Hope is Here!

Hi Everybody….its Kim. I have been so excited to write but haven’t had a chance as of yet. Yesterday was sooo special beyond words. It started out when our tour group visited Tianamen Square and the Forbidden City. It is a holiday in China, so the place was flooded with people. A sea of people on every side. Our guide told us that many of the people there had traveled from remote places of China, and many had never seen white people before. Our kids were quite the hit. They were getting bombarded by people asking to take thier pictures. They now know what it is like to be a movie star! They must have had their pictures taken at least 50 times!!! They had a blast, and I was really surprised to see Hannah going with the flow when Chinese people were grabbing her arm, talking in Chinese, and snapping pictures of her. She just gave them a smile, and enjoyed it! Abby was laughing so much and having a great time. After the tour, we went to lunch at our hotel…that was an experience in itself…and then we were off to Bethel. It took about an hour to get there. In the van, as we were driving, it was the wierdest feeling…all these months of paperwork, dreaming, thinking of her and praying for her, and here we were about to meet her face to face! It was such a surreal feeling, and when we pulled up to Bethel, it was like something out of a dream. The air seemed still, and out came Delphine and Guillaume. They greeted us and helped us out of the van, and then we went inside. Hope was sitting there with Sarah when we walked in, along with some other nannies. It was such a great moment to meet Sarah in person. She has been so amazing with all her updates, and to get to be there, with her was an honor. I cant describe the feelings I had when I saw Hope. It all happened so fast, and I really barely remember anything. I just remember thinking that she looked just like her pictures, and then I picked her up. I was totally crying, and she was kind of wiggly so i put her down, and then she walked up to each of us and gave us a hug. It was sooo special. After a while of that, I picked her up and this time she just melted in my arms. We took a tour of the facility and got to see where she sleeps, and everything. Then they had us come into a room where they all had a surprise planned. We walked in and all the kids from Bethel were there, clapping and cheering. Then, we sat down and they did a little performance for us, singing Open the Eyes of My Heart Lord. It was such a beautiful moment. They were standing by the window, and outside little white fluffs were falling everywhere. It must have been from cherry blossoms or somethng, and it was so pretty, like snow falling. Everything felt so surreal. Hope was holding me tight, and after the show we went in for a cake and watermelon party. She loved her cake and gobbled it all up as Abby fed her and we chatted with Delphine and Guillaume. THey are such special people. They have truly laid down their lives to serve these orphans, and they have done an amazing job with the kids. Its amazing to see what they have done, and they are only 30 years old! After that, we went into the lobby, and exchanged gifts. One of Hope’s nannies made her a scrapbook of all the pictures they have of her life. They gave us a cd with sounds that Hope made, so she can hear it when she gets older. They gave us a bag of some of her clothes and a blanket, and a beautiful gold necklace for her when she gets older. After that, Delphine, Guillaume, and Sarah had to go, but we stayed and lingered with the kids in the lobby for a long time. A few of them were really shaken to see Hope go, and we hugged them, and talked to them for a while. They were so precious. After that we got in a circle for a group hug, and we sang some worship songs with them, and then we left. Hope sat in my lap for the drive back to the hotel, and eventually fell asleep. I looked at Jonathan, who was all teared up, and he summed it up the best when he said, “This was the best day of my life.” Ditto that Jonathan.