranger. Little did I know that this "stranger" would come to be a part of our family in a deep way.

So, we prepared the kids for it and they were ecstatic about it. We had 4 days to prepare for his arrival. We were told he was 17, his name was Lap Hou Chan, and he was from Macau (just off the southern tip of China) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macau

Cinamon (the coordinator) picked him up from the airport and took him straight to school. Poor thing, spent 2o some hours on a flight just to get here and go straight to a strange school. I went to pick him up at school when it was over. Ed was coaching JV boys basketball at the time and the kids had practice so it was just me and Lap Hou Chan... Oh my!! Have you ever seen the movie "Encino Man"?? Well, that is what we had...kinda. We got him home, in his room and then he and I just sat and stared at each other. His English was less than average. I was thinking "What have I done". This poor kid can't even talk to me!! Well, needless to say we made it through the night and before we knew it we had made it a month and his English was improving.

Hou Hou (as I call him) is a concert pianist. I could sit and listen to him play the piano for hours., He was that good. He came to us not knowing a thing about Jesus. He left us with the knowledge of Christ and even China picture Bibles. My childhood preacher took all his life savings and invested it into making picture Bibles in Chinese. Think about how that is affecting the lives of the Chinese today! God's plans are perfect, who knew I would need a China picture Bible!

Anyway, the months flew by and before we knew it almost a year ago to the date, we were putting him on a plane to fly home. The kids opted not to go to the airport. You see we all came to deeply love Hou Hou like he had been with us his whole life. I am sitting here with tears running down my face thinking about the impact we may have had on this child's life. You see, in Macau, going to church isn't something you do. The Asians are a very independent people, and I can honestly say that I have grown to cherish and have a heart for the Asians.

We were a little mischievous while he was here. We told him that when you were going from your bedroom to the bathroom to shower that you had to wear your clean underwear on your head to he bathroom. Ed told him one Saturday while he was doing homework, that it was illegal in the United States to do homework on Saturdays. You should have seen him scramble to get it put up. He was such a joy to have around. It was tough and it was a big adjustment but I miss him so much.

He came to visit over Christmas and was here for 10 days. It as like he never left. Putting him on that plane was no easier than the first time we did. I was crying, Ed was crying and Hou Hou was crying. We made a bond with him that will never be replaced or forgotten. He says he is coming back this summer, and I said you say the word and I'll be there to get you. He is actually attending college in Washington State. He calls every couple of weeks or so, and it makes my heart glad every time I hear him say "Hello Cwisty".