Team J.O.
(Back row left to right) Mark, Abby, Jaxin (our eldest son),Joey, Vincent, Wendy, Frank, and Caleb. (Front Row left to right) Gene, Joey, Abby, Rose, Joy, Ellie, Anna, Dana, Patch and Sammy.
Team I.N.
(Back row left to right) Emma, Sarah, Debbie, Gabe, Logan, Grace, Michael and Ruthie. (Front Row left to right) Davey, Charity, Aaron, Thomas, Dawn, Danny, Tyler (our youngest son), Becca and Catina.
Team E.D.
(Back row left to right) Lester, Eli (our middle son) Jenny, Autumn, Matthew, Mary, Hollie, and Chris. (Front Row left to right) Jake, Zoey, Noah, Graham, Mosie, Isaac, Eddy, Crystal and Rachel.
1st Day
Our shirts design.
Debbie and Chris excited to get their shirts.
Zoey and Thomas designing their shirts!
Davey’s first Summer Camp!
Jenny and Autumn designing their teams flag!
After passing out the shirts and separating the kids into their teams, we started playing several games. The first is Gorilla vs Man; its kind of like Paper Rock Scissors. Graham’s gorilla beat Mosies man above. Below are several other games we also played:
Tug of War!
Don’t have a name for this one but the goal was to fit as many people as possible inside the hula hoop!
Above: Mary from Gongyi and Patch racing to drop the ping pong into the bucket. Below: Dawn from Gongyi and Jake with their ping pong ball.
If that was not hard enough…we figured since we are in China, we did the same race with using chopsticks. The funny thing is they all said the chop sticks were easier to use than the spoon:) Charity from Gongyi and Davey holding their ball steady with their chopsticks!
Through the Hula Hoop!
We learned this game from a group of volunteers who came to play with our kids. Everyone in the team holds hands and can’t let go of each others hands. The first team to have everyone go through the hula hoop wins. Jaxin had no problem working his way through it!
Pull the Flag!
A very popular TV show in China right now is called, Running Man. Several of the games they play our kids asked if we could also try and play. One game they play is each player has his/her name stuck to their back with Velcro and the other teams rip the name off…last person standing wins. We improvised with using these red sashes after watching our own kids here in Pingyu rip their shirts. The kids liked this game but we thought it was a bit too rough, so we probably won’t play it again.
Movie
The local movie theater shows free movies 3 times a day for free during the summer. So we sprang for each child getting a drink and popcorn; which was way more exciting than the movie itself…they are hit and miss of the quality…this one was trying to reach the 5-7 year old age group.
Crystal with her popcorn!
2nd Day
Our 2nd day is our water day. Pretty much the goal for this day is to get as wet as possible. Lots of water balloons and water buckets! Check out below some of the fun games we played!
Paper Rock Scissors
You play paper rock scissors, if you win you grab a couple full of water and try to splash your opponent. If you lose, you grab the pot lid and try to block the water. If you block the water you win a point. If you get wet you lose a point. Graham and Sarah are playing above.
Thomas and Catina taking their turn. Catina won!
Obstacle Course
Start with filling your sponge full of water…
Then you have to run through the floats.
Around the swings
Down the slide
Across the slip n slide
Then at the end, they squeeze the sponge into a bottle; whichever team had the quickest time and most water won. Unfortunately, we did not get a picture of this part during the camp. This is Danny, he learned how to play this the week prior from some other volunteers who came. We love having volunteers come and help spread love and joy to our home!
Musical Chars
You play this one just the same as regular musical chairs, but with a twist; if you lose your chair you get a balloon broke over your head, like you see Michelle doing to Noah below!
If you win…you got a bucket of water dumped on your head like you see me(Ben) doing to Isaac!
Balloon Toss
Grab a partner and line up. No this is not a country line dance this is a balloon toss. Once you pass the balloon take a step back…maybe it is a country line dance:)
If your balloon pops like you see Eddy (left) and Mosie’s(right) doing your out;(
We have seen the bigger kids throwing these balloons as far as 20-30 meters without them breaking. What we have never seen was the balloon being rolled that far and not popping. But Davey and Catina did it this year and won!
Bobbing for Apples
We gotta bob for apples on water day!
Swimming
Dana (left) and Rachel (Gongyi child)
Patch (left) and Charity (Gongyi child)
Tyler (left) and Gene were the lucky ones who lined up and asked me to throw them right away…the line got pretty long but my energy dropped pretty quickly to throw them very far.
Ruthie (left)and Joy are both from Gongyi
The nice thing about this pool, is it had 3 different age appropriate pools. These little guys did not have to worry about being ran over or knocked down by the bigger kids when they were rough housing like you see below.
3rd Day
Usually by day 3 all the kids are quite tired and worn out, as you can see Noah above. This is our Carnival Day. Instead of completing for team points this year, they competed for tickets. The tickets gave them opportunity to play at the different stations you can see below:
Get your hair fixed or spray painted
Ring Toss
Clown Toss…no clowns were hurt during the tossing:)
Try to hit daddy with a water balloon…its kind of a long name but the kids liked it;)
Bowling
We had hockey and basketball shots too!
Face Painting…Mchelle is a pretty talented artist.
Ping Pong Toss
At each station we had several different prizes and snacks the kids could win.
BBQ and Talent Show
Catching up with old friends
One very awesome benefit about our summer camps is being able to spend time with the Gongyi and Xuzhou kids. We lived in Gongyi for 3 years before opening our Home. It was very hard to leave the kids behind to start our Home of Hope. Its really too hard to get out and visit other places with 33 children. Summer Camp is kind of like a family reunion to us. This is Jenny, a.k.a Jelly Bean. She is in college now and she came to help watch the younger Gongyi kids.
There are many many more pictures, but we felt this post was probably too long as it is. The kids had a really good time and we thank everyone who helped make the camp happen and for those who help on a daily basis. All 3 Home of Hopes strive to make their place a Home not just some orphanage. One of the most common complements from our volunteers that we get is how they can’t believe that this is an orphanage…that it just feel like one very big family. The thing we love and get to see everyday is the transformation of kids with no hope, who had no reason to smile be filled with so much love, joy and happiness that they can’t help but smile.
Blessing
Ben and Michelle
