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Jacob Xiong Tian – What a true miracle this little guy is. We can’t go into all the details of the history of this little one due to the sensitive nature of his story. Suffice it to say, his lot in the natural was not one of survival but what evil transpired as a plan of “doom and death” became a miracle of life.

Jacob was born January 1, 2007 and on the 4th of January, the Home of Hope staff under our direction and in keeping with the wishes of his unmarried mother, spirited him away from the hospital where he was born and brought him to the Home of Hope in the wee hours of the morning. He has been with us ever since.

Jacob has always been a picture of perfect health and remains that way today, four and a half years later. He is vivacious, mischevious and simply an all-round boy, getting into everything as all little boys are prone to do.

When he is outside playing and spies Nathan, he is the first one to yell “Ye Ye Hao” at the top of his lungs which is “Hi grandpa” and with little Beau and several of the others right on his heels, he runs to Nathan for a greeting and quite often a big hug. We are delighted that we were allowed to be instrumental in saving his life and giving him a home to grow up in.

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Around the Home of Hope

SHOW US YOUR SHOES!

Four times each year, we buy the children shoes.

We just bought all the children their Summer shoes and the little ones wanted to show them off so they all laid down on the lawn and held them in the air for the world to see! The older kids were more reserved as you can see in the picture to the right.

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The Children do Bar-B-Que
The other day, some of the children came to us and asked if they could bar-b-que since school was out for most of the kids and summer is basically here. Then without taking a breath they added, “and you won’t have to do anything Ye Ye, just pay for the stuff!” We will do all the work and you can just enjoy the hot dogs!
So, bar-b-que we (they) did. Out came the old metal BBQ pit we made several years ago out of an old coal heater/boiler we used to heat with. The kids even burned their own wood, soaked it in water and made their own charcoal!

Some of the smaller ones started to fire the coals in a small metal box which were then transferred to the larger pit (above).

Meantime, over in the Home of Hope kitchen, other kids were washing fresh vegetables, frying thinly sliced potatoes, and getting other fruites and goodies ready for the meal! Great anticipation!

Some of the identifiable goodies are tomatos, apples, appricots, bananas, bread, juices and not shown we also had Potato Chips, Pepsi and Sprite which have both become very popular in China over the last decade.
All in all, in was money well spent and we had a great time and especially Ye Ye… all he had to do was reach into his hip pocket! 🙂
After everyone was full, all the little ones vied for a chance to crawl up into Ye Ye’s lap. Of course he relished that and always loves it when the babies gather around! Each time it is something new and this time they all wanted to take a picture giving the “V” sign. We never fail to realize it won’t be long and the time for “crawling up in the lap” will be long gone! They grow so fast!

Left, Caleb is checking out what is left over, knowing that later in the evening, the left overs will be passed out as snacks which the children always enjoy! All in all it was a great BBQ and we were really proud of the “first time” accomplishment of the 2nd generation of children as they grow at the Home of Hope. Their older siblings who used to to all the work at occasions like this, would have really been proud of them, we are very sure!

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More BBQ Snapshots!

APPRECIATION – Many of you have been following and also helping share the burden of our water problem. Just the other day we brought the water storage system and water pressure tank with pumps on line. Since then we have had a constant pressure regulated at between 65 and 70 psi which is just great! Now everyone can have showers every day! Thank You so much for your willingness to help! A special note of thanks to the Dorothea Haus Ross Foundation as well, for their help in getting this new water system completed!

We hope you have enjoyed another small glimpse into life at the Home of Hope orphanage in GongYi, China. We covet your prayers and support as we continue to serve the children in rural China.

If you would like to help the children of the Home of Hope you can do so by going to our donations page. All contributions are both greatly needed and appreciated and of course are tax deductible!