Happy Thanksgiving!

The day before we head back to Iowa, we had a Thanksgiving meal with all the staff at PHF (Chinese and US staff). We were in charge of making the turkey, stuffing, gravy, green beans, and corn. This was a bit of a challenge that required the use of ours and two different neighbors' ovens. Not to mention, it was not all that easy to find all the ingredients we needed to make all these dishes. But, it all turned out great and with the mix of Chinese and American food, the Thanksgiving meal was complete.

Despite the vastly different cultures, it was really neat that we were all able to come together and share this wonderful meal. While it was much different than any Thanksgiving meal we have been to in the past, we are thankful that we were able to minister to the Chinese staff in this way.

See pictures below of our Chinese/American Thanksgiving Meal.

And of course, we couldn't post a blog without a few pictures of the kids at PHF. So, below are a couple pictures of some of the orphans. The first picture is Desiray with Alyson, Cadence, and Cameron and the second picture is John with Elena and Bea. Please continue to pray for Joseph, Israel, Parker and Adrian as they are in the hospital right now getting testing and evaluations done to see if they can get their heart surgeries this week or early next week.

I also included a cute picture of Alyson and Austin helping our ayi (nanny) make some dumplings. (our favorite Chinese dish) Her name is Liu Ayi and Alyson and Austin just love her (we all love her)!

We leave tomorrow (November 23rd) at 5:00 p.m. (3:00 a.m.US time) to fly to the US. Since we are going back in time we arrive in Des Moines at 8:00 p.m on the 23rd. If only the flight were really that short. :) We have a 13 hour flight from Beijing to Chicago and then one hour from Chicago to Des Moines. Please pray for safe and smooth travel as well as a refreshing time in the US with Family and Friends.

Hope to see many of you SOON!

Blessings,

John, Desiray

Alyson and Austin

Heart Surgeries

Psalm 31: 14-15

"As for me, I trust in you, O Lord. I say, 'You are my God. My times are in your hands"

What a privilege to have the opportunity to be a part of the Philip Hayden Foundation and have a small part in the lives of these precious orphans. We continue to take comfort in knowing that each of these children's lives are in God's hands. Five of our children have a severe heart condition and will be having their heart surgeries the middle of November. Please pray for these fragile children-Parker, Joseph, Adrian, Israel, and Maggie. Pray that their surgeries would be successful and they would have the opportunity to live a long and healthy life.

On October 30th, we received 6 new children from another orphanage that was not able to provide care for their medical condition. We are so thankful they now live at Shepherd's Field and are getting the love and care they need.

Our family continues to stay busy with work at PHF and home schooling. Things are going well, but please pray for our priorities-that we would keep things in perspective and put God first, family second and then ministry. Sometimes we get so involved in ministry that it starts coming before our marriage and family. We need to continue to remember that family is our first ministry. Also please pray for extra patience for John and I with the kids. There are so many stresses of living in a different country that we tend to lose patience much quicker with each other and with Alyson and Austin.

A few things to keep in prayer:

-The five orphans that will be having heart surgery later this month-Adrian, Maggie, Joseph, Israel, and Parker

-Priorities

-Finances-we still need to raise more financial support in order to fulfill our one year committment to PHF.

-Visas

-We will continue to be effective in our ministry at PHF.

-Safe travel for our trip back to the US the end of November.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support for our family.

Blessings,

John, Desiray, Alyson and Austin Christen

My Family

October 21st-30th my Dad, sister and niece Miranda came to visit us in China. I was expecting my sister and my niece, but when we got to the airport my Dad was there too. We were so surprised and what a wonderful surprise it was! We had such a great week with them. We did a lot of sightseeing-Great Wall, Summer Palace, Forbidden City, and we also spent a lot of time with the precious orphans at PHF. See pictures below of the week with our family. It was so fun to have them here!

Our visas expire on November 26th, so we will be returning to the US that week of the 26th. Please continue to pray that when we return to China in December, our work visas will be worked out, and we won't have as much trouble trying to get them. It is getting much harder for Christian Americans to get visas in China-especially with the Olympics coming to Beijing next summer. For some reason they are really cracking down. We are looking forward to spending time with friends and family while we are back!

Please see pictures below: