GongYi Home of Hope

“When we got to the house all eleven children had been scrubbed and dressed in their new clothes. The house mothers had taken them out Saturday and gotten them all haircuts and new shoes. They looked so happy and shiny and clean; Shannie was moved to tears at the sight of them, and I came pretty close myself.”

The above is a short paragraph taken from our “Grand Opening” web page from back in February 2000 where Shannie and Nathan gave individual impressions of the Grand Opening day for the Home of Hope. This year things worked out so neat as far as Time Lines go.
The children came to see Nathan (still pretty much confined to “immobility” with only short excursions outside as his surgery mends.) and asked if he could manage to come outside for about five minutes during the afternoon on “Lantern Festival Day”.
Having so many things going on Nathan wasn’t very quick in figuring out what was going on but the begging looks on the children’s faces made it impossible to reject their pleas. It was agreed that at 2:00 in the afternoon the next day, the children would come and “wheel” him outside.
Chinese New Years is a study in culture like no other Holiday we know about. Each day of the New Years – fifteen days to be exact – has a requirement for each person to follow. The first day the family is together. Then during the next few days the Uncle and his family on the Father’s side is visited… then the Uncle on the Mother’s side is visited. The the Grandparents following the same protocol and there are many such things that are done on certain days during the New Years Festival… There are certain foods that need to be eaten on certain days… and the list goes on!

Of course all of this is very difficult for a foreigner to keep track of so we just depend on our children and staff to keep us informed as to what should be done tomorrow.

However, one thing we know is the last day of New Years… (the fifteenth day). The fifteenth day is the New Years Lantern Festival. It is quite pretty and romantic actually in that everywhere you will find the red lanterns hanging… large, huge, small and tiny. And in Gongyi, Lantern Festival always ends with a huge fireworks display in the center of town.

So as the children left Nathan was thinking they must have something cooked up to celebrate Lantern Festival. Maybe fireworks or something.

What a surprise……..

When Nathan got outside, he found many of the children gathered around the front gate.
A slight dread came over him as he initially thought some government dignitaries were coming to visit (which is common during this time). But he soon realized that was not the case… as he looked around and questioned various children as to what was going on, more and more of the kids came out from their dorms and very soon all the children and staff were standing there.

Then he saw it!

In China, every licensed and/or permitted entity must display a bronze plaque in the front of their property in close proximity to the entrance gate.
The plaque shown on the right was donated to the Home of Hope by the Gongyi Government at our Grand Opening in February 2000. It used to be very nice and shiny. Shiny brass (not real of course) with black lettering in Chinese and English saying the Gongyi Home of Hope. Over the years it has become tarnished and has lost it’s luster.

What Nathan saw was very different…

As he wheeled closer and closer to the gate he saw Hank standing there holding a brand new plaque, identical to the one the government had given us eight years ago but so shiny and new. (The dark place you see in the picture are reflections of the trees behind the group) Only this time the children had ‘pooled’ their meager savings (from their weekly allowances) and purchased the plaque by them selves.
And then it hit Nathan…. today was our eighth anniversary of the Home of Hope being in operation. Eighth anniversary, Lantern Festival and beautiful weather (later that night to have a full moon)… all coming together at the same time. My how God smiles on us here.

Then, just like he did at our Grand Opening eight years ago in front of the little rented house that was to serve as our first Home of Hope location and house our first eleven children, Hank gave another speech! This time instead of their being three housemothers and ten other children in the audience, we now have twenty-two plus workers and sixty children.

Hank talked about how much the Home of Hope meant to him and how he was speaking for all the children. What a difference the Home of Hope had made in their lives. How before, all of them were going head on into nowhere… a life without hope or a chance to do anything with their lives… and then the Home of Hope came along… He talked about how good God had been to us all and how we had grown from a small family of eleven to this large family. He spoke of the Home of Hope with love and affection and talked about the warmth of spirit and how there was so much happiness in our home.

Of Course, Nathan was moved to tears as he sat there and listened, forgetting the pain in his foot and allowing his mind to wonder back over the last eight years… my… and it seemed like only a day or two ago Shannie, Amber, Aaron and himself had left for China… ! Who would have ever known? Who could have foreseen this day?
After that Hank asked Nathan to say a few words which he did, although it wasn’t all that easy… he seemed to have a frog in his throat…

Then at the end of Nathan’s few, short words, the fireworks started… This is a typical part of celebrations of any kind in China from weddings to funerals and everything in between.

Strings of firecrackers going off in a steady “crack” with an occasional “M-80” booming and shaking all the buildings around us.

At the end of the celebration, Nathan asked the children if they wanted to go into town that night to see the Gongyi City fireworks display. Of course that was a “waste of breath” question… and so it was agreed they would leave on the Home of Hope bus at 6:30 to get their early enough to find a decent place to watch from.

Then the children started begging Nathan to go along saying how they would take turns pushing him in the wheel chair and would make sure he was comfortable… and thinking, “why not”… he agreed.

The Gongyi fireworks are a truly extravaganza in that they last for more than an hour with no interruption between them… on right after another…

While we were watching the fireworks the children kept asking if we could put some pictures of the fireworks on the Home of Hope web site. Nathan agreed, although knowing that plain pictures of fireworks in a night’s sky aren’t too appealing to those who weren’t there to really enjoy them… thus the four pictures below…

We hope you enjoyed this update…

Blessings!

Nathan posing in front of the new plaque, showing the children that he can stand for a short time on the cast/brace the doctors have fitted him with. He will be ready for volley ball and swimming by summer!