Today is August 20th and it is the first day of the Home of Hope Kindergarten.

Above and seated, left to right are Ruthie, Rose, Isaac, Gracie, Autumn and Mosie. Behind them are the teachers, Cui Xiao Jie, Michelle Godard and Zhao Cai Xia. Michelle will teach the children English and the two certified Chinese teachers will teach the children all the other subjects.

For a very long time we have wanted to have a school associated with the Home of Hope. Several years ago we attempted to open an English school but due to licensing requirements we had to take on a Chinese partner to satisfy the government regulations and it just didn’t work out.

Now we have the Home of Hope Kindergarten. It is small. For now it is just for our own children. This year we will have seven full time students and four part time students. We use the term “part time” because the part time students are still very young so they only join in for the singing, dancing and exercise classes.

The full time students are:

Issac Ma Shi Hao left and Autumn Xiong Duo right

Ruthie Xiong Shan left and Moses Xiong En (Mosie) right

Gracie Xiong Ya left and Jackson Godard right

Rose Xiong Ai left and Caleb Xiong Qiang (part time) right

Abby Joy Xiong Miao Yin (part time) left and Eli Godard (part time) right

Mary Xiong Xiao (part time)

Just a couple of days ago our kindergarten furniture was delivered. New “little ones” sized chairs, tables, book cases, file racks and miscellaneous items for the day to day activities of the kindergarten. The older boys of the Home of Hope helped to assemble the furniture.
There is a fresh excitement in the air as the older children realize that all of these babies were abandoned and taken in when they were new born and now they are starting kindergarten in our own Home of Hope Kindergarten. So Cool!

Additional snapshots of the new Home of Hope Kindergarten. A lot of interesting things happened today.. the first day… and there will be many more! We will update this page as often as we can! Wont you come visit us sometime? That would be very, very nice!
So come on over!

When we obtained the land for the Home of Hope back in 2002, there was a parcel of land across the road from us that is included. We use it for planting Sweet Potatoes and Peanuts. Both of these commodities are favored in the local Chinese food. The Sweet Potatoes are used in many ways with morning soup and evening soup being one of the favorites. The Peanuts are used in cooking and as a side dish with many different meals!
Over the years, it has become one of the children’s favorite past times at the Home of Hope to both prepare the ground, plant whatever it is we are planting at that time and to bring in the harvest. They take care of the little truck farm on weekends and any spare time they have from their studies and playing.

There is a whole lot of pride in these children when they have supper and part of their meal is their own peanuts and / or sweet potatoes.

On the left, Issac is getting into things but on the right Abby Joy just doesn’t like it too much! (yet)


On the left is Mathew Wang Xin and on the right is Shirley Ge Qing Ya. Both of them are really into harvesting their peanuts!

One day during early Spring we were all outside enjoying the end of Winter and the fine weather that precedes the hot and sticky days of summer. Many of the children were on some type of “riding” device (bicycles, scooters, cars, roller skates roller blades and skate boards) and they ended up racing around and around on the Home of Hope sidewalks. Some of them just ran on foot!

Nathan was able to get this little group stopped long enough for a picture. Left to right and back to front are Gracie on her bike, Autumn on her bike Mosie on his bike, Isaac on his bike and Ruthie on her bike with little Rose on her six wheeled ‘something or another’ (she can really make it go fast… it’s pretty neat… moves by her moving the steering wheel back and forth… they didn’t have this type of thing when we were kids… would really like to try it… ).

And they are off! Started out with Isaac in the lead then Ruthie but it wasn’t long before Peter on his little scooter took over the lead! Then along came Vincent on his roller blades and no one else had a chance! But Mosie was bound and determined to catch up and take the lead and the pictures below show what happened!

Mosie took off with what, over time, we have learned is a very strong look of determination. As you can tell by the first series of pictures he started off in the back of the pack. He gradually got closer to the lead and was doing really good until he got to the turn.
At that point his little bike just slid out from under him… (top center) and he slid a couple of feet… (top right). He is five years old and for a second or two it appeared as if it was all over and the tears would start but instead he got up, picked up his bike and took off again! Great little guy!

All in all the kids had a great afternoon but they finally had to take a rest!

At the left is Vincent resting with his roller blades still in place. We have featured Vincent a few weeks back but he is simply a great little guy and is doing so good in school. Very level headed and all the other children really love him for his personality and over all character. We are very proud of him.

Generally when a new child comes to us it takes a couple of years for them to totally adapt to our environment and house rules. At times we forget Vincent is one of the new children at the Home of Hope.

Keep it up Vincent!

While we were taking the pictures of the children riding there “wheeled things” and racing around the Home of Hope side walks we happened to notice Linda Wei Ling Yu standing by one of our palm trees and just watching the children as they sped around the track.

We knew what she was doing and sure enough when Mosie had his little mishap, she was the first one to reach him to help him up. Many times she is like a little mother with the younger children and when one of the nursery workers has to have a day off one can often find Linda there working with the babies and helping out. (On those days when she has no school.)

If you have time please go to our archives page or our children’s page and you can see how she has grown over the years! She is a delight to have at the Home of Hope and a delight to be around. You can see more about her by clicking on her name at the bottom of this page.

As is common with all children, their emotions can change at the drop of a hat.

Here you can follow little Caleb‘s change (left to right, top to bottom) as he goes from happy and laughing to upset and crying and all of this because Li Sheng the house mother on duty at the time wouldn’t let him comb her hair.

Within a few seconds after the last picture on the right was taken, the tears were gone and he was laughing again!

These were our first abandoned babies and have been with us five and a half years at this point. They speak both Chinese and English and cause quite a stir in the local kindergarten they attend.

One day their teacher called and was laughingly telling us how it takes longer for all the children to get out of class in the afternoon because Moses wants to help all the little girls put their coats on! What a gentleman!

When she came to us her little right foot was turned to the right to about 90 degrees.

Every day we give her a minimum of three periods of therapeutic massage pulling her little foot back into position and holding it there for a period of time.

She is now walking and gets around like any other child her age.

We may put her in braces for awhile but as of right now the doctors say she doesn’t need them and that her little feet are developing just like they should.

Left to right, top then bottom: Michael, Gracie, Autumn, Rose, Peter, Isaac and Abby Joy.

It is a true joy to watch these little ones grow up. Michael and Peter are in first grade now and this fall Gracie, Autumn and Isaac will be starting kindergarten.

When we got to Beijing Dr. Xu, who has done all the surgery on our other babies, felt the protrusion was too much and would keep the corrective surgery from taking. The hospital fitted Isaac with a device to slowly pull the gum and lip down and into place and we returned home with instructions to leave the device in place 24 hours a day.

After faithfully applying the device for about a month we sent progress pictures to Dr. Xu. He called and said he felt it was the right time to take Isaac back to Beijing for surgery.

Through all of this little Isaac has been a cheerful little boy and really likes to smile and laugh. I think these babies are given a special degree of Grace to take the pain and discomfort that come with this sort of thing.

As the day approached for us to take Isaac back to Beijing I began to be filled with the real apprehension that comes with these operations. The babies are so small and to realize they are going to be under anesthesia for at least two hours is almost more than I can take. One would think that by now I would be used to it. But that simply is not the case.

I so clearly remember when “Moses” had his first surgery. On that occasion I took one of the nursery staff with me because in China someone has to stay with the patient 24 hours a day. Hospitals here only give out medication and treatment. All bathing, feeding and the other sundry patient needs must be done by family or friends. In the case of these babies, someone must be with them all the time. As “Moses” was wheeled into surgery the first time Xiao Ping and I stood outside the operating room and both of us had tears running down our cheeks.

This time, with baby Isaac, two wonderful ladies of like belief volunteered to go and help with Isaac.

Before we took him up to the surgery floor we prayed for his safety and well being. In prayer we reminded his spirit that he was born and brought to the Home of Hope for a purpose and that all was well.

Two hours later we were taken into the intensive care room where he would need to remain for the next 24 hours, and there he was. It was so cute to watch as he came out from under the anesthesia. He would turn his little head left and right, trying to reorient himself, I’m sure. He was a little irritated about his little arms being strapped to his sides so he wouldn’t grab his stitches, but as soon as he could focus on us and could recognize us, he smiled. I was so relieved and happy.

The following day found Isaac in even better spirits than the day before. Wide awake… eating good and his mouth has began to take a more normal appearance in shape as the swelling subsides a little.

November Birthdays

At the beginning of November we started something new at the Home of Hope. Every Sunday night we celebrate all the birthdays for the previous week. This month we had several. Glen and Esther both share the same birthday of November 21st. They had a beautiful cake and each of them received a nice card signed by all their brothers and sisters in the Home of Hope. YeYe (Grandpa [Nathan Bell]) is the last to sign the card and the children can’t wait to find someone to translate the words that YeYe writes on the card.

Little Ruthie Xiong Shan had her first birthday and was a little confused about all the “goings on.” Some very special friends in the United States who have developed a real love for Ruthie sent her some awesome birthday gifts.

She doesn’t like the flash on the camera and the digital camera we use has a pre flash that is designed to take the red out of people’s eyes caused by the flash. This always alerts Ruthie that a flash is about to take place and she closes her eyes and turns her head making it so difficult to get a good picture. We got lucky here.

June’s Birthday was on November 9th. This was the first time she had ever had a cake made in her honor and she was so happy. You can see the big smile on her face as she cuts pieces of cake for all the other children in the Home of Hope.

One of the traditions in China is to have a cake fight after the preliminaries are over. They did it on June’s Birthday.. later she was covered with pink and white creamed icing!

This was also Jerry and Hazel‘s birthday. Jerry’s birthday is on November 4th and Hazel’s birthday is also on November 4th. We checked and double checked the personal information cards of these children this month as it is really coincidental that two pairs of children have birthdays on the same day in the same month. It is such a joy to observe the difference in these children from a little over a year ago when they came to us the first time.

Other Events

Remembering the difficulties of last winter… the days without electricity and because we heated with electricity… no heat.. we decided to install a coal fired boiler system to heat the facilities for the Home of Hope.

The boiler was delivered in early November and has made such a difference. The coal will be a substantial cost savings over the electric and that savings will more than cover the expense of installing the unit. A big “Thank You” to all of you who contributed to make this system a reality.

Above is Roland Ashby, director of Strategic Alliance, and an eighty plus year old lady. If you look real close you can see her feet were bound as a child.

On November 28th some dear friends of the Home of Hope arrived in Gongyi, China all the way from San Antonio, Texas. They brought gifts to the children and more importantly A LOT OF LOVE!.

The group had lunch with the children and said they really enjoyed it. The fare was Chinese dumplings and Hot and Sour Soup. The children love to watch the foreigners try to eat with the chopsticks. They often think it is the first time they have ever tried it.

There were a lot of pictures taken during this visit but we really liked this one. It is probably the first time anyone ever just sat down, laid back and rested in the three wheel cart the Home of Hope staff uses to go to the market every day to buy groceries.

November also saw the calendar move around and all the children were given preventative injections as suggested by the Chinese Medical Association here in Gongyi. The service was provided free by the Women’s and Children’s Hospital of Gongyi that we have developed a good relationship with.