Summer Time
‘Jacob‘ and ‘Beau‘
Jacob (on the left) was left at our gate, January 4, 2007 which makes him about three and a half years old (best guess – he was a new born when found) and Beau (on the right) was left at our gate February 28 2006 (also a new-born) which makes him about four years and four months old (again, best guess!)
These two little guys are generally into everything together! If one is into ‘something’, then so is the other one. They do have their little disputes from time to time, but they are very rare.
The other evening we were sitting outside in the ‘approaching night’s’ cool after spending a hot day working on our new ‘shop’ teaching building. We were visiting with all the children, laughing and talking about just anything that came up when all of a sudden we spied little Beau pushing Jacob around in our Chinese style ‘wheel barrow’. They are both so short and tiny it just struck us funny so we started snapping pictures.
Beau pushed Jacob for awhile and then they would change places and Jacob would push Beau for awhile. Just unbelievably cute!
If you go back into our archives to the pages that talk about when these two came, you will remember that Jacob came with absolutely nothing wrong with his little body. He is still as healthy as a horse! Beau, on the other hand, was born without ears or any openings to his ear canal.
Over time we have discovered that he can hear and we are trying to find a Chinese doctor who will give him the surgery(s) necessary to correct his hearing and then plastic surgery to repair his ears.
These two are just absolutely fun to watch! Anytime!
Water Fun
Several years ago, the children and Ye Ye made a fish pond to add a nice touch to our landscape at the Home of Hope. It wasn’t long though, that we figured out the children could use that pond as a wading/swimming area in the summer.
We added a filter and chlorinator and now each summer they fend off the heat by spending time in the pond.
Today was no exception. It was hot and some of the children spent several hours in the water simply having summer fun.
Jumping off the bridge!
Let’s do it all together!
Water Fight!
Just click on the little black arrow at the bottom of the screen above and the film will start. You need to have Flash Player installed on your system to be able to play the video. If you don’t have Flash Player on your system you can download it -click here- for free.
Friends Bearing Gifts
A few months back (see previous post “Visitors from ShangHai”) two groups of High School students from Shanghai came to visit. What was unique about these young people is most of them are children of ‘Non-Chinese’ foreigners living or working in China.
We had a great visit and then they returned to ShangHai. As is the general rule, we didn’t expect to hear from them again, at least not for a long while.
Surprisingly, one of the students, a fifteen year old named Sophie was really touched by the children of the Home of Hope and set out to raise funds for the Home of Hope children and to collect clothes and toys from everyone she knew.
One day she called and said she and her family would like to visit on Saturday and on the Friday before we should be expecting a truck with several boxes. Goodness… in our wildest dreams we never thought it would be a truck with so many boxes!
True to her word, the next day Sophie arrived with her Mom and Dad, two cousins and here brother. This awesome family helped open the boxes and distribute the clothes and toys to all the children (we had a lot left to put in our storage room for future distribution), then they stayed for many hours playing with the children and spreading a lot of love all around! We were so impressed and the children were ecstatic and talked about their visit for days! Still talking about it, matter of fact.
Above is Sophie with her two cousins passing out individual bags of goodies she had put together for each one of the Home of Hope children! You can see all the boxes “yet to be opened” in the background.
There wasn’t a child left out! You see the tiny ones walking around with their new goodies in their little arms and the older children as well, holding tight onto their new treasures!
Above some of the children pose for a picture with Sophie and her family standing in the back and below we have Sophie with her family. Bruce and Autumn got into the picture. It seemed like Sophie’s dad and Bruce really hit it off and of course Autumn always makes friends with everyone!
From left to right are: Sophie’s cousin Janni, her brother Christopher, her Mom Dorthe and Dad Anders, Sophie and her other cousin Jan with Autumn and Bruce in front.
We were truly impressed with this family and totally moved by Sophie’s caring heart!
We hope you enjoyed this update. If you would like to help the Home of Hope children in any way, you can visit our Current Needs page.
You can also visit our Donation Page.
Thank You from all of us at the Home of Hope – With a grateful heart!
Posted: June 28th, 2010 under Abandoned Babies, Special Activities, Uncategorized, Visitors.