New Hope Orphanage Visit

We have been unsure this whole time as to where Mayleigh was actually living. We were put in touch with a lady back in Aug. who works for Show Hope and all she did was confirm that Mayleigh was in their care. But there are many different houses in the Henan province so we really never were sure where she lived. Everyone was always really vague with me when I would ask which show hope house she was in.

Since we knew there was one in Beijing we decided to try and go since we were right here...even if Mayleigh didnt live there. Let me back up a little and explain some new info I got today about the Show Hope organization. I guess I assumed Steven Curtis Chapman opened all these homes from the ground up. But it was actually a couple who moved to China about 20 years ago for the husbands job and the wife decided she wanted to help the orphans. So I think back in 1998 they started one in their home. A few years later Steven and his wife started hearing about what they were doing and wanted to get involved. The Chapmans have been raising about 80% of the funds for the Show Hope organization and are a big part of the organization. They have built a few more orphanages and are working on a new one in Mayleigh's birth city, Nanyang. So we actually got a personal tour from the man that opened them. He was wonderful. We first asked him if Mayleigh had been living there and they said no so he got right on the phone and called Maria's Big House of Hope to check with them. We finally got confirmation that she has been living at MBHOH. Even though the orphanage we went to today was not where she was living, they are run the same so it was similar and I am so glad we got a chance to see it. MBHOH is too far and we would never had a chance to go see that one.

He showed us around and explained the room situations. There are 12 kids per room and the ratio is 2 kids per nanny. They always watch after the same two, but 3 nannys rotate on 8 hour shifts. Then they have bedrooms with 4 cribs per room. So they are like little families of 12. The kids get to know each ohter. Then they had a nice cafeteria and a room he called Kindergarten. They start going when they are 18 months to this room for about 45 min a day. They start doing organized play and learning english. I thought that was amazing. Not just a typical orphange where there is no learning going on.

This place was so impressive! They were so organized and the kids had nice clothes on and nice warm beds with quilts that the woman who opened it made. They had a nice playground outside also to play on when its warm. The babies that were about to have surgery were in a separate room to keep them from getting colds or getting sick before surgery and then there was a separate room for kids who were recovering from surgery. 

We were able to go in a few rooms and I was amazed at how comfortable these kids were with us. Just running right up to us and putting their arms up to be held, climbing on Jeff's legs and saying mama to me. One girl in particular came running to me and wanted to be held and loved. She was such a doll and I fell in love with her. I noticed she had a large scar on her chest so she must have had heart surgery at some point. I was getting nervous because she was very clingy and wouldnt let me put her down. The nannies didnt speak english and I felt like she was getting worried or annoyed at how clingy this little girl was. 

Some of the rooms were taking shifts going down to the cafeteria to eat. It looked like the were just eating some kind of rice porridge. They had them all lined up in high chairs or sitting in double strollers. It was neat to see. 

I wasnt sure what kinds of emotions I was going to have today seeing the orphanage. In one hand I was so happy to see the good care they were getting and all the smiles on their faces. But it was really hard to leave, to know that some of these kids may never have a home. I wanted to stay and continue playing with them because I felt like we brought pure joy to their faces. We waved at them from the windows and they waved back with big smile and some blew kisses! They were all precious!!! 

Well the pictures are taking forever to upload and I wont get a chance to do anything again until much later...So I will post pictures tonight.