PingYu Home of Hope

Some have asked us what it’s like going on a child search. We dont usually try to be too wordy on our website but felt like this is too hard of an experience with few words. First of all, we trust that every child that is in our home is predestined by our Heavenly Father. Trying to choose between the hundreds of children out here; making sure that they are the ones Father wants here can be challenging.

(Crystal, (Song AoZhen) pictured right during her interview) It’s always a very emotional day when we go out on a child search, wondering if this child will join our family, knowing that we are going to have to ask some very painful questions about how they became an orphan and ultimately deciding if that child is in need of help. We try our best to put ourselves in the child’s place; knowing that they can be terrified of us because we are the very first Westerners they have ever seen. Then we enter their home and start asking questions about them, very personal questions like, what happened to the their parents.

Once the interview process is over and we have prayed a lot to see whether a child will join our family, we have the same feeling as a couple getting ready to start their family. We start to try and find a name that will best suit them. Start wondering what he/she will be like. Will she say Daddy or Mommy first:) Most of our children that we bring in are older and can speak Chinese but not any English.

Unfortunately, our town is in a bad AIDS/Hepatitis area, and with that all of our children must go to the hospital to get a medical exam before coming to our home…again just like becoming a new parent starts off with hospital checks. (Crystal, (Song AoZhen) pictured left during her check up) We sit there wondering if the child will be healthy or not…which every time every child has been healthy, but we have had 15-20 housemothers who we were going to hire who were not healthy. At the hospital, our butterflies are flying around in our stomachs again because this is the first step for our new child to come be with us…and we wonder, “Will they like us?” or “Will they fit in with the other children?” “Are we going to be good enough parents for them?”

It’s an absolute blessing, honor and privilege to be a part of such amazing hope that is being spread here.

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Crystal “Song AoZhen”

This is Crystal (Song Ao Zhen). She is 7 years old and lives with her 56 year old grandparents who both are ill. Unfortunately her grandparents spend a lot of time at the doctors because of their poor health leaving Crystal alone in the house or with whichever neighbor is willing to watch her.
Crystal’s house and bed.
Crystal’s father died 6-7 years ago and soon after her mother ran away and has never returned nor called. She has been under her grandparents care since. They are both farmers and make very little income. Their main concern is Crytsal being alone while they are at the hospital. Plus with the medical costs they cannot afford school costs or proper nutrition.

The day Crystal (Song AoZhen) arrived to go to the hospital we already loved her as one of our daughters, but like we said above, we were nervous and trying to give her space…to not overwhelm her. She is maybe one of the bravest children we have seen. She was not afraid to answer any of our questions, not afraid to not only ride in our car but to sit next to us. Most people in our town do not have cars but walk, ride bicycles or drive mopeds…this could have been her first time in a car and she sat there with a big smile on her face.

My (Ben) heart melted when while we were waiting in line for her blood test, she reached up and grabbed my hand and rested her head on my arm. During one moment Crytsal and her grandfather were sitting in a waiting room, while I was standing up against the wall, it was quite crowded, and as I watched her, about every 10-20 seconds she would look over to see if I was looking at her, and as soon as she saw that I was, she gave me a big smile. When we were finished at the hospital, I walked her to her grandfather’s bike to say goodbye and tell her that she would soon be moving to our home. She said that would make her happy and then she gave me a hug…this little girl has my heart in the palm of her hand!

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We are so happy and extremely blessed to keep adding these wonderful treasures to our family. Unfortunately, we are very close to outgrowing our building. With bringing in Crytsal, we now have only 2 beds open to use. The need is so great. Just this month alone, we have been approached by 7 people begging us for our help with orphaned children.
Below you can see how much money we are trying to raise for our building and how much we have been blessed with. If you would like to make a Donation or see our Building Fund breakdown costs please click the links. Also please make a special note that your donation is meant to go towards the building fund.