On Friday, December 30th, to add to the already ‘busy-ness’ and excitement that always surrounds this time of year, we were blessed with a new little girl! (Left)

An elderly couple were out for their early morning walk and found this little one abandoned on the steps of a vacant building.  Of course they were at a loss as to what to do so they took her to their local village doctor who suggested they bring her to the Home of Hope Orphanage.  And we are glad they did!

This little one smiles all the time so we decided to give her the English name “Happy” and her Chinese name is Xiong Le (熊乐) which also means “Happy”.  We took Happy Xiong Le to the hospital as soon as we had her all cleaned up and she was given an excellent report as far as her immediate health is concerned.  One problem… she is has Albinism and so will in all likely hood have some vision problems as she gets older.  It is so cute…. a little Chinese baby with white hair, white skin and red eyes!… along with a normally, bright smile!

We weren’t sure how the staff would accept Happy as this is the first time we have received a child with Albinism and one never ceases to be surprised with some of the local superstitions that surround almost any subject one can imagine!  However, everyone thinks Happy is just adorable and even in the top left corner of this group of snapshots to the right, that is little Morris’ hand holding Happy’s bottle… feeding her!

The doctor guesses that Happy is about three months old so we are designating October 1st as her birthday.  Of course, Happy does not have a sponsor so if you would like to sponsor or support her you can do so by going to our support page on our website at: http://gongyi.homeofhope.org/donations/  Your offering will be greatly appreciated and will go toward giving the child you choose a much better life, full of hope!

MITCHIE LIU FENG NING
The little guy to the left is Mitchie Liu Feng Ning (刘丰宁) who came to us in the Summer of 2011.  His father passed away from muscular distrophy and his mother, though alive, has mental problems brought on by high fever.

Mitchie is a great little guy.  Very smart and gentle.  He likes to observe everything going on around him and is quite adept at getting along with all the other children.

Since he has been at the Home of Hope we have all learned to appreciate his being around and I personally like to catch his ready smile as often as I can!  Welcome Mitchie!

WATER STERILIZER

The Gongyi Home of Hope was blessed by a gift from Dion and George Russell (see the picture of the plaque to the right) a short time ago.  For years we have either had to boil our water or purchase sterilized water for drinking.  Both processes were very costly.  With this new system that was donated to us, the water goes through the sterilizer and is ready for drinking immediately.

We are very grateful for this awesome gift of clean water and this is something that provides benefit to each and every person at the Home of Hope.

Thank You Dion and George Russell!

WE NEED YOUR HELP

We purchased our orphanage van in 2002 and it has been a great workhorse with many, daily trips to school, doctor visits, hospital visits and marketing seven days a week!  The van has had two engine replacements and in general has seen it’s better days.  In addition to that,  China has a law regarding “van type” vehicles that says they must be scrapped after ten years of use.  This means two things that are quite detrimental to us!  First of all, we can’t buy another used vehicle as it too would quickly fall under the 10 year rule.  The second thing is that even though we could cripple along with our present van, the law will make us scrap it Spring of this year.  We have to purchase a new van!  For doing that we need your help.

A new van costs $17,500.00 and the orphanage simply can’t do without a van.  We are shooting for 100 people to give $100.00 each toward the purchase of a new van and 15 people to give $500.00 toward the purchase.  Of course if a person wished to give a different amount, either more or less, that would be greatly appreciated and a great help as well.  This is something we MUST do!  We will be lost without a service van.

Anything you can do, large or small will be so helpful at this time and appreciated more than you will ever know. 

To make a donation please go to our website’s  “Donation”  page.

Blessings and deepest Thanks!

We were also able to finish our stage area in time for the Christmas program – with the bulk of the work being done by ‘David‘ Zhang Hai Tao – a Home of Hope Alumnus and ‘Zak’ Cao Hua Wei, home from college – to go along with the stage curtains we installed last year.

All in all, everyone agreed this was the best Christmas program ever… so far there have been eleven of them… so we want to show you a lot of snapshots and a few film clips from this very special night when we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

‘TWAS’ THE WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS

About one week before Christmas (on or about the 18th of December) we decided to try to get our stage finished. This has been an ongoing wish-list project for several years now but due to funding it has always been pushed to the bottom of the list.

Last year we were able to open up the wall for the stage area and purchase the curtains but we had to settle for plastic hanging around the area that would ‘someday’ be our stage.

This year, due to some awesome people in a California Church group who donated funds for the children’s Christmas gifts (as we mentioned above), we were able to realize a little relief on our otherwise demanding gift purchasing load (sixty plus people is a large number to buy Christmas gifts for) and so we were able to complete the stage and back and side drops.

“TWAS” THE EVE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (DAY)

All day on the 24th, the Home of Hope was buzzing… little groups here and there practicing their parts of the program. Trying to get everything just right.

In the kitchen, the hustle and bustle was enough to drive a person crazy… So many fancy dishes… and not a Turkey or Sweet Potato or Cranberry Sauce or Pumpkin Pie or Minced Meat Cookie or Fruit Cake to be found among them…. No Mashed Potatoes, no Cornbread Dressing, no Giblet Gravy… oh my what is this world coming to…. But the dishes that were being prepared are some of the most favorite to the Chinese people…

Goat Kebobs, Sweet and Sour Tofu, Peppers stuffed with Pork, Pan Fried Ribbon Fish, Sticky Rice with JuJuBee, Deep Fried Rice Cakes, Fruit Soup, Corned Beef, Dumplings, Chicken and Green Beans just to name a few….

Nathan was making last minute changes to the sound system and lighting and barking orders at everyone else… . It was really an exciting time getting ready for the big evening ahead!

“TWAS” THE BIG CHRISTMAS DINNER

At last it was time for the long anticipate Christmas Dinner which has become the standing tradition for the holidays at the Home of Hope. December 24th is now recognized as the set schedule for our Christmas Dinner and Program. Friends and Home of Hope alumni come from far and near. First there is the dinner, usually at around 5:00 PM and once that is over it is time for the now famous Home of Hope Christmas Program. One of our older children rode a train all night to be here for Christmas Eve!

There isn’t much to say about the pictures above… just one great big and tasty meal with around seventy or more people, young and old, participating.

Prior to eating, Nathan always tells about Christmas and why we celebrate the birth of Jesus. Generally about the time everyone is getting antsy and really wanting to eat, he winds down, offers Grace and then everyone digs in!

‘TWAS’ THE HOH CHRISTMAS PROGRAM

Our Christmas dinner started right at 5:30 PM and by around 7:00 PM people were finishing up and we were getting the big multi purpose room set up for the evening’s Christmas Program.


The first act up was by some of our 3rd and 4th grade children (the ones who are taught here at the Home of Hope) and they performed a dance to “Who is the King of the Jungle”. We loved it when the answer came back, “J – E – S – U – S”! This particle dance was performed by Mosie, Ruthie, Rose and Autumn – all abandoned babies and what fine children they are growing up to be!

The following are just a lot of snapshots taken during the evening…

FILM CLIPS FROM THE 2011 HOME OF HOPE CHRISTMAS PROGRAM

The raw footage of the movies taken during the Christmas Programs were over three hours. Thanks to Brian Ren Bin Ke (another one of the Home of Hope alumni) for taking the movies. However, there is no way we can put all of that on our web site so we have made four clips… each one is around five to six minutes just giving some hi-lites of the program.

We hope you enjoy!
Blessings!
[See post to watch Flash video]
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[See post to watch Flash video] ]]> http://gongyi.homeofhope.org/2011/12/26/hoh-christmas-2011/feed/ 0 http://gongyi.homeofhope.org/2011/07/07/summer-work-and-new-arrivals/ http://gongyi.homeofhope.org/2011/07/07/summer-work-and-new-arrivals/#comments Thu, 07 Jul 2011 09:29:27 +0000 oowf http://gongyi.homeofhope.org/?p=3035 Two New Arrivals

Liu Feng Ning – Eight Years Old – So many of the situations we run into here just don’t make sense to us but we are always happy to be able to help the little ones that seem to be the results or ‘victims’ of these stange arrangements..

Liu Feng Ning came to us with a father who is deceased and a mother with major mental problems. The only other living family is an elderly grandmother, (see top photo and below) who is disabled and after our investigation into the facts, we determined she is truly not able to care for Feng Ning and of course this situation will worsen as the grandmother gets older.

Due to the fact that all his relatives are either physically or mentally disabled, Fing Ning’s village leader (above, shown signing the custodial agreements with the Home of Hope) is his legal guardian so he is the one who signs all the agreements with the Home of Hope giving the Home of Hope custodial rights and responsibilities for the care of Feng Ning. This is the procedure we follow with each of the Home of Hope children.

The village leader explained to us that the marriage between Feng Ning’s parents was arranged by their respective familie’s despite the mother having developed mental problems from high fevers brough on by Encephalitis at an early age and the father having Spinal Meningitis. Less than a year after Feng Ning’s birth the father passed away leaving the baby to be cared for by the members of the village.
As the little guy got older, fewer people agreed to care for him so the village turned to the Home of Hope to see if we would take him in and raise him. We willingly agreed to do so! We know, very soon that his looks of bewilderment and concern will turn into smiles! Already the other children of the Home of Hope have taken him ‘under wing’ and are showing him the ropes and letting him know he has a new family. Above left, Feng Ning is shown with Ron Zhou Zhi Jie.

As you can see, he is already enjoying the benefits of living at the Home of Hope…. He said, “This food is AWESOME!” We do believe this is the first time we have seen a child roll their eyes back in pure enjoyment of the food they were eating! If you would like to sponsor Liu Feng Ning, you can do so by clicking on our Sponsor a Child link, either here or the above selection menu.

Soon to Arrive

Summer Work

We had to go to Hong Kong to do some work with the Chinese Consulate regarding our long term visas and when we got back, our car which we left at the airport, had over fourteen inches of snow built up on it. Amazing for our area.

In the picture above and left to right are Ruthie, Gracie, Mary in the front… Rose in the back, Autumn, Abby Joy and Isaac with Mosie behind Autumn and Rose.

The following Slideshow was made from pictures taken over a 48 hour period while the snow was falling and getting deeper and deeper.

If it hasn’t already done so, this Slideshow may take a couple of minutes to download, depending on your server speed, but it is well worth the wait.

Sweet Potato Harvest

The children love to cook their own sweet potatoes over an open fire. I suppose one would call that “roasted” or some thing like that. Anyway, to make them even better, they grow their own. We haven’t actually taken a count but it seems like they harvest them about two or three times a year.

However, we have noticed that one of the motivations for their getting out and harvesting what is ready is more than the desire to have roasted sweet potatoes.

Our small truck farm area is not fenced and since this is a social country, everything belongs to everyone. About the time we notice increased activity with the local villagers coming to our sweet potato patch and gathering potatoes for themselves, the Home of Hope children get out and have a major harvest. Makes sense to us.

“Rachel, Rachel” – “Come here Ye Ye”

It wasn’t long ago that little Rachel (abandoned at our gate at birth) would burst into tears whenever Ye Ye would come around. We often thought it was because she associated spending time with Ye Ye to her trips to Beijing for surgery. Now it is totally opposite. Every time she sees Ye Ye (Nathan) anywhere, she calls to him to come and play or hold her or whatever.

This time Nathan was walking down the hall outside the Nursery and she saw him and (even though it was nap time) she jumped up and started calling out to Ye Ye to come and play. Nathan was on the way to take some pictures so had his camera and grabbed a couple of shots in passing! What a doll!

Of course Aaron (also abandoned at our gate at birth) was also awake and started laughing and begging to have his picture taken as well so he was accommodated! It is such a joy to watch these little “Real People” grow and develop their own individual personalities, habits and traits. Fun and heart warming beyond imagination!

“We need your help!”

Hard times have come on the Home of Hope orphanages primarily due to the economic slowdowns in the countries where our support comes from. At the same time, strong inflation is hitting China and the dollar to RMB exchange rate is depreciating. We are in the process of determining where we can cut back on less critical operational expenses while at the same time the start up of the PingYu facility is taking off this month. We could use your help. You can go to our “Donate Now” page to make a contribution. Anything you can do to help the work here, either large or small, will be greatly appreciated.

Thank You and blessings!

One of the first things that happens in April is Nathan’s birthday. He knew something special was up when that first weekend in April, all of the college students starting showing up at home with there being no reason for them to leave school.

Now that cake shown above plus the food and everything else shown below pertaining to Nathan’s bithday was bought by all the children pooling their saved allowances. The fruit on that cake is real… strawberries, kiwi, pineapple, peaches.. yum! And the saying on the cake… “You are my Blessing” brought tears to Nathan’s eyes.

Above left: Sam, Joey, Brian and David seem to be standing guard over all the goodies while Hank seems to be trying to figure out how to grab a bite or two. Above Right: Bananas, Apples, Pineapples, Pomegranates and Strawberries made up the fruit portion of the fare.

Above left: Chicken, chicken and more chicken! Above right: Fresh, roasted corn harvested from our neighbor’s fields. (with their permission of course!)

Several years ago we converted over our hot water and heating system from coal to natural gas. Many of you pitched in and helped with those expenses for which we are still so very grateful!

When the conversion was finished we were left with to coal fired boilers and we used one to make an outdoor grill with. It doesn’t look so good but it works just fine! It does take six men and a boy to move however! So it stays pretty stationary.

Above Hank shows off his culinary skills and you can tell by the smile on his face, he is having a great time!

Then it was time to eat.. Everyone had been anticipating this moment! Some had tried to coerce Hank in to letting them sample what was in the grill but he would have none of it!

Above left: The children say grace before starting and on the right: They dig in!

Above left: Autumn and Mary are having a good time and (right) Caleb is helping house mother Liu Jian Ping kill off all the bananas.

Above left: Charity, not long since back from her surgery is really enjoying the bananas while on the right, Jacob is keeping right up with her!

Above left: Joy Zhang Qing Mei is showing us how to enjoy the chicken while (right) Tony is holding his own on the roasted corn!

All in all, everyone really enjoyed the night… from the older children (Rena, Shirley and Gail on the left) to the younger ones (little Ron on the right giving the “OK” sign!)

After supper and as darkness began to creep in, the children got into playing. On the right, several of them did their best to confuse us as to who in the world is in the picture. Starting on the top left corner is a classmate of one of the older girls. Then going clockwise you can see Jule, Abby Joy (not one of the older girls… ) Holly, Gail, Shirley and Rena. On the right it appears Holly is strong enough to carry Rena… Wow!

Above left: Now the it is dark enough, the boys get ready to light the candles on the cake. Left to right: Nathan, Hank, Sam and John. While on the right, we have no idea what in the world was said or happened to get this kind of look on Jim’s face! Wow!

Finally the cake was cut and while each person was being served a piece of the cake the children gave Nathan a birthday card they had made themselves. Again, he had to fight back the tears!

Around China in the Spring

We also wanted to share with you some of the beauty one can find in the mountains surrounding the Home of Hope in Gongyi. The following pictures were all taken on a short drive one afternoon in mid April. All of these were taken less than ten miles from the Home of Hope.

This picture was taken at a place that is a little bit like the National Parks in the States. When we first came to China one could visit here and hardly ever see another person which is quite a treat in China, home to over 1/3 the population of the world.

However and now, due to the middle class becoming somewhat more affluent and being able to buy cars, places like this are frequented more and more.. especially on the weekends. However, during the week one can still find a place to get away from the throngs of people, the noises and the smells and find a little quiet and time of relaxation.

Anytime we walk down almost any street in China, it is most common to hear people saying (almost non stop) “LaoWai, LaoWai” which means ‘foreigner, foreigner’. However, on the rare occasions when we can get away like this we don’t hear that and it is quite a relief.

The flowered trees this time of the year in China are really pretty. These are not wild however, as this area has been populated for thousands of years and one can find fruit trees growing ‘as if in the wild’ just about any place. Though maybe not cultivated now by any set person they were planted at some time or another by people in the past.

Of course temples, pagodas and other towers and design can be found just about anywhere. You drive down a road, go around a curve and there in front of you is something similar to the two pictures above. You can also see these types of things from the trains.

What we always enjoy is the magnificent mountains! Such a creation!

The first year!

Our children have been in our 1st grade elementary class for just about a year now. They study in English the first half of the day and then in Chinese the second half of the day.

Michelle Godard teaches the English and we have a special Chinese teacher on staff for the Chinese classes. The English classes follow the ACE program and the Chinese classes follow the standard Chinese school curriculum.

The other day Michelle had to be away for the morning and Nathan sat in for her. He was so surprised to hear Autumn and Isaac read to him in English. In the pictures below you can see them reading from their “Paces”.

Other Birthdays – Abby Joy Miao Yi

This is Abby Joy’s fifth birthday and she has been at the Home of Hope all of her five years. She was abandoned at a Buddhist convent way up in the Gongyi mountains and all of the Buddhist nuns there were in their late seventies so they asked us to take her and raise her. We willingly agreed to do so.

Abby Joy has had to surgeries, both for cleft lip and cleft palate issues and is a bright little girl full of happiness and also a lot of mischief!

Above left: So excited about her birthday! Above right: Abby Joy cuts her cake. In the top picture are Caleb, Gracie and Rose joining Abby Joy.

Home of Hope Number Three!

We have been given the approval to start our third orphanage in SanMenXia county. They named two places they preferred us to go to. One being YiMa and the other being MianChi.

After looking at both area we decided we liked the area of MianChi much better do the proximity of schools and hospitals so we began to look for land or old schools or factories we could utilize with minimum cost to set up Number Three. So far we have found two places. One is the picture shown above which is an old abandoned school much like the Gongyi facility was when we obtained it.

However, this location has very little land attached to it so it really is not what we really wanted for a permanent location.

Then we found the following:

Nothing firm yet but we really feel good about this place. (You can see a larger picture by clicking on the picture it’s self) We have not received a final price from the village that owns this property nor have we been given agreement by the government to locate at this specific place. But it does fill our needs perfectly.

It was used as a brick factory in the past but has been empty for several years. The existing building are structurally sound. There is electricity and there is a well on the property.

Please pray with us that everything will work out in this situation.

We hope you have enjoyed this update to the Home of Hope and if you would like to contribute to the lives of our children and the future children to find hope by coming into the Home of Hope you can do so on our donations page.

Thank You!

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!

The whole team is shown in this picture along with Mr. and Mrs. Wang and their seven adopted orphans from Zheng Zhou who came to sing and play their ancient Chinese instruments for the Home of Hope children and the visitors from America. It was truly a fun and interesting performance and not only did the Wang family sing and play but some of the Home of Hope children and the visitors from Palm Beach Atlantic College did a few performances of their own.

There were several activities prepared for the team of young people from Florida. The Home of Hope staff coordinated visits with local schools, government orphanages and other points of interest. Their first day here we took them out to the new Home of Hope facility and let them do some work. We had a large wall to tear down and we got the team from the States to help. Everyone there that morning worked at something and before lunch time we had a lot of the wall down and broken up almost to the degree that the brick was ready to be cleaned and reused in our renovation work.

Brandon loosening the bricks for the “push”

The team prepares to push the wall over!

Going……………………………..

Going……………………………..

And Gone….. and the photographer had to have help getting down from the next section of wall. (below left) Next the team started breaking the walls apart (below right) so we could salvage the good brick to use on other new walls, planters and things we need to build during the renovation of the facility.

Even “Moses” got involved in the work at the new facility and held a shovel for the first time. Of course if you look close you can see he is right up to date with the times of this modern age. He has Lao Wang’s cell phone in his other hand.Many groups and schools were glad for the opportunity to meet the young people from America and we had a great time while they were visiting. One of the highlights of the visit was the Home of Hope children challenged the foreign visitors to a game of baseball.

The visiting team from America quickly jumped in front with powerful hitting and a true size advantage over the children of the Home of Hope. The three hundred or more spectators and the local TV cameraman all enjoyed the antics of the foreigners as they laughed and clowned their way to a stunning ten run lead in the top of the seventh inning part of which was the result of this “bases loaded” home run. However the children of the Home of Hope never gave up. Aaron Bell who was the captain of the Home of Hope team moved the players in and out of the line up and when the final score came in at the bottom of the ninth it was The Home of Hope team 26 and the USA team 25.

The children were very happy, especially “Dean” shown batting (left) as he had been grounded for a slight altercation with one of his brothers at the Home of Hope and wasn’t sure he was going to get to play. He was relieved and thrilled to have his punishment lifted just in time for the day of the game. All in all the children thoroughly enjoyed the visit of the students from Palm Beach Atlantic College.

Other Things of Interest

As summer gets closer the days get longer and warmer in Gongyi. The other day some of the children got to stay home from school and wanted to know if they could eat lunch outside, which we did. They really enjoy that and seemed to have a greater appetite than when they eat in the dining hall. Later all the children came to me and asked if we could schedule at least one day a week for eating outside.