Blessings for Bijou

See this beautiful little girl? 

Her name is Bijou, and she's six years old. 

 She's good friends with Josiah and Ava.  

Like "I love you SO much" good friends. 

She has a sense of humor and she's smart as a whip.  

She loves life and knows how to have fun. 

I mean, laugh out loud, "let's go on an adventure" kind of fun.

She was Josiah's first friend when we first moved to Hong Kong almost two years ago.  On the first day of staff training at ICS where Shannon works, we saw another family with young kids like ours.  They had two beautiful little girls, Bijou and Ami.  And it just so happened that we got to be next door neighbors our first year in Hong Kong when we lived in staff housing at the school.  Our kids quickly became friends, which meant we (the parents) became good friends, and we lived out the whole "su casa es mi casa" line pretty darn well.

This is their beautiful family, now a family of five.  Bijou's parents are John and Cara, and Bijou is older sister to Ami (3) and Dax (1).  

And even though we aren't neighbors anymore, we're still GOOD friends. 

  

Silliness on the train, Josiah's 5th birthday

It's a beautiful story of friendship, right?  Well, this wonderful little girl also happens to have an awful autoimmune disease called systemic onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis.  It's a rare, life threatening disease that affects Bijou's joints and organs.  It's put Bijou into the Pediatric ICU fighting for her life since she's come to Hong Kong. Twice.  During her first stay in the PICU at the end of February this year, the doctors discovered that Bijou's lungs were heavily damaged and that she would need a lung transplant sometime in the future.  In addition, Bijou also had macrophage activation syndrome, a complication of JIA.  Basically that means that although macrophage cells are supposed to destroy only foreign cells, her cells think that every cell is a bad cell.

This past Thursday, Bijou was taken to the emergency room because she had an unexpected seizure.  On the way to the hospital she had another one, and since then doctors have been trying to stabilize Bijou's body.  They still do not know exactly the cause of the seizures Bijou had, but Bijou is starting to recover.  She remains in the PICU and this week they will do some invasive tests to try and figure out more information regarding the seizures.  Despite all the stuff going on inside Bijou's body, her personality is the same.  She is happy, talkative, and wants to go home and be with her whole family.

Here in Hong Kong the doctors have been great, but they are limited in expertise for her very rare disease and they are unable to do a lung transplant here.  The family is trying to raise funds to be able to take Bijou to Cincinnati Children's Hospital in Ohio, because it is a leading hospital for children with Bijou's condition and the doctors in Hong Kong have specifically urged them to go there.  Due to Bijou's present fragile condition, she will need a medical escort for the flight back home.  The medical transport alone is expected to cost around $35,000US dollars.  

As their good friends, this whole experience has been heartbreaking.  I don't know how to express how I feel but to say that it hurts.  It hurts to watch a six year old suffer from a terrible disease.  It hurts to watch her parents have to go through so much pain and suffering.  And I realize that the only thing I can really do is to be there and love them as their friend and sister, and to pray huge miracles for their sweet little B.

I want to get to get mad and cry (and oh, I HAVE) and there have been times my heart has been so discouraged, but then I remember of how Jesus wept.  I remember that his love for the Legers is much deeper, much wider, much longer, and much higher than my love for them could ever be. (Eph 3:18)  And I pray that our God, who is "able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us" (Eph 3:20), would use this body of people that love Him to do immeasurably more.  

If you've taken the time to read this blog entry, thank you SO much.  Would you stand alongside them as well and pray on behalf of their daughter that she would be healed?  Would you please pray for their family, especially John and Cara?  If you would like to keep up to date with Bijou's progress so you know how to pray for Bijou, you can do so here.  You will need to make an account but it's free and updates are sent out regularly.  If you would like to help the family raise funds so they can provide expert care for Bijou as soon as possible, please click here.   Thank you so much for loving, supporting, and helping our dear friends.

Ava, Josiah, Ami, and Bijou

A Never Ending, Never Failing Love

Friends and family,

It's been a long time since we last posted and I've been working on finishing this post for what seems about a month now.  I have had a really hard time finishing it because the last part of this post has been a really emotional one for me to write.  So I've decided to write this post in two parts, the first part talking about January and February, and the second post about March and April.  Sorry for the delay.

If there's been an overarching theme for us since the beginning of the year, it's been friendship.  The older I get (and I know I'm not THAT old), the more I seem to see people experience hardship around me.  But through that pain or those difficulties, I have also seen the peace, hope, love, and comfort that God gives and that has been a real encouragement to me.

That being said, this whole post will be about people.  It won't show a ton of pictures or fancy places we've visited, but it will show stories of how God really, really loves us and I think that's worth a read. :)

One of the youth at our church, who likes to call herself Christy White :), was in a really hard place a couple months back.  Her grandmother was very ill and in the hospital.  Christy comes from a family where her mother chose not to be a part of her family and she was raised mostly by her dad.  She is the oldest of three, the only Christian in her family, and has spent the majority of this year studying diligently so she can pass her DSE exams in order to attend university.  I have gotten to know Christy well and love her like my little sister.  She is sweet, kind, loves my kids, and we spent a lot of time together in the past year. On Thursday afternoons while the kids were at school I would tutor her in English to try and help her get ready for the English portion of her exams.  She just finished her exams this week and will look for a part time job until she receives her test results in July.  Please pray that they would be favorable and most of all that she would trust that God has good plans for her!

Hanging out with Christy now that her exams are over!

Back in January on a Sunday morning at church, Christy told us that her grandmother was going to pass away soon.  The pastor's wife, whose name is Helen and I felt really compelled to visit her grandmother in the hospital and be a support to Christy.  When we went to visit Christy's grandma the next day, my heart just broke.  Christy's grandmother, who she dearly loved looked like she was near death.  But as we came into her room and spoke with her, she was able to respond to us by nodding her head yes or no and even spoke in soft whispers.  She was fully aware of who Christy was and that she had brought her friends.  And in that moment and room she shared with two other patients, the tv blaring, and doorway open with nurses and people coming in and out, we just loved her and got to know why Christy loves her popo so much.  Her grandma spoke so sweetly of Christy and of us.  Although I wasn't able to communicate with her grandmother due to my lack of being able to speak Cantonese,  I could sing of God's amazing grace as Helen translated the words of the familiar hymn.  I prayed in those moments as I sang that her grandmother would come to know the amazing grace, love, joy, and peace that comes with knowing Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

Then Helen, this petite, normally soft spoken woman, spoke with such boldness, power, and love.  She shared the good news that Jesus loved Christy's grandmother so much, that He died for her sins, and that He wanted her to spend eternity in heaven with Him.  She told her that when we accept Christ, our sins are forgiven and that we become children of our Heavenly Father.  Helen proclaimed of how Jesus gives us true peace and hope forever.  Then she asked Christy's grandmother if she wanted to believe in Jesus, acknowledge Him as her Savior, and follow Him as Lord of her life.  Popo nodded her head yes and became a Christian!  She then softly said, "Jesus, I believe in you.  I thank you for your salvation and eternal life."  It was one of the most touching, beautiful moments I've ever had the privilege to witness.

The day after our visit she told her family that she specifically wanted a Christian funeral.  Two days later she passed away.  It was a very sad and painful day for Christy, but she had peace.  Helen, Christy, and I look back on that day we visited the hospital together and know that God ordained that very moment.  To know that Jesus loved Popo, that he has always loved her and wanted her to know Him until the very end of her life here on earth, that just was utterly amazing.  It speaks to the never ending, never failing love that God has for every single person and how he longs for them to know Him personally and call Him Daddy.  That moment reminds me that when God tugs at my heart to do something, I need to just do it because we get to see how God works when we choose to say yes.

In February, we were going to foster an adorable one and a half year old orphan girl from China named Qun (pronounced Choon) for two weeks.  She was staying in Hong Kong for medical care and the family taking caring of her was going to be on vacation during the Chinese New Year.  We looked forward to her stay with us and a couple days before she was going to come, the family said they didn't need us to watch her after all because they had decided not to travel.  We were disappointed because our kids were looking forward to her stay and we actually had gotten to meet and play with Qun a couple times in previous stays she's had in Hong Kong for various surgeries and treatment.

Ava having some hat fun with Qun

Qun being her typical cute and happy self

A visit with Qun last week (April) before she goes back to China tomorrow

Although we were bummed, that whole process started a connection that was made with Christian Action.  They are a wondeful non-profit organization and one part of their work is that they organize medical trips to Hong Kong for Chinese orphans that need life saving surgeries and care.  I have gotten to know one of the Christian Action staff whose name is Lydia, and she frequently shuttles back and forth between the orphanages in China and the hospitals and families that take care of the children while they are here in Hong Kong.  Her service, heart, and love for the children is nothing short of humbling.

What is so funny about this all is how much of a ripple effect one blessing can lead to another.  I was originally introduced to Qun through my friend Emily who fostered Qun and has fostered other children.  Meeting Qun opened my heart to foster a child too.  Although I haven't fostered any children yet, even just my willingness to do so has had a ripple effect as well.  In March Lydia needed a home for a five year old boy named Xiao Bin that was coming here for surgery.  When she first asked me about it, I wanted to see if I could help find him a Mandarin speaking home during his stay here so he could communicate and feel comfortable with the family hosting him.

Since most of Josiah and Ava's schoolmates are from Hong Kong, I decided to ask the parents on their classroom phone chat boards if one of their families would be willing to host Xiao Bin while he was here.  One of the moms in Ava's class said yes, and the reason she agreed to it was because she figured that if I could open my heart and home (at the time we thought we going to foster Qun), she could do the same as well.  Samantha and her family thoroughly enjoyed hosting Xiao Bin, and she would regularly send me pictures of the fun they had and what a great influence he was on her kids!

In addition to that, a different family also agreed to host Xiao Bin when Samantha's family was traveling over the school break.  I look at blessing upon blessing repeated and think it's so neat how God can use even your willingness to love more deeply as a means to encourage others to expand their hearts to love as well.  I have been blessed to have people in my life that have really expanded my heart to love simply through their example with their actions of love.

If there could be a Bible verse to sum up what I learned in those two months it would be 1 John 3:16-18 which says, "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.  If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."

March and April have been one of the most emotionally and spiritually difficult months I've had.  Please read my next post on Bijou.  She is a six year old, one of Josiah and Ava's good friends, and she is fighting a rare, life threatening autoimmune disease.  I can't even fathom what her mom and dad have gone through because whatever I've felt, I know has been even more amplified for them.  As you read the next post about Bijou, please pray for her family and if you feel led to give, support them financially if you are able to through the links provided in that post.  Thank you for reading!