Well, it’s been a busy summer for me. But I finally made it back to Chengdu and spent two days with Rebekah. It was short but great to be able to do work with her face to face.

For our first day, of course we spent with the kids at the orphanage. I noticed something different this time. The kids were a lot cleaner, and the ayis (nannies) in the babies’ room were more willing to let us hold the kids and take them out of the room. Also there were two pictures with “Je*us loves you” on the wall of their play room. Thank you for whoever put them up there!

And we spent major of our time playing with the kids, we did made crown and did face paint with them. Since it’s summer break, the school kids we always missed over the past visits were there. It was really great to see them, especially Ezra the boy we have been advocating for so long… He came right up to us with a big smile on his face. He was helping us with passing things out to the others, getting water for the face painting, getting trash can and cleaning up after the craft time etc, such a great helper. I love this boy, please join us in pr*ying for a forever family for him

I was blessed to be part of Rebekah’s weekly visit, and just to see them playing and giggling. Hope to go back again soon.

I bet anyone who is currently in the process of adopting or has gone through the adoption process would agree with me in saying, “adoption is a beautiful thing!”  Although I have never adopted before,  adoptions have already affected me in so many ways! It’s the most beautiful moment to me when I see adoptive parents meet their child face to face for the first time and I have been so blessed to witness this many of times throughout my career in orphan care.

I always get so excited when I get to tell the child that their parents are coming to get them soon! I got to do that again about two weeks ago… I am so happy that our Addie is going home with her parents in less than two weeks! I will miss her so much, especially when she asks these very smart questions like, “It’s snowing outside, are you going to hibernate?” or tells me very wisely, “Don’t ask me this, ask the Heavenly father”. I will miss when she asks me to do her nails or when I say good night to her, she kisses me and tells me she loves me! I will miss when she wants my attention, she would say” hold me if you love me!” I will miss ­her dancing and singing!­ I will miss when she tells me that I am not a girl because of my short haircut! I will miss her sassy, “hmph!” when I have to tell her I am too busy to play with her…..

I will miss her dearly, but the fact that there will be one less orphan in this world just makes my heart sing! But there are still so many orphans waiting for somebody to take them home! Are you one of them? Did you get the call from above to adopt? If so, do something about it!

Please visit the following links for information of some older boys who are still waiting for their families!
http://www.hsorphans.org/jackson.html
http://www.hsorphans.org/miles.html
http://www.hsorphans.org/ezra.html

"Religion that is pure and undefiled before G*d, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world." James 1:27

So, before this week I always thought I was totally prepared for the future work of Hope Station. The last few days however, definitely proved me wrong….

The measles virus infected two people at our foster home; we had to admit one young lady to the hospital while a young boy had to be isolated from the other kids. Because of the lack of staff, I was given the role of caregiver for the boy who has been isolated. I have never babysat a 3 year old before, even though I have worked with children for almost 10 years.  Even though he had to go to the bathroom every 5 minutes, pooped himself, and I had to give him a bath and hand wash his clothes….Don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to boast  about myself, but I have to say, I truly enjoyed every moment!. I realize this is how God shows me that the preparation is not done yet, and how much I still need to learn to be equipped for Hope Station.

The boy I babysat is Doug, he is the smartest, bravest and happiest 3-year old I have ever seen! He never sheds a single tear when getting shots; he takes his medicine with no complaints even though they are pretty nasty (he actually says they taste good, ack!); In the midst of the suffering from the virus, he still manages to sing and smile and pray before every meal….. His little happy soul just inspires me to be a faithful follower of Him! I am so amazed to see God work in such incredible ways; He never fails to teach us even through little children and dirty diapers.

On a happier note, I got to see Ezra before he got on the school bus. He is one of the boys we have been advocating for a long time, I am so happy that he remembered me. He came up to me with a big smile on his face :)

In the afternoon, I got to sit down and talk to the director for a little bit. It’s really encouraging to know that she is so patiently waiting for Hope Station to be accomplished.  After the meeting with the director, Danny and I went on a pr*yer walk, pr*ying for every room we could, particularly for all the administrative rooms that they would be good stewards and servants to the children. 

 We also got to take some kids out to their new playground, which was such a treat as I got to hear them giggle and see them have fun! 

Oh i almost forgot to mention how blessed we were to be able to bring a few simple gifts for the children. Things we take advantage of like bubbles, balloons, playdoh and arts of crafts brought the kids such incredible joy. 

This blog post is dedicated to a special boy called Kai Patton. He came to the foster home that I used to work for about 8 years ago, the same year as I started to work there. I remember that he was so fragile, skinny and pale, because of his severe heart condition. He got his first heart surgery shortly after he came to us, and it helped with his heart a little. But he was still pretty blue. To be honest, I wasn’t close to him until the last two years before he got adopted, but we got so close to each other during those two years. I remember we would play hide and seek with him and some other older kids after school; We would gang up and shoot others with water guns; We would play UNO or Dutch Blitz, and he would get so competitive; We would have hot pot together, and he would always tell me that my hot pot is the best; He and his best friend would always talk about that when they both grow up (they will be working together as engineers, so they can make tons of money to help the others in need); Because he was one of the oldest kids in his house, he would always help the ayis take the younger ones to school; He loves transformers, cars, superman, and would always talk about them; He is the neatest boy I have ever known, he would even make his own bed!; He would clean his white tennis shoes every other day, so it could stay white and clean; He would also make sure the books in his drawer were well organized; He also has the best handwriting; He loved our dog Stevie, he would always give his left over from lunch to her; Whenever Stevie saw him with a bowl, she would come running;  And he told me that he was praying for a boyfriend for me every day until his prayer was answered! I love his gentle heart; I love how his always sticks out his tongue in the pictures.

He once wrote a letter to his biological parents saying that he doesn’t hate them because they abandoned him, that he understands why L what a thoughtful and forgiving young man! And when he first found out that he was getting adopted, he was so excited. He would ask me every single day, how many more days till his family comes to get him. I was so honored and blessed to meet his wonderful family when they came to adopt him! They love him so much, and I can see how his first year with his family changed him into an even more loving young man!

I was so excited when I first heard about him getting an open heart surgery that will fix everything. I pr*yed that everything would go well, and he would be a healthy boy running around and playing all the sports he likes. Unfortunately, our Heavenly Father has other plans for him before that happens. There were some complications after the surgery; Kai has spent about two weeks in the ICU now. My friend went to visit him and Skyped me from his ICU, it was so hard to see all the tubes on him. Please join me in pr*yer for Kai and his amazing family; they have been through so much! I know our Heavenly Father has a wonderful plan for him, and He is much greater than all the struggles that Kai and his family are going through!

“ For I know the plans I have for you, declares the L*RD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ Jeremiah 29:11

This collage makes me miss him so much!! 

As many of you know, I started working with another foster home called Agape Family Life House, about a week and half ago. To be completely honest, it was a hard transition, not because this place is new to me, but because I have worked at the former foster home for so long, and miss the kids there terribly.

But God has shown His immediate grace and has blessed me so much already! I now live in a home with 5 of the most adorable little kids; I have my own apartment, (although the whole place is a little too big for me and I don’t know what to do with it, haha…); I love to wake up with their sweet voices downstairs every morning; I love to hear the little ones pray before every meal, it’s the most humbly moment ever; I love to worship and pray together with the older kids here on Wednesday night; I love to hear the little ones yell my name every time I come back to the house or come downstairs from my apartment; I love that the two foster homes are so close to each other, so I can go back to visit the other kids whenever I can; I love that the kids make me feel closer to God; I love that I am close to my boyfriend, so we can study the bible and pray together every day, also we don’t have to drive a scooter in the freezing cold to take me home; I love to watch the ayis pray with kids and read bible stories to them; I love to play UNO with the older kids; I love the fact that they love and care for each other, they truly live like brothers and sisters; I love that little John always comes to open to door for me and yells my name “Siry,  Siry”; I love to hang out with older kids and just be goofy with them; I love that Charlotte always wants to do puzzles with me as it is one of my favorite things to do; I love the fact that they are so active, their fragile bones don’t really slow them down; I love that the bakery girls try so hard to study the bible and other subjects in addition of their busy days, they challenge me to do more; I am so thankful for this place and the people here, I can’t wait to see how the Father is going to use me for them!

This month is the 3rd  anniversary for Hope Station! Woohoo…Time flies!! Looking back, I can’t really put my words together for how grateful I am for everything; thankfully,this pr*yer came to me:
Heavenly Father, thank you for bringing Rebekah and I together to start your work 3 years ago. We are so honored and blessed to be a part of it!
Thank you for being so faithful and for reminding us that you are always there when we feel discouraged. 
Thank you for putting the puzzle pieces together, when we don’t even know we need them. 
Thank you for keeping us strong when we and others doubt our abilities. 
Thank you for the opportunities to share your stories in us with people and touch their lives.
Thank you for teaching us about patience in waiting to actually open Hope Station.
Thank you for always reminding us that things don’t work by our time or pace, but yours. 
Oh Father, you are the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, and you know our needs. So please keep us strong and help us to get through this waiting. We know the hardship along the way is nothing compared to your power, and that through your grace, it is only making us stronger. 
Oh Father, please equip us well, so we will be ready for your work. Please give us your wisdom and strength when we face the challenges before us….Thank you Jes*s, in your name I pr*y, Amen!

"Religion that is pure and undefiled before G*d, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world." James 1:27

 My name is Sara Zhou, I am a native Chinese, I have been working with orphaned children since 2005. I am currently working at a foster home that’s one hour outside of Beijing, my job here is orphanage liaison, I am usually the one the orphanages first contact when they need our help to take care of their kids, or when their kids under our care are getting adopted, I am also the one to travel with the kids back to their provinces to meet their adoptive families, I feel so blessed and honored to be able to witness the most touching and precious moment so many times.

My initial reason to work with these kids was simply that I needed a job, and there happened to be an opportunity, it seemed random, but little did I know that was actually part of G*d’s plan. You see, I never liked kids before I started working here, yes I hated little children. To me, kids were just bunch of ungrateful children that whine and cry for everything they want, and they were just too much work. But funny how G*d works sometimes…. Before I knew it, my life was already changed by these precious little ones, they became the biggest part of my life, I found myself talking about them all the time. I mean how could I not love them? They are so cute and loving. I love when they run to me with their open arms whenever they see me; I love when they yell at my name with big smile on their adorable faces; I love when they blow kisses at me; I love when they say “I love you” or ‘I miss you” to me; I love their innocent laughter when I tickle them; I love when they let me hold their little hands; I could go on and on about how much I love them, but you get the point!

Because of my work with these children, I couldn’t see myself to do anything else but serving them for the rest of my life. About 4 years ago, G*d gave me the vision of starting my own foster home in my hometown, but I didn’t know when or how or who I was going to work with until one day He brought my dear friend and partner to my work place. It was through seemed random conversation she had with some random people about what she wanted to do in her future, and I happened to be in the same room. Her answer was “Oh I have always wanted to serve the orphans in China”, I immediately looked at her and said “really? We gotta talk.” So later that day, we shared our stories with each other, it turned out we share the same vision from above, and we both felt that G*d brought us to work together to start a foster home in my hometown. So that very night, we came up with a long list of what we need to do and such. It took us a while to decide on the name for our foster home, but we both agreed to call it “Hope Station”. We want the kids under our care and the people we work with to have the hope we have from the Father, also station sounds unique for a foster home, and it represents that our foster home will be just a short term stop before they find their forever family. 
And this blog is dedicated to HS! Feel free to visit our website: www.hsorphans.org, and stay tuned for our updates :)

"Religion that is pure and undefiled before G*d, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world." James 1:27