GongYi Home of Hope

Can I do this? – I can try! – Now what? – Don’t Roll, Don’t Roll! – I did it! Yeah!

Just assuming what might have been going through Rachel’s little mind as we took snapshots of her struggling to stand up astride the ball. She has come so far since that day she was abandoned and left to die with such a terrible cleft lip / palate condition.

Thank you so much for those of you who shared offerings of love to help with Rachel‘s expenses. We so appreciate your willingness to sacrifice and to partner with us as we work to bring light, hope and hapiness to these children (and staff) who would otherwise never have had the opportunity to even know about such things.

We had a couple of birthdays since our last update and thought to share them with you. On the left above is Abby Joy – Miao Yin who was abandoned at a Buddhist convent up in the Gongyi mountains and the nuns there were too old to care for her so they called us. What a delightful child.

On the right above is Rose Xiong Ai. When we look at Rose we always feel there is a special connection between her and Bob Sayre (the administrator of our XuZhou Home of Hope) in that Rose was “distressed” at our gate at just several hours old the same day that Bob Sayre showed up to visit us.

We knew that he already had a desire to serve in China but seeing a tiny baby traumatized like that, first hand, simply affects a person beyond belief. Just to look at that tiny body laying there and realizing she is a real person… a real life and she (or he) has just been thrown away to real uncertainty simply because of a minor physical problem (in both these cases it was a cleft lip/palate condition) and realize, now you are part of the ‘saving’ of this helpless baby… knowing that you are part of not only giving this newborn ‘life’ but also taking him/her out of the clutches of death and giving them a great chance at a future with Hope, Truth and Love included! It goes without saying that Bob was greatly impacted by this experience and he is still serving in China today!

In keeping with the same topic about the babies in stress, the picture above was also taken at Rose’s birthday.
You can see Ben Godard (Ben and Michelle with their three small boys are here training to be the administrators for Home of Hope Number 3 when it opens later this year.) leaning over and helping Rose. You can also see his son Tyler’s face just below Ben’s nose.

Other than Ben and Tyler, all the other faces you see in this picture are those newborns who came to us without hope of a future or even remaining alive. Through the efforts of the Home of Hope and your sacrificial generosity in helping us remain a source of life to these children, they are thriving, growing strong in body, character and spirit. Actually the children you see here are representative of only a fourth of our baby population.

GRADUATION

Lest people forget, we also have children who have been with us since February 2000. These children do grow up and as they do we are deeply involved in helping them make life long decisions about their future.

At the left is Hank Cao Hai Kui who was in our first group of twelve children to come to the Home of Hope in 2000. We will be having other children graduate during the next twelve months but Hank is our first!

Hank’s graduation on June 10th became a milestone at the Home of Hope! After 9 ½ years of caring and teaching – crying and laughing – Home of Hope saw it’s first child graduate from college.

Hank joined the Home of Hope in February of 2000. As is the case with most children in his situation, he had many issues, fears and pre-set notions about his future. All negative!

We so clearly remember the look of disbelief and doubt when we told him we wanted him to graduate from college so he needed to pay attention to his studies and focus on getting good grades. Even at his young age, he knew this kind of thing just did not happen to someone from his status in society. But it did happen and now he is starting to study for the English TOFEL test which he must pass in order to continue with his goal of graduating from a seminary in Portland, Oregon. Successful completion of the TOFEL is a requirement for foreign students by both the US Department of Immigration and the college in Portland.

It was a proud day for us and a very happy day for Hank.

During the next six months as he is studying for his TOFEL exam he will also be working at the Home of Hope helping with English translations and teaching the younger children. Please remember Hank as he sets out on his life’s adventures and seeks for the best in his life!

Thank You for visiting our web site. We hope you enjoyed your visit and we will be updating again soon!