Adventures in Normalcy: No Many Many

When my students in China needed to express a number of more than a few in English, they would say "many, many, many". This always cracked me up, b/c I could think of several (tons, lots, gobs...) other terms to express that I needed a lot of something... But when you are a Chinese person or any of my Japanese students (especially Yuto); the term to communicate more than a few is "many many many". I used the phrase "many many", many many times in China to get anything from extra ice in my coke to telling a taxi driver my destination is many many streets down from here... This phrase is still a regular part of my vocabulary and it always makes me smile when I say it. Yes, I brought some Chinglish home with me and I proudly incorporate it into my everyday life.

"No Many Many" is also a popular phrase used to communicate needing less of something. And in this case, what I need is "no many many", 5 to be exact. Five people to join in a story that involves some special needs Chinese orphans, a foster home, a medical clinic, some nannies, and a few Americans in the city of Tianjin, China.

Shepherd's Field Childrens' Village is a Foster home in Tianjin, near Beijing. I got connected with them through a seemingly random late night Internet search after I returned from China in 2006. Since stumbling upon this ministry, they have had my heart! Through this organization, I've had opportunity to support 3 different orphans and I'm soon to get my fourth. Two of my kids found forever families with folks here in the U.S. and one found her forever family in the arms of her Heavenly Father. The point of today's blog is to ask for folks to join me in financially supporting some of the children at Shepherd's Field. The sponsorship coordinator has contacted sponsors to see if we will recruit 5 people to support 1 orphan each. That's my few, 5 people for 5 orphans. As of right now, Shepherd's Field is not able to take in any new orphans until the kids who are currently living there are fully supported. The cost of living in China has risen very high, which means the number of sponsors needed for each child has risen from 10 to 15. When each orphan that currently resides at the Village is sponsored, they can begin again to take in new special needs orphans and provide the love, medical care, and stability these kids desperately need.

There is so much I could tell you about this place. For now, I'm going to let their website do the talking so you can get a feel what they are all about. What I can tell you is that I have been praying for God to speak to 5 hearts concerning the kids at Shepherd's Field. All I can do is relay the message to the hearts that He has already been working on. So consider this the message relayed.

Here's the 5 kids they gave to me to find sponsors for...