To you or me here in North America, $20 or $30 may be a quick trip to Wal-mart or a sack of groceries at the supermarket. But to the children we are supporting in China, $20 is life changing.
Because of your love, prayers and support, orphan's lives are being changed.
Your compassion and friendship for these children is turning...
- Sadness into Smiles
- Hurt into Healing
- Lonliness into Acceptance
So, God bless you in what you are doing for these kids. Every prayer and every dollar given is working to change these children's lives. Thank you for adopting them into your hearts and making them feel so chosen and loved.
An Orphan's Mind
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be the orphan you support in China? Even for a single day, what would it be like? How would you feel? What would you think? Certainly, we could never swap places with the orphans we support. But through correspondence with the orphans we can learn something about the way they think and see the difference that we are making in their lives through the letters they write:
“If I don't receive your help, it isn't possible that I can go school. Thank you very much. I miss you everyday, and you are my power to face every thing. You are my dear family member.”
“You gave a lot of selfless love to me, and it changed my life. There are hope and happiness in every place, and it came from your help. Thank you very much. I didn’t know to express my thanks, so I think I must try my best to study. It is the way to reward to you.”
“Is it cold in your home? It is cold very much in my home. But I feel warm when I think of your love. Your love stimulates me to go forward and I don’t fear any difficulty.”
And then there were 4!
Despite some recent delays over the past few weeks, we are planning on breaking ground this month to begin construction on our fourth orphanage location. Hopefully, we will sign the contract with the government and break ground on the new construction site this week. The new location is in Pingguo, Guangxi (South China near Vietnam). Funding for the building has already been given. The new building will allow us to care for approximately 100 more orphans than we are currently caring for. Just as a reminder to you, it was mentioned earlier in the Spring that we were caring for 620 orphans. By the Spring of next year, with the Pingguo orphanage completed, we should be caring for about 750 orphans on a regular basis.
Future orphanage site. Building will be constructed directly behind the existing basketball court.
King returns to China
In the May newsletter we did an article on an orphan named Xianghui Yue, better known as King. As you may remember, King had been in the United States for the past year as he had undergoing a series of burn surgeries to correct burns on his face, hands, and feet. He still has 4 or 5 more surgeries to go before the doctors are finished with his skin grafts. But at this time, he has gone back to China until his next surgery. Although King enjoyed his time in the United States, it was decided for his education; at most, he is better off back in China during the school year. King will come back in the summer of 2008 for his next surgery.
King (orange shirt) back in China with some new friends
Back to School
September means back to school for the orphans. Please remember them especially at this time because school is a real challenge for most of them. The orphans come from the poor countryside where education is not stressed nearly to the degree that it is in the cities. Most of the these children have come from families of farmers where their familiy members received a middle school education at most. Truly, for the orphans to even pass middle school is a huge accomplishment. High school is a dream for many of the orphans. Some will make it, many won't. In your correspondence with the orphans, please encourage them in their studies. They need all the support they can get.
***IN HONOR OF***
Jim Warren
Ron & Tracie Brunk
***IN MEMORY OF***
Johnnie Hall
Brian Owen
Dr. Benjamin Wilson
Ralph & Janie Taylor
J.A. Austin
Delbert & Betty Knight
Cornelia Ragester
Don Hamrick
Sue Hamrick
Ola Leech
Vada J. Scott
