The Hope House

My friend Susan Johnson forwarded this to me. Interesting read about a foster care home called the hope house. If you follow the address at the bottom, there are some great pictures. Enjoy

The hope house
>
> I finally arrived at the Hope Foster home. It is no orphanage. It is
> better then most care centers we have in the USA. They have so much for
> the kids to do and play with. It is so good to see these children play
> and have fun. They have it better then any of the 'orphanage' children.
> All kids here are in some way disabled. By that the Chinese government
> means they have some birth defect such as a cleft palette or a hole in the
> heart. All of these can be fixed but in China they have a very low
> survival rate. They are hard to take care of so they are sometimes put in
> a 'dying room'.
>
> The Hope foster home takes these children and by the Grace of God funds
> treatment. Surgeries are performs. Physical therapy and much more are
> brought to the children so that they may survive. They live a very good
> life. They are in a VERY clean environment and are well taken care of.
> They have a nanny for every two children.
>
> The women who work hear are hand selected and are well qualified. They
> make 400RMB ($53) a month . They are some of the best played people in
> town. The average wage in the town is 300RMB ($39). They get lots of
> people that want to work here and only a few are chosen so they get very
> good nanny's. The nanny's are the only mother the children know until they
> are adopted. There is one girl leaving tomorrow, Aurea, and she is been on
> edge all day. Her nanny is very sad and you can see the tension. But she
> is an awesome kid. Cute and funny and full of spunk.
>
> We got to play with these children most of the day. They picked us, Steve
> and I, up in Beijing, and drove us out about 1.5 hours. We made a stop
> at a grocery store that was very western. It was in a part of town that
> was mostly filled with ex-patriots (Americans or English that have moved
> or are working in China). It was the first grocery store that I had been
> to in China that did not involve live fish and frogs.
>
> We arrived and got down to the serious business for playing. We were
> working really hard here. Sweat rolling off of us but the kids were
> orbiting us and wanting to play anything. The nannies just laughed at us
> and wondered where the stupid people came from.
>
> We took some of the older kids outside to play. We did chalk, bubbles and
> just ran. They rarely get out and just run so the ran for quite a bit.
> When we got back in some of them just passed out. I mean OUT. Aurora,
> who is getting adopted tomorrow, was so asleep there were kids falling on
> her and she still would not wake up.
>
> Each room had a king. Joshua in one room (Aurea was the queen) and
> Michael in the other. All toys must be cleared by these two before they
> are allowed to pass to other children. They are so sweet. I want to take
> all three of them home.
>
> Then there is sting. How awesome is this one. He had a very large
> blockage in his anus and could not poo so he was very sick when they got
> him. Very light and very small. Now he is strong as an ox but a mommas
> boy. It took two days before he would not cry when I looked at him. I
> got some high fives but he was always with his nanny. It was awesome.
> I'll take him
>
> Then there is Joshua. This one breaks my heart. All the older children
> are getting adopted and this one has not. So he says to the doctor, "all
> my friends are getting adopted, where are my mom and dad". This one is
> all boy. Totally what I need to balance all the women I have in the
> house.
>
> We went out last night. That involved riding a bike down a pitch black
> street about 2 miles to the nearest village. We then found a vendor and
> sat down and had a beer. A 32oz beer cost us about 11c. BRILLIANT. Then
> we had some grilled pork (I think) on a stick. So 3 beers, food and lots
> of stares from the locals..... less then 90c. How cool is that?
>
> In the morning we took the kids for a walk. Usually they ride in
> strollers. The nannies hang out and talk. Steve and I upset the balance
> by letting the walk with us. I think we wore them out as Micah and Bobby
> and Oliver all walked over a mile. Steve and I started calling bobby
> "Ricky bobby" and after a bit, so did some of the other kids. We all
> laughed about that one.
>
> When it was time to go, I tried to convince them to let me take a few.
> They told me they would have to check my luggage to see if Sting was
> packed in my suitcase. I told them how much Amy was wanting that little
> boy.
>
> Well, it is time for me to go but before I do let me tell you one thing.
> It was a blessing. I learned a lot and will do this again. These are the
> lucky ones that have been blessed by being 'placed' in this foster home.
> They are receiving God's blessings and it is great to see. I thank the
> Lord for this opportunity.
>
> If you want to see the pictures they are at
> http://jarrettpotts.shutterfly.com/action