GongYi Home of Hope

It was about 7:00 PM Saturday night when some of the children came to our door and said they wanted Yie Yie (Nathan) to come to the dining room.

We had a good idea of what was going on (it was Nathan’s birthday) but we went over pretending we had no idea what was happening.

As we entered the dining room door all the children stood up and in unison said “Happy Birthday Ye Ye”.

This year it is difficult to get all the children together at one time, with some of them attending university and a few of the children attending High School at schools that require they dorm at the school during the week

When we have birthday parties we have a set routine we go through. First of all the birthday boy or girl is called to the front where their birthday cake is sitting on a table. Then we sing “Happy Birthday” and then the birthday person has to give a speech. Next he/she has pictures taken with his/her dorm mates and then the cake is cut and shared with everyone.

This night was no different. Hank was the master of ceremonies and he followed the normal routine to the “T”.

First Ye Ye had to give a speech… (above far left) The children asked to hear the story (again) about how the Home of Hope was started. Then Ye Ye blew out the candles (above center left.) Next a pictures was taken with Ye Ye’s room mates… (all the children and attending staff – below), then Ye Ye cut the cake and shared it with everyone!

Nathan was also given a large birthday card the children made themselves and each child had written something in the card along with signing his/her name.

Ye Ye choked-up a couple of times due to the memories of each child that came flooding into his mind as he read each little sentence the children had written.
It was a great evening and the night was capped off with all of the children wanted to play the game Hum Dum…

If you don’t know how the game “Hum Dum” is played, we appologize! It is too difficult to explain it in this format. We moved the tables out of the way and everyone who wanted to play sat in a circle and we played the game for over an hour.

What a great evening! Much laughter and an abundance of joy!

Oh… how old is Ye Ye? Well, since Ye Ye is the one who does this web site, that information is going to remain private!