House of Hope
Where it all began…
In July of 1999, Global Hope opened the doors to our first children’s home in Arad, Romania. For four years Randy Jessen brought mission teams to Arad to hold babies in the local orphanages. Team members left with empty arms and a desire to do something more for these children. Finally, the vision to provide a family for them, and to be a permanent part of their lives, became a reality. A small house at 136 Strada Constitutiei, a miserable cobblestone road, waited anxiously for its future inhabitants. We had been praying fervently for the children God would entrust to us, and now we laid our eyes on them for the first time. Tow boys and two girls arrived from the local state orphanage: Flavius, Mircea, Teodora, and Gabi. Ages four, three, three, and two, respectively. Within a few months, our family grew by three more: Luci (5), Cristi (2), and Simon (4 months).
For the next three years we poured our hearts into these children. We had the privilege to be the first ever to celebrate their birthdays. We walked them to pre-school every morning and home each afternoon. We listened with enthusiasm as they reported on the day’s classroom activities (and tattled on one another as siblings will do). We watched their eyes grow two sizes too big the morning they woke up to their first Christmas tree… with boxes underneath that had their names on them. We held them when they rocked back and forth. When they worried about being hungry we assured them there would be more food. When night terrors haunted them we rubbed their backs until they fell back to sleep.
We watched them grow healthy, beautiful and self-confident. They began to understand the difference between a stranger and someone who truly cared for them. They learned to love us back. And we loved them more than ever.
Over the years, as the ministry of Global Hope expanded, the House of Hope became home to many more abandoned children. Cristina T, Marian, Vasi, Ioana, Alexandra, and Cristina B. would all find family and security at 136 Strada Consititutiei. Today, the House of Hope sits empty, having sent all of its children on to homes where a mother and father provide the stability that God intended when he established the institution of the family. The hallways echo the love and laughter that filled its rooms for so many years. We know one day they will return. For this house has been filled with the presence of God’s Holy Spirit, and those of us at Global Hope look forward to our next assignment and meeting the children who will be blessed there.
