In China
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Wednesday, March 20, 2013 Hidden Heroes First, I want to take a moment to thank everyone that has been praying for our sputum testing. I am delighted to report that we completed our third and final day of the test without ever needing to be intubated. It wasn’t a fun experience, but the kids had a great attitude throughout. Picture Ellie cheering her brother on with ”One more loogie, Sammy. You can do it!” Assuming no issues between the medical clinic and the consulate, everything should be in place for our consulate appointment later today and visas for us to fly home on Friday! As we approach our final two days in China, I wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the army of people who have played a role in enabling this journey to be possible. There was a lot of debate about the idea that it “takes a village to raise a child,” but there should be no debate that it takes a village to adopt one… and maybe two villages to adopt twins. With what will likely be our last update from China, let me highlight a few of the people that made this trip possible: • Gramma Bev – There are days when I am not sure that I could run our household by myself, and my mom has been doing it solo for the last two weeks. I do not think we would have had the courage to leave the other four behind if we did not have my mom’s strength, love, and support. I think Anne did an amazing job of trying to do as much pre-work as you can, but you cannot pre-work baths or homework, and Anne’s detailed schedule did not include trips to the pediatrician for two boys with the flu. We will never be able to thank her enough for how she has blessed us and served us these last two weeks. • Bo and Pappy – As many of you know, we lost Anne’s dad just over a year ago. He was an amazing dad, father-in-law, and grandfather… whether his grandkids arrived in a hospital or an airport. We loved him and he is still missed on a daily basis. Along with Anne’s mom, they were with us and supporting us through every step of our first two adoptions, and Anne’s mom has continued that tradition with her amazing love, support and daily encouragement from the first day we told her about Sam and Ellie. • The Adams Family – There are not words to describe how the Adams family has loved and served us throughout this process. There are seasons where we see them every day, so inviting Sam and Ellie’s diagnosis into our family also means inviting it into their lives. They are on a very short list of people who could have dissuaded us from pursuing this when we told them, but their reaction was perfect. More than simply, “We think you can do this”… they came with “We want to do this with you.” And their actions have backed up those words. From praying with us about the decision to pursue Sam and Ellie that first night to praying over our family just before we left, they have been there for us whenever we needed them and frequently before we even asked. • The Home Team – This is the group of people who rallied around Gramma Bev to make sure that our kids could still attend their school events, hang out with friends, and generally feel loved while we were gone. People like Beth and Kelly have been driving kids to school EVERY day since we’ve been gone. Others have driven to or from activities or slumber parties. Aunt Michelle came up for the weekends to give my mom some rest and to provide some much-needed medical advice. There are the teachers who made an extra effort to check in on our kids, including an occasional picture from recess to let us know that everything was OK. And then there’s Matt Massey who agreed to mow my lawn all summer so I could focus on the kids… (as of this writing, he has not yet agreed to this, but I thought it was worth a try.) And to the anonymous many who have checked on Gramma Bev or given our kids an extra hug in the halls of EBL, thanks. It is a beautiful expression of the body of Christ for us to know that they are covered by you while we are so far away. • The Multi-Continent Prayer Team – This would not be possible without God’s grace, and countless people have prayed to help make it possible. The number of answered prayers and extravagant blessings we have experienced is amazing - finances to cover TWO adoptions when we had concerns at the start about covering ONE, the perfect match of kids for our family, health and safety for those travelling and those at home, successful and intubation-free loogie tests, etc. During this journey, we have literally had people on four different continents and in at least two different languages praying for these kids, and you can see the fruit of their prayers on the faces of all four of us. • The Financiers – Several people gave generously and sacrificially to make this trip possible. It is humbling to be given money… some of it anonymously, and we hope that we were acceptable stewards of those gifts. (I am starting to feel a bit guilty about the $60 Oreos… I’m going to make sure that part was covered by my personal contribution.) • My Team at Work – I do not have the kind of job where you can just leave for three weeks, but I work for a great company with amazing managers and a phenomenal team. It has been an incredible blessing to have complete freedom to focus on what is really important, and that is only possible because of the extraordinary support of my team. I have no doubt that everything is going brilliantly in my absence. If anything, that is one of my fears… I don’t want things to go TOO well when I’m gone. For a couple of weeks, that looks like I have assembled a great team. But eventually, that starts raising questions about what value I bring... and I really need a job. • The Loogie Nurses – I have complained a lot about the requirements that the US government imposes on our children with the “sputum test” at the top of my complaints list. But I have no complaints about the support and kindness we experienced during that test. To see two Chinese nurses cheering in English for my kids to hock a loogie was both hilarious and heartwarming. • The Lifeline Team and Lifeline Adoptive Families – This time in China can be incredibly lonely and scary, so it was wonderful to have a team of Lifeline employees (both here and back home) along with other Lifeline families for support. Whether it was Rebecca helping us navigate the medical clinic, Amy fighting against the Changsha hotel who accused us of taking a notepad from our room, Karla researching CDC tuberculosis guidelines, or other families simply showing us kindness and inviting us to The Sultan for dinner. There is something so comforting and normalizing about conversations in English that can cover both the aroma of Christ and the smell of the Chinese bathrooms.

Won't Sam and Ellie be surprised and disappointed to learn that our "new" house does not come with an elevator? Dad is smiling because he knows we are close to being done with the loogies. Sam is not convinced. The masked heroes of China. Double-fisting the bacon. Ellie posing with one of our sweet friends from another adoptive family. Hairstyle by Ellie. The traditional celebratory picture of Anne and her Coke at Lucy's Diner. Dad and Sam at Lucy's. We think that Sam and Ellie will do well at church and in the Fall at preschool, but when we encountered this set of children statues... Ellie began bossing one of them around and Sam began kicking the other one in the shin.

• The Bacon Chef at the Garden Hotel – If there is an unsung hero of this trip, it is the Bacon guy. And if there happen to be two different bacon guys, I want to particularly thank the one in charge of “Crispy.” I do not think I have ever consumed this much seasoned pork in my life. (On second thought, I may actually consume this much seasoned pork on an annual basis at almost this exact time each year. I did not know it, but Sammy and I may have been having a scaled-down version of “The Madness” at breakfast every morning…) The bacon here is Amazing! I think it may be a sad day in the Jutt household when Sammy and Ellie realize the noted lack of pork products each morning. I suspect that “Honey Nut Cheerios” is not going to be a sufficient replacement. • The Encouragers – To all of you who have sent a note of encouragement or signed the Guestbook, thank you. It may sound odd coming from the hotel room of a Five Star Hotel, but this can be a scary and lonely place. Each note is a little taste of home, and those little tastes mean a lot when you are as far away as we are. And the Guestbook will be preserved as part of Sammy and Ellie’s story, something to let them know that they were loved before they were even known. Long-term, that tangible picture of the gospel in their lives will be more treasured than any silk pajamas or pearl necklaces they may bring home from this trip. The next 36 hours are going to be crazy, so there may not be another update from China. For those with any prayer capacity left, please pray for safe, smooth, and on-time travels. We have a date with four amazing kids, and we don’t want to be late!

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