Welcome to Hyderabad!

We've been in Hyderabad for over three weeks now. And what a crazy three weeks it has been! Our first ten days here we were stranded in the basement of another SCH home because our house wasn't ready. The girls were stir crazy by the time we moved in! But the day finally came and we moved into our beautiful new home!

Our house (called Joy Home) is a giant two story house. We live on the first floor. Another group of kids that SCH will soon be getting from the government will live on the second. The amount of space we have is crazy! It's triple the size of our apartment in Ongole.Our house has four bedrooms and 4 1/2 baths. The older girls share one bedroom while the younger ones share another. The rooms are HUGE! Jackie, Heidi, Angel, Chelsea, Jeanette, Esther, Naomi, and Rebekah share the largest room of the house. They have more room than they've ever had in their lives! We are so thankful that SCH picked this beautiful house for our girls! The smallest bedroom in the house has been transformed into a school room where our girls do their homework. They have a tutor who comes every afternoon and helps with homework as well as catching them up in school as most of them are behind a couple years.

The best part of living in Hyderabad is our new schools! Having access to better schools is the main reason we moved. There were no special education resources in Ongole and our girls were not getting the education they needed or deserved. By the time we moved, four of our girls had been kicked out because they "didn't have any ability to learn". Getting all twelve enrolled in various schools was a long and stressful process, but we are thrilled to now see all twelve thriving in their new schools!

Esther, Jackie, Angel, and Chelsea are enrolled at Bachpan Playschool. Bachpan is a top notch preschool with one of the best academic programs in Hyderabad. Chelsea and Angel are in playgroup, the beginning class. Jackie is in nursery, the second level. We are really hoping they will soon see how smart she is and bump her up to LKG with Esther! Esther's class, LKG (lower kindergarten) focuses on learning to read and write small words as well as many other things. The girls love Bachpan and can't wait to put their uniforms on every morning!


Heidi started at Kangaroo Kids Playschool last week. I am so excited to see her thrive in their integrated program. I really think that attending a different school than her sisters will help her to develop appropriate social skills and become more attentive in an academic environment. Heidi loves going to school! She's the first one to leave in the morning (which is hard as she's the slowest of our bunch), but she can't wait to walk out the door and get on her bus every day!

Paula, Naomi, and Rebekah are attending Sparsh Special Education School. We absolutely love Sparsh and have been thrilled with the resources they have access to there! In addition to their education they each receive half an hour of speech therapy, physiotherapy, and occupational therapy every day! They come home with daily reports detailing what they learned and how their therapies went. Naomi and Rebekah have been learning how to jump in physiotherapy and Paula gets leg exercises every day! They are all learning phonics and how to pronounce their ABCs correctly. In occupational therapy they are learning how to correctly hold pencils and are working on fine motor skills.

Phoebe, Victoria, Stephanie, and Jeanette were recently enrolled at Devnar School for the Blind. Devnar is normally a boarding school, but they were happy to let our girls attend during their school day! They are all learning to read and write Braille as well as learning regular academics. They started them out in 1st Class since they didn't learn how to read Braille in Ongole. On the girls' first day we discovered that Phoebe had been enrolled at Devnar several years ago before she came to SCH! She learned Braille then and has continued with it on and off during her years at SCH. She's a really smart girl, and we are hoping she picks it back up quickly and can be promoted to a higher class! Devnar has amazing resources and education for children who are blind. We're really excited about the opportunities the girls will have here!


With school enrollment, comes heavy school fees. Thankfully, four of our girls get to attend school for free!! Victoria, Phoebe, Jeanette, and Stephanie have zero school fees! All they need is $25 a month each for transportation. Victoria and Phoebe's are already covered! Steph and Jeanette still need sponsors. You can become a $25 per month sponsor for Jeanette here and for Stephanie here. Just donate under the School Sponsorship link.

The rest of the girls have some pretty hefty school fees. All of the girls fees cover their tuition, enrollment fees, books, uniforms, field trips/special events, and transportation. We are currently fundraising to cover everything for this semester (now-May). Heidi needs $645. Chelsea, Angel, Jackie, and Esther each need $525. Paula, Naomi, and Rebecca each need $490.

We need $4,215 as soon as possible. I know that's a huge number, but every little bit helps! Could you please donate even just a simple $10 so our girls can go to school? You can donate at www.tinyurl.com/schjoyhomeschoolfees.

Enjoy our Shake It Off music video as you consider donating towards our girls' education!

Fundraising

A few months ago I began praying about how I would get to India financially. I knew God wanted me to go, but I didn’t know where a few thousand dollars was going to come from. 

God led me to Matthew 19:16-20 - the story of the rich man and the Kingdom of God. In this story, a wealthy man comes to Jesus and asks what he must do to gain eternal life. Jesus responds by telling him to keep the commandments. When the man says “All of these I have kept. What do I still lack?” 

Jesus answers “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven. Then come, follow me.”

I am wealthy. No, I don’t have an extra $5000 in my bank account to fund my trip to India. But I am wealthy. I have never gone a day without access to food. I have never lived without a roof over my head. I have always had access to clean water. I am educated. I have my own bedroom, my own bed, my own desk, my own everything. I have a car. If there is something I need, I drive to the store and pick it up. I am wealthy.

The more I prayed about going back to India, the more God began to lay this story on my heart. He made it clear to me that I needed to get rid of some of my own material possessions in order to fund my trip to India. So I am selling my car. I’ll make more than enough to support myself, so I don’t have to fundraise for any of my personal expenses.(If you know of anyone who might be interested in a 2010 light blue Bug send them my way!)

Everything I fundraise will go directly to my girls and some of the other kids at SCH. I have a long list of items to buy here in the States as well as things I need to buy in India. 

Please pray about giving any amount for my girls. $5, $20, $50, anything. SCH is funded completely from donations which cover surgeries, healthcare, food, rent, water, school, and several other basic needs. Any toys or extra clothes kids at SCH have are usually brought over or purchased by volunteers like me. I want my girls and all the other kids at SCH to have the childhood they deserve. I want them to have toys, games, nice clothes, and everything else a child deserves.

I’m going to be purchasing several items before I leave, but I also have a limit to how much I can take with me. I can only take two suitcases 50 pounds each. I might end up paying for a third bag if I need to, but that still puts a pretty large limit on the amount I can physically take.

Marla (my girls’ current foster mom) has helped me come up with a list of things my girls and some other kids at SCH need.

I will be purchasing a guide cane for Stephanie and two other SCH kids who are blind - Promise and Jasmine. (You can read about them on their two foster moms’ (Nikki and Tori) blogs). The canes average at about $40 a piece. This is incredibly exciting because these three girls will be able to explore the world on their own! 

I will be purchasing universal cuffs for Aloe and Jackie. Both of these girls have some hand differences and universal cuffs will help them to become more independent. 

I also want to get special watches for Stephanie and three other girls I met last summer, Phoebe, Victoria, and Jeanette. These four girls are blind and I want to get them watches that speak the time for them to hear.

I’ll be getting a large blow up kiddie pool for sensory water play, as well as several toys, puzzles, crafts, legos, and games. 

I want to get a few new outfits for each of my girls as well. I am planning on buying a few outfits here, but I want to buy most of my kids’ clothes in India. All of my girls need rain jackets as well! (The monsoon season will be hitting Ongole after I arrive).

If you would like to purchase some actual items instead of giving money - that’s great! Just email me at carrienicolehopper@gmail.com or message me on Facebook. I’ll let you know specifically what I’m collecting! As far as clothes go, I want to buy my girls new clothes instead of taking old worn out donations. But if you have something that has only been worn a couple times and is in really good condition I will definitely take it!

If you want to donate you can write me a check or send me cash. I don’t really have a goal to how much I need to collect. The more money I collect, the more things I can buy for my kids and others at SCH once I am in India. SCH has several other needs as well. They constantly have kids in the hospital and kids are in and out of surgery all the time. SCH is also raising money to get several of their children their own supportive wheelchairs. Any extra money I raise will go to countless important needs that SCH has.

Thank you so much for considering donating! But more importantly, thank you for praying for me and my girls.

Naomi and Chelsea had birthdays this week! A very happy birthday to Naomi who turned 9 on Tuesday and to Chelsea who turned 3 today (Wednesday)!

I'm moving to India!

When I was a junior in high school God put a dream in my heart, a dream to one day work at an orphanage for children with disabilities in a developing country where they are oppressed from society. I didn’t know if a place like this even existed or if God was calling me to start my own orphanage one day. God had been calling me to mission work for years. He gave me a huge heart for people living in poverty as well as a huge heart for other cultures far different from my own.

Working with people who have disabilities brings me a joy that nothing else on this earth can. People have asked me why I started this work and what made me love it this much. I’ve thought about that a lot and I really believe God placed this passion in my heart when I was a really young child. When I was in kindergarten there were two students in my class who had disabilities. My mom could tell you multiple stories of me loving them and always being the first to volunteer to do more activities with them. Seeing as I was so young at the time, I don’t have too many vivid memories of when I was in kindergarten. But there is one memory I will never forget. I remember sitting in a circle of my classmates who were all talking to a girl in our class who was autistic. Many of the kids were asking her questions which prompted her to respond in a way that marked her as different and unintelligent. I remember all of the other kids laughing at her responses and imitating her speech behind her back. Little five year old Carrie got MAD. I remember not being able to stand hearing other kids make fun of her. So I began standing up for her. I have several memories of playing with this girl in our classroom and on the playground. When our kindergarten class took our first field trip to the zoo, we were told to find a partner whom we would stay with on the trip. I picked this girl over all my other friends because I wanted her to know that she had friends too. 

So why I am so passionate about working with people who have disabilities? I’ve just never seen these people as “different”. I’ve always seen them as equally as I see everyone else. I know the rest of the world doesn’t see them the same way I do, and my natural reaction is to stand up for them. 

Proverbs 31:8 says “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.”

There are many people with disabilities who have trouble standing up for themselves due to communication barriers. That does not make them any less of a person. They know when they are being outcasted. They know when they are being made fun of. They know when others view them as childlike when they are fully grown teenagers and adults. And they hurt. Many of my friends who have disabilities long to be treated just like everyone else. And there is absolutely no reason they shouldn’t be. 

So that’s a little bit about why I feel called to work with people who have disabilities. I’ll post more about it in the coming weeks leading up to my trip to India! Which leads me to my big announcement and the whole reason I started this blog.

I AM MOVING TO INDIA! 

For six months I will be living in an apartment with six of the most beautiful girls on the planet. I will be their foster mama at Sarah’s Covenant Homes (the orphanage I volunteered at last summer and also known as SCH). I will be leaving sometime around June 18th (once my plane ticket is purchased I will know the exact date) and I will be returning to Tennessee in December.

To say I am absolutely thrilled would be an understatement. I cannot wait to see each of my six girls again and scope them up into my arms, showering them in hugs and kisses. I’d like to introduce them to you now so you can start to get to know them!

Stephanie is a quiet thirteen year old girl who loves music. She is blind and due to her disability and probably her history before arriving at SCH, she is very cautious to explore the world outside her personal space. One thing I’m incredibly excited about is purchasing her a guide cane! I’ll be ordering her one before I leave and taking it with me to India in June. I’ll spend time teaching her to explore the world on her own and hopefully build her confidence and help her to become more independent. I’ve been doing a lot of research on how to teach someone to use a guide cane, but I would really like to get in contact with someone who has experience here in the States first. So if you know of anyone I could learn from please let me know!

Paula is the most joy-filled twelve year old I have ever met. She has cerebral palsy and cannot walk but she recently received her very first wheelchair! She had to heavily depend on others for mobility her entire life, but she is now learning to get around on her own! Paula’s smile can literally light up a room and it’s nearly impossible not to be happy when you’re around her.

Naomi is about to turn nine. She was born with Down Syndrome and is a curious little girl ready to explore the world.

Angel will be turning four about a month before I arrive in India. She was brought to SCH with some undiagnosed problems which turned out to be tuberculosis. Thankfully she was under fantastic and loving care as she began a nine month treatment. And last fall it was announced that she is completely cured! She is an active and rambunctious little girl who loves to play.

Heidi is four years old and has Down Syndrome. As the world’s biggest cuddle bug, she really stole my heart last summer. For nearly three days she didn’t leave my arms as we sang songs, ate ice cream, finger painted, and ran around. God really bonded my heart to Heidi’s in a special way and I cannot wait to be back in India as her new mama!

Chelsea will be turning three in a few days! She was born with a cleft lip and palate but has had them repaired since arriving at SCH! When I met her last summer she was still learning to walk and spent a great deal of time cuddling in my lap. She is a sweet little girl who will be starting preschool soon!

All of my girls attend school in our city. The three little ones (Angel, Heidi, and Chelsea) are in preschool. 

I’m funding all of my personal expenses for my trip on my own so everything I fundraise will be for the girls! I’ll have another post soon detailing the items I am fundraising for and collecting!

I am incredibly excited about going back to India and fostering my girls! Join me in praying for them and preparing all of our hearts for my arrival. They currently have another amazing foster mom named Marla who is with them now. She will be leaving a few days after I arrive in June. Pray for her as well as she fosters these girls the next three months and prepares to move back to the States! 

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” -James 1:27