our journey to Mary Katherine {House of Hope}

We arrived in Beijing late Thursday night after a long but uneventful flight. The kids did great sleeping much of the plane ride over but we were all ready to call it a night after getting settled into our hotel room.

The next morning we opted out of our group tour so that we could visit New Hope where Mary Katherine has been living until earlier this week when she was transferred to Maria's Big House of Hope.

We met the director at the airport and drove to a small rural area outside Beijing down a road lined with trees that led to the gates of New Hope.

A house of hope.

A place of love that builds a sense of family.

The children are grouped into families of 12 and each nanny has 2 children in their care for 8 hour shifts.

We had the privilege of meeting one of the 3 nannies that cared for Mary Katherine.
 We are so very grateful for this unexpected treasure.
  

We were also able to see Mary Katherine's room and her crib...although we learned that she preferred to sleep on the mats in the playroom at night instead of her crib. Sounds like she is already a little bit like her big sister who didn't like to sleep in the crib while we were in China :))

As we were touring the facility, Lily kept looking into the windows asking "when are we going to get to play with the babies?"

The director heard her request and let us spend some time playing with the children that were part of Mary Katherine's "family" of twelve.

The children are happy and loved. Some eager to come sit in our laps and play...others taking it all in and staying at a distance.

This little one melted my heart. She had "no-no's" on her arms and was drooling a lot...clearly post palate or lip surgery. It took me back to those days with Lily when we would go through 9-10 different bibs a day because of so much drool and the way she would still figure out how to play with toys even though she couldn't bend her arms due to the "no-no's".
 She gave me a big wet hug and her smile will be forever etched in my mind. 

We were playing with some of the children when Michael noticed that Lily was off to the side with this little angel trying to help her with her bottle. Lily was in her element going from each child trying to take them toys or help find a way to make them happy. The little boys were especially enamored with Spencer and his natural way of making children laugh.

We continue to see God's hand woven throughout all of the details. We are humbled by His perfect timing allowing us to experience this part of her story and for the blessing of her continuing to receive the same level of love and care at Maria's Big House of Hope until we meet her on Monday.

We are prepared for a possible hard transition as her paperwork says that she has stranger anxiety and the nurse and preschool teacher both alluded to the fact that it takes her awhile to warm up to people she doesn't know.
We will meet her were she is and pray that in time she will know and trust our love.