This is the third entry in our “TOP TEN Highlights From 10 Years of Ministry” series. Click here to read previous entries>>>

3. Seeing Our Flagship Special Care Center for the First TIme

I was absolutely awestruck in 2008 when we first pulled up to the construction site of Maria’s Big House of Hope, Show Hope’s flagship Special Care Center in China. It was humbling to stand there next to six stories and sixty thousand square feet dedicated to providing life-giving care and love to the least of these. The legacy of precious Maria Chapman certainly lives on and has grown through the three other care centers we have established in Jiaozuo, Zhengzhou, and Xinyang. More than 1,000 orphans with special needs have received care, and more than 100 of them are already in loving forever families!

Read blogs from our Special Care Centers>>>

SEE Maria’s Big House of Hope with your own eyes! Contact David Trask about joining his September trip.

In most parts of the world, the New Year holiday has given way to Valentine’s Day and will turn to St. Patrick’s Day later this week. New Year’s resolutions have run their short course and we are back into the habits of everyday life.

That’s in most parts of the world….But here in China, the excitement of the Chinese New Year (also know as the Spring Festival) is just beginning! This Sunday, February 10th we celebrated the Chinese New Year with a very literal “bang” as amateur firework enthusiasts like myself lit up the sky with questionably-produced pyrotechnics to ring in the Year of the Snake.

Chinese New Year is the longest and most important traditional holiday for this country of 1 billion plus residents (and many other Asian countries). In the coming weeks, Chinese people will travel home to be with family, enjoy copious amounts of dumplings, and light off more fireworks than New York’s Fourth of July extravaganza.

Here at Maria’s Big House of Hope, we also joined in the excitement and celebrations. In preschool, we made dragon masks and painted pictures of fireworks to hang up around our home. Maria Claire, Weston, Judah, and Hope among other children smiled and laughed as they colored, painted, and glittered (is that a word?) each piece.

We also had the privilege of traveling to our other Special Care Centers this week – Zhengzhou, Xinyang, and Jiaozuo – to prepare for the New Year with some of the other kids you have recently met through the blog, like Dante and his friend Debby.

May your Joy be full this Chinese New Year – Chun Jia Kuai Le!

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Did your family celebrate Chinese New Year? Leave us a comment with your tips and ideas for teaching kids about this holiday!

Become a sponsor and help make more moments like this possible for waiting children at Show Hope Special Care Centers!
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Leander was at Maria’s Big House of Hope for nearly a year in the Tinker Bell room with Jessica, Judah, and Fahlin. Due to his congenital blindness, he is a bit shy at first, but once he knows you he opens up and is a ton of fun. When Naomi’s family came to visit MBHOH during their adoption trip, Leander quickly found his way over to Naomi’s mom, climbed up in her lap, and just smiled and laughed with her.

Leander is very active and adventurous and seems to really enjoy jumping and exploring his way around the room. He is particularly drawn to bright areas by the windows where he can see differences in light and shadows better.  Leander is extremely ticklish, and it is fun to hear his infectious laughter spread throughout the room.

Recently Leander was transferred to the Show Hope Special Care Center in Zhengzhou, where Mikey and I had a blast playing with him on our visit last month. While his personality was sometimes overshadowed by the more outgoing older kids while he was at MBHOH, he quickly became the king of his nursery in Zhengzhou. Ednalyn, his nurse, says that he has made great progress in the last few months since joining the preschool class in this unit.

As with all children under care, Leander’s progress has been made possible by the generous giving of Show Hope sponsors and donors as they seek to fulfill God’s calling to serve “the least of these.”  Please pray that Leander will find permanency and love in a forever family of his own through adoption.

A few months back, a request was made on our blog asking for anyone willing to knit slippers for our nannies. The response to that post was overwhelming, and the literal amount of slippers we received was even more so. Church knitting groups, families, and individuals spent many hours lovingly making these slippers by hand. During a trip to Nashville in November, I stopped by the Show Hope office to pick up the slippers and was floored by the amount that had come in (thank you Cathy and Melissa for graciously holding these in your office). We returned to China with two very large (and heavy!) suitcases full of knit slippers.

As we celebrated Christmas at Maria’s Big House of Hope, what a joy it was to be able to give heartfelt gifts to the ladies who care for our children every day. And these gifts would not have been possible without the help of countless people who were willing to use their time and talents to bless these women this holiday season.

In total, we wrapped and distributed more than 400 pairs of slippers! These slippers were gifted to our staff at Maria’s Big House of Hope including our nurses, office personnel, laundry and cleaning staff, and of course the ladies who tend to our babies. With such an outstanding response, we were also able to send slippers to our nurses and nannies at our other three Show Hope Special Care Centers in Zhengzhou, Jiaozuo, and Xinyang! Show Hope sponsors and their families were also invited to send in Christmas coloring sheets that said Merry Christmas in Mandarin, which we we included with each package.

Thank you to our sponsors and volunteer knitters for loving our staff and children in this way. These ladies give so much love and care to our children, and it is a blessing for us to be able to do something for them in hopes that they would know the love and appreciation we have for them.

One of the hardest parts of our work here at Show Hope Care Centers like Maria’s Big House of Hope is saying goodbye. And yet it is also one of the best parts of our work here, for often that goodbye is imparted with the knowledge and hope that our children are getting ready to meet their forever families.

Over the past year, we have had the honor of seeing many children leave our Special Care Centers to enter loving families, often children who have been with us for some time. They are children we have loved, cared for, and watched as they have grown and blossomed. As Show Hope sponsors and donors, you have also followed their stories and have grown to love them as well. Some of you who traveled on short-term trips have even met them, held them, and played with them.

Many of you know Jessica and Jaelynn… both of them have been at Maria’s Big House of Hope since opening in 2009 and both were recently joined to their forever families!! We are overjoyed as have prayed and longed for the day when these two precious girls would know the love of a forever family.

We were also thrilled to find out that Moses and Brielle were being adopted. Not only were they adopted, but we recently found out that they were adopted into the same family! So now, not only were these best buddies re-united, but they will forever be brother and sister! Most recently we said goodbye to another little one whom we have all come to know and love dearly, Kitt. Kitt was by-far one of the friendliest little guys at MBHOH and his sweet smile and personality will be missed on our fourth floor.

As we welcome a new year and say a bitter-sweet goodbye to these children and to those who have joined their families in 2012, we are reminded that many remain who are still in need of life-giving care. Some of these children you have met, such as Hope, Janice, and Judah, and others  we look forward to telling you more about! We hope you will continue to pray with us each month, and to consider becoming a Show Hope sponsor to help make these miracles possible for more children through the amazing care at Show Hope Special Care Centers and adoption aid grants!

Watch the amazing slideshow of children who have been welcomed home from the care of Show Hope Care Centers in 2012 below!

By now the excitement of Christmas is wearing off a bit and hopefully is fading into a wonderful memory for all. As we turn our attention to crossing the threshold into a new year, before we do, join me in rejoicing in what we have been able to accomplish as the body of Christ in 2011. Whether you are a donor, an adoptive parent, a volunteer, a missionary, on staff at SH, a board member, an influential voice, a partner, one of our prayer warriors, or a vendor, I am grateful for the part that you played that resulted in life change for hundreds of orphaned children (now former orphans) in our country and around the globe. Your steps of obedience to play your part as one of the cast of characters in the life story of these kids that we have been a part of strengthen us as an organization. At times, you may have felt like an “extra” or a “stand in” but the stories of change are epic and the impact is beyond us. God’s plans are bigger and better than ours and while I don’t have time to recount all the miracles of 2011, below are a few headlines to recap.

Adoption Aid: In November, we surpassed our 3,000 adoption assistant financial grant helping qualified families adopt children from over 50 countries! Wow, I remember when we hit three hundred and I thought “someday there will be an extra 0 at the end and we will hit 3,000.” Dare we dream 30,000 someday (will need your help if you have major donor capacity ☺ )
Outlook 2012: The number of applications still outpace our funding and the volume of applications are projected to be similar to this past year so join us in one of our greatest joys which is to help fund forever families.
Read more blogs about Adoption Aid >

Show Hope Special Care Centers: We launched two more special care centers in China adding more than 75 orphans with special needs to our care. Obviously another full year of care at MBHOH for over 130 orphaned children and some of the greatest miracles to recap is that it is our understanding over a dozen children (as far as we know…maybe more) have been adopted by families who have been cared for at MBHOH. That is what I call a major circle of blessing and the main thrust in our purpose of our Show Hope Special Care Centers – for children to be put in a greater position to be adopted.
Outlook 2012: Possibly a couple more care centers in the Henan province! Stay tuned.
Read more blogs about Show Hope Special Care Centers >

Pre/Post Adoption & Empowered to Connect Conferences: We are grateful to have organized two conferences in 2011 which brought roughly 1300 people including hurting families, counselors and church partners. Furthermore, we implemented FREE resources for our adoption aid applicants to educate them about some of the prospective challenges ahead of them to better equip them with this life breathing information.
Outlook 2012: more free resources for applicants, the addition of a third ETC conference and a prospective new strategic initiative for training purposes. (Stand by)
Register today for 2012 Empowered to Connect Conferences >

Short-Term Trips: Roughly 200 people from around the country and different groups step foot into MBHOH this past year. Two additional surgical teams to make it three (from 1 team the previous year) unique medical trips to provide life changing surgery for 35 orphans combined throughout the year. Additionally, we had a dental team work on our nannies and several student and donor teams bring their energy and passion to Luoyang, China!
Outlook 2012: Another full year of trips!!
Complete the 2012 trips application >

The Movement Club: Our first Movement event took place in Nashville earlier this year as the catalyst towards a dozen or so Movement Clubs in high schools being launched in the Nashville region. Various service projects were executed and we begin to move into a National Launch phase with a new website just recently going live and now other clubs being formed throughout the country. We are excited for students to go beyond themselves and separate themselves as leaders in their school and community. Students can’t adopt, but lets not underestimate their passion to care for orphans today as we invest into them to become the adoptive families of tomorrow.
Outlook 2012: Watch out College students, Show Hope is coming to a campus near you!!
View video updates from The Movement Club >

Awareness and Events: Year 2 of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella was incredible! The orphan cause was lifted on high in Nashville community through this theatrical performance with Class A Broadway actors and actresses, not to mention Class A directors, local sponsors and supporters. Nothing like a unique event to piggy back a cause!
Outlook 2012: Tickets on Sale now!

SCC Concerts: “I came to one of Steven’s concerts three years ago and as a result of that night, my wife and I have gone on to adopt three children.” – Show Hope Volunteer
Enough said! Don’t miss an SCC concert this coming year as we have seen the Lord use his voice and platform for God’s purposes. Thank you to all the 400+ volunteers
Outlook 2012: Saddle Up, SCC is at it again in February. Purchase tickets today >

Cry of the Orphan Media Blitz: Year 5. Thank you Focus on the Family, Family Life’s Hope for Orphans and our new partner, James Fund (Family Christian Stores) for another successful year. We reached over 20,000,000 impressions with our combined media voice and roughly 250,000 people viewed the “Answer the Cry” video in support of Orphan Sunday.
Outlook 2012: Discussions have begun already for next year.

Well, those were just a few headlines and we are forever grateful for your role in making life change a reality in 2011 for hundreds of orphans and as you can tell by the outlook comments for 2012, we need you to join us in the endeavors that He has called us to do moving forward.

If you are a donor considering a year end gift, or planning your giving for 2012 you are necessary; if you are prospective adoptive parent praying or contemplating adoption, you are necessary; if you are a volunteer seeking to volunteer for the orphan cause, you are necessary. To steal a line from our media blitz campaign, “You are God’s plan for the orphan.” Don’t let the enemy deceive you to think you are not!! Just like we learned in the parable of the lost sheep, for if even one comes into the family we should rejoice. Your steps of obedience TODAY, set in motion forever life change for someone tomorrow! Thank you for a joyful and adventurous 2011; may your pursuit of God and obedience to Him bear great fruit for His Kingdom in 2012.