Five new children entered into the care of Maria’s Big House of Hope (MBHOH) this week. Our family is growing and we wanted you to meet one of these precious children, Kevin, who just arrived with serious health concerns.

It is sometimes hard to concretely grasp that your investment in this work is directly impacting a specific child somewhere in the world, but it is true. The amazing opportunity Kevin has by coming into the loving care found at MBHOH is beyond words.

As Kevin is adjusting to life at MBHOH, please pray for his transition – that he would feel loved, at home, and secure.  Please also pray for the medical and support staff who are caring for him.  Pray for wisdom and grace as they seek to love and serve him daily.  Your Show Hope sponsorship is bringing Kevin a new hope. Thank you!

Meet Rihanna, a little girl with a HUGE personality that Show Hope sponsors are helping at Maria’s Big House of Hope!

After receiving heart surgery in Shanghai in May, 16-month old Rihanna quickly developed a personality that can light up the room. She is always laughing and smiling! As one of the few children who can walk on her own, she is constantly on the go. This mobility combined with her great curiosity means Rihanna is always trying to get out of her room, the Elephant Room, to roam the halls.

She is very mild-mannered and happy to spend time with each of the nannies and staff members at MBHOH. As her health improves through the daily care she receives in Luoyang, we expect that she will be adopted into a loving, forever family. Please continue to pray with us for sweet special-needs children like Rihanna, and consider providing the love and care for an orphan every month at Maria’s Big House of Hope by becoming a Show Hope sponsor today!

 Maria’s Big House of Hope really is a “big house with lots and lots of rooms!!” This week, we are pleased to announce the opening of a new wing on the Fifth Floor at Maria’s Big House of Hope! Overseen by Mariah Bywater, this area is dedicated to providing the highest level of comfort to children in need of palliative care. It is currently home to eight children. 

These children, the least of the least, are not being forgotten at MBHOH. The walls are decorated with the characters from Disney/Pixar’s Finding Nemo. Mobiles donated by Harpeth Hills Church of Christ Preschool, Maria’s preschool, adorn each crib. As these children look to the hope of heaven, their medical needs are addressed while they receive spiritual nourishment and one-on-one attention from several nannies. We are so thankful that the support of our sponsors allows us to show hope to these very special children. 

Today, we wanted to bring you a lighthearted glimpse into life at MBHOH, the second post in our “Daily Living” series.  

On Wednesday, the staff at MBHOH officially opened the unofficial “MBHOH Café.” One of the nurses who formerly worked at MBHOH left her espresso machine behind.  The staff set it up on Wednesday and began serving lattes (which are a rarity there!).  We thought we would pass along this video celebrating their good fortune!    

As an added bonus, you will see a cameo appearance by Mikaela.  She is the sweet little girl at MBHOH that we spotlighted last week on the blog.

Enjoy!

Meet Mikaela, one of the beautiful little girls Show Hope sponsors are helping in China.

Mikaela is currently receiving care at Maria’s Big House of Hope in the Peter Pan room. She really started coming out of her shell after receiving heart surgery earlier this year. She is constantly smiling and  has a funny little laugh that sounds more like a whistle. At just under a year old, Mikaela is crawling but isn’t quite up to standing or walking just yet. We are hopeful she will become a candidate for adoption. Please continue to pray with us for sweet special-needs children like Mikaela, and consider supporting Maria’s Big House of Hope through sponsorship today!

Are you wondering what day-to-day life looks like at Maria’s Big House of Hope? Well, we’re going to start a new blog series giving you a sneak peak into Show Hope’s more behind-the-scenes work in Luoyang!

Imagine cooking for a household full of hungry people. Maybe that doesn’t sound so bad, but multiply that by six floors of mouths to feed!! You quickly realize the labor that goes in to planning the menu and preparing the food at MBHOH.

Many people who recently returned from trips to Maria’s Big House commented how incredible it was to find a huge, fully-stocked, professional kitchen there. Unlike many large cafeterias we experience in the United States that serve pre-prepared frozen food, the meals at MBHOH are prepared fresh by the kitchen staff.

If you follow Show Hope on Twitter, you saw that today’s Photo of the Day is of two cooks preparing baozi dumplings. These delicious dumplings are usually filled with some type of vegetable or vegetable/meat mixture. Baozi is unique in the dumpling world due to its bread-like texture. The baozi pictured here are filled with a stuffing made of celery, spring onion, pork, and several different seasonings.

To make these delicious filled buns, the cooks chop up of all the filling ingredients and mix them together in a large bowl, adding the seasoning along the way. Once the filling is prepared, they make and roll the dough. When the dough is ready, they roll out little individual circles and begin to fill them with the stuffing. The sides of the full shells are folded in and twisted together at the top to seal the filling in to the dough. The last step is to throw the dumplings in the steamer and let steam for about 30 minutes. Here at the Show Hope offices we hear the finished product is awesome! If you’re interested in learning more about the preparation of this Chinese dish, click here.

We are so excited to be a part of a ministry that is touching lives of special-needs orphans, but we know we could not do it without a lot of help along the way. We’re thankful for the support that comes from people all over the world, from the Chinese cooks at MBHOH to our sponsors a little closer to home.  If you’re interested in joining our movement to care for orphans, learn about becoming a sponsor here.

We are so excited about what God is doing at Maria’s Big House of Hope, we couldn’t wait to show you the newest video that shares the story!

Thank you to all the supporters and sponsors who are making this possible. Tell your friends, and become a Show Hope sponsor today to be a part of bringing comfort and saving the lives of these amazing, precious children!

Many of the children here at New Hope in China are healing from surgeries or waiting to have them, and it is such a privilege to hold a child and to be able to pray over them specifically or to pray for the nannies who care for them. In our devotion the other night, our team talked about how it isn’t by chance that God calls us to “visit” the orphan in their need, because as anyone who has held an orphan knows, the overwhelming statistic of over 130 million orphans in the world becomes 1 orphan in your world—you know them by name and love them—they are no longer a part of the nameless, faceless statistic we often quote. Those children are real, they steal your heart, and you are compelled to love as the Father loves.

We have also had the chance to do some work around New Hope Foster Home and spent a day cleaning out a storage shed that houses many of the donated items for this home among other things. At times the donations may not be needed immediately, things like old air conditioners or heaters, extra furniture, or various other item, and in recent months the large storage shed had become packed full of these types of things. One of the staff at New Hope said he had gone to the garage a few times to try to work on this, but realized about 15 minutes later there was just no way to do it! The 20 of us spent the day clearing out this shed, which was no easy task to undertake!

When they first opened the door, I thought it could potentially take us the rest of the week to clean it out! By mid-morning it became evident that we would have it completed by the end of the day! Hanna, a team member from Washington State, laughed and said at some point during our endeavors that “many hands make light the work”, and I don’t think that saying ever had more meaning to me than at that moment. That truly came alive to me as I realized all that we had been able to accomplish by mid-afternoon and seeing the end in sight. It was such a huge blessing for our team to be able to do this work for New Hope, enabling the nannies to get into the storage area to see what items they could use for the kids and hopefully lifting an overwhelming task off the minds of the staff.

Please be praying for our team as we continue to seek God and serve His children here in China!

The Show Hope “China 3 Team” (the third team Show Hope has sent this summer) met up in Newark, NJ for the first time on July 31 before our long flight to Beijing.  Our team, ranging in ages from 14-26, was traveling in from all parts of the United States to serve at Maria’s Big House of Hope in Luoyang and at New Hope Foster Home in Beijing.  We planned on having a team meeting the night of the 31st in Newark before heading to China the next day, but due to weather conditions, many on the team were not able to arrive in NJ until late on the night of the 31st.

Despite the many long delays that day, the rest of the team thankfully made it in! We were able to have a little time of fellowship as a group that evening, and it was clear that God’s hand was already evident by the ways in which He enabled each person to be a part of the trip.  I kept picturing each person as a part of that Verizon Wireless commercial with a whole network of friends, family, and church body standing behind them as they set off to serve in China.  The body of Christ is truly a beautiful picture to behold.

Since arriving in Beijing about 4 days ago, we have been spending time with the precious children of New Hope.  I have enjoyed watching our team members as they have each begun to connect to the children and the staff here.  God always seems to draw the heart of each person to a different child and we often joke that “someone” else is holding my baby right now. In God’s wisdom, He brings different giftings and talents and personalities together to serve His children, and I’ve loved watching the way in which He works as a matchmaker between servant and child.  We’ve also been able to get down and dirty, working and serving by cleaning out the shed, but I’ll write more about that tomorrow!

This morning we will spend the day with the babies here at New Hope and then set out to visit some local foster families who care for some of the older children.  Although we have been enjoying authentic, delicious Chinese food from area restaurants or food prepared by the wonderful cooks at New Hope, I think the team is looking forward to heading into Beijing tonight for some Tex-Mex in the “ex-pat” section of Beijing before we board the overnight train to Luoyang.

I am looking forward to visiting Maria’s Big House of Hope with great anticipation.  Having worked at Show Hope for 4 years now, I have been a witness to the vision for this care facility and God’s amazing provision through His people for this new aspect of our ministry that will change the world for many children in need!  I know from the teams who went before us that many, many blessings in the forms of little ones named Hudson or Theo will be there to greet us!  I will also be carrying some precious cargo in my luggage: a blanket for Hudson from Mary Beth, a few little onesie outfits for little Theo, a letter and pictures to drop off for a young girl in the process of being adopted from a local orphanage, and many many hugs and kisses as well from those who have gone before us.

As we were flying to Beijing a few days ago, the youngest member of our team, Elizabeth, from Michigan, tapped me on the shoulder and asked if she could share a scripture passage during one of our devotional times.  She said she had been just been reading and the Lord spoke to her heart saying, “This is what I want to share with you about this trip”; she shared Ephesians 3:14-21.  So, we pray this portion of scripture, confident that Christ is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Here is a quick slideshow of pics from the team!

Tomorrow, Tuesday, August 4th, don’t miss this exciting opportunity to get up close and personal with Steven Curtis Chapman and Maria’s Big House of Hope (MBHOH)!  The 700Club is doing a feature on the Grand Opening, and you can click here and find a station to watch it >

Below is the press release with more information. We are so grateful for these opportunities to spread God’s heart for orphans and the ways that people are saving the lives of special needs orphans through MBHOH by becoming Show Hope sponsors.

July 30, 2009 On Tuesday, August 4th Christian Broadcasting Network’s daily program the 700Club will feature a segment on the grand opening of Maria’s Big House of Hope (MBHOH).

A local Chinese film crew was on hand for the grand opening of MBHOH several weeks ago, and the piece will feature Steven Curtis Chapman and his family on their trip to Luoyang, China for the exciting opening of this wonderful home that will provide life-saving care for special needs orphans.

Funded by Show Hope, this 60,000 square foot, 6 story facility will care for special needs children in the Henan area, one of the poorest provinces of China. MBHOH will offer these special children medical care, physical therepy and even life impacting surgery.

Read more about Maria’s Big House of Hope

The 700Club airs nationally on ABC Family as well as many other local broadcast stations.  Go to this link to find a station in your area:  700Club station finder