Hope and More Hope!

By Zo: Wednesday afternoon we arrived in Beijing. A longtime driver for Hope met us at the airport and it was wonderful to see his smiling face. We arrived at Hope to see precious babies’ faces through the glass windows of the playrooms. Our hearts were overjoyed to be at “home” with these little ones. We had a home-cooked meal with the Shooks who have been in China serving orphans for several years, their baby, and Stephanie and Emma who are volunteers for the preschool.

On Thursday morning, we went downstairs to play with babies. It made me excited and happy to see all these little ones, yet sad that they do not have parents. I helped with the first class of preschool where the children listened to a story, had a snack, did an octopus craft, and said the alphabet. The sisters helped with the other classes. Volunteers in the preschool speak English so the children hear both Mandarin and English throughout the day.

At lunch we had noodles with Chinese sauce in the canteen here. We enjoy the delicious meals that are prepared on-site for the staff and volunteers. Thursday afternoon a Show Hope team came to visit Hope to see the home and play with the babies. We were asked to join them for dinner in Beijing. We ate at Annie’s Italian Restaurant and it was fun to be with so many people who care about these children.

(Rebecca here – Seeing all these people was a reminder of how big and how small this work is. Four of the people on the trip live in our home community and were people we had never met, yet we had mutual friends and made connections quickly. God works in amazing ways through so many people to care for these precious little ones. It was also great to see some Show Hope staff who were leading this team. They are people I work with regularly about supply suitcases for travelers.)

On Friday, we played with a lot of babies and loved on them. They rushed to us and held their hands up when we entered the room. I hold the babies, tell them God loves them, walk to show the out the window, and sit and play with them. Friday preschool was “water day.” During water play, the children each had a pan of water filled with toys. Some of the babies stood in their pan, some of them dumped their water, and some just played intently with their toys in the water. It was fun time and most babies left soaking wet but contented after such a fun time in the water and bright sunshine!

After lunch we took a walk to the community small grocery. It is always fun to see the variety of fresh fruits and vegetables they have in their stores as well as so many other items. The smog has not been a problem yet on this visit.

We had dinner at a local Chinese Barbeque restaurant. Outdoor dining was fun in this nice late spring weather. Since our family always enjoys a variety of Chinese food, it was fun to try this local place about one mile from Hope in Bei Wu.