Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Last Day at Hope Foster Home













We had a great last day with the kids at Hope Foster Home. A new baby was brought in today, so we got to see the process that Joyce goes through in assessing their condition, etc. This adorable little boy has severe congenital heart diease and has just had surgery, but is not doing well. Hopefully, Joyce can nurse him back to health. We had a delicious Chinese lunch and then went to the Great Wall to ride the tobaggan slides down! We are preparing to leave China, with the hopes of continuing to help these orphans as much as possible. They are so precious and we know with the help of these foster homes, they can get the surgeries they need and one day find a forever family to love. Please watch our wesite www.amotherslovechina.com for new babies that need sponsors. We are hoping to find sponsors for all of them!

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Our 2nd Day at Hope Healing Home














We had another great day at Hope Healing Home. The girls helped in the preschool again and we enjoyed bonding with the babies. It has been so amazing to see the pictures of these children when they first came to Hope and to watch them running around playing now, healthy and waiting to be adopted! For all they have been through, they are such happy children, largely due to the care they have received at Hope.


This evening, we were fortunate to meet with the staff of Bring Me Hope, another wonderful organization that AML supports. They are here in Beijing getting ready for their four weeks of camps that they run for orphans aged 8-17. The best weeks of their lives are spent at the camps they run for these kids! If you are interested in sponsoring any children for a week at camp, contact us for details.

Monday, July 2, 2007

Hope Healing Home











Today was another incredible day (and probably our favorite!), as we spent all day at Hope Healing Home outside Beijing. AML has been supporting Hope for the past few years by providing surgeries, equipment, strollers, and other needed items. Joyce and Robin Hill founded Hope Healing Home to care for special needs children and hopefully get them adopted into forever families. In fact, a few of the children will be adopted in the next few weeks.

What an incredible place! It is an honor for us to serve here by playing with the children (47 at Hope and 16 in foster care). Brittany, Jenny, and Mollie got right to work in the pre-school for a few hours and then it was time for a great lunch at the Hills house (next door). After lunch, it was back to playing with all of the children (ages 3 months to 5 yrs old).

Jenny was excited that Starbuck's Lido was selected as our meeting place for Hope's driver! Yes, the frappacinos taste almost exactly the same as in the US!!

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Church in Beijing and Tourist Places







We had a great time at BICF (Beijing International Christian Fellowship) for church! It is held every Sunday in the 21st Century Theatre in Beijing. You must have a foreign passport to enter and there were Christians from over 70 countries there this morning! The worship band and the message were awesome -- and we even got communion!


After church, it was time to play tourists so we headed to see the Hutong neighborhoods on rickshaw bikes and also enjoyed some beautiful parks with lakes, boats, etc....We also went to Tian'anmen Square and the gardens surrounding the Forbidden City. Finally, we enjoyed an interesting meal at the Noodle Loft which consisted of noodle bowls with several different (and interesting!) sauces. The girls were adventurous and had fun trying everything (well, almost everything). Tomorrow we are off to Hope Healing Home......

There is also much celebrating around Beijing because it is the 10th Annivsary of Hong Kong being returned to Chinese rule. The picture above is one of many traditional Chinese dance groups who were performing outside our hotel.