Here is is! This is Maria's Big House of Hope located in Luoyang, China. Caleb and I are standing outside of the building, and we look so small compared to the size of Maria's BIG House. I am currently in China, with a team of 9 other friends and family to move furniture into Maria's BIg House of Hope and help in preparing the facility for babies to move in soon.
It has been an unbelievable treat to be at this special place as it is in its final preparation stages. Our team has prayed and asked God to come and dwell in this place. We have prayed over the cribs as we have assembled them and moved them to each floor. And, we have experienced God through the touch and the encounter with His most special children . . . the orphans.
In addition to spending time at Maria's Big House of Hope, we have also had the opportunity to visit with orphans in the local orphanage. We spent time playing with the older children yesterday. My husband and sister-in-law, Tabby, did a few gymnastic tricks for the older orphans, while all the musicians on the trip were able to entertain the kids with a few songs, including Blessed Be Your Name. I became quickly attached to an older orphan by the English name of Will. I told him I have a younger brother named Will, and dialogued a bit more with the very broken Chinese I can barely speak. He showed me around the girls' rooms, and then we went down to the 4th floor, room 8405. He was so excited to show me his bed, his few pillows, and his one blanket. Those were his possessions in entirety; however, he was so proud to show me. What an amazing reminder of how extremely blessed we are, and the beauty of finding joy in every little blessing we have been given.
Finally, I can't help but mentioning a little orphan we met on the 5th floor of the local orphanage. Robin and Joyce Hill, the couple that will be in charge of overseeing Maria's Big House of Hope, currently have a special care unit on the 5th floor of the local orphanage to care for the most sever special needs children that come to the local orphanage. One of the older orphans on the 5th floor was named Eleanor. Eleanor is 9 years old, the same age as Shaoey, and she is blind and has some sort of mental handicap. We were visiting Eleanor during her dinner hour. I watched her listen to her nanny's voice, move toward the nanny, open her mouth and receive her nourishment. She sat there quietly waiting for her nanny to feed her. I thought about the amazing example Eleanor is for us as Christians. We are to hear the voice of our Lord, our ultimate provider and care-taker, move closer to Him and receive truth that gives LIFE. We are not to consume of the junk food that Satan tries to feed us, rather, we are to move toward Him, responding to His gentle voice, and eat and drink deeply! Oh how God shows up in the fields of the fatherless.
My prayer for you today is that you hear and recognize the voice of the Lord Almighty, and that you move closer toward Him and receive life everlasting!
What a Real Gift of Love you all are providing for God's precious children :) I so would like to be there participating... thanks for sharing your joy with me :)
~Joni
Posted by: Sweet Joni | January 21, 2009 at 02:43 PM
Love the pictures. Was wondering if you will ever host people/churches to do mission work at Maria's Big House of Hope. I would love to work in an orphanage for a week as we adopted a child from China almost 4 years ago!
Posted by: lisa stout | January 21, 2009 at 03:12 PM
How awesome to hear that you are praying over every detail of this orphanage. My daughter was 5 when we adopted her and when she picked up enough English she told us that she knew Jesus because he was AT the orphange. Proof positive that his word is true...He is the father of the fatherless. Keep the details coming. What an exciting job you have! Just remember that when you are exhausted!
Chinamom
Posted by: fan | January 21, 2009 at 03:32 PM
You have no idea how much this comforts me! Knowing those kids are being prayed over right now, and that you are there with them. We are bringing home one of the older kids at Luoyang and I can't believe I'm reading that you are there with them right now. You may have even met her! We are finishing up the paperwork and should bring her home in May or June. She will age out in July. Its been an amazing God journey to get to this point. Anyway, thanks for sharing Emily. And thanks for giving hope and love to these kids, we can't get our daughter home soon enough!
Posted by: Patty Smith | January 21, 2009 at 05:50 PM
Please keep us informed on any thing we can do to help, like donations, Thanks!
Posted by: Sharon | January 21, 2009 at 06:54 PM
Emily and family, I am a friend of your grandma Judys. Today is the one year anniversery for our gotcha day for our daughter from China. Thanks for all the amazing work you have done and continue to do.
Posted by: Tammy Manea | January 21, 2009 at 08:39 PM
Thanks for sharing. Praying for the family today.
Posted by: PrayN4U | January 21, 2009 at 09:46 PM
Emily, I appreciate what you wrote and wanted to tell you that this is something I have been struggling with. I have felt God's pull on my heart for orphans and the orphan ministry. Especially orphans overseas. I have been wanting to find something in that field, but have not found anything yet. I pray God will continue to show me what He wants me to do. Thanks, again!
Posted by: Christy Hamrick | January 21, 2009 at 10:20 PM
Looks awesome! I'm so pumped to see it all coming together. Safe travels!
bh
Posted by: Ben & Stacy Houk | January 21, 2009 at 11:34 PM
WOW...I am speechless. This is the most amazing building I have ever seen and I can only imagine the good it will do. What an amazing tribute to Maria. The blue color with the clouds...I have never seen that before. Emily...I thank you for sharing. I am sure it must be such a bitter sweet time but your communication with us means so much. I have you all in thoughts and prayers and will continue. Love the stories you shared...really makes it so personal. I think I would want to take them all home!!
May God continue to bless you and keep you.
Thanks again for sharing!
Posted by: Amy | January 22, 2009 at 06:43 AM
Hey,
I was so glad to hear from you agian!
I've always wanted to help orphans, and I think (this may sound silly) that through this blog that you wrote, that God may have given me that little push that I needed.
Thanks and God bless you always!!
Your Sister In Christ,
Rebeca from
Mi
Posted by: Rebeca | January 22, 2009 at 11:10 AM
It's beautiful! Will be praying for the children that will live there.
Posted by: Nicole | January 22, 2009 at 11:14 AM
Wow! Maria's Big House is so Awesome... I know she's looking down with a huge smile on her face. I hope to travel to China someday and see this for myself. Only problem is I would want to bring all the kids home with me. :)
We love you Emily and Tanner and know God has BIG things in store for you.
Posted by: Robin - Mt. Juliet TN | January 22, 2009 at 11:57 AM
The building is beautiful and cheery! So great that you and Caleb are there to pray over the rooms, cribs & building. Love the servant heart your family has - a true heart of God!
Prayers for you all and the children that will be at Maria's Big House.
We are His hands & feet :)
Stacie
Posted by: Stacie Bosquez | January 22, 2009 at 03:31 PM
Emily,
Thanks for sharing. Praise God in Christ Jesus!! We received a grant from Shaohannah's Hope to bring our little John David (now 14 mths old) home last year. We are praying for direction in our next adoption. How can we connect with Maria'S Big House? Are there "waiting children" we can see? Can we make a request of our adoption agency or is there a specific agency handling Maria's Big House? We have worked with Bethany Christian Services in the past and are in contact with them now, as we seek God's direction for the next child(ren) He will bless us with. Committing it all to Him!
Lori Ferebee in SC
Posted by: Lori Ferebee | January 22, 2009 at 03:56 PM
wow! how amazing! i was hoping you would blog a picture of Maria's BIG house.. and you did!! thanks for sharing. have an amazing time. i'll be praying for y'all...
Posted by: aunt j | January 22, 2009 at 04:29 PM
Emily...thank you for sharing this with us. I'm so glad to see the pictures & read the stories. What a blessing to be able to impact so many children with a lovely & loving place to call home...Maria's Big House of Hope! And what a fitting tribute to sweet Maria.
God Bless You!
Posted by: Vanessa Schaecher (from Nebraska) | January 22, 2009 at 06:30 PM
What can we do? Wish we could afford to give an orphan a home. Since that's not God's plan how can we help?
Posted by: Jennifer | January 22, 2009 at 07:18 PM
How beautiful it looks and what a blessing for you all to see it all come together. Thank you for sharing.
Posted by: Debbie from Ohio | January 23, 2009 at 07:44 AM
Love this post! Thanks, Emily, for sharing a behind the scene glimpse of the progress. We have contributed to Maria's Big House and it's so exciting to think that we get to be a small part of loving orphan kiddos.
I continue to pray for you guys.
BonkLand
Posted by: Bonky's Mama | January 23, 2009 at 11:00 AM
you are such an insperation emily, thank you for your blogs. they are always a joy to read!
Posted by: hannah : ) | January 23, 2009 at 11:51 AM
That's so aweSome and such an amaZing way to put it!! That's a great picture too!! =D Thanks for updating!
Karyn (IN)
Posted by: Karyn | January 23, 2009 at 09:16 PM
Emily, thank you for sharing Maria's Big House of Hope with us, and especially the stories of Will and Eleanor. Keeping them and all the orphans over there in China in my prayers. Your post was so beautiful! Thank you for listening to His quiet voice in your life.
I'm praying for the facility (which looks amazing!) and all the people working there, and every one of those orphans especially that they would know God's unfailing Love for them.
Keep up the amazing work for His kingdom! Praying for you and your family as well! We love you all!
-Jenny (from NY)
Posted by: Jenny | January 24, 2009 at 10:26 AM
Emily, I know that you don't know me...but I just want you to know that I was trully touched and blessed by the words you wrote on this blog. I pray that the Lord will continue to bless you and your ministry. Thank you for sharing and allowing others to know what God is showing you. I will pray for this awesome ministry.
May He be with you all!
Posted by: Cassie L. | January 24, 2009 at 11:16 AM
Emily - I was just talking to my best friend about how I think your family is amazing and just how much I have been inspired by your dad since I was little and now by your whole family...which prompted me to log in and read the latest! Once again, I am amazed and joyful over MBHoH!! I absolutely love children and am so excited that through this act of love many more children will be shown the love of Christ! Your passion is contagious and I hope that one day I can be a part of this kind of IMPACT whether in the U.S. or internationally!! In the famous words of Stevey Joy "Jesus [indeed] loves the little children of the word!!"
Posted by: Ashley Adams | January 24, 2009 at 12:29 PM