where those pictures end up....

I cannot begin to guess how many thousands of people have taken pictures of our family with their cell phones.  Thousands! 

Sometimes people surreptitiously snap photos from a distance (like I don't notice that a random stranger is hovering around trying to look inconspicious and holding their phone down at waist level?)
Other times people literally stop right in front of my stroller, blocking my path while they get their phone ready and snap the photo.  People ask my kids to pose with their kids (we politely decline....  okay, okay, sometimes I less-than-politely decline!)  They take pictures of my kids sitting in the car, pictures of our family walking through the park, pictures of us doing just about anything.

And I never know where the photos end up.  Until today.

Tuesday morning I was with my boys at the main international post office (hunting down a missing package - we found it!)  It was such a sweet trip for me (not just because we found the package!) because I knew that one of the employees was a believer.  I knew it as soon as I walked in the door.  The clerk looked at John Paul and said "oh, you adopted him". 

Adoption is so uncommon here that most people would never guess, or assume, that John Paul is adopted.  Instead their question is more like "How come one of your kids doesn't look like you?"  or "Is that someone else's child you are taking care of?" or "Why does that child look Chinese?  Is your husband Chinese?" 

I guessed immediately (and correctly) that he was a Christian and had been exposed to adoption through the church.  I said "Yes, he's adopted" and the clerk answered "thank you Jesus". 

So we visited for a bit and other employees started to gather (we tend to attract a crowd!) while the post office man tracked down our missing box.  We wandered back into the warehouse with boxes piled everywhere and all the while I answered questions about our family. 

I can practically answer these questions in my sleep - the same questions I get every day.  "Why so many kids? Why adopt? Why? Why? Why?" 

One lady asked to take our picture.  And after I left she posted it to her weibo account.  (Weibo is like Chinese twitter.)  A friend saw the post and forwarded the link to me. 

It's fun to finally see where one of those thousands of cell phone pictures ended up.

And I'm also encouraged.  Sometimes I wonder if God really uses me, uses our family.  We want to live well in this land, to boldly live out the Gospel, to impact our neighbors, our community. 

But sometimes at the end of the day I wonder if all we do is arouse a bit of curiosity. 

It's been a long few months.  I've been a pretty miserable example of someone who loves her neighbor as herself.  More often than not I scowl when someone tries to take my picture.  I try to avoid the crowds, not answer (again!) the same questions about family and children and adoption. 

But if God can use me on a trip to the post office to find a missing package.... well, that should encourage all of us! 


If you're curious you can see the weibo post HERE if you have a weibo account.  It's also posted HERE.