A New Name Written Down!

I got this email from my mother-in-law and wanted to share it with you all.

Hi Dillon,

Thank you, Dillon, for being my little calling partner. Today I had the privilege of leading one of my patient’s to the Lord because I was able to give out your story about 2 weeks ago. My patient had a stroke. Her daughter was visiting and we were talking about our grandchildren. Her granddaughter was adopted from China so I got to tell her about our China experience and give her your story. Yesterday I talked to her and she hoped she would go to heaven when she died. I asked her if I could share with her how she could KNOW for sure and she said yes so today I went back on my time and got to talk with her and her husband. After going through Scripture she realized she was lost and she said she now believes and asked Jesus to save her. Please ask Daddy and Mommy to pray for her husband as he said he is not saved. I gave him some tracts and marked some Scripture for him to read.

Love and prayers,Grandma K.


What a blessing! I got thinking about how some family and friends have told us that they used to “believe” in God but because of Dillon they don’t anymore. They think Dillon is some sort of proof that God cannot exist. This greatly saddens my heart because the truth is the complete opposite. Dillon is absolute proof of God’s deep love for each of us, he is proof there is a loving God who is reaching out to those who don’t know Him on a personal level yet. I think everyone reading this knows how much I love my precious little son. My heart breaks everyday for the struggles he has to endure, I would give anything to be able to make him well again. I love Dillon with all my heart. But, as much as I love Dillon, his Heavenly Father who created him loves him so much more. Imagine how much it must hurt Him to watch Dillon go through the things he does, yet He allows it.

Why? Why does God allow it? Why does the God who holds the power of the entire universe in his breath allow this to continue? To answer that I ask a question, how many of you have had your life impacted in some way because of Dillon? I know I am not the same person I would have been without Dillon. I have learned so many lessons I can’t even begin to describe them all. I have learned to pray more, I have learned what it means to pray and still trust God, I have learned the meaning of “all things work together for good to them that love God…”, I have learned what it means to see my self as powerless and trust God, etc. How many people have learned one lesson or another because of Dillon? There are at least 4 people who will spend eternity in Heaven with the Lord instead of eternity in Hell with Dillon’s life story playing some role in them coming to the cross. In his short three years his life has helped to bring at least four people to Jesus Christ. Are we healthy, fully capable, highly intelligent Christian adults reaching that many for Christ with our lives??

For those who are thinking “poor Dillon” that he has to go through this for others, I disagree with you. Dillon is the richest three year old I know. He has eternal riches unlike any other three year old I personally know. Every time someone grows closer to the Lord, is encouraged, uplifted, challenged, given the gospel, and even saved there are riches being stored up for Dillon in Heaven. I believe Dillon has crowns waiting him in Heaven based on these verses:

2Timothy 4:8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

James 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

Revelation 2:10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

Dillon will spend his eternity in Heaven and will have crowns to lay at Jesus’ feet because of the lives he impacts. If you had one child that was dying of leukemia and your other child was a perfect match donor… would you not allow that second child to suffer the pain of donating their bone marrow to save the life of your other child? This is what Dillon is doing; he is suffering in this life because God loves you so much He wants you to grow closer to Him. And for those who are not a child of the King – it shows God’s unsearchable love even more! If you are not a child of the King you are His enemy and God still loves you enough that He is letting one of His own dear precious children suffer so that you might be reconciled to Him. He loves his enemy enough that He allows his child to hurt for the sake of the enemy… how many of us love our enemies like that?

Dillon’s brain injury and severe disabilities do not disprove God, they are quite the opposite. They prove His amazing love for us. He knew Josiah and I would grow and be able to lean on His strength to get through the trials of raising Dillon. He knew it wouldn’t break us, He knew that eventually I would be willing to allow Him to use Dillon in a mighty way. I want Dillon’s life to have eternal purpose by reaching others. I want him to bring people closer to God. The last thing I would want is for people to look at Dillon and think that God doesn’t care since he is allowing this to happen. 2 Corinthians 12:9 “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” Dillon’s weakness is to show the strength of the Almighty God! To show how God can use something so terrible for good, to show His love for even His enemies. To many doctors and other people Dillon’s life is empty, pointless, and without purpose. Dillon’s life has great purpose, eternal purpose! Maybe Dillon’s life is to help you grow closer to God, to challenge you in some way.

Maybe Dillon’s purpose in life is to turn your heart to God so you will no longer be His enemy…

A MUST see video....

Hi everyone,
Wanted to share this video with you it really is a MUSt see (pay attention to what Jay is saying around the 19 second mark...) Sorry the video quality isn't good - I can't find my camera so had to use Josiah's blackberry to take this.


CLICK HERE

LONG TIME!

Hi Everyone!

I'm sorry it has been SO long since I last wrote, sorry I left you hanging about our trip! Everything went well. We had some mix-ups with what terminal to go to so that took a lot of time to go to the right one, but we got there. We also had some problems with the Chinese TSA allowing my oxygen batteries through, but someone helped us and all was worked out. The flight home went great! I was so happy to be home with my dear sweet husby!

When I got home my allergies hit me hard! I was taking benadryl every day, nebulizers everyday and was still miserable. Praise the Lord my body did adjust back to the allergies in about 2 weeks and I have been much better. Jay, Dillon and I adjusted to the time change within 3-4 days I think. It helped that we got home around 9pm Saturday and went to Sunday School and church then took a nap and went to night church.

We were able to head to Ohio on Monday to see my grandparents before they moved to another state, so even though it was short visit (we left Tuesday) it was good to see them.

Since then we have been busy with scheduling all the new therapist (they changed when he turned three and we are just getting started with them). We also have been working at getting started with his therapy again and all the normal things in life. :o) Needless to say we have been busy - hence the reason I have not even been on to post. Oh and the fact that I have tried to cut the computer out of my day so I can get more accomplished. I am trying to either turn it off or leave it on but not be on a lot so I will have more time to care for my family and my house. It is great, I really do have more time!

Dillon since China: Dillon's arms, hands, and legs are still more relaxed. He is more vocal and trying to swallow more (I don't know if he IS or if he is just trying....). I found an acupuncturist who will see him once a week for $5.00! So I am excited about getting started with her. Some people have told me he seems more alert and like he is looking more, but I am not sure yet. I need to wait more to know for sure. Josiah, Robin (his nurse) and I all think his seizures have decreased so we are going to start keeping a journal so we will know. If it seems like they have I may ask for an EEG to be sure. We know the last EEG said he was having 30-40 everyday! One day this week Dillon even kicked his way down his inclined floor with great effort! He hasn't done that in a long time! Please keep praying for all these improvements - that they would be even greater and that they would be consistent.

So thank you again to everyone who played a part in our trip to China. God did some amazing things in China! In my life, in the lives of others that we met there, and I believe He is still going to do amazing things in Dillon's life! I will try to keep you updated better than I have been...


Thank you again!!!! (How do you say thank you enough to the people who gave so generously to help my little boy have such an opportunity?!?!)

LEAVING TODAY!

Sorry I didn’t post anymore the last two days. Thursday I was so sore from carrying Dillon around the country I went to sleep without doing it and yesterday I couldn’t get on the internet.

We are leaving in just over an hour to go to the airport. It is 5 hours in the van, we will be there about 3 hours to get through security and check bags, then our plane leaves about 3:45pm (my time) and we should arrive about 5:30 pm (PA time). Then a 2 hours drive home. In all it should take about 23 hours to get home. Thank you for praying for us…please pray specificlly for
1. Safety
2. Dillon would do well on the plane, all his machine would function properly.
3. JayDonn would sleep
4. That we would be able to use extra seats like last time so we can lay Dillon down
5. Strength for all of us as this is going to be a LONG trip. )

We miss everyone here, thank you so much for all your help! The doctors, nurses, therapists, and translators were great! Jay is going to miss playing with everyone. We will keep you posted as to Dillon’s progress. I am praying for a miracle, that Dillon would make some huge progress. If however, he does not make progress this trip was still worth it. I know God wanted us in China with the miraculous way He brought in all the funds. I know He wanted us here because of the all the obsticles that where over turned in order to get here. I don’t know if Dillon will make progress or not. God’s Word – the Bible – does not promise me that Dillon will get better. I do have the promise from the Bible that Dillon’s eternal life issecure in the Lord’s hands because he is not capable of making the decision to trust the Lord Jesus Christ for eternal salvation. I, however, had to make that decision – which I did almost 6 years ago. So I know both Dillon and I will spend eternity in Heaven with God. But I know there are many people who do not know what Christ did for them on the cross and if our being in China has helped even one person understand that they need to trust Christ and Christ alone – IT WAS WORTH IT ALL!!

VIEWING THE COUNTRY SIDE!!!

Today we went to see the country side! Wow! What an experience! I am so humbled by this experience. I feel like I have learned what it is like to live simple. I now know how rich we are in America. I have always been tired of hearing Americans complain about the recession and all, but now I am just disgusted by the Americans who think they don’t have enough. The Chinese people live in such humble accomodations. The countryside is beautiful. I just fell in love with the view. It was amazing how as you travelled everything changed so quickly. Every inch of land is used for vegetation. The houses are small brick squares. If I ever go to complain about my house I want to remember the people here and just be thankful for the amazing home God has blessed me with.
We stopped to walk around a village and see some of the homes, an old school (which says on the side something about no matter how poor we are our kids still need a place to learn). There is an old basketball hoop in the background of one of the pictures. After we were all tired from walking we got back in the van and went to a lake. We were skipping rocks, finding sea shells, and climbing trees. All the pictures below have a small caption about each. I took over 200 pictures, not all are good though. I also need to get the pictures from Tessie that she took on her camera. Later I will make a movie with all the good ones, but for now here are several to give you an idea what it was like.



All of us in the van - Jason and the driver were up front

Inside the old school there were still signs on the wall, there was even a black board


See the basketball hoop in the background?


An old abandoned house


The beautiful mountains

Scenery


A house where someone has their laundry out to dry


Dillon and I hiking along


A beautiful temple that we could see on a mountain side

skipping rocks at the lake - my best one was 5 jumps! Jay just had fun throwing them into the water

Grandma, Jay and I at the lake (Dillon was resting in the van after his big adventure hiking)

I climbed a tree to get a picture for Josiah! :o)

Of course Jay wanted up with me!

Being silly with Grandma

Driving along...this is what all the stores looked like

This was the newest apartment complex I saw.

Jay was SO well behaved on this trip! He sat on Grandma's lap the whole time (except when he rode up front with Jason) He was WONDERFUL! If he is this good on Saturday when we come home - that would be GREAT!

Thank you Jason for taking your day off to go with us and teach us about China!! We learned a lot on this trip. It was something I don’t think I will ever forget. I am so glad while we were in China we got to see a big city as well as the country life.

LAST STEM CELLS!!!

Dillon finished his last stem cells today!

Getting the IV

Here come the stem cells!

Pray they will help Dillon!

Max is one of the translators and was playing with JayDonn today…

Max and Jay


Pauline (on th left - head nurse) and Lili (on the right)


One of the waitresses from upstairs

Sweet and sour pork - it was pretty good!



Our favorite food - fried rice with egg it is only about .50 for this whole bowl!

I went out all by myself today after Dillon’s stem cells. I got a taxi and everything. They dropped me off on the side of the street and I had to walk in the tunnel that is under the road to get to the store I wanted. I shopped, negociated prices and everything, alone. Then I walked back under the tunnel and went to McDonald’s. It was the first beef we have had since we got here 27 days ago. It tasted so good! And I don’t normally think McD tastes good at all! I got a picture of it for my sister (who manages an McD)…. I didn’t take a picture inside but I did get a little video I will send you when I get home.

McDonald's

Tomorrow we are leaving by 8 to go drive around the countryside. I can’t wait! I think it will be so neat to see some of China other than the small part of the city where we are. The doctor is going to do Dillon’s acupuncture before we go.
I know I am starting to understand life here a little more for a few reasons:
1. I can cross the streets without having a heart attack now.
2. I can ride in a taxi without having a heart attack and/or having to close my eyes.
3. I can go shopping and negotiate prices by myself (I use pen and paper but I think I know my numbers 1-99 IF they would say it slow enough).
4. I don’t care as much that people are staring at me. I know why I am here, I know where I am going, I know how to go where I want to go so I am more confident and it doesn’t bother me as much that they look at me.
5. When the lady from Romina - who speaks NO Chinese and very very very little english - was holding the door for me yesterday I said “Xie xie” Which is thank you in Chinese!
As much fun as I am having here, and even though I am going to miss everyone… I can’t wait to see you all soon!

MOMMY AND ME!!!!!

Some Mommy and Me photos with Dillon…


Mommy and Dillon


Mommy and Dillon in black and white


Snuggle time


My favorite one


Jay helping make pancakes

Last night Dillon slept pretty good. However, I drank some ice coffee with dinner so I could NOT sleep! I didn’t sleep until 2am while Dillon was so peaceful. Thankfully he did pretty good the rest of the night and I was able to sleep some. I don’t think I will get ice coffee with dinner any more - just lunch. :o)

Resting before acupuncture

This is how Grandma takes Jay to the store… in Dillon’s chair. It is easier to keep him close this way and we don’t have a stroller for Jay.

Going to the store


Grace! (5 years old and has CP too)

Some desserts we tried today. The thin things on the top were ok, they tasted like a sugary pretzel. The green block on the right had the consistancy of dry wall, it wasn’t too great. It was very dry and you had to drink something in order to get the food down your throat. The cookie in the middle was pretty good, it tasted like a normal cookie. The thing on the left was the best. It tasted like a good fruit cake. Both Mom and I liked it the best.

Desserts

Miss Celine left to go home to Ireland today to be with her daughter. Mr. Liam has a friend coming today to help him now. Mom and I both went shopping a few times with her. Have a good trip home Celine!

Mr Lian and Miss Celine

MOM SHOPPING AGAIN!!

Foreword by Tiffany: I just want to let everyone know - the Mom I have seen in China is nothing like the Mom back home! Back home she doesn’t shop much at all, here she has spent money pretty much every day! (Either on gifts or on food at the market) Back home if anything might even be the least bit dirty, or even if Mom THINKS it is a little dirty she washes it. Due to the laundry being so expensive I have heard things like “oh it isn’t that bad, it can go for another day!” Anyone who knows Mom knows this is not like her! She even wants to take home dirty clothes! hahahaha China sure has changed Mom! Don’t worry I don’t think the changes will be permanent. By the way: I HATE shopping, I always have. But I LOVE it here, the prices are so much better than ours so I can’t tease her too much!

By Mom: I actually went shopping last Thursday (of course, I’ve been to the food market almost every day except Sunday) and this is now Monday morning. On this trip I went with a translator (thanks, Michelle) and Celine from Ireland. We left Liam, the fellow from Ireland, at a restaurant (while we shopped) so I got some photos from the second floor restaurant windows of the streets. People, bikes, 3 wheeled bike/carts and taxis everywhere! There is a lot of construction going on. The translator told me that three years ago the government said things needed to be remodeled so the whole city is “under construction” or so it seems. I was able know where I was going and to negotiate prices better with a translator.

I think I have figured out Proverbs 31:17b “and strengtheneth her arms”. Scrubbing clothes in the baby tub and wringing them out certainly helps to strengthen the arms! Dillon goes through an amazing number of towels. For those of you who don’t know, Dillon can’t swallow, so all of his secretions must be caught or suctioned. Please pray that the stem cells help his swallowing and also help to decrease his seizures. It is so hard to see him seizuring so many times a day (30-40).
The translators and cleaning ladies (who know no English) have been TRYING to teach me Chinese. Quite a task to make your mouth say words and sounds we have never said before. I can actually feel my jaw being tired after trying to get the tones and words correct!

I have greatly enjoyed my time here with the boys and Tiffany and have enjoyed getting to know the folks on this floor (workers and patients and patients’ families). I’ve had some time to cuddle our little Precious (he feels plenty heavy to me). Jay is great fun and a two year old challenge! Tiffany and I have had some time to talk. Dillon has actually slept five nights (not in a row) better which has been a great help to Tiffany and I. Thanks to those of you who have been praying about this. We still need more sleep! However, I do miss the hills of West Virginia and my dear husband and daughter. We have been able to watch church services (from Daniel’s church-online)which is a blessing but it is not the same as being with God’s people at church. Dillon has only one stem cell treatment left (Tuesday) and we are looking forward to our ride around and outside the city on Wednesday, Lord willing.

A photo from the restaurant window.

A 3 wheeled bike/cart (a common site).

Cooking on the side of the street.

Following Michelle through the streets. The sidewalks are under construction so we had to walk in the bike lane.

Mrs. Jung, one of our cleaning ladies (thank you).

Mrs. Fung, one of our cleaning ladies (thank you).

LAST SUNDAY IN CHINA!!!

Today was our last Sunday here in China! We leave next Saturday.
Grandma made pancakes again, this time she made Jay an elephant. He loved it. He had a great time eating the trunk, then the legs, and Grandma even told him he was eating the heart….yuck! But he thought it was pretty fun…

Grandma made pancakes again this morning - an elephant this time!

We went out back behind our building to take some pictures. It was a beautiful day and there are some very beautiful areas, but right as we got there JayDonn fell and scraped his knee. It was all downhill from there. He kept crying and we had to go back in. We will try again another day.

Behind our building


Cute Boy

All four of us under a tree

Jay and Grandma looking up into the tree

Grandma and her boys


Mommy and Jay pointing at the big rock in the middle of the pond

Dillon by the pond



Jay was not happy with his scrap on his leg...

In the afternoon I went into town with a friend again. These are escalators that criss-cross up several flights. It was pretty neat to see.

escalators cris-crossing up several flights

I would NOT want this man’s job. See the tiny black dot on the side of this huge building? That is someone washing the windows!

The tiny black dot on the side of the building is someone washing the windows…how would you like HIS job?!?

This week should go by pretty fast. Monday Mom needs to go grocery shopping and I have therapies with Dillon. Tuesday is stem cells. Wednesday we are going with a couple and a translator to see some of the area outside the big city (yes I will get LOTS of pictures!) Thursday we will start packing. Friday we need to finish packing all but the last minute things, Saturday morning by 7:45am we will be on our way to the airport to start our 23 hours of traveling.
Dillon did sleep better last night, I am about to go to sleep now so I am praying he will sleep good again tonight (the rest of us need the sleep as well!!!)
Have a great Sunday evening at Church! And if you don’t get this on time have a great Monday!