PingYu Home of Hope

All week long everyone here at the Pingyu Home of Hope has been very excited about celebrating our first Christmas together. The buzz really started after we put up our Christmas tree and some Christmas decorations around our Home.
We started our Christmas celebration off with eating a very delicious Chinese feast which included a chicken dish, a pork dish, sliced potatoes, a sweet eggplant dish, baked peanuts, and cooked lettuce. Our staff were having so much fun cooking, that they actually made enough food for us to eat for 2 days.Sitting around the table from bottom left going clockwise:Jake, Xiu Feng (house mother), Xiao Guo’s daughter, Xiao Guo (house mother), Tyler (our youngest son), Rui Xia’s son, Rui Xia (house mother), Thomas and Lester.

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Chinese people love singing and dancing and putting on talent shows; so it was no surprise when we asked each room if they wanted to preform a song or dance on Christmas day, that everyone, including our staff, wanted to join the fun.

Jaxin, Eli and Tyler (our three sons) wanted to do a puppet show on the birth of Jesus. So they wrote and performed a play, while David (our translator) and I (Ben) read it aloud.

Girls Song
(left to right)Anna, Ellie, Sarah, Debbie, Emma, and Zoey sang a Chinese hymn.

Boys Song
(left to right) Mark, Graham, Gabe, Philip, Eddy and Lester sang a Chinese hymn

Kindergartners Song
(left to right) Joey, Danny, Noah, Gene, Thomas and Jake sang a song that they learned from their kindergarten.

Jingle Bells
All 21 of our children (including our 3 sons) sang Jingle Bells

Staff
Like we said before the Chinese people are very talented and like to preform. In the above picture you can see some of our housemothers, June (our cook), Nicky (our teacher) and Michelle sang a variety of songs. David (our translator) did a magic trick. Michelle and I (Ben) even joined the fun by swing dancing.

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We just can not thank you enough for sticking by our side and helping all of our orphaned children here in Pingyu, China. Through your prayers, financial support, pen-pal letters, and your encouraging emails and phone calls, our family is growing stronger and stronger. The help that is given is not just for the soon to be 21 children who live at our Home, but for their families, villages, and even for our workers.
Every month we invite our children’s families (grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.) for a visit; we can not tell you how many times we have grandparents coming over shaking our hands in tears thanking us for helping them with their grandchild; thanking us for giving their grandchild HOPE. We thank God for giving us a chance to be here with these wonderful children and thank God for your support.