Love Without Boundaries Blog

NEW BLOG ADDRESS FOR LWB

2008-08-14T14:20:00.004-06:00

Don't miss any news about the kids you help support. Our new blog is located at http://www.lwbcommunity.org You will need to RE-REGISTER if you wish to have LWB news arrive directly into your inbox each day. Simply enter your email address into the right hand box and then confirm your subscription. It is that easy! Then every day any updates on our programs and children will simply arrive via email.

A Sweet Little Boy Who Needs a Home

2008-08-14T09:02:00.003-06:00

Once, in a not so distant land, lived a young prince. Even though he lived surrounded by friends, the prince did not smile very much. However there were two things that he was waiting for that could make him smile. He waited for a chance to learn in school, and he waited for a family that would be his forever.

One day, visitors arrived. They were taking photos of all of his friends with such excitement that the prince was immediately shy. In fact, he was so shy that whenever one of the visitors looked his way, he would pretend to be ASLEEP. He didn’t want to be disappointed if the visitors weren’t there to help bring him those two big wishes.

But the visitors from Love Without Boundaries did notice the prince. They would sneak peeks at the prince to catch him carefully looking out of the corner of his eyes watching them, wondering why they were there. They were so delighted at the prince’s cleverness and air of strength that they named him “Rocky.”

Rocky soon received his first wish. The visitors opened a Believe In Me school in Rocky’s land and enrolled him. Rocky enjoyed school. His teachers even gave him a walker so that he could walk around like his friends. True to Rocky’s personality, the walker was different. He much preferred to scoot around in his favorite toy car! Rocky’s teachers quickly taught him that the walker was for the classroom and the car was for the playground. In school, Rocky blossomed into a social, smiling boy.

The visitors came back again and again to see how Rocky and his friends were doing in school. By then, Rocky was showing how much he loved art projects in school but saved his smiles for those who knew him best. Finally, one of the visitors that had been following Rocky’s progress for over a year picked him up for a hug and Rocky squealed with delight, tickling and playing with the visitor who was now an honorary ai yi.

Now, dear reader, the rest of this story waits to be written. Rocky received his first wish and has been going to school. He has blossomed into a sweet, funny, smiling little boy. In fact, he has blossomed SO much that his orphanage has submitted his paperwork and placed him on the shared waiting list in hopes that Rocky’s family will see him and bring him home. Please help Love Without Boundaries tell Rocky’s story far and wide so that this very special young boy can receive his second wish and give this tale a happy ending.

Becca's Bag

2008-08-11T08:01:00.005-06:00

With the fall fashion season right around the corner, we can't help but notice that Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Coach have a firm hold on the designer luggage market. However, there is a new carry-on bag on the scene that has been getting a lot of attention. With only 50 of these bags in production, "exclusive" is the word that best describes these bags. Designed to hold all the essentials that a baby on the go could use, we think these will soon be THE bag to have for fall: The LWB TRAVEL BAG.

Who is this that I see as a lucky, proud owner of the LWB bag? Why it is little Becca, the newest child to enter LWB foster care, sassily waving to the crowds while sporting her new bag casually on her shoulder.

Cruising the aisles in her four-wheeled steel taxi looking for treats, the LWB bag also looks stylish strategically placed at the bottom of the cart for all to see--logo side up of course.

And if all that shopping wears you out going from store to store, feel free to let your fans (foster grandma) carry your bag for you.

Advice from a Three-year-old

2008-08-08T09:52:00.005-06:00

What do you do when you are 18 months old and are very worried about having a heart surgery? You talk to someone who has just been there!

Little Gracie is a very bright, 18-month-old little girl from Guangxi. She understands everything that you say to her, even the fact that she is about to undergo heart surgery. When her orphanage asked her if she wanted to go to Hangzhou for heart surgery, she didn’t want to go. Do you blame her?

The orphanage brought older and wiser, three-year-old Ying to talk to Gracie about her surgery. We helped Ying with his heart surgery in January, and it was a complete success. Ying told Gracie that he didn’t feel pain when he had his surgery and that it was just fine. Thanks to Ying, Gracie agreed to come.

Can you imagine this conversation? How funny!! The good news is that Gracie is now in Hangzhou and will soon get her chance to be healed. Thanks to her sponsors . . . and to Ying, her heart will soon be repaired! Maybe Gracie will try to call Ying on her cell phone after her recovery.

Olympic Bound!

2008-08-08T09:01:00.001-06:00

LWB would like to send a HUGE thank you to Shenzhen Airlines for their support of orphaned children in China. This airline has chosen 100 children from orphanages around China to attend the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing. We were so excited to learn that five of the kids in our education program in Henan province were chosen for this wonderful opportunity. One of the boys had decided to keep a diary this summer to keep track of what he did. Little did he know when he made that decision that he would have this great adventure to record!

We know all of them are going to have an absolutely amazing time.

Happy Birthday, Qing!

2008-08-07T08:58:00.003-06:00

If you read our July newsletter, you may remember a tiny little heart baby named Qing who would be celebrating his first birthday in August. He had been through a lot; having heart surgery for a VSD and also fighting pneumonia, he just wasn't getting stronger or gaining any weight. We sent Qing some Wyeth Gold formula to help him recover, even before he left the hospital. At the end of the article, I mentioned that I was looking forward to seeing a few extra chins and fat rolls. Well . . . "ask and you shall receive!" We just received a new photo, and I cannot believe the difference after just two months of formula and one month in foster care!

Our little man has about a week's worth of formula left; so we called our formula supplier and found that they had an outlet right there in Qing's hometown. They graciously decided to give us a better price on the formula and deliver it to the orphanage in person! Happy birthday, Qing, and we look forward to seeing even more fat rolls!

Jan Champoux
Nutrition Director

Summer School Update

2008-08-06T01:54:00.005-06:00

Remember JD, our summer school student? The look on his face in his last photos were less than enthusiastic. However, JD has begun summer studies and by all accounts is doing great. We can see by these photos that he’s studying reading, writing, and arithmetic and possibly even enjoying it. Keep up the hard work, JD! Friends from around the world are cheering you on with good thoughts and well wishes.

Linda Mitchell
LWB Education

LWB Sponsors CCAA Training on Cerebral Palsy

2008-08-05T06:38:00.005-06:00

Recently the CCAA organized a training session for orphanage staff to learn techniques for working with children with cerebral palsy (CP). This training was sponsored by LWB and held at XinQiao Hospital in Chongqing from July 13th to the 26th.

Thirty orphanage staff members participated in the training from orphanages throughout China and each one brought a child with CP from their orphanage. The staff received information on child development for the first three days. After that their sessions included more on development theory and a half day of hands-on training.

The staff was very excited to learn from the best pediatricians and nurses in China in the field of CP. Everyone agreed that this type of training will be very useful in caring for their children with CP and improving the quality of their lives. This training was such a huge success that the CCAA will be offering another one at the end of August. Love Without Boundaries is honored to be able to be a part of trainings such as these as they improve the care orphaned children receive. With the support of our donors we truly are "changing the world one child at a time."

Kate Finco
Special Projects Director

Meet Diana McCown - Team LWB

2008-08-04T00:01:00.001-06:00

15 runners have signed up to run for Team LWB in the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington D.C. on October 26th. Each runner has an heartwarming story on why they are running to raise funds for our foster care programs. We would like to introduce you to Diana McCown in her own words.

I am not what you would consider to be an athlete. In fact, I only started running eight years ago after my husband brought home a half marathon registration form and said, "I think you could do this." It is amazing what you can do with a little help from someone who sees your strengths when you are blind to them yourself. For the better part of nine years, we were a family of two until that wonderful, magical red thread began tugging. With remarkable speed, especially given the lengthening timelines in China adoption, we were blessed with the most amazing son. Now the McCown crew consists me and my boys--an incredible husband, an amazing son, and of course Monty the wonder dog!

The Marine Corps Marathon was my first marathon and charity race. I have run other marathons, but Marine Corps I remember most. I know the fundraising that coupled my training went to help others. So here I am, registered for Marine Corps again, and in need of motivation greater than a personal accomplishment. I was excited to see LWB create a marathon team and honored to be welcomed to it. More than running for LWB, my motivation is in Scott's precious face, an LWB foster care child in Xinxiang.

For this marathon, as I hit the pavement with my beautiful white-haired, blue-eyed son in tow, I will also be thinking about another beautiful white-haired, blue-eyed child a world away waiting, in foster care thanks to LWB, to be united with his Forever Family.

Thank You, Facebook and LWB Friends!

2008-07-31T14:55:00.005-06:00

We have the most amazing and wonderful friends!!! In just three short days, our Facebook friends have donated $1,740, and $3,362.05 has been received at our website and in the mail, for a total of $5,102.05 for our new Unity Fund!!! That is a lot of $1 (and several larger) donations. That is enough to fund a heart surgery for a child whose family is unable to afford this lifesaving medical care!!! We can't thank everyone enough for your support.

The goal of the Unity Fund is to provide medical care for children whose families are unable to provide that care, enabling families to stay together and preventing children from being orphaned. Please share with your friends the opportunity to donate $1 to our new Unity Fund and to make a difference in the lives of impoverished families in China in need of medical care for their children. More information can be found on our website at:
http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/unityfund.cfm

Don't forget our contest going through August 15th. There is a great LWB gift pack and $50 gas card just waiting to be won. You can read about the contest at the above link. We have received lots of entries but would like to receive lots more. We're looking forward to seeing some great videos about why families are so wonderful.

We consider each of you part of our LWB family, and we know exactly why you're wonderful--it is your concern and support for children and families in China needing help. Thank you for joining us in "living with hope and loving without boundaries." Thank you for being a part of our family!

Travels With Cindy

2008-07-31T00:01:00.001-06:00

Cindy Wu & friend

Cindy Wu, our nutrition director in China, just returned from a tour of our nutrition programs in Anhui Province. This morning I had a ton of photos from her first stop, Xiaoxian, in my inbox. Cindy will translate her notes about the children and send them on to me later, but in the meantime I am having such fun looking at all the different expressions.

I've noticed that there are many different reactions to having a stranger like Cindy tag along on the monthly nutrition visits.

This little fellow was not at all happy to see a new face, however Cindy discovered that his affections could be bought for the price of one pretty flower.

Some kids practically burst with happiness when the meet somebody new. In my mind, I can see this little guy jumping up and down and yelling with excitement!

"I don't trust you. I will make you disappear with my incredible mind powers!"

Looks like somebody is getting ratted out here: "Honest, mister, she's the one who took that cookie!"

And then there are some who will do their very best fashion model pose for the camera. Isn't she adorable?

I can't wait to hear all about the children and see if I have accurately guessed their personalities. For now, I am thrilled to see these babies looking so engaged and healthy, thriving with their foster families, and getting the best possible start in life.

Jan Champoux
Nutrition Director

A Birthday Gift Beyond Years

2008-07-30T00:01:00.000-06:00

One generation plants the trees under whose

shade another generation rests.

~ Chinese Proverb ~

I don’t really celebrate birthdays anymore. In fact, unless the number of years I have lived ends in a zero, I give my birthdays to my kids. They get to go to Dollar Tree and “pick out something for mom” that they wrap and play with as we grab a soft serve cone from our favorite place. Recently, I became age that could be measured in decades— the number of years ended in a zero. My husband knew to take me out for dinner, which was very nice. My parents couldn’t think of anything that would mean more to me than making a difference in the lives of children and young people that LWB serves. So they surprised me by tucking a check made out to Love Without Boundaries into a birthday card in an amount that I never would have dreamed of as a kid.

I was blown away by their generosity and ability to get this birthday gift spot on perfect! They know of my love for the children of LWB. They know that when I see any of the children served by medical, foster care, nutrition or education that I’m seeing my own children...and they wanted to be grandparents in a way to those kids in the only way that they could.

After consulting my parents, we requested that the check money be used to help partially sponsor a Mama’s Wish student, Nan. Nan is a third year university student from Qinghai studying English and Tibetan. Almost a year later, Nan’s US “auntie and uncle" (me and my husband) and "grandma and grandpa” were thrilled to receive, "ooooh," and "ahhhh" over her final grades for the year—which were ALL A's and B's. Her teachers wrote that Nan is a very diligent student and active in lots of activities. She has helped translate documents for LWB Mama’s Wish students, volunteers, and sponsors. We can’t WAIT to see this young woman graduate continue her studies next year and graduate. It will be a very happy day for all of us...and we will dream of a very beautiful tree that shades lots and lots of friends and family members that have been touched by Nan, enriched so very dearly by a college education.

LWB Volunteer

2008-07-28T11:19:00.007-06:00

LWB UNITY FUND CONTEST

Okay, we are TOTALLY stealing a fabulous idea from the Old Red Barn Co (http://www.oldredbarnco.blogspot.com/) because we had so much fun entering and doing our own videos to try to win their quilt for our art auction. We lost….waahhh!

Starting TODAY, you have a chance to win a FABULOUSLY INCREDIBLE LWB PRIZE PACK in celebration of our Unity Fund launch. What is the Unity Fund, you ask? It is our new medical fund for impoverished families in China who cannot afford the life-saving medical procedures that their children need, in the hopes of keeping their families UNITED (hence the name) and actually preventing orphaned children. Yes, it is a big dream, but if we help even one more child stay with their family, that is beyond happiness for us. We are often approached by rural families who are desperate to help their children but who believe their only chance of healing them is to leave their child at an orphanage. We want to have a separate fund that we can use to bring HOPE to their lives, so that we can tell them immediately, “We know you love her, and yes we can help.” So in celebration of keeping families together, we are copying the contest held by the Old Red Barn Co and because we are busy people (ha ha) and want to save time, we are even copying their rules! Shameless we are!

First prize in this contest is an LWB prize pack, which includes:

A copy of our coffee table book, “Love’s Journey 2: The Red Thread”—a beautiful, hard cover book of over 250 pages with beautiful photos and stories about adoption.

PLUS a Red Thread Jewelry Set, valued at $125, which is SO BEAUTIFUL that you know you want it! Sterling silver, pearls, red silk cording…..did I mention BEAUTIFUL?!

PLUS one adult LWB t-shirt and one child’s LWB t-shirt.

PLUS (drum roll please because this is a biggie these days!) you will also win a FIFTY DOLLAR gas card to 7-Eleven donated by a friend of LWB!!! WOOHOO!! Free gas!!! Gas card! Gas card! Gas card!!! Okay, we admit that doesn’t exactly go with an LWB prize pack, but hey….we told you we were shameless and we want you to enter!

Total prize pack is worth over $250! Now that’s a fun contest, right?

Second prize will receive a Love’s Journey book, and third prize gets their choice of an adult or child’s LWB logo t-shirt.

All you have to do to enter and receive one chance in the drawing is email info@lwbmail.com and say “I support helping rural children in need.” That will count as one entry!

You earn FIVE extra entries into the drawing if you post an entry about our contest in your blog and let us know.

You get FIFTY ENTRIES (yes 5-0) if you make a video on why families are wonderful (to go along with our Unity theme) and mention the words “Live With Hope, Love Without Boundaries” at least once. Post it on Youtube with the header “Love Without Boundaries Unity Fund.” Send us your name and the link so we can credit you 50 chances! Since we are having fun with this celebration, we are going to follow the same rules and say we need your video to make us smile at least once. We know kids always make us smile, so we know this won’t be any problem!

International supporters are also welcome to enter. The contest will end Friday, August 15th at 7:00 p.m. EDT. Get your comments in before then. We’ll announce the winner on Saturday, August 16th! The winner will be selected by random drawing.

We are also having a $1 challenge to kick off this fund, where we are challenging EVERYONE we know to pop $1 in the mail (LWB, 306 S. Bryant, Ste. C-145, Edmond, OK 73034) to help a rural child in need. Who needs an extra diet Coke today when you could put those four quarters in an envelope to save a life? Can we get 5,000 people to send in $1? We won’t know until we try. Spread the word! And enter our contest!

Let’s celebrate the joy of families as we launch this new fund to help those families in China truly in need.

Good luck!

Healing Love

2008-07-28T00:01:00.000-06:00

At the beginning of March this year, a little baby girl joined our foster care program in Zhaotong, Yunnan province. She was only a few weeks old, very weak, and had clubbed feet. I named her Claire and looked at her photos that had been sent to me by our local manager in Yunnan. Within a few weeks of joining the program, it was discovered that she had pneumonia, and she was admitted to the local hospital. The local manager sent me regular email updates about baby Claire, but, despite the hospital's best efforts, her condition worsened. Due to the severity of her condition, she was discharged from the hospital as the doctors believed they could do no more to save her life. But her foster parents refused to give up.

Back home, the young foster parents, who had no formal medical training but a heart full of love for Claire, did all they could to help her. They took turns staying up all night to care for her, rocking her gently and stroking her face. They patiently fed her small amounts of milk throughout the day and night. They talked to her and encouraged her to keep fighting. When the warmer weather came, they took her outside for fresh air and sunshine.

Most importantly, they loved her! Every day I checked my inbox for news about Claire. Three months after being sent home from the hospital, I received this picture of Claire. Just look at her now!

Her picture is a true testament to the healing love of a family. When I saw this picture, it summed up for me the Love Without Boundaries motto of "Every Child Counts." I want to thank every one of our foster care and other sponsors for believing in this motto too.

Jennifer Drake
Zhaotong Foster Care Coordinator

Fundraiser for LWB and Half The Sky

2008-07-25T02:23:00.005-06:00

We at LWB feel that we have the best supporters. Some of those supporters are parents that adopted from China and have an interest in digital scrapbooking. They have their own forum called China Digital Scrapbooks and can be found at http://chinadigitalscrapbooks.com. The forum has been around just over one year, and many of the members are now widely recognized in the digital community for their creative work.

Last year, several members decided to create a digital scrapbook kit and enlisted some of the best designers out there to contribute to the project. The result was the Journey of the Heart collaboration kit. See http://www.digital-scrapbook-kits.com/store/JOTH-Charity-Kit.aspx. All proceeds from the sale of the kit go to Love Without Boundaries and Half the Sky.

Once the JOTH kit was released, one of the members decided to enlist the help of others to create quick pages using the kit. Quick pages (QPs) are already assembled pages with room for pictures and journaling. It makes it much easier for the novice digital scrapbooker to complete projects. Even seasoned scrapbookers often choose to use QPs when they want to create scrapped pages quickly. Again, 100% of the profit from sales of the QPs go to Love Without Boundaries and Half The Sky.

The project grew exponentially: There were more than 30 contributors, and a lot of thought went into the creation of each page. Many digiscrappers print their finished books at http://shutterfly.com; so special consideration was given to the margin requirements for the digital scrapbook option on Shutterfly. Of course there are other printing options out there, but adjusting for Shutterfly's margin requirements took a lot of burden off the end user.

The project team also considered different digital scrapbooking programs out on the market and wrote tutorials for them. The quick pages have been tested out and will work with the following programs and most likely any others that allow you to put a picture behind another image. The project team went to great lengths to create simple QP assembly instructions for users of these programs too:

Adobe Photoshop (7, CS2 and CS3)
Adobe Photoshop Elements (free 30 day trial available)
Microsoft Picture It!
Microsoft Digital Image Pro
Microsoft Digital Image Suite
Corel Paint Shop Pro
Macromedia Fireworks
Creative Memories StoryBook Creator Plus
Creating Keepsakes (for home printing only)
FotoFusion (for 8x8 printing or 12x12 at an acceptable but lower resolution than required by some online print services)

Pages can even be scrapped using Microsoft Powerpoint!!

The final Lifebook Quick Page kits come in two color schemes: Spring Blossom and Bright Jade. Each set is available with and without page titles.

To view and purchase the page kits, check out the links below:
Spring Blossom with titles: http://www.digital-scrapbook-kits.com/store/Spring-Blossom.aspx
Spring Blossom without titles: http://www.digital-scrapbook-kits.com/store/Spring-Blossom-No-Titles.aspx

Bright Jade with titles: http://www.digital-scrapbook-kits.com/store/Bright-Jade.aspx
Bright Jade without titles: http://www.digital-scrapbook-kits.com/store/Bright-Jade-No-Titles.aspx

The kits have pages for both girl and boys, have several versions for many of the topics covered, and really do offer flexibility. Even if you don't scrap digitally, you can still download these kits and print them to use as traditional 12x12 pages that you can embellish with your own supplies. To make sure no one is overwhelmed, the people driving this project have created a Yahoo Group to provide users with support as they create their books.

This project was really a labor of love!!! Most digital designers produce no more than 12 quick pages from one kit, yet these charity kits, created from the huge original JOTH kit plus many specially-made add-ons comprise 70 different pages EACH! You really are getting some high quality pages at a bargain price.

If you are new to digital scrapbooking, you can download four free sample quick pages here: http://www.digital-scrapbook-kits.com/Freebies.aspx.

Now we, as adoptive parents, have some great kits to help us finish those all-important lifebooks to preserve our child’s history. And to think you can do this and help Love Without Boundaries and Half the Sky will make these projects using these pages even more special. LWB sends a special thank you to all who have contributed to these kits and to http://digital-scrapbook-kits.com/ for their generosity.

Students Help to Change the World - One Child at a Time

2008-07-24T00:01:00.000-06:00

Twelve Ajax High School seniors from Ontario pulled together to change the world...One child at a time.

Written by their teacher Ms. Lacy:

How it all began....two students named Jalal and Cassie were taught by Ms. Jennifer Cassano during the semester I was still on parental leave with my daughter. After learning about attachment theory, what happens around the world with children in orphanages, and, of course, learning about my daughter who became part of my family on July 31, 2006, they decided they wanted to make a difference. When I returned to work in February, Ms. Cassano and I spoke and decided we would help them to make a group. I surveyed my classes to get volunteers and that was how we formed our group that we named after your association.

"Love Without Boundaries"...I think showing them a picture of my little sweetie also helped! We all got together to make a plan, and it was decided that they would sign up each week to sell cupcakes in the front foyer every week. Students rotated from week to week, sharing the tasks of baking and selling. From February to June they did this...making the $725 they donated. We made display boards that listed facts about China and the orphanages, as well as photos I had photocopied out of a book. Also, each week they made an announcement during homeroom to raise awareness about this important cause. They are really such a wonderful group of students!!!! We had a party to celebrate in June, and of course my daughter, Lienna Mei, who attended was a big hit! They really love her and all my stories about her that are so relevant to the course I teach called "Issues in Human Growth and Development."

The students who were part of this group are: Alana, Savannah, Jennifer, Sarah, Ally, Jalal, Cassie, Jodi, Kristin, Julia, Balynn, and Brittany. The teacher advisors were Ms. Jennifer Cassano and me, Ms. Jennifer Lacy.

Thank you, Ajax High Students, for giving of yourselves every week. Any amount given helps, but what you have raised is enough to fund bed 11 at Heartbridge Pediatric Rehabilitation Unit for three full months. You have much to be proud of! Currently in that bed is a sweet little girl who is truly in need of some tender loving care. Three months of the intense medical and physical attention she will receive at Heartbridge will make such a huge difference in her life. I am confident that by taking the time and the energy to think beyond the walls of your own home and your own school that you have not only impacted the life of one precious orphaned child, but what you have learned will forever impact your lives as well. Well done!

Wendy Petersen, R.N.
Heartbridge Coordinator

Getting to Know You

2008-07-23T00:19:00.005-06:00

Cindy Wu, our nutrition director in China, has been getting to know a LOT of children in the past few months! Right now she is on the road in Anhui, visiting our programs there. Just a few weeks ago she visited the Jinjiang orphanage in Fujian, where we provide supplemental formula to around 70 infants and toddlers. Even with all those children to meet, photograph, weigh and measure, Cindy and local manager, Daphne, were also able to share stories about their precious personalities.

Regarding the little girl in red and white, Cindy writes, “She is a curious girl. They were having dinner when we walked into the room. She stared at us even when she turned around to take food from the nanny. She looked at Daphne and me with eyes widely opened and her mouth still full with rice. When we were ready to leave, she waved bye-bye and even came over to the door to see us off.” It is wonderful to see this little angel looking so healthy!

This angelic-looking child is "a naughty girl with strong personality. Min was crying when I walked into the room. I held her up and asked her what make her cry so loud. The nanny told me that Min is very naughty, she likes to wear nanny’s shoes and walk around. The nanny told her not to do it because she didn’t want Min to fell down with the big shoes. That made her upset and she started to cry. You can see Min was happy again because she got the big shoes anyway!"

"Ya is a little beauty. She was a premature baby when she was sent to the orphanage. The nanny said actually she is very healthy now. She has very good personality and she always has a sweet smile on her face. She is the little princess of the nannies. They all love her!"

It is a great treat for our nutrition team to receive these reports. As we read about the children in our programs, we begin to feel a special connection to them. You should hear the cheering when we learn that one of "our babies" has come home to a family of their own!

(Note: The names of the children have been changed to protect their privacy.)

Happy Birthday!

2008-07-21T12:36:00.012-06:00

Recently an Education sponsor asked how they could help their sponsored child celebrate a birthday. As birthdays for children in orphanages are so vastly different than for other children, we chatted about providing a treat to the birthday girl and all her classmates.

We decided to ask our manager in China and the teacher to choose a treat that all the kids could enjoy in honor of the birthday girl’s day. The treat turned out to be a new t-shirt for each child.

The kids loved getting an individually wrapped present and then modeling for the camera. What a fun celebration for the kids. It was indeed a happy birthday, and we hope you will enjoy the moment with us.

Linda Mitchell
Believe In Me Jingzhou Coordinator

Meet Lyn Thomas - Team LWB

2008-07-21T00:20:00.011-06:00

Over the next few weeks, we would like to share with you the stories of some of our wonderful supporters who are participating on Team LWB in the Marine Corps Marathon to raise funds for LWB's Foster Care Program. Meet Lyn Thomas.

My name is Lyn Thomas. I am a mother of four and a runner. I have been running for four years and love it! I am very excited about running for Love Without Boundaries as it holds a special place in my heart. I have been blessed with two children from China.

My daughter is from Hubei Province and my son is from Guangdong Province. My little girl was in foster care and for that I am thankful. She was loved and cared for by her foster mother. I feel it helped her transition to our family with ease because she understood how a family works. Hugs and kisses were not a stranger to her.

My son spent fours years in an orphanage. He has had a hard time learning how to be a kid. I wish he would have had the chance to be in foster care to learn what family is all about. I am running for Jake and for all the little angels in China that need a mother's love. Go Team LWB!

Ten Years Old!

2008-07-17T17:36:00.004-06:00

I have a ten-year-old daughter . . . she is so beautiful and full of life! Ten is such a fun age--still a little girl, but also knowing that they are on the cusp of being “bigger.” My daughter has told me that she no longer likes to watch animated movies or play with dolls. She has asked me some very interesting questions this summer. I realize how much she is able to analyze life . . . so much more than a year ago.

Imagine being ten years old and left at the gate of the local Civil Affairs office because your heart defect is so very severe. Jie is this child, and I can’t help but look at her photo and think of my own daughter. I can only imagine how very frightened she must be. Not only that, but she is SO weak from her diseased heart (she has a very serious TOF--Tetralogy of Fallot) that she can’t walk very fast and can’t climbs stairs. The good news is that the heart surgeon has reviewed her echo done locally and believes that she has a very good chance to have a healed heart.

This defect should be repaired at one year old, and she has waited ten years. I can only imagine the grief her parents felt as they left her, their child for 10 years, likely because they thought it was the only chance she had to be healthy. How torn they must have felt. My heart aches for them all.

Please keep this beautiful child in your thoughts and prayers. The cardiologist, Dr. Li in Hangzhou, has said that because her movement is so limited due to her poor heart condition, she needs surgery as soon as possible. We have her on our website to try to raise money for her surgery.

As my daughter thinks about all of the things a ten-year-old should think about, I will be thinking of Jie and hoping that she will have her dream of a healthy heart, so that she too can have a chance to think and dream of all of the things a ten-year-old should.

Karen Maunu
Medical Director

Rejoice!

2008-07-17T06:00:00.000-06:00

Budgets are tight. Gas is expensive. Food costs more. My children listen to me rant and rave about not wasting food because I just spent a ridiculous amount at the grocery store! How is it for your family? What items have you had to cut back on?

Inflation, of course, affects orphanages and foster families as well. Cribs cost twice as much as last year. The price of rice has doubled. Higher quality formula is more expensive . . . and out of reach for many orphanages. Love Without Boundaries feels the economic pinch too. Sometimes children wait to receive services. We hate when we have to say, "Sorry, we canʼt help you" or "Sorry, you will have to wait." Yet we are overjoyed about each and every child we are able to help--the lives we can save and the lives we can change.

Rejoice with us! Here are just a few of the children whose lives we are touching this year:

In these hard economic times, we are especially grateful for everyone who has made a commitment to the children in China. Thank you for your continued support.

School Daze!

2008-07-16T07:00:00.005-06:00

Did you ever have to go to summer school? From our perspective as adults, summer school is a fantastic opportunity to strengthen learning and skills or to get ahead of the game for next school year. Right?! However, for our students, summer school feels more like work, work and well, work!

JD is one of LWB Education’s newest students. You may recall his story from our May 28th entry introducing him to LWB’s main blog readers. One of JD’s greatest needs is tutoring to help him catch up to peers in public school... which spells s-u-m-m-e-r s-c-h-o-o-l.

We had to smile at the expression on JD’s face when he posed next to all the new books and school supplies purchased for his summer tutoring sessions. "Yes, son, this is good for you," we can imagine his grandma and tutor saying. Hopefully, we will get big smiles from JD when he gets his exam papers back next school year. Stay tuned, and we will be sure to keep you posted. In the meantime, think good thoughts for JD as he plunges into some summer studies.

Linda Mitchell
Associate Director of Education

Generational Gain

2008-07-15T22:25:00.004-06:00

Families...the love and nurture they give. Our children....our gain/their gain. I’m sure this is a thought that has swept through the minds of most parents more than once in the wondrous road of parenting while quietly we "snap" a moment to store in the often dusty boxes of archival cellular matter. Stored for that unavoidable day when the cyclical changes of time have altered our terms of nurturing engagement.

A recent event had me savour just such a simple instance—my daughter learning to knit. Her Nana’s watchful eye, both encouraging and guiding as the generations easily share a moment in time...and a skill in the making.

Gosh, I do remember the tangle of wool and, yes, the doll clothes, poodle bottle covers and assorted filigree that I managed to complete before the said yarn and motion action like a vice turned tighter and tighter in my chest, snapping any continuation of this particular gift of family heritage for my generation.

The first piece: a "unique" scarf—a combination of wool, time, love, and generations. It seems that even my generation gets blended into this masterpiece as my daughter wants it to go to one of the Love Without Boundaries babies :-)

Family love and memories....what a gift we have...one we cherish and can spread the word about through the LWB Foster Care Program. To learn more about our Foster Care Program, please visit: http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/foster.cfm

Julie Flynn Coleman
Loudi Foster Care Coordinator

Earthquake Update: 7/12/08

2008-07-12T05:00:00.000-06:00

Sixty- nine days ago life was normal in Sichuan.

Sixty-eight days ago their world turned upside down.

As we have watched this situation unfold, we have been witness to a tremendous, and humbling, outpouring of support from our donors. We have received donations from groups, corporations, individuals, and churches, as well as donations from children who gave their allowance to help the children in China. Each and every donation given for this cause is very important to us, as is each and every donor.

We have been working diligently to use the funds that have been entrusted to us in a way that will honor our donors' intentions. The first thing we did was send a large shipment of formula to Chongqing Civil Affairs for distribution to any baby who needed it. At that time we started working on our long-term relief plan. We have investigated many, many options but have not yet found the right project. Are we being picky? Perhaps, but here is why:

We want to make sure that any project we begin we are able to follow through to the end. The children we will help deserve that.
We want to be sure we know where every dollar of every donation is going and that it is making a real and tangible difference. Our donors deserve that.

The Chinese government is doing an amazing job of taking care of the immediate needs of the children impacted. The outpouring of support, both financially and in volunteer hours, that the Chinese people have donated has been amazing. Even the children in our programs throughout China donated the little they had to help. We had been moving forward with plans to help foster children who were newly orphaned due to this tragedy, but we recently got the wonderful news that the vast majority of children impacted were able to be reunited with at least one relative.

The effects of this earthquake will be felt for years to come. Some of the effects have been seen already but others won’t be seen for quite some time. Please be patient as we continue to work with those on the ground investigating our options for us. We have wonderful, compassionate people in place working with us, and we are confident that together we will be able to provide true, long-term relief to the children in need.

A Dream Come True

2008-07-11T05:30:00.001-06:00

We want to thank EVERYONE who advocated for sweet Fen to find a forever family. Thanks to everyone's efforts, we are so happy to be able to report that a family has chosen her to be their newest daughter. What a dream come true for this very special little girl who has been waiting so long to be adopted.

There were actually two girls from this orphanage who came out on the shared agency list at the same time. We were so grateful for the outpouring of support for Fen that we hope the same blessing can be given to her friend Meigan. Here is a photo of them together from Children's Day. Fen is on the left in white and Meigan is in red.
Some of you might remember my post from many years ago that talked about us sending a beautiful scrapbook back to one orphanage, with photos of all of the children who had been adopted. We had worked so hard on the book, and we thought that the aunties would love to see each child, now home in a loving family. I was making a visit to this orphanage at one point, and the staff finally shared with me that they were concerned about me coming because of this book. You see, they had put the book away and hidden it from sight because of the deep pain that it caused to all of the older children in the orphanage who had NEVER BEEN CHOSEN. They knew we had worked so hard on it, but they just didn't want to cause any more pain to the older children who had opened the book and saw the friends they once knew in the orphanage now riding on merry-go-rounds, being hugged by their new siblings, and being dressed in princess gowns with bows and barrettes in their hair. Oh my heart. I couldn't believe that I had not thought of that, and I was so sad to know that I had caused any of them pain. Lesson learned in a very hard way.

I just learned something else that has made my heart sad, and it involves Meigan. I made the mistake of asking if she really wanted to be adopted, since she is now 10. And I was told that she wants it more than anything. In fact, since this orphanage now has done adoptions for many years, several families have returned on homeland tours with their older daughters. Meigan's eyes have followed them the whole time, with a longing that the whole staff could see that she wished SHE could be the one holding onto a mama's hand, and that she could be the one who someone had chosen as their own. Each time an adoptive family has returned, there is a deep sadness in Meigan's eyes and a feeling that she just isn't good enough to be chosen. During normal days, she is a happy girl with a smile to melt any heart, but close to the surface is a feeling of, "Why did no one want ME?"

Meigan is ten years old and has the sweetest personality. She is a loving and gentle little girl, who loves her baby doll and who has the voice of an angel when she sings. She loves music and playing with her friends. Meigan was born with a spinal tumor, which was repaired as a baby. She has full range of motion with her legs and is a beautiful dancer. However, due to a complication with the surgery, she has one health issue that might make her adoption more difficult. However, many parents have helped their children successfully overcome this issue with treatment by a specialist such as Dr. Pena at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. It absolutely does not have to stop her from having a full and productive life.

LWB has decided to offer a Tuan Yuan adoption grant for Meigan, in the hope that it will help allow someone to bring her home. Please help spread the news that this beautiful young girl is waiting, as we know that somewhere out there is the perfect family just waiting for such a sweet daughter. Meigan has so much to offer this world with her loving and sweet spirit, and we are all praying that her family will soon be found. Thank you so much for your help!

Amy Eldridge
Executive Director

Giving Back

2008-07-10T05:00:00.006-06:00

“What can we do to give back to our children’s first home?” It seems this is a common question for lots of adoptive parents. This question came up in my Yangjiang SWI Yahoo group earlier this year, and we decided to pool our resources together to make a donation. Our group requested that the LWB Special Projects team ask the Yangjiang orphanage director about the needs of the children there. “Clothing!!” was the quick response.

Happy children in Yangjiang!

Our group collected donations through the LWB Orphanage Assistance Program, and, in less than two months, the YJ group raised $1,854 – enough to purchase 120 bags of cloth diapers (that’s 1,200 diapers!!) and 510 sets of summer clothing. We were SO happy that we were able to donate this much for the kids and loved the pictures that were sent to us from the orphanage staff.

Look at all the cloth diapers!

The LWB Orphanage Assistance program is a really neat program that allows families and groups to work with orphanages to meet their needs. All purchases are made in China by an LWB employee to stretch funds as far as possible. Some of the projects that other orphanage groups are undertaking include clothing, cloth diapers, cribs and beds, medical equipment, toys, indoor and outdoor play equipment, winter coats, quilts, shoes, incubators, and more.

Donations are also always welcome (and needed!) by LWB’s Orphanage Assistance General Fund. This general fund allows help to be provided to orphanages that may not have completed a lot of international adoptions and have as much parent support. This fund is also used to help with emergency needs.

Learn more about LWB’s Orphanage Assistance Program here: http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/projects_orphange_assistance.cfm

Debbie Smith
Tuan Yuan Adoption Assistance Coordinator

Alaina's Art

2008-07-09T05:00:00.000-06:00

"Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot,

others transform a yellow spot into the sun."

-Pablo Picasso

Please allow me to introduce you to Alaina. She is fourteen years old and deaf. For some time, Alaina spent her days at the Jingzhou Social Welfare Institute in Hubei Province because the local public school did not have an education program that fit her needs. When Love Without Boundaries opened a Believe In Me School in Alaina’s orphanage, her potential as a student was like a giant blinking neon sign: THIS YOUNG WOMAN IS INTELLIGENT AND TALENTED!

Through the generosity of two monthly sponsors, Alaina is able to attend a school for the deaf in Jingzhou. She has simply blossomed as a student and an artist. Every time our school manager reports on Alaina’s progress, he tells us how wonderful she is doing in school. It seems Alaina’s greatest challenge is that she is shy about raising her hand and letting her teachers know what she knows. However, her intelligence is clear on her test papers and academic reports.

What is amazing to see from Alaina is her prolific artwork. This is a young woman who finds happiness in creating! Her delightful, sensitive personality comes through in the subjects that she captures with pencils, crayons, and markers. We receive so many beautiful pieces of art from her that it would be a shame to keep these to ourselves.
Enjoy the efforts of this amazing young woman. She is lovely and receiving such an incredible opportunity to learn and grow toward a bright future through the love and generosity of LWB sponsors. Thank you! For more information about this program or students in need of sponsored learning opportunities please visit: http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/education_jingzhou.cfm

Linda Mitchell
Believe In Me Jingzhou Coordinator

Brody

2008-07-07T08:00:00.008-06:00

I met him first in a picture. His face was almost expressionless, the tear-stained cheeks giving the only hint of what he was feeling. As I read through his description, I became aware that life had not been kind to him. He was over two but not yet walking, and he couldn’t stand without support. Speech that is normal at this age was nonexistent for him. His rocking behavior indicated challenges with attaching to a primary caregiver. I was hopeful that foster care could turn this around, but I must admit I was afraid we might be too late.I was so happy when he was placed into a wonderful foster home at the beginning of the year. He had a couple of bouts with respiratory illnesses and high fever, but each time he bounced back. I found myself worrying about him and reading his report first each month as I received them from our China Manager. I cannot pinpoint exactly when it happened, but he had worked his way into my heart and I often thought about him and hoped he was being loved. In February, I was happy to read he was beginning to walk with the foster parent’s help, and was able to play outside with the neighbor children. Even the rocking behavior was occurring less and less often. When I visited in March, I recognized his sweet little face immediately, though he was much tinier in person than I had imagined. He willingly took my hand and we walked all around the courtyard, practicing going up and down steps and a ramp. The progress he had made was indeed amazing, but I couldn’t help but wish for a smile from that somber little face.Well, in April I received the best news ever! The picture in his report shows Brody walking down the road, maybe even trotting, with a hint of a smile on his face!I think back to that very first picture and I realize foster care has saved Brody’s life. While maybe not in the way we usually think, by taking him from a weakened condition to being fully recovered in a physical way, but in a vital way nonetheless. His foster family has taught him that he matters, that he is important, and that they care about him. Brody has learned they are willing to work with him and encourage him to be all that he can be for as long as he is able to share his life with them. Brody now has hope and a future, and what could be more life-giving than that!

To learn more about our Foster Care program, please visit: http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/foster.cfm

Nancy Delpha
Associate Foster Care Director

Skip Counting

2008-07-03T08:00:00.001-06:00

When I ask my kids to “skip count” their favorite first answer is: “One, Two, Skip a few, Ninety-Nine…..ONE HUNDRED!”

Students in our Believe In Me School in Jingzhou, Hubei Province have been learning to skip count…which, as you know, means so much more than simply counting. Skip counting involves grouping numbers, patterning and sequencing – important skills in mathematics and literacy. We loved seeing the kids learn with colorful beads…but the help they gave each other in mastering these skills.

Thank you to the sponsors and donors that made this learning possible for these students. To learn more about LWB students in need of sponsorship for educational opportunities please visit: http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/education.cfm

Education in Kaifeng

2008-07-02T08:00:00.000-06:00

Anatole France, wrote in

The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard,
“The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards.”

Like waves crashing onto the shore of our work with LWB Education students, these words came to mind when reading a report from our newest teachers in Kaifeng, Henan Province. These two teachers have been hired to live and work in the social welfare institute to strengthen children living there as well as foster children that attend local public school. The aim of our program in Kaifeng is to build a bridge between these smart, loveable children and their future.

When our Kaifeng teachers spent several days observing and training with experienced LWB teachers at our Believe In Me School in Changde, Hunan Province they were amazed at the dynamic of learning and teaching. The report that they wrote to us volunteers and to you sponsors and donors is full of the hope and challenge they take back with them to Kaifeng. I cannot summarize better than what they say in their own words.

What follows is a snippet of the report from our Kaifeng teachers. Enjoy what they have learned and will bring to their students, the incredible kids that we support.

Changde learning

Teacher Tang: We try to communicate with them not only language but also soul communication, the eyes are the window of soul…Patience is the basic stone of our work, we cannot be good teachers if you don't have it. The interest to life is more important to studying for the kids especially to some simple daily life independent abilities. We should focus on handcraft work and music classes for they can develop the kids' intelligence.

Teacher Den's: When classes begin, she comes to the key point of what the kids will learn immediately. Most of the time she used the Montessori teaching equipments to teach the kids. She used body language and focused on the explanation of the teaching aids. She used body language again and again together with teaching aids and let the kids do it themselves independently.
Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, to the sponsors and donors that have made these opportunities to teach, learn and grow toward a bright future possible.

To learn more about the LWB Education program in Kaifeng and students in need of sponsored learning opportunities please visit: http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/education_kaifeng.cfm

The Ripple-Effect...

2008-07-01T08:00:00.000-06:00

The Ripple-Effect is defined as ‘a spreading series of effects or consequences caused by a single event’. We all experience the ripple-effect daily, either by causing a ripple or being affected by one, we just aren’t always lucky enough to recognize what is happening. My ripple-effect started with spring cleaning. That annual ritual of cleaning out the old to make room for the new. I find spring cleaning refreshing and revitalizing. But this year brought a new twist to my ritual. As I was going through the kids’ clothing I was making my usual ‘donate’ and ‘keep’ piles, but this year I was distracted. I had just received photos and information about the children in our Mama’s Wish program at Tongren Middle School. Most students from schools in Tongren County, Huangnan Prefecture, Qinghai Province are from rural villages. There are no specific financial incomes for those villages but they depend on farming and animal husbandry, which are hardly enough to keep them from starving let alone able to purchase warm clothing for their children for the harsh winter weather. At Tongren Middle school there are about 1600 students and there are not enough dormitory rooms. Generally 40 students share one room and two or three students have to share one bed. These beds are in poor condition and should not be shared. There are stories of students being injured because the beds collapsed on them.
Our Orphanage Assistance program usually takes care of a need like this by contacting the adoptive parent Yahoo group, we raise funds and purchase what is needed. Only that doesn’t work for our Mama’s Wish students, Qinghai doesn’t participate in international adoption so there isn’t a parent Yahoo group to contact, making fundraising much more difficult.

Back to my spring cleaning. As the clothes that no longer fit my children were stacking up I found myself wishing I could get them to the Mama’s Wish students—but shipping is extremely expensive and then there is the whole customs issue and duty fees. But the need is just so great.
Then it occurred to me—LWB has a wonderful group of people right in China. What if they would gather their used clothing, and that of their family and friends, colleagues and neighbors, and they sent them to our Mama’s Wish students? Well, the ripples were set in motion and where they went was simply amazing.

I emailed our China staff with my request and offered to pay the shipping costs out of our Special Projects General Fund. Here is what happened: 81 packages were received from many different places in China; 52 packages were distributed to the students in Tongren School, including students who are not in our Mama’s Wish program. The remaining 29 packages will be distributed to poor families in the area. A portion of the clothing came from the classmates of our Fujian facilitator’s son. Not only did these students donate their used clothing but they also decided they wanted to form a partnership with the Tongren school to help on a continuing basis! So, not only did the Tongren students receive help now but they will continue to receive help in the future.

Who knew spring cleaning would help someone more than half way around the world!! Now, on to replacing those beds….

Kate Finco
Special Projects Director

Food for Thought

2008-06-30T08:00:00.000-06:00

We thought our nutrition sponsors would be interested in seeing exactly what a gift the children in our nutrition program are getting through high quality formula. Recently we did an evaluation between a local brand of formula and Nestle Nestogen formula, which is what we send to the majority of the orphanages we partner with for nutrition. We would like to send another HUGE thank you to everyone who makes our nutrition program possible, as it truly is giving so many precious babies the absolute best start in life.
Although both formulas were similar in calories, fat, and iron content, we found a significant difference in the micro-nutrients that are so vital to good health and healing. Below is a sample of our findings, with the local formula's content listed first, versus Nestle Nestogen. Amounts listed per 100 grams of formula powder:

Linoleic acid: Omega 6 fatty acids, essential to the diet for growth and healing.
3,000 mg versus 16,000 mg

Protein: Vital for growth and cell repair.
12 grams versus 20.2 grams

Calcium: Needed for growth, healthy teeth and bones, also fights absorption of lead.
310 mg versus 735 mg

Phosphorus: Helps with the synthesis of carbohydrates and protein, formation of bones and teeth, cell repair.
220 mg versus 600 mg

Vitamin B1: Helps convert carbohydrates into energy, also essential to functioning of the heart, muscles, and nervous system.
400 mcg versus 700 mcg

Vitamin B2: Needed for general good health, also helps metabolize carbohydrates and protein.
500 mcg versus 1100 mcg

Niacin: Helps convert food to energy, assists with functioning of digestive system, skin and nerves, an essential to the diet.
3,500 mcg versus 130,000 mcg

Vitamin B6: Helps metabolize protein, helps immune system produce antibodies, aids in production of red blood cells.
190 mcg versus 930 mcg

Pantothenic acid: For metabolism of carbohydrates, protein and fat.
1,700 mcg versus 3,300 mcg

Copper: Helps in production of red blood cells, and keeps blood vessels, nerves, immune system and bones healthy.
300 mcg versus 5,600 mcg

Zinc: Helps with immune system and healing, helps to fight absorption of lead.
2.5 mg versus 5.6 mg

While that's too small amounts to try and remember, hopefully you can see that they all add up to a very big difference for the children. THANK YOU!!!

Jan Champoux
Nutrition Director

Learn by Teaching

2008-06-27T08:20:00.000-06:00

Isn’t it true that we learn by teaching? I know that as I teach my children to pick up their things, clear the table, do homework in a timely fashion I am actually learning to do those things myself. Our Believe In Me teacher in Jingzhou, Hubei Province knows that the best learning comes from teaching – especially when it comes to learning Pinyin. Pinyin, as many of you know, is the Romanization of Mandarin. When it comes to learning how to read/write in English and Mandarin, Pinyin is the first alphabet students will learn.

Our Believe In Me students are no different. They are having fun teaching each other English letters and Chinese sounds…and they are some of the cutest little professors we ever did see! I just love these photos. They show how a school, even a little, itty bitty tiny school with one teacher and a whole lotta hope can transform lives.

Thank you to all the sponsors and donors that have made this learning possible for these students. It will be very useful in their futures.

Linda Mitchell

To learn more about LWB students in need of education opportunities please visit: http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/education.cfm

BIM-Huainan Students Perform

2008-06-25T08:00:00.000-06:00

Editing down 22 minutes of video to about 2 minutes (click on the title to view the video) took several hours deciding on which singing groups, which scenes of children eating out of candy bags, which images of children enjoying a holiday party should be used. The more I looked and listened attempting to whittle off seconds of a scene, the more minute details of the Believe In Me education program I noticed. What do we all look at when we attend a school performance?

The students’ joy in performing songs learned, some accompanied by dance steps boosts their pride. A satisfied smile, a shy smile and sometimes a relieved smile for the appreciative applause. The back ground scene of students singing and clapping along even when they were not center stage demonstrates the enthusiastic chorus. The mischievous girl who rushed to pick up a tinsel garland that had fallen off one of the performers and started dancing around with it herself, causing fits of giggles among the children. All small details and many more but similar to the warm details we tend to notice in school performances.

The children in the Believe In Me programs are enjoying their special moments as all children should. Most importantly the children in Believe In Me have that special someone in the audience too that has come just to see them. And that is all the sponsors.

Thank you to each and every sponsor who has made these special moments possible.

Karin Cooper
Believe in Me Huainan Assistant Coordinator

Facebook Babies Update

2008-06-24T08:00:00.000-06:00

In February, it was announced on Facebook that LWB won the Facebook challenge. With winning this award, we won $50,000, enough to help heal 10 heart babies. We thought you might like to see the babies and get an update on how they are all doing. Some are healed, some are in the hospital right now waiting for their turn, others are still waiting until just the right time. Everyone one of these children's lives will be changed forever with the money won through this contest.

Thank you to everyone who helped to make this happen!

Ying from Henan is still too tiny for surgery but is scheduled to have her ToF repair done in August. What a peanut! As soon as her heart is repaired, she will then have cleft lip surgery as well.

Yun from Zhejiang received surgery for ToF in February and is doing GREAT. This is a photo from the hospital bed.

Xiang from Guangdong was SO sick, and his aunties from the orphanage really didn't think he would make it. The Facebook funds came just in time and he had surgery in March. He received surgery for ToF and PA and is doing so well that he is being submitted for adoption. He was very blue before and now is a lovely shade of pink!

Ya received surgery for ToF and has been matched with her forever family now. That is what makes us absolutely the happiest.

Yang from Henan will be having ToF surgery next week. We can't wait to see his blue lips turn to pink!

Yun from Anhui received surgery for VSD and pulmonary hypertension and is doing so great!

Yan from Anhui will have surgery for VSD and PA soon. She needs a very specialized surgery so she needs extra prayers.

Yu from Guangxi received successful surgery for PDA.

Lin from Anhui received surgery for both PA and VSD!

And Xiong from Henan received surgery for VSD, PDA, and pulmonary hypertension. Isn't that a GREAT smile?

Karen Maunu
Medical Director

Love Can Make a Miracle

2008-06-20T01:06:00.000-06:00

"Love Can Make a Miracle."

These were the words written by our China Foster Care Director in a recent report to LWB. She was talking about the wonderful foster families in Yunnan. Orphanage Assistance was able to help these families this winter by providing quilts and warm clothing for the children. They were so thankful for the assistance because they do not have much—and yet they give to others. These families scraped together what they could to help those affected by the earthquake.

As the Foster Care Manager said, "The picture shows that as long as we get together, we can overcome any difficulties."

A Family for Fen

2008-06-17T22:54:00.000-06:00

Five years ago, I made my first visit to an orphanage and met so many beautiful children that my head was spinning. I wanted to adopt them all. The toddler and preschool children truly stole my heart, and one little girl made me smile again and again as she would repeat every single thing I said in English just perfectly. Fen was three years old at the time, and she would run up and say “hello!” over and over to me. She had been born with a cleft lip and palate, and when she was just a baby she suffered from a severe fever which left her with weakness on one side. But she never let it get her down. Over the years, I watched in joy as Fen performed many dances and songs for me. Her outgoing personality caught the eye of everyone who met her. This is a photo of her when she was three. Isn't she so cute?

Over the years, each time I would go to China I would get to see Fen. She would literally jump into my arms saying, "mama mama!" and her English had expanded to include not only "how are you?" but also "I am fine, thank you!" She was loved by many of the workers at the orphanage and stole the hearts of each family who visited the SWI during their adoption trips.

When Fen was four years old, she was given the chance at adoption, but sadly it ended in disruption when she had a seizure while in Guangzhou. She returned to the orphanage where her seizures have since stopped. Over the last few years, I have often wondered what Fen would be doing today had she been adopted all those years ago. How different her life would have been. Would she be in dance class twirling around or playing soccer as part of a team? Would she have long hair with ribbons and barrettes and lots of friends in school? Would she still love singing and poetry? Four years of wondering about what could have been.

Fen is now eight years old, and we have asked again and again for her to be given a second chance at finding a family, because we know that Fen has so much to offer to this world. We were thrilled to learn a few weeks ago that her file was accepted once more and she is now on the shared agency list. This beautiful girl who loves music and dancing wants a family of her own so deeply. If you know of anyone who is interested in an older child adoption, please let them know that Fen is currently waiting. We are all praying for the wonderful moment when we learn that someone has said, "you will be my daughter." Many families who have met Fen in person would love to adopt her but do not qualify under current rules. Please help us spread the news that Fen needs a family. She has waited so long. Surely it is her turn to be chosen and loved.

Amy Eldridge

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-16T13:14:00.001-06:00

Father’s Day: a day set aside in the U.S. to honor and celebrate fathers with gifts and cook outs. Gifts that can never come close to the significance that fathers play in their children’s lives. Perhaps a new tie, socks, or gifts like my husband often gets - gifts that the children would like to play with their dad. Like a motor boat to race in the pool, or a new Wii game system that quickly becomes the “kids” present. But isn’t that what fatherhood is all about? Sacrificing for the good of your children? Of course it’s not a sacrifice without rewards – the love of a child for their father often cannot be measured or matched.

Today we’d like to honor all the unsung heroes in our foster care program; the fathers who lavish affection and attention on our 300 plus children in foster care. These men are a vital part of our foster care program and play important roles in the lives of our foster children.

I’d like to tell you about two fathers who are very important in the lives of 12 children now in our Anhui Cleft Healing Home. Zhang Ming manages our cleft healing home along with his brother-in-law Paddy. Both of these men have families of their own but spend countless hours at our home. Paddy has a delightful teenage daughter and Zhang Ming has a very handsome little boy. These children spend many hours at the home along with their mothers (one of whom works in the home as well). They are probably there in part to play with the babies and also to see their fathers!

Zhang Ming spends many hours working for the children that LWB serves, not only in our cleft healing home but also throughout Anhui. He keeps our home running smoothly; hiring nannies, arranging for surgeries, ordering formula. He is also the only English speaker in our home so he is the one we communicate with and who translates the wonderful reports our Cleft Healing Home sponsors receive monthly. He is the man behind the camera taking the many great pictures we have of the children’s lives. As we all know, if you are taking the pictures, you usually aren’t in them! So while we don’t have many pictures of him interacting with the babies, I can assure you he is a huge part of their lives.

Zhang Ming

Paddy is our driver and Zhang Ming’s right hand man. He is a soft spoken, quiet man who loves to play with the babies. It’s obvious from the pictures that the babies love him as well! On this Father’s Day, we’d like to thank all of the fathers who dedicate themselves selflessly to children who will not be theirs forever, but who clearly own a part of their hearts!

Have Bobble, will travel

2008-06-15T01:02:00.000-06:00

Before my daughter and I went to China in March, my husband asked me to enter a contest a business colleague of his was having. One of my husband’s businesses is a marketing and consulting firm for lawyers. Mind you, it’s not your run of the mill marketing, but somewhat “outside the box”. One of the lawyer’s he works with had a “bobble-head” created in his image. You know, those statues with the head set on a spring that makes the head bob up and down? The lawyer’s name happens to be Bob, so he created Bob the Bobble Head. Well, Bob was running a contest with the prize going to the person who carried Bob the Bobble head the farthest from Virginia. When my husband asked me to pack Bob in our suitcases to take to China, I thought he was crazy!! First, I had very little room to begin with and secondly I think the whole idea of having a statue that looks like your attorney is a little nutty (and frankly part of me was afraid my husband would want to make one in his own image)!

But when it was agreed that the prize money could go to LWB, how could I resist? So we packed up Bob and off we went! I thought you might enjoy some pictures of Bob’s travels.

Bob on the plane

Bob on the Great Wall

Bob "off" the Great Wall!
Bob with our dinner we decided NOT to eat!

Feeding Bob the dinner we DID eat (oatmeal) many nights

Bob with Wren "What, you want him back?"

And Bob with our parting gift from the hotel in Hefei - we have no idea where they came from!

Naturally we won the prize (who else would carry the thing farther than China??)!! I just sent the winning check to LWB for $150; we’re going to use it sponsor one of the babies in the Cleft Healing Home for three months.

You see, there are a lot of creative ways to raise funds for the children! :)

Sandi Glass
Cleft Healing Home Coordinator

Father's Day Cards

2008-06-09T09:31:00.000-06:00

Father’s Day is right around the corner and we’ve got a great idea for truly celebrating Dad and all that he means to you! Honor the special Dads in your life by donating to the Tuan Yuan Adoption Assistance Grant Program of LWB. Because one of our fundamental beliefs is that every child deserves a loving family, LWB established the Tuan Yuan Adoption Assistance Grant Program in 2004. Although it’s one of the lesser known programs at LWB, it is a great program that has so far brought 12 children into loving Forever Families of their very own! Additionally, we have two grant recipients who are currently waiting for their adoptive families to travel to bring them home.

The Tuan Yuan Adoption Assistance Grant Program works by providing an adoption assistance grant to a child who needs a little extra help finding his or her Forever Family. Each time our fund reaches $3,000, we review the Waiting Child program and identify a child who is at risk for his or her file to be returned without being chosen for adoption. We offer the Tuan Yuan grant in the hopes of giving a child an extra chance of being chosen by a family. Please visit our website to learn more about the Tuan Yuan Adoption Assistance Program of Love Without Boundaries: http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/projects_tuanyuan.cfm

Please help us offer a grant to a child who is waiting for a loving family and truly tell your Dad how important he is to you by purchasing a Father’s Day gift card. Father’s Day is June 15^th and we will accept orders through June 10^th to ensure on-time delivery. THANK YOU for giving a child a chance to have a loving forever family of his or her very own! Visit our website for ordering information: http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/projects_giftCards.cfm

Tutoring Program in Kaifeng

2008-06-06T09:47:00.000-06:00

The Kaifeng tutoring program has had a rough year, but I am happy to report that we just rolled out a much improved program. Previously, we had a tutor to work with those with special needs who were unable to attend regular schools. We found that the tutor spent a lot of time traveling to work with each student and was only able to visit once a week. This just wasn’t enough to serve the needs of these kids and it was difficult to retain a tutor willing to travel the distances.

We now have 6 students in foster care in the same area so that a tutor can provide lessons 5 days a week for the whole group. We have found a tutor who is excited about the opportunity to serve these special needs students in this new arrangement. The students also seem to be excited about learning in this group setting.

Here are some photos from the first week’s lessons.

I can see the enthusiasm and care in the tutor's face. Just look at how the children are responding and participating!

The tutor is already making plans to develop lessons that better support the special needs of these students.

Nancy Williams
Kaifeng Education Coordinator

Love Without Boundaries’ education, equipping children with the brightest future possible.

Perfect Timing

2008-06-05T20:00:00.000-06:00

The following photos are from an orphanage located in Gansu Province, just north of Sichuan. The building, like so many others, was damaged by an aftershock. All 80 children have been living outside in tents to keep safe. Unfortunately, the weather has been damp and chilly.

Love Without Boundaries was able to contact the director and found out they were in need of warm clothing and diapers. In perfect timing, we had just finished a clothing fundraiser for this SWI, through our Orphanage Assistance program! Due to the generosity of the SWI adoptive parent group, we were able to send a large shipment of clothing and diapers just when they were needed most.

Don’t the babies look snug in their new clothes?

The little one on the right gets my 'cutie-pie of the year' nomination!

This little one is counting how many layers her friend is wearing:

It looks like some of the children are enjoying several sets of clothing.... :o)

It appears the sun has at last come out. How wonderful it is to see the children warm and dry, enjoying the day in their walkers.

I love how the babies clap and wave, unaware of the tragedy nearby.

One of these little guys will join his forever family in just a few weeks. His anxious mama was relieved to see pictures of him safe and sound!

We are thankful for all the loving Ayis in the earthquake area who are working so hard to keep the children fed, warm, and safe, despite their difficult circumstances.

Laura Baldwin

Orphanage Assistance Coordinator

Teaching Moments in Fujian

2008-06-04T20:00:00.000-06:00

On Tuesday, May 20th the Jinjiang, Fujian SWI moved into its brand new orphanage. A part of the move included our Believe In Me students, teachers and learning materials into brand new classrooms. With Children’s Day coming soon, the teachers decided to celebrate with something these children had never experienced before, a cake! Not only had the students not had cake before, they also did not know about the fruits that decorated the top of the cake.

Now this celebration also had a learning opportunity that could occur.

First the teachers read to the children about fruit.

Next they colored pictures of fruit.

Last they had the chance to taste the fruit, on top of a beautiful cake! Yum!!

Craft for China Auction

2008-06-03T20:00:00.000-06:00

Craft for China is a fundraiser that raises money through donated arts & crafts. 100% of the money goes to sponsoring orphaned children living in China. Funds that are raised help to sponsor two LWB program children:
Emma, who is in foster care and Gracie, so she can attend preschool.

In order to continue their sponsorship Craft for China is holding an arts and crafts auction on eBay. The auction is live now and all the money raised will go for another year of sponsorship for Gracie and Emma. If the auction can raise enough money another LWB child will be sponsored.

Pictured are some of the items offered in the auction. The auction ends June 7th!

Please visit the auction at http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZcraftforchina and check out all the wonderful items.

To learn more about Craft for China please visit the website at http://craftforchina.com/ .

Thank you and happy bidding!!

A Celebration for Our Incredible Teachers

2008-06-03T08:00:00.000-06:00

Love Without Boundaries is so fortunate to have
such wonderful, dedicated teachers and staff to work in our five Believe in Me Schools. We recently treated our amazing teachers in Shantou to a luncheon out with several SWI officials and our LWB Guangdong Administrator.

These teachers truly love the children in Shantou and give of themselves above and beyond what is expected. This is quite a compliment considering we have very high expectations of our Believe in Me teachers.

We so appreciate our monthly education sponsors who make it possible for us to hire these fabulous teachers and operate these schools for children who would otherwise have no opportunity to obtain an education.

Karen McGinty
Shantou Education Coordinator

Earthquake Update--Three Weeks Later

2008-06-02T08:00:00.001-06:00

It has been three weeks since the devastating earthquake hit Sichuan. As I have watched the news reports and read the articles from the comfort and safety of my living room, I try to comprehend the numbers of people affected by this devastation: 71,000 dead, 5 million homeless. But what does this mean? I understand these are incredibly huge numbers. It is easy to feel sad, shake my head, and then continue with my day.

In an effort to really grasp the magnitude of the devastation, I have made some comparisons:

71,000 people dead:

That is 6,000 people less than the population of the city of Melbourne, Australia.

The war in Vietnam claimed the lives of 58,217 American soldiers.

5 million homeless:

That is two-thirds of the population of New York City.

Think about that—two-thirds of all the people in NYC suddenly without a home!

The population of Finland is 5.2 million—almost an entire country homeless.

Love Without Boundaries has delivered formula to Chongqing Civil Affairs, and we are currently working on long-term relief efforts. We have a doctor visiting three orphanages in the hardest hit areas to assess the situation for us. Once we receive his report and recommendations, we will be better able to decide how to best use the funds our supporters have entrusted to us.

We appreciate every organization and individual who are working to help with relief efforts. Although our efforts are small compared with the magnitude of this disaster, we know that the combined efforts of many groups and people will make a difference for those in need.

Thank you so much for your support and concern for the victims of this tragedy.

Check out updates on our Earthquake News website page at:
http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/earthquake.cfm

Toys

2008-06-02T08:00:00.000-06:00

When I was a young child, I wanted to grow up to be Mrs. Santa Claus. This is because I wanted to have access to Santa’s giant sack containing every kind of toy in the world. I grew out of the Mrs. Claus phase by the time I was 6, but I doubt the excitement over seeing new toys ever really leaves a person.

It occurred to me this morning that I am creating new
Santa Clauses with our Foster Care Managers as they are being sent a variety toys and books, for every age group, to carry around with them when they do their monthly visit.

I can just see the curiosity on the children’s faces wondering what will come out of the sack. And the best part is that every child will get a new toy. But I am getting ahead of myself here on how this all started.

In order to more closely monitor developmental progress in the children, we have revised our foster care report format. The Henan programs were the first to try out the new format on our April reports.

The new report has several sections which include movement, vision & hearing, language, cognitive, and social development. The new format has been useful in determining where the children are developmentally. They also give the foster families ideas for age-appropriate activities to promote development. Each age group has different developmental milestones to check their progress against. The reports vary every other month so that the children have 2 months to work on their progress before they are tested again.

As we know from experience, children who have spent their first months in an institution may be somewhat delayed due to the lack of one-on-one attention that families can provide. We are hopeful that these new reports can more closely monitor the development of our foster children and we can intervene when necessary to get the best care for the kids as early as possible.

Much of a child's development centers on play. We have learned that many of the children do not have toys in the home that help promote their development and learning.

So, we are providing the foster care children age-appropriate toys so that they can be encouraged to develop to the best of their ability.

This will be a learning process for all of us to see if this format will help the children. We are hopeful that it will a the first step on the road to a brighter tomorrow.

Note: please disregard the child eating the book that we sent. This program is still in the trial stages.

For more information about our Foster Care Programs please go to:
http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/foster.cfm

Happy Children's Day!!

2008-06-01T08:00:00.000-06:00

June 1st is National Children's Day in China and is celebrated with

cards, presents, special foods, parades, and other activities.

Although schools remain open, children

do not attend class and are free of homework for the day!!

LWB wishes all the children in China a very happy Children's Day!

What a wonderful way to celebrate the innocence and beauty that children bring to our world.

Thank you to all of our donors who realize that

helping a child can truly change the future of the world!

Cui Cui Says Thank You

2008-05-30T08:00:00.000-06:00

Dear uncles and aunties of LWB,

I am a lucky girl who was sponsored by LWB, I am Cui Cui. I am studying in KunMing University in YunNan province, my major is accounting.

First of all I‘d like to say “Thank you VERY MUCH”on behalf of my parents, thank you for all the help you have done for me. I am a lucky and unlucky girl. Unluckily I have a cleft lip and palate and my family is poor; luckily I met you in 2005. You arranged a surgery for me free of charge; you sponsored me going to university. With your help and sponsorship and concern I feel I am the luckiest girl in the world. Now I began my brand new life. I am very glad to see now my parents don’t worry about my tuition anymore. With your sponsorship I can enter the university and have a brand new life.

I am doing vey well in the university. My teachers and my classmates are very nice to me and I have made some good friends as well. In the last semester my schoolwork ranks No.1 in my class. I will continue studying hard and won’t disappoint you. Among all the subjects I like accounting; English; computer science and Chinese. Comparing to last semester there are more subjects this semester. I also joined my university’s the Association of Young Volunteers. I am always moved by what you have done for me. I can feel from you that Love is So Great! I am always eager to help others like you and bring happiniess and joy to others. I am very happy I am a volunteer now and I can do something I like.

I believe I will finish my studying in my university smoothly with your help and sponsorship. I really appreciate you! Finally I wish LWB better and better! I wish you happy every day!

A girl who was sponsored by you,

Cui Cui
April 2008

Sports Day

2008-05-29T08:00:00.000-06:00

The teachers and manager of Believe in Me Huainan, Anhui held a
“Sports Day” for the children of the program. At our daughters’ schools it would be similar to “Field Day”.

All of the children from the preschool classes, kindergarten-prep class, and the tutoring class participated and, from the pictures and video, everyone had great fun! Here is what our manager reports:

"The sport meeting this afternoon was very successful. The children were doing well and very active under teachers’ instruction. The classroom was filled with laughter. We all felt that since the school was set up, every child has changed a lot and made big progress everyday. These special-need children need more love and patient care. Teachers and aids have devoted so much to our kids. The achievement achieved is the result of the teachers’ persistent hard work. It is a great relief to see these brilliant faces of the children in the photos.

This sports meeting gave a great opportunity for them to learn to be part of a team. Both tug-of-war and parallel walking (three legged race) require close cooperation between kids. We taught the kids “Friendship First, Competition Second”. It is important for them to participate, and in the end every student got the prizes. We taught them to face victory and defeat with a calm mind, and believe that perseverance makes success!"

Apparently the children enjoyed the tug-of-war activities the best and many also enjoyed jump rope. All of the children were given books and treats for participating. What a fun day for children anyway around the world!

Sandy Hartman, Karin Cooper, & Wendy Thacker
Believe in Me Huainan, Anhui Team

Help for JD

2008-05-28T08:00:00.001-06:00

Occasionally LWB learns of families who are living in such difficult circumstances that they are barely getting by. Recently we were asked if there was any way that we could help a little boy living in the Hunan province. JD was born with cleft lip and had lived 10 years without it being repaired. Many years ago, he was picked up in the street by a warm-hearted man who had special needs himself (he had only one hand and leg.) He took JD home with him and raised him as his son. This man had also taken in an older girl who had been orphaned as well, and together they formed a loving family through adoption.

Sadly, four years ago, this man passed away and so now the two children are living with his elderly mother. So many people have suggested to the grandmother that she should send JD away to another home, but she cannot even think of doing that because she feels he is truly her grandson. A middle school teacher in their town heard about JD and asked LWB if there was any way we could provide free surgery for him so that he could face the world with a new smile. In partnership with the new Operation Smile hospital in Hangzhou, we were able to arrange for this surgery to be done.

Our hearts were so touched by the love of this family that we wanted to learn more about their situation. We learned that this family is under tremendous financial strain. JD’s elder sister, who is just 16, is now the sole financial provider of the family. Grandmother, who is in her eighties, is doing her best to grow rice for the family to live on, but it is not enough. JD is small for his age most likely because they are often only eating 2 meals of rice a day. He is also not doing very well academically due to the long distance he must walk to school each day (over 3 km) and the lack of funds for sufficient nutrition and school supplies.

LWB has committed to helping this family formed and surviving through adoption! A total of $600 per year will supply all that JD and his family need to provide opportunities for academic success. Two sponsors are needed to donate $25 per month to provide:

· School Supplies

· Clothing,
· Nutritional Support
· Tutors

These items and services will strengthen JD’s opportunity to become a strong and independent member of his community when he reaches adulthood. We believe this is truly an opportunity for two sponsors to completely change the life of a child.

JD’s sponsors will receive photos and updates of his health and academic progress quarterly. Sponsors will also be able to write short notes of encouragement to JD and his family.

To learn how to help JD please go to http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/SponsorEducationChild.cfm

It Only Takes a Spark to Get a Fire Glowing

2008-05-26T08:19:00.000-06:00

Back in my summer camp days, I used to sing a song that began, “It only takes a spark, to get a fire glowing…” Usually, it was one of the first songs sung around a campfire and the words to those lyrics never fail to remind me of those feelings of friendship and community.

I was thinking of those words after
Love Without Boundaries Education recently accepted a check for over $9,800.
It all began with a spark.

Some time ago, a young college woman worked as a nanny for a family that had adopted a daughter from China. In the course of her relationship with this family, she learned about Love Without Boundaries and the work that LWB does. The young woman went on to graduate and become involved in professional life. As part of her professional life, the woman became an advisor to college students in the US based National Association of College and University Residence Halls, NACURH, Inc.

In the Fall of 2007, NACURH was looking for a charity to focus its philanthropic efforts upon. An advisor and former nanny suggested Love Without Boundaries as a possibility. And, the rest, as they say, is history.

NACURH did indeed select LWB as its focus for charity. Member campuses around the USA were challenged to host fundraisers to benefit LWB Education – specifically to raise funds for music teachers in our Believe In Me School programs. NACURH members responded in enthusiastic and creative ways sponsoring “Battle of the Bands” contests, auctions, charity softball games and more.

The spark that began within a family to adopt from China has affected so many lives. These funds will be used for music teachers and instruments in our Believe In Me schools, and will also help to sponsor one young woman in our Mama’s Wish program to attend college. She will be majoring in Tibetan Music! Funds will also go toward education for victims of the recent earthquake in China.

Thank you. Such small words to express the gratitude we hold for all the students that will make music and learning possible for so many children and students in China that could not experience it any other way. Thank you NACURH from the bottom of our hearts for what you have made possible.

Those interested in learning more about LWB Education programs and students in immediate need of assistance can go to: http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/education.cfm

Linda Mitchell
Associate Director of Education

Britt's Quilts for China

2008-05-22T09:04:00.000-06:00

A few months ago Britt found out that she was going to get a new cousin. This is not so unusual until you hear the story of her Aunt and Uncle and their family. You see they already have a big family. George, DJ, Sarah, Luke, Carrie, Mark, Christy and Mom and Dad. The story starts almost two years ago when Sarah was invited on a trip to China with a family who was going to adopt a young girl.

As she was preparing for this trip Sarah’s mom Suzanne began thinking about children. She could take on another child and raise her. Maybe she could even take two. When she approached her husband Darrell he was a little taken back. They decided that this was the path they should take. The ball was in their court and Suzanne ran with it. After a lot of work and prayers they were given notice that Li Wan was waiting for them in China. Eight year old Christy (Li Wan) became an adopted member of their family in August of 2006.

When the news came that their second child was ready to be adopted, Britt was asked if she would like to send a few quilts to the orphanage where her new cousin was coming from. Britt responded with this project. She presented her ideas to her church youth group and they wanted to help also. So on a Wednesday night in November of 2007 , ten girls and eight leaders came to the church gym armed with fabric, batting, sewing machines, and chocolate.

During this one evening 30 quilts were made for children who were residing at 3 different orphanages in China. The quilts were then quilted by another Aunt. Rocky Mountain Quilters, a local quilt guild also lovingly made and donated another 20 quilts.

All of these quilts were sent to Suzanne who packed them into airtight bags and put them into boxes for mailing to two of the orphanages and in her luggage for their adopted daughter‘s orphanage. Suzanne, Darrell and Christy left for China with Britt’s quilts and came back with a nine year old girl named Gracie. Along this journey many lives have been changed for the better.

The world is truly a wonderful place when people work together to help others!

Mama's Wish Students Help Earthquake Victims

2008-05-20T16:00:00.000-06:00

When the earthquake struck last week our Mama's Wish students wanted to do whatever they could to help, so they organized a donation drive at the TongRen School. While the loose change collected did not total a very high amount, the generosity and concern shown by these students, who have so little, is immeasurable. Today our China Associate Director of Education (who was born in Chengdu and whose family still lives there) received the following email from our students:

Dear Sister,

We saw the earthquake in Sichuan on TV. We feel very sad and we all know that you are from Sichuan. You must feel so sad. We hope you are feeling not too sad. Please take good care of yourself. Today our school has a donation event for this tragedy. All of Mama's Wish teachers and students have participated. We will gather together and pray for the dead, hope they will have peace. We will pray for the survivors and hope they will be safe.

Wish you good health.
Mama's Wish

Over and over these students have shown what loving hearts they have - from teaching rural children in their villages during winter breaks to repairing the roof of an elderly person's home to collecting donations from their own impoverished community to help earthquake victims - and we are all so proud of them. The students tell us that they learned to do good things for other people from their sponsors, who have shown them that an act of love and support is best when paid forward, not back. Our students have so little, and yet they give so much.

Angela Taylor
Associate Director of Education

Earthquake Update

2008-05-19T08:58:00.000-06:00

One week ago today a 7.9 magnitude earthquake devastated Sichuan Province and surrounding areas. Since then the reports have been grim. The death toll has climbed to 32,476 people nationwide, 220,109 people have been injured. Aftershocks have been estimated in the thousands with one on Sunday as big as 6.1. Landslides have hindered rescue efforts and flooding remains a constant fear.

A tragedy of huge proportions to be sure. But, within this great devastation are stories of great compassion and heroism. There are stories of people loading food, clothing, tents and water into their cars and driving to the affected areas to help; taxi drivers lined up for hours to take the injured to the hospital; people waiting in line for hours to donate blood and offers to adopt children orphaned by this earthquake. It seems the worst in Mother Nature brings out the best in Human Nature.

We have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from our donors. We are posting updates on our website as soon as we receive news from our staff in China http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/earthquake.cfm.

We have also set up an “Earthquake Relief Fund” where 100% of donations received will go to help children affected by this tragedy. We will focus our efforts on orphanages and orphaned children needing assistance. We are unable to get assistance immediately to the orphanages affected as many roads are blocked. However, we have spoken to Chinese government officials and have pledged that we will assist wherever we can once the long-term implications of the quake are known. Additionally, an LWB Board member will be meeting with the CCAA next week about how we can best help children and orphanages affected by this disaster.

Unfortunately, we have been told to expect many more children to be orphaned due to this tragedy. Because of this, orphanages will need assistance with basic supplies and medical care to help meet the needs of these children. We may also be able to help with building repairs so the children can be safely moved back into the orphanages. Funds may also be used to help children who are not orphaned. We thank you for your generosity in helping us to help children of China.

https://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/donate.cfm?category=147&child_id=0

Our heartfelt condolences are sent for lives lost and damage incurred as a result of this disaster.

Erik

2008-05-16T10:00:00.000-06:00

I have a new update about Erik, a little 5 year-old blind boy, that I’d like to share regarding his future enrollment at a School for the Blind. He had previously traveled to another city to be seen at a School for the Blind.

School teachers recently traveled to his town and his foster family's home and evaluated Erik and taught his foster mother some things. Erik is too reliant on her for enrollment at this time, so he needs more training in his ability to be independent. Teachers should come and train him more in the future. Since his file has also been submitted for adoption, we are not sure yet which road this sweet little boy will be on in a year.

We hope he will be provided a forever family of his own soon.

We are grateful for those who help us with Love Without Boundaries' Foster Care program as we try to touch the lives of these children.

You can read more about our Foster Care program at: http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/foster.cfm

Turning a Checkup into a Java Event!

2008-05-15T10:00:00.000-06:00

It was her turn to go see the doctor… it was inevitable… but how do you turn a potentially traumatic day into a fun-filled event? Starbucks of course!

I know that when you think of a typical toddler you don’t always think of Starbucks. But, when you see these photos you will see that she seemed to be having fun getting a lot of extra attention. It appears she even received her own “age appropriate” snack.

Niu was treated like a very treasured little girl by Heartbridge staff. It reminded me of how any one of us might take our child out for a special treat after going to see the doctor. One of the many benefits of Heartbridge is that the children receive more individualized attention and have a familiar hand to hold during the scary and confusing moments of life.

Heartbridge provides care to children who are either preparing for or recovering from surgery. Some kids were underweight, had chronic infections or needed a higher level of care than could be provided at their orphanage homes. Through a partnership with New Hope Foundation in Beijing, an 18 bed unit for pre- and post-operative children was
created to help children build strength and facilitate healing.

To read more about Heartbridge visit us at:
http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/projects_heartbridge.cfm

Wendy Petersen RN
Heartbridge Coordinator

Earthquake in China

2008-05-13T08:08:00.000-06:00

On Monday, May 12, 2008 a 7.9 magnitude earthquake hit Sichuan Province shortly before 2:30 PM local time. The earthquake was reported to have rumbled for 3 minutes toppling buildings, schools, hospitals and a chemical plant. Estimates of the number of fatalities have already reached 12,000 and continue to rise.

The earthquake epicenter was Wenchuan, 60 miles northwest of Chengdu—the provincial capital, but was felt as far away as Beijing (930 miles). There have been 313 confirmed aftershocks.

Much of the area is without power and water, telephone lines are down and internet connection is intermittent. Gas lines have been turned off due to the aftershocks. Heavy rains in the area have created landslides and left the roads impassable in many areas.

Our heartfelt condolences are sent for lives lost and damage incurred as a result of this disaster. LWB has been in contact with our staff in China and they are trying to assess the situation as it relates to the children in LWB programs and those orphanages impacted. The devastation has been tremendous making communication very difficult and it will be some time before we know the full extent of this tragedy.

We have set up a page on our website dedicated to ‘Earthquake News & Relief’. We will post updated information at http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/earthquake.cfm.

We have also set up an Earthquake Relief Fund to provide immediate assistance to those in need. If you are interested in contributing to this fund please go to https://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/donate.cfm and select “Earthquake Relief” as the category.

Art Collections

2008-05-12T08:06:00.000-06:00

One day my daughter was fingering her collection of key chains dangling from her backpack and asked me, “Mom, what do you collect”?

I had to slow down and think about that because what first came to mind was flippant—dust, books and newspapers next to my bedside table, grocery store receipts in my pocketbook! Generally, I purposely avoid collecting “stuff”. I dislike clutter.

However, I dug deep and was able to answer honestly that I collect my children’s artwork.

The walls of our family’s garage are completely plastered with my kid’s artwork from school. On Labor Day weekend, we hold an informal art show, save a few keepsakes and enjoy our “ripping party” as we clear the walls for next year.

That answer satisfied my daughter and made me think of all the kids in our Believe In Me School programs that create art as part of their school experience….who is collecting and cherishing their artwork?

Today, I offer you a small and unique collection of art produced by the wonderful students in our Believe In Me School at Jingzhou in Hubei Province. These children are absolutely alive with the delight of having a chance to draw and color and create with purpose—to delight their teachers, to share with a friend and have photographed by our school’s manager for their sponsor.

Take a couple of moments and enjoy these beautiful pieces of art!

To learn more about our Believe In Me School please go to our website at http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/education_believe_in_me.cfm

Linda Mitchell
Believe In Me Jingzhou Coordinator

We Love You Nana!

2008-05-09T07:00:00.000-06:00

No trip back to my beloved Loudi Foster Care program would ever be complete without a sit down in "Nana's" home. This wonderful woman who has nurtured so many foster children is no longer a foster parent, but time is always made for that welcome visit. This time I had another LWB volunteer with me, Melissa our Loudi PT coordinator, who was on pins and needles with excitement to meet our legendary foster mom--a woman with fun, laughing eyes and so much love for the children. I had a special book to show her:

a copy of LWB's "Love's Journey 2: The Red Thread" was tucked into my bag so that I could convince this wonderful lady of how the world now knows of her gentle, selfless nurture.

She quickly brought out a small table and laid it with biscuits for us, clicked on the kettle for tea, and then, with such warmth in her eyes, looked over the book She, I think, was finding it unbelievable that she should appear in this glossy, beautiful book. I hugged that woman yet again and thanked her for being her. I sent her the love of the children now adopted to their great and super Nana!

You can read Nana's story on page 83 of the book and are sure to love all the other wonderful photos and stories on the over 250 pages in this book as well. If you don't yet have a copy, ordering information can be found at http://store01.prostores.com/servlet/lwbshop/Detail?no=47 . All proceeds go to help the children in China in LWB's programs.

Julie Flynn Coleman
Loudi Foster Care Coordinator

Auction Thank You!

2008-05-05T09:00:00.000-06:00

The results are in, and our 2008 “Born in my Heart” art auction raised over $35,000! That is enough to provide emergency surgery to SEVEN children who we otherwise would not be able to help. We cannot thank you enough, as the worth of those seven lives is simply immeasurable!

This year’s donations were the most beautiful yet, and we thank everyone who used their time, talents and resources to provide “gifts of the heart” for this annual fundraiser. And of course we thank all of our supporters for bidding generously and making these surgeries possible. We also thank our amazing group of auction volunteers who have been working behind the scenes for months. This has truly been a group effort, and LWB feels incredibly blessed by all of you!

Immediately after last year’s auction, we were able to send adorable little Chen (above) to have heart surgery. She’d had such a difficult time, and we had a very narrow window of opportunity for providing her operation. We were able to arrange her surgery on very short notice, and later were able to have her club feet casted and straightened. Chen has now been chosen for adoption, and we can’t wait to hear soon that she will be home in the arms of her new family!

Please watch our website for news of next year’s auction. We should begin posting details some time in the fall.

Once again, we sincerely thank you for being a part of our story of HOPE!

Goodbye Charlie

2008-05-02T10:00:00.000-06:00

One of the hazards of volunteering for LWB is that it is hard not to become attached to the children in our programs as we read about them every month and watch them blossom and grow. Of course there is nothing better than the news that a child has been chosen off a list and will soon have a forever family. From what we have been told, next month we will also have to say goodbye to another child in our program. His name is Charlie and you may recognize him as he is one of the kids whose photo appears on the homepage when the pictures randomly change. I always looked forward to reading his reports and seeing a photo of his deep brown eyes.

Charlie is a typical 4 year-old little boy full of fun and mischief. He is in our Anhui foster care program. Charlie is also a LWB Medical Child. I met Charlie in Hefei in October 2006 when he came for an evaluation by the cleft team. My “office” was in the same room where they did the pediatric screening for cleft surgery. I would always wander over to the examination table every couple of minutes to lend a hand…aka a good excuse not do my own computer work because it was more fun to hang out with the kids. I remember Charlie very well because he was quite social and older than the other babies who came for surgery. He was such a good little boy when Dr. Melloy was examining him. She was moving his legs all around, bending his knees, moving his hips one way then the other to get his range of motion. Charlie didn’t fuss at all. He just had this look on his face, “wake me when this is over lady.” He had been diagnosed as having CP but on examination Dr. Melloy felt his physical limitations were the result of polio. This diagnosis has not stopped Charlie and on his foster care reports it says and he can run fast, although one leg does trail behind.

I am so happy to report that next month Charlie will soon be with a forever family and will be living in sunny Spain! What lucky parents to have such a treasure in a son. Charlie's adoptive parents sent a gift to him and when LWB Foster Care volunteers visited his program last month they were able to deliver it to him. It was awesome to read about Charlie as they reported the excited look on his face as he opened his treasures. I am sorry for the loss the foster family will feel as they have done an outstanding job raising Charlie.

Goodbye Charlie, we will miss you. We wish for you a wonderful life.

Heidi Reitz
Foster Care Director

Mother's Day

2008-04-29T08:08:00.000-06:00

A mother holds her children’s hands for just a little while but holds their hearts forever.
~ Author Unknown

Mother’s Day is almost here! Have you ever heard it said that every mother is a working mother? No truer statement has ever been made! Time to tell Mom how special she is to you and how much you appreciate her. How can you really show a mother how much she means to you every day year ‘round? Make this Mother’s Day memorable and truly make a statement about how important your special mothers, grandmothers, and mothers-to-be are to you with a gift for them that also helps children in need. Love Without Boundaries has brought together some of our most exceptional merchandise ever to truly celebrate mothers and all they do.

We have handcrafted silk brocade “Blessed Banners” that feature the verse from Proverbs 31:28, “Her children will rise up and call her blessed,” written in beautiful Chinese characters. The background silk features Tang Dynasty poetry. The banners were handmade by older orphaned children especially for LWB. The banners are available in a wide variety of colors to please every Mom’s taste and décor. These banners will make beautiful accents to tabletops or as wall hangings. Each is sized 15” x 28” and they are exceptionally beautiful when framed. These are a wonderful way to incorporate our children’s heritage into our homes and daily lives.

We also have an exquisite collection of jewelry that is exclusive to LWB. Our “Red Thread” jewelry is truly wearable art and features strands of 100% pure red silk, textured cord, suede, and linen thread. These symbolize the ancient Chinese proverb, “There is an invisible red thread that connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time and place or circumstance. Although the thread may stretch or tangle, it will never break.” Each necklace is 18” long and closes with an elegant silver clasp. The necklace features sterling silver Thai Hilltribe and Bali silver beads, dichroic glass beads, freshwater pearls, and the Chinese character for love in a beautiful silver charm.

The necklace is stunning when paired with our exclusive earrings featuring freshwater pearls, Swarovski crystals, and a silver charm matching the necklace perfectly. Each necklace and earring set was thoughtfully designed to represent the connection that a mother has with her children and handcrafted by artisans in China exclusively for LWB. The necklace and earrings are specially priced as a set or available for purchase individually.

Our second edition of the Love’s Journey series, “Love’s Journey 2: The Red Thread," is a wonderful gift to celebrate Mother’s Day. This coffee table style book holds over 250 pages of photos and essays written by adoptive families, children, and caregivers to celebrate the adoption experience. Mom will enjoy quiet time with this book and she will also enjoy sharing the stories with her children. This book will inspire meaningful conversations about adoption, family, love, and heritage between parents, children, and extended family and friends.

Can’t decide? Don’t worry! All of these items are also available specially priced in combination. All proceeds from every purchase will help orphaned and impoverished children in China receive the medical care, nutrition, foster care, and education they need to thrive. Celebrate Mother’s Day and improve the life of a child! Your gift will truly make a difference. Please visit our website http://store01.prostores.com/servlet/lwbshop/Categories?category=Mother%27s+Day+Promotions to learn more about pricing. We can ship to you or directly to Mom.

"Mother's Love"

2008-04-27T20:55:00.000-06:00

Our "Born in My Heart" Art Auction is currently taking place. All proceeds from the auction will be used to provide heart surgeries for orphaned children in China. We would like to share a wonderful story behind one of the items, a remarkable painting by acclaimed artist Caroline Young entitled "Mother’s Love."

From the artist: "'Mother's Love' is a limited edition of a painting I did for my own mom, for her Mother's Day present. It is very relevant for the 'Born in My Heart' auction, and for the adoptive parents who will be viewing LWB's auction items. The story behind the piece is as follows:My father and mother were born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. After World War II they emigrated to Hong Kong, to start a business and a family. After three miscarriages, my mother was able to carry her fourth pregnancy to full term. She labored for two days and two nights, and the doctor told the nurse to sit on her stomach and push the baby out. A beautiful baby boy was born, but died several days later. My mother almost died, and the doctor warned her never to become pregnant again, as she could lose her life the next time. So my parents decided to adopt. In those days, there were many unwanted children in orphanages in Hong Kong, as the Chinese there did not adopt children that were not blood-related to them. My parents visited several orphanages, but did not find a child that was right for them. They finally decided to try an orphanage run by American missionaries. Not finding THE one there, they decided to leave. As my dad was driving out of the parking lot, my mom stopped him, saying, 'Wait! We have to go back in there. We didn't see ALL of the kids.' My dad replied, 'What do you mean? We saw everyone there!' And my mom spoke these fateful words: ;No we didn't. I know, because I hear my daughter's voice, in my heart, calling to me from within those walls.'They went back in, and that is when they found me. According to my mother, my caretaker at the orphanage had bonded with me, and did not want me to be adopted. So she had hidden me in a closet. When she thought the coast was clear, she let me out, and that is when my parents returned. So if my mother hadn't listened to her heart, I wouldn't have this wonderful life today."

To read more about the artist and view the painting in the Art Auction, be sure to visit the following link before the auction ends tomorrow, Tuesday, April 29th.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190217116229&ih=009&category=72182&_trksid=p1742.m153.l1262

Help Heal a Heart!

2008-04-24T22:43:00.000-06:00

"Born in my Heart" Art Auction
April 24-29, beginning the 24th at 9:00 am Pacific Time

In nearly every orphanage in China, children in need of heart surgery wait to be healed. In an effort to help as many of these orphans as possible, Love Without Boundaries began the "Born in my Heart" art auction five years ago. This is an annual event that serves as our special tribute to the miracle of adoption, and also as a fundraiser to help us provide these essential operations to children who need emergency heart surgery.

You can help to save the life of a child by taking part from April 24-29. Every penny raised will help to heal precious children and give them the opportunity to grow and thrive, and perhaps even find a family of their very own. So please bid often and bid generously!

Auction items will begin to launch at 9 am (Pacific) on Thursday, April 24th. Nearly 300 items will be added throughout the day, and the auction will close Tuesday, April 29th (again, with items closing throughout the course of the day).

We have some absolutely incredible items this year, all donated by LWB's fabulous supporters! Just a few of the items you won't want to miss are: "Jia: Portrait of Hope" by Leila Ashton (above): an original oil painting of one of our LWB heart babies, a life-size replica jade burial suit,

two giclee prints of "Qi Pan" by Zhao Kailin, personalized digital lifebooks, the most beautiful collection of quilts imaginable (including several "100 Good Wishes" quilts),

beautiful paintings (both originals and giclee prints), calligraphy, custom adoption videos, amazing photography, embroidery, gift baskets, jewlery, clothing, heritage items and so much more!

You will be able to access our auction from the Love Without Boundaries website homepage at: http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/, beginning April 24th.

You can also play a part in healing hearts by posting about the auction! If you have a personal or family website or blog, we would be so grateful if you would mention this event, as so many children are counting on us for surgery. Help spread the news that lives can be saved!

Thank you in advance for helping to make this year's auction our best ever!
Love Without Boundaries Art Auction Committee

A Story of Hope

2008-04-17T22:06:00.000-06:00

Today you get two stories in one...1) a preview of one of my very favorite items from the upcoming "Born in my Heart" art auction, and 2) the story of a very special child.

First the child: our beautiful Jia. Born with an incredibly complex heart defect (actually a number of defects), Jia had a very rocky start in life. We first learned about her in November of 2006, and quickly were able to arrange a first-stage heart surgery to try and save her life. The surgery was a success, but left Jia very weak and fragile. We moved her to our Heartbridge Rehabilitation Unit in Beijing, where we could give her the very best care, and she would have the greatest chance for recovery. Jia's heart was so weak...her doctors and caregivers did everything they could for her, but had little hope that she would survive. And yet by some miracle, Jia pulled through, she is one tough little cookie!

Now on to the painting: The summer after Jia's surgery, we began to look for an artist who might be willing to paint a portrait of one of our "LWB kids" for the next art auction. We found a wonderful portrait artist named Leila Ashton, who very graciously offered to donate her time and talents to create a custom oil painting to benefit our heart kids. With plenty of time to create the painting, now we just needed to find a subject...

And of course that brings us back to Jia! One of our volunteers in China is a very good photographer, and we sent him to a number of orphanages to photograph possible subjects for our painting. When I saw Jia's picture for the first time, I knew we had found our girl! So more photos were taken, and the painting was begun.

Soon after, Jia was diagnosed with irreversible pulmonary hypertension, and she was placed into palliative (end of life) care in October. We wanted her to at least know the love of a good foster family, for whatever time she had left in this world. All the volunteers and supporters, everyone whose life had been touched by this little girl, were heartbroken.

Now comes the amazing part...Jia apparently has an angel on her shoulder. She has a very special angel in her corner anyway, someone who arranged for her to come to the US for once last chance at healing. Any day now she will be traveling, perhaps even during our art auction. How is that for timing?!

The painting was just completed last week, and we wanted to give you a little preview. The title is "Jia: Portrait of Hope." I would like to invite you read the rest of Jia's story, and perhaps bid on this incredible painting in the upcoming auction. Our auction will begin Thursday, April 24th, with items starting to launch at 9:00 am Pacific Time. Bidding will end Tuesday, April 29th.

More importantly, I would like to ask you to join us in sending positive thoughts and prayers to this special little girl, as she and her foster momma make the difficult journey for surgery. Please be a part of Jia's story of hope and healing! Thank you.

Jan Champoux
Art Auction Coordinator

FIRST HAIRCUTS!

2008-04-17T06:05:00.000-06:00

The Anhui Cleft Healing Home is up and running and we are getting to experience a series of firsts with our new babies. I wanted to share their first haircuts with you! I think our home manager did a wonderful job of writing about it, so I will let him tell the story (by the way, Paddy is our Assistant Home manager, driver and now barber extraordinaire):

'The kids all settled down well at cleft home. They're fattening up each day and their hairs are growing longer and longer. Two of the babies need to get haircut now. But it won't be an easier job to bring them to a barber shop. One reason is that the babies will have to line up in the barber shop to wait their turns. It is hard to keep them stay calm without crying. Finally, Paddy said that he could do the haircut for all our cleft babies. He once learned the skill of hairdressing/haircut. So Paddy now has one more role: Cleft Home barber. He spent one morning in the market and bought a set of tools. In the afternoon, Paddy had two babies hair cut. One is Becca, the other is Kyle. Becca is a girl, so Paddy just trimmed her hair shorter. After haircut, Becca looks more smart and tidy. Kyle is a boy so Paddy did a traditional boy hairstyle for him. He looks cute with the new hairstyle. Doesn't he look more handsome? The Nannies likes him even more with the new hairstyle. :) The Nannies said they would like to have a free hairdressing done by Paddy next time. '

Kyle before his first haircut

Paddy seems to be enjoying his new role

Tada!! The new stylin’ Kyle.
He doesn’t look thrilled, but then again he

didn’t seem to fight the haircut!

Becca before

Becca with her new "do"

Okay, I have to admit, I may not have thought the babies needed haircuts quite yet. But who am I to speak? I kept my boys' blond curls much longer than I should have when they were little! And the asian men in our local barber shop had to coax me into allowing them to cut my Chinese son’s hair, he really did look better afterwards! I am very happy that these babies are part of a family who decided they needed haircuts and then figured out the best way to give them. And I know their future families will be blessed to have these snapshots of their early lives!

If you would like to read more about our babies at Anhui Cleft Healing Home please subscribe to our ACHH blog on the right side of this page.

Sandi Glass
Cleft Healing Home Coordinator
Love Without Boundaries
"Every Child Counts"
http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/

Meet Li

2008-04-16T08:30:00.001-06:00

Li was born with a congenital cleft lip and abandoned within a week of her birth in 1987 in Hubei Province. However, Li was a smart and strong young girl whose lip was repaired when she was a small child and grew up in the Jingzhou SWI. The orphanage staff members tell LWB that Li always helped with the younger brothers and sisters at the orphanage. She has always been a very good girl. Moreover, Li excelled in her studies in elementary, middle and high school.

After taking college entrance exams, Li achieved a tremendous honor. Her marks were high enough to earn her admission to Wuhan Science and Technology University of Hubei Province. Li is the first and only young person from her orphanage to achieve such an honor. Li says: “The big family (orphanage) that raised me. It is the kind-hearted people of the society who sponsored me to go to the university to have a further study.I will study hard and be a useful person to society and help those who need help.”

In September 2007, Li enrolled as a student majoring in logistics at the university. A television advertisement praising Li for her academic achievement and financial need generated enough donations within to fund her schooling for the 2007-2008 academic year. However, Li has no funds to pay for her next year at university. Fees for tuition, books, room and board and a small amount of pocket money for the 2008-2009 academic year will total $2,633. LWB is seeking donors to sponsor Li achieve her dream of an education to help people. No donation is too small to help Li. She appreciates every bit of help in her desire to become educated and a help to her future achievement. To learn more about Li contact linda.mitchell@lwbmail.com.

Xie Xie,

Linda Mitchell
Believe In Me Jingzhou Coordinator
Associate Director of Education, LWB

"The Middle Kingdom Through My Lens"

2008-04-15T20:23:00.000-06:00

Matt Cline is an adoptive father who chronicled his adoption journey through his photography. In April of 2007, Matt, his wife, Kristin, and their daughter, Merril, journeyed to China to bring Rachael home to their family. But this isn't just a family photo album. Included in this book are beautiful photos of life in China. This book is a wonderful collection of landscapes, portraits, and street photography of Nanning and Yi Ling, Guangxi Province and Guangzhou, Guangdong Province.

Matt is not only sharing these wonderful photos with us, but a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to Love Without Boundaries' medical program.

Please take a look at this book:
http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/213460
It truly is a beautiful representation of life in China.

Matt has also donated a few of his photographs for our "Born in My Heart"
Art Auction which is coming up on April 24th. Please visit our website for more information http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/.

Teacher Appreciation Day Gift

2008-04-15T10:30:00.000-06:00

I would thank you from the bottom of my heart, but for you my heart has no bottom. ~Author Unknown

Remember that tickly feeling in your stomach when you knew that your teacher at school or Sunday school or coach on the ball field was absolutely delighted with something that you did or said? Wasn’t it just the best?

So many of us have at least one memory of an adult from our childhood that made us into the people we are today. We love reliving them when we see our children grow and blossom under the leadership of wonderful teachers in their lives. We can see that LWB teachers in China are making this kind of difference for students in our Believe In Me Schools and Mama’s Wish students. It’s obvious that teachers are vital to creating a world that we all want to live in.

This year, Teacher Appreciation Week is celebrated in the United States the first full week in May, highlighed by Teacher Appreciation Day on Tuesday, May 6th.

Love Without Boundaries is so grateful to the sponsors and donors that make access to teachers and education possible for hundreds of orphaned and impoverished children in China, In appreciation we are offering an LWB Education gift card and unique photo frame magnets just in time for Teacher Appreciation Week.

While supplies last, for a minimum donation of $20, LWB will send one LWB Education Gift card and two LWB Education magnetized photo frames to thank the teachers you know that devote their lives to education.

To receive this special offer follow this link: http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/education_gift_cards.cfm

Type TEACHER APPRECIATION DAY OFFER in the “note” box.

Linda Mitchell
Associate Director of Education

Home Sweet Home

2008-04-13T22:23:00.000-06:00

On March 28th two young women who have lived in an orphanage their entire lives took a huge step toward independence by moving into their own apartment.
These young ladies have worked hard to graduate from high school and attend college. They are both now employed and have decided it is time to become more independent. LWB is assisting these young ladies in their endeavor by providing rent assistance, help with furnishing their apartment, and hiring a “house mom” to live with them for a time and teach them life skills such as cooking, cleaning, shopping, negotiating, and social interaction with neighbors and landlord.
As you can see, the girls had fun on their shopping spree picking out items for their new home.
We are able to help these courageous young women because of our generous donors who have supported them every step of their journey, and we want to say THANK YOU!

Karen McGinty
Shantou Education Coordinator

Let's Go Fly a Kite

2008-04-10T13:57:00.000-06:00

During the month of March, we hired a teacher to work with the children in Kaifeng, Henan. This teacher will work primarily with the older students living in the SWI. The students need the help with homework in order to maintain good grades.

This past weekend the teacher and students had a great time flying kites during the Qingming Festival of China, where people visit grave sites and go to the countryside to see the new green. After a day of kite flying, the group went to the market to buy sweet potatoes for their evening barbecue. The kids reported that they had a wonderful time, even though the sweet potatoes did not turn out!

Missy Ridley
Education Director

IT IS WARMER IN ZHAOTONG, YUNNAN!

2008-04-07T12:25:00.000-06:00

During the snowstorms in China this past winter our Orphanage Assistance program received several donations to ‘help wherever needed’.

I would like to share with you where some of those donations went. In early March we were told Zhaotong SWI could use some help. All of the children of this orphanage are in foster homes through LWB but they were in need of some blankets and warm clothing. Using the donations we received we were able to purchase a quilt for each child (33), 93 sets of clothes (shirts and pants), 48 pair of long pants and 16 bags of cloth diapers!

The director of Zhaotong was very grateful to LWB and all the wonderful donors who helped make this possible. I think you can see how happy the ayis are in the photos and those babies look toasty warm all bundled up in their winter clothing. Thank you to everyone who made this possible.

If you would like more information about Orphanage Assistance please contact us at: orphanageassistance@lwbmail.com

Thank you!!

Kate Finco

Special Projects Director

Love Without Boundaries

www.lovewithoutboundaries.com

'Every Child Counts'

Yuan, and Very Special Girl

2008-04-04T09:00:00.000-06:00

When a team of LWB volunteers was in Henan last October, we met a very special little girl who had recently lost her family. Her name is Yuan, and some of you know her as the little girl who had the huge tumors on her face and who received one surgery in Shanghai during our medical mission there in November. Yuan has an incredibly sweet spirit, that just shines from her eyes, and she wants so much to have a family to love her forever.

Her facial tumors are quite severe, and our medical team wanted to provide her with the best care possible. To do this, we consulted with surgeons and physicians from several countries, and most agreed that Yuan most likely has Neurofibromatosis (NF), which is a disorder where children form multiple tumors (usually not malignant) on their skin, muscle, and bones. Sadly, there is no cure. Many children with this condition face the risk of isolation and extreme loneliness as they withdraw from a world which often cannot overlook such disfigurements. Already we have learned from our staff in China that Yuan wants so badly to go to school and play with friends, but it is very difficult for her to be accepted.

We truly believe that Yuan’s best chance at happiness is to find an adoptive family who will welcome her into their home and help show her that she is indeed a beautiful child with such a sweet and loving heart. We know her adoption placement might be difficult, but one thing is for certain….we believe in the amazing power of love. Her orphanage has agreed to file her adoption paperwork, which should be sent around June. We are asking you today to please keep Yuan in your prayers. We are all hoping that there is a family somewhere who will open their hearts to this child who simply wants to have a mom and dad to love her. If we learn that her paperwork has been accepted at the national level for adoption, we will post an update.

Puppy Love for Love's Journey Two

2008-04-03T12:16:00.000-06:00

I returned home from taking the kids to school to find that my son’s Labrador puppy, Jack, had taken an interest in my treasured copy of Love’s Journey 2 while I was gone just those few minutes. I can’t imagine what drew Jack to that book in particular. There are others on the coffee table – why my beautiful Love’s Journey 2? I keep a number of books on my coffee table in two stacks, one on each end. Of course, Love’s Journey 2 is on top of the stack closest to “my” chair which is likely why Jack just happened to pick that treasured volume to enjoy in my absence.

My beautiful book has a few pages torn though thankfully none of the pages are ruined. The dust cover took the brunt of Jack’s interest and was completely destroyed. Sadly, there was nothing to do except gather the pieces and carry them to the trash. After completing that task, I sat on the floor and looked through the pages of the book for additional damage. I was once again captured by the beautiful photos. So many smiling children and so many grateful parents! The sheer joy rising from those pages is riveting. Every time I open this beautiful book my heart is captured anew.

As I flipped through the pages my eye was caught by an essay, “Meeting My Daughter.” This essay speaks beautifully about the long wait for a child and the flutters of excitement in the moments just before their daughter is placed in her mother’s arms for the first time. A page later I found myself giggling at the “Top 11 Reasons for a ‘Wait’” bringing a bit of comic relief to the wait that only adoptive parents can truly appreciate. Turning yet a few more pages brought tears came to my eyes as I read an essay about a 3-year old little girl named YaYa living in an orphanage. YaYa begged the aunties to take her picture so her mommy and daddy could find her. Flipping pages I was again laughing as I read about a family eating breakfast in a Beijing restaurant and hoping to learn the results of the 2006 World Cup soccer tournament – their inquiries and eventual charades resulted in the bewildered restaurant staff delivering a bottle of Tabasco sauce to their table. Pages later I was overcome with wonder reading the story of a three-year-old little girl who told her mother a sister named Obedience was waiting for her in China. Months went by before the mother just happened to visit a list of Waiting Children and clicked on one of those precious photos to find that the child was a little girl named Obedience! My soul was lifted by page after page of beautiful children and the amazing stories written by parents, children, loving foster parents, and aunties.

My morning started off badly with the discovery that a puppy’s interest in one of my favorite books had forever left its mark on it, but the mark Love’s Journey 2 has left on my heart continues undamaged. I can’t think of a better way to begin my workday at Love Without Boundaries than to have enjoyed a few moments alone with Love’s Journey 2, dust cover intact or otherwise. I hope that if you own a copy of this incredible book that you’ll take a moment to enjoy its pages today. If you do not yet own this book then I hope you’ll consider purchasing a copy either for yourself or as a Mother’s Day gift for someone special. Love’s Journey 2 is a treasure for parents and an heirloom for children. I do recommend that if you have a new puppy in your family you might want to keep this particular coffee table book off the coffee table!

To order Love’s Journey 2 please visit the LWB store at http://store01.prostores.com/servlet/lwbshop/StoreFront. Not only will you have an opportunity to add Love’s Journey 2 to your home, but there are many special Mother’s Day gifts for the mothers and mothers-to-be in your life. The gifts will bring joy to Mom and all proceeds from every purchase will bring care to the children in China through the programs of Love Without Boundaries.

Debbie Smith
Tuan Yuan Adoption Assistance Coordinator

Believe In Me School, Jingzhou in Hubei Province

2008-04-01T12:36:00.000-06:00

Believe in my eyes bright and alert, ready to understand.

Believe in my mouth excited to reply to my teacher’s questions.

Believe in my hand writing in Chinese and Pinyin

Believe In Me and all that I can do

Because I love learning

Thank you, Love Without Boundaries Education Sponsors and Donors

Children like JZ who attends the Love Without Boundaries Believe In Me School, Jingzhou in Hubei Province await sponsors to make a love of learning possible.

To sponsor a student please go to:

http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/education_jingzhou.cfm

Linda Mitchell
Wife to Doug, mom to Laura, Jenna, James and David
Associate Education Director
Love Without Boundaries Foundation

http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/

Susie, Shay, and the Loudi Gang

2008-04-01T08:38:00.000-06:00

I recently returned from a trip to Loudi in Hunan province where I visited a unique LWB program in which we are overseeing regular physical therapy intervention for a number of special needs children. This is an excerpt from my trip journal:

The day was nothing short of amazing. Where do I begin??? How about at breakfast where the only thing I recognized on the breakfast buffet was fried rice. I had that and a sticky bun and several other things that I can't name for you, simply because I don't know what they were. No oatmeal or Cheerios here!

After breakfast, we drove out to the countryside to visit the foster home of two of my PT kids, Susie and Shay, both beautiful girls. I had brought a pediatric walker along for Susie to try out. When we arrived, the girls were both outside the home sitting in their baby walkers. They were like a really cute greeting committee in miniature. I said hi to them and hung back a bit while they got used to the sight of me. One was quick to smile; the other slower to warm up. I was anxious to give the walker a try, so we started out with that right away after introductions. The thrill on that little girls face when we took her first few steps was worth the price of the trip to see. Susie's got a lot of practicing to do before she's even close to using that walker on her own, but she did much better than I could have guessed she would do. She got the idea of stepping right away, and was truly delighted when she did it. Fun, fun, fun!

Shay also experienced several exciting events during our visit. She got to try out some brand new leg braces we had brought for her to allow her to practice standing. When she was satisfied that this standing thing was pretty cool, we introduced stepping. Boy was she ecstatic about that. Look at that smile!

We then spent the next bit of time working with the girls and the PT on treatment ideas and showing the foster mom how she can help out between PT visits. She was really receptive to what I suggested and seems to be doing a great job with the kids. Before I left, I had earned great big smiles from both girls. It was a great way to start off the day.

Our next stop was at another rural foster home with many special needs kids in their care. We worked with each one to determine something specific the PT could work on to progress them in their development and improve their condition. This took several hours, I think, and then we were in for a huge treat. The orphanage staff had cooked up a magnificent meal for us right there in the home. We ate in front of the families shrine to their ancestors. The vegetables in the dishes were mainly wild vegetables they went out and picked while we were working with the kids. The bamboo root in one dish was actually pulled from the ground about 20 feet from the front door! Several of the dishes were Loudi specialties. It was truly very special - and quite delicious!

Our last stop was back into the city where the last grouping of children would be seen. They had arranged for the children from the orphanage as well as a couple foster care kids who all live near each other to meet at one home for us to see. One child there is a teen named Hannah receiving PT and tutoring with support from LWB. We talked about what she would like to do when she "grows up." After some discussion, Hannah commented that she could clean well because she was trained in this very early. This will actually probably be perfect for her, so I really encouraged her to continue to keep on working at her exercises so her legs will be strong enough for her to do this to earn a wage. She seemed to like the sound of that. This is Hannah with Yvonne, one of the LWB China staff.

The PT, PT assistant and I talked for a bit longer about ideas for the kids and what I'd like to see them focusing on and working toward, and then we called it a day - a very full day.

I'm certainly not doing the day justice in my recounting of it. The PTs seems so very open to suggestion and instruction, the children were beautiful and amazing, and the orphanage staff expressed such appreciation. Have I mentioned yet how fabulous the day was?

--
Melissa Widenhofer
Loudi Tutoring Program Coordinator
Loudi PT Program Assistant
Love Without Boundaries
www.lovewithoutboundaries.com

Visit to Loudi Foster Care

2008-03-30T23:57:00.000-06:00

Returning "home" to Loudi .... yes home what a strange paradox that is for me but somehow it is part of my very soul?? Anyway on this return trip I got to spend 2 full and very active days in this city including a visit to the more rural areas (more on that in another blog!)

I was accompanied by a woman from Maine USA who too is a "Loudi mom". She brought with her the skills of Physical Therapy and I stood back and watched as she blended with the local PT team and together they worked on the children. I know she will tell you again of her amazing time. For now I'll focus on the Foster Care and the children there.

I met Quinn who for more than 2 years now has wormed a special place in my heart. Only 2 month younger than my Loudi girl I have watched him grow and sparkle. It was so good to be able to hug him again. I asked him if he remember my previous visit and it seems he did ... I certainly got a glow out of that! He is receiving some help also from LWB education and on receiving a little book sat down to fill in the Math questions. We sat in his foster home for near 1 hour and chatted about various items in the program and all the while I was conscious that just like a visiting Aunt I observed his activity and that of his foster sister swing from engaging a visitor, to play, to bringing me back into "his" play world. It was a special time where I was just one of the adults in his life ... not this stranger from across the world. It felt so good.

We also visited the smaller children in the program - having our PT there certainly helped all as we checked and worked out my particular physicals/medical needs. To have this privilege to visit with these families is something I always appreciate so much. The local "colour" is market life with eels and frog etc for sale. We also pass green vegetables salted and air drying - in fact even window boxes with veg growing. So much to look at and soak up! After the visits were over I was thrilled when we all met that lunchtime for a banquet. I had received many hugs from them in their homes and now we could eat together. Family joined around the table. Even our famous "Nana" was able to make it! Yes life is good!

Julie Flynn Coleman

Loudi Foster Care Coordinator

Foster Care Training

2008-03-27T21:31:00.001-06:00

Last week I visited 2 LWB Foster Care Programs - 1 very new, and 1 of our oldest cooperations. I had some good fun with all the foster parents as I introduced and delivered our first Foster Care Training.

There were some heated discussions on bathing the children with I learning some new nifty ideas of how to bathe children in colder weather and the Mom's gaining from my "Attachment" training. The wonderful parents came from Huainan, Anhui and Loudi Hunan.

All those who attended received a certificate and we gathered for a group photo.

In Loudi where I have been foster care coordinator for several years, I was delighted to be able to treat all the foster parents to a banquet lunch with funds sent by the very grateful adoptive parents who also contributed to gift items for the children in the program.

To all those involved in the children's care I say xie xie ni men - thank you all!

Julie Flynn Coleman

Our Special Projects Program at Work

2008-03-27T20:27:00.000-06:00

Dalian SWI in Liaoning Province just received a shipment of wonderful Physical Therapy equipment. These toys and PT items have already delighted the children and the ayis.

Look at this smile!

Math classes will not be a problem for these two!

I love the look of tenderness on the face of this ayi.

‘How do I turn this thing on?’ is what this little guy seems to be saying.

I would like to thank the donors who made this project possible. What a wonderful gift to give a child—FUN!! Thank you.

Kate Finco

Special Projects Director

Hercules Goes to School

2008-03-26T10:18:00.000-06:00

An important milestone in a child's life is when they go off to school. This past week Samuel (a.k.a. Hercules) went to his very first day of kindergarten. Hercules is no stranger to LWB supporters as he has been a special boy that has received services from many LWB programs. His baby picture was provided by our nutrition program and we are happy today to share the picture of his first day of school.

I love the white sweater that his foster family sent him off in and I love even more the twinkle in his eye that he has continually shown us.

Samuel is fully sponsored to attend kindergarten, but he has pals that are waiting. Patrick, Benjamin, Timothy and Jared are all eager to attend too.

If you are interested in supporting a friend to Hercules, please visit our website at:

http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/SponsorEducationChild.cfm

Missy Ridley
Education Director
Love Without Boundaries
www.lovewithoutboundaries.com

Humanity Is Blessed

2008-03-25T15:19:00.000-06:00

I sit here in my Loudi bedroom with my children asleep and grab a few moments to myself and my thoughts. Lian my Loudi girl is tucked in bed asleep in the city she was born to. I tucked her in tonight in this her hometown .... I will again for the next 2 nights. I absorb the sounds and smells so foreign to my nostrils and wonder if she has any memory of this city these smells .... I wonder as always of the circumstances of my daughters birth family. Is "She" her Muquin awake now, has she any sense of a hair pricking the back of her neck or has a shiver run over her not due to the cooler night???

So many unanswered questions so close and sharp this night. They will fade again and ebbe and flow as they always do, like a contraction. I hope she is safe and well.

I think back to a wonderful event only 2 days ago - I went to visit a family who have a toddler daughter -Jia. This beautiful daughter was born to the 3rd generation living in that small, but loved filled apartment I had the privilege to sip tea in. Their one and only great-grandchild or grandchild or child was born VERY tiny and cleft affected. They explained to me how this might have been a reason to not will her on to survive or even a reason to abandon her. But no, the grandfather whose heart is full of love for his family spent hours upon hours feeding his too tiny gand-daughter by a spoon as she could not suck due to her cleft problems. He had been widowed when his own daughter was in her early teens and had raised her with the help of his mother and a very good aunt. This aunt saw the LWB Hefei cleft mission report on Anhui TV and rushed to their home to rally them to get a long distance bus to the hospital to plead with the LWB team to operate. I was there that day when Jia, her Mom and Granddad came to our operational office room. I saw so much love and cried that day. They were united. Jia was wearing a knitted jumper with Irish colours and even though too young for the cleft team to operate we vowed to help her. The Irish LWB supporters would find the funds. Arrangements were made that she come back just before the next Chinese New Year for her lip repairs.

Jia did and went on to celebrate Spring festival with a new smile and was welcomed by her extended family. A year later she received her palate surgery and is charming all who know her. She ran ahead of us and patted the chair for Lian to sit down. I sat on her Great-grandmothers bed and held the hand of a great woman who has reared a loving family. I held that hand for a long time. At 80 years old she is now paralizied on one side from stroke but still the neighbours and family have done their own PT and have got her semi mobile. The Grandfather similarly had a stroke and was nursed back to health by the neighbours. A hugely united community who gathered together to help and encourage their members, who helped them on their way that year and a half ago and sent a letter on commendation with them asking the hospital to look kindly on their kin.

I sat in that home on Great-grandmothers bed and thought ; this is what makes humanity great. Love.

So I go to bed now thinking that somehow my Lian's birthmom made a decission that was to help "our" daughter.

We send our love,

Julie

A Visit to Fuyang Foster Care

2008-03-23T15:27:00.000-06:00

Our LWB China Director, Stephanie Wang, has been on the road this month visiting many of our foster care locations in Henan, Anhui, and Hunan province. We are so happy and proud to have Stephanie on our LWB Team. She truly knows what is involved in providing good foster care for the children and has wonderful insight to troubleshoot obstacles as they come up making sure the kids always come first.

On Wednesday, she visited our Fuyang foster care program which celebrated it's one year anniversary in January.

Here is what she had to say about this trip.

I visited Fuyang this morning and was able to spend some time with every child in our foster care program.

I LOVED the foster family of a little 4 1/2 year old boy named Joseph. The foster parents take care of two children. The grandparents are young, in good health, and live very close by. They also take care of two children. It is wonderful to see this big extended family together. They all really enjoy each other's company and all the children have a joyful spirit. The foster care grandpa has a special bike for taking the two boys to kindergarten as you can see. I like the bike so much! From the creation of this special bike, we can see how much they were loved by this family.

All our kids under this program seems happy and healthy.

I went with Yin Yan to the families this morning. She looks know the children well, even only meet them once.
I am sure we will have some great reports from her.

Tuan Yuan Adoption Assistance Grant Recipient!!

2008-03-21T11:40:00.000-06:00

Love Without Boundaries is pleased to announce our latest Tuan Yuan Adoption Assistance Grant recipient! Min Feng is a wonderful little boy who was born on January 22, 2001 and is in the Sichuan Province.

Min Feng was chosen to receive the $3000 Tuan Yuan grant because his file was scheduled to be returned to the CCAA without a family. Heritage is holding his file a bit longer in the hopes that this grant will give him the boost he needs so that his forever family can find him. For more information about Min Feng, please visit our website at http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/projects_taunyuan.cfm or contact Vicki Paulson.

Thank you!!

Debbie Smith
Tuan Yuan Adoption Assistance Coordinator
Love Without Boundaries Foundation

A Special Gift, for a Special Girl

2008-03-20T10:52:00.000-06:00

Two years ago, I met a special teenager from an orphanage in Guangdong. She was sweet and shy, and I remember her gentleness. Her name is Ling, and she is a girl that I have never forgotten.

Last year in March, I saw her again. During our visit, we took the group of teens from her orphanage out for dinner, and I sat at her table. Again, I was impressed by her sweetness. As we were eating, I kept seeing her look at me and then smile a large, beautiful smile. I told her how much I loved her smile and how beautiful it made her. She replied that she was ugly. I told her that I didn’t agree and that I thought that she was very pretty. As I said this, I felt that she didn’t believe me. Ling thought she was ugly because she had strabismus, or a lazy eye. She had been born this way and was very self-conscious of the way she looked.

We asked if we could do surgery to fix her eye as, just like me, many others who had met this incredibly sweet girl wanted to do something to make her feel good about herself. We sent her to the local eye hospital for an exam, and they told us that they could do the surgery. The surgery would correct the way she looked, but it would not be able to improve the vision in her eye. After a little discussion, she decided that she wanted to proceed with the surgery as she wanted her eye fixed. We funded her surgery immediately, because this young woman had not only touched my heart, but the hearts of so many who wanted to give her this special gift.

At the end of January, she was moved for her surgery. We received a photo of her, but it was a photo with her eyes covered by bandages. The doctor told her that she needed to wear these bandages for a month to protect her eyes from infection. This week, we received a very special treat. The new Ling!! I can’t believe the difference!!! I so hope that this will give this beautiful, young woman the confidence to know that she not only has the beauty and sweetness on the inside, but now on the outside too.

I asked our facilitator what Ling thought about her surgery and this is what she said, “She said she was surprised when she saw herself in the mirror, and think she become nicer than before, so she feel thankful for donator's help!”

Next time that I see her, I hope to let her know how beautiful she was and is and have her truly believe me!

Karen Maunu
Medical Director

Celebrating Books in China

2008-03-19T10:16:00.000-06:00

This past week, my children's schools celebrated Dr. Suess's birthday with all kinds of literacy and book activities.
Love Without Boundaries celebrated in our own special way at our Believe In Me School--Jingzhou in Hubei Province.

Our lovely China Director of Education, Yvonne, arrived at school on Monday morning with a smile on her face and a big stack of new books for our students. The children just loved the new books full of bright colors, interesting illustrations and language.

Students at this school are speaking more clearly and with more description since school began in September, and so has their love of learning through books and printed material. We are thrilled to share some photos of the kids receiving and exploring their new books. Thank you to the sponsors and donors that have made these moments possible for these children.

Two of the wonderful children in our Believe In Me School, Jingzhou are in need of sponsors to keep them learning. Please take a peek at their needs at:

http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/SponsorEducationChild.cfm

Touching lives one child at a time...this is our story of HOPE!

Linda Mitchell

Associate Education Director

Love Without Boundaries Foundation

W.I.L.L.I.A.M.

2008-03-17T17:28:00.000-06:00

W onderful! Is what I think about my life now that

I live with my LWB foster family.

L earning in kindergarten is fun and exciting!

L ots of times when my grandpa picks me up from school

I tell him all about my lessons

A nd show him and mom and dad the everything I learned that day.

M y biggest wish is that I can keep going to school

William is in need of an education sponsor to support his enrollment in Kindergarten.

To sponsor him, please go to:

Sponsor William

Blue or Pink?

2008-03-15T00:59:00.000-06:00

Do you have a preference? We at Love Without Boundaries would choose pink any day of the week.

There is nothing better than seeing beautiful pink lips on a baby who’s lips just days before were very blue. Enjoy looking at these pictures and see if you don’t agree that pink is the best!

In 2007 we were able to heal around 70 babies who were born with various heart defects. Approximately 16% of these surgeries were funded though our annual art auction. Thank you to each and every one of you who have helped these kids experience their own personal color change.

The 2008 Born in My Heart Art Auction is just around the corner. Go to http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/borninmyheart.cfm#auction and help us see lots more PINK in 2008!

Lori Dubbs
Medical Program Heart Coordinator

and

Wendy Petersen
Associate Medical Director

Xinyan, Henan on Women's Day

2008-03-14T12:46:00.000-06:00

We visited the site of LWB's newest Foster Care program in Xinyang, Henan on Women’s Day which is a Chinese National Holiday. We got to met all their kids and fell in love. The staff there are very kind and Director Feng is so nice and so caring for the children.

We got to meet our foster care manager in Xinyang—Daisy, she is such a sweet young lady. We all think she will do a great job for our foster care program.

When we stepped into the preschool classroom, we saw all 6 children who will come into our program very soon. On taking out the snacks we brought for them, they all get together around us. Everyone of them get one bag of the snack and begun eating.

The funniest thing is you can see one child got 2 bags and while eating one bag he kept the other bag in his arm.

The other little boy who is in our foster care program is anxious to eat too, but he would rather have somebody else feed him instead of eat by himself. Nancy, the Associate Director of Foster Care was happy to lend a hand.

Another one of the foster care girls is shy upon on seeing us walk into their room. She ran back to the corner of the room. We noticed that she would not share the snacks until she finished 2 bags herself and decided she didn’t want the rest. Then she was very generous.

There is a beautiful little girl in our program who has vision problems and cannot see as well as the other kids. She liked the sound that was made when she crinkled the plastic bag. As soon as she finished one bag, she began play with the it. This little one touched our hearts. Although she cannot see very well, she tried very hard to use her eyes to make out our faces.

After all of them had finishing eating the snacks, one little girl saw the water in my hand and pointed it to me. Then I gave it to the teacher in this room to let them drink (most of them are cleft before palate surgery, so it might be dangerous for me to feed them water with no experience.) All of them are crazy about the water again. Yu is so anxious to drink that she kept pushing others out so that she can drink more.

The next day, we got meet all the HTS rocking nanny kids, of course they dance to us again. Nancy was so enjoying dancing with them you can tell.

We also got to visit the 3 families which might be the 6 kids foster care families very soon. All the 3 foster care moms have experience working in the SWI and they all live close to the SWI. During our visit to the families, our driver’s been so helpful carrying all of our purses. He is such a helper to us for the whole trip, even though he is more tired than us for driving the car.

Everyone of us kept saying he is such a "sweet guy". I told him the English version of praise. He didn't understand so we told him to ask his sister. His humor did gave us lots of laughter during our Xinyang trip.

Stephanie Wang
LWB China Foster Care Director

Irish Chinese New Year Gala

2008-03-12T17:00:00.000-06:00

A marvellous night in Dublin celebrating the Chinese New Year also contributed to the LWB Heart appeal!

CICA - The Chinese Irish Cultural Academy children danced on stage and sang out for the children! They were accompanied amongst others by visiting artist from Sichuan Province who came to perform their own particular brand of Opera!

The acts all wowed the audience and by the show end enough funds had been made to send a baby girl for life saving heart surgery.

One little CICA girl, who was struck down with stage fright back stage, finally managed to pull herself together and belt out her song with the best of them … And why? Because she was asked “Can you do this to help save a heart baby?”

Her tears were sniffed back, her face became stoic like a soldiers, she stood up and moved to her line for curtain call. “Yes” she whispered and looked me in the eye.

“Yes I can”.

Julie

Special Needs Training, Continued

2008-03-11T12:38:00.000-06:00

The first picture is the poster sign for this training, you gotta love it! Xiao Qing is one of our kids from Kaifeng under foster care, nutrition, and also education. This picture was taken one year ago, and she looks so healthy and smart.

The second day of training was begun by our great friends from Small Word Adoption, Kathy and Lily did an amazing job for the SN adoption talk standing there instead of sitting there. The stories of the adoption made all the staff there impressed. Then Nancy Delpha talked about nutrition and cleft nutrition, we provided 2 cases of cleft bottles and after the talk, all the SWIs came in a hasty and they were gone very fast, and still many SWIs came to Stephanie for more bottles since they didn't get even one. Stephanie left everyone of them the business card, and she will mail them some on receiving more.

Then the officials from Henan Civil Affairs talked about the adoption paperwork, everyone listened so carefully that they want to grasp every opportunity for every child's adoption.

Because the location of the training is in such a historic city (Kaifeng) we took a sight-seeing tour. We learned a lot about the city and its culture. It was wonderful and we are very happy to be here!

Nancy and Stephanie

Special Needs Training

2008-03-10T13:12:00.001-06:00

About 70 staff personnel from Henan orphanages attended the first day of Special Needs Training. We opened with talks from Henan CA and Kaifeng CA Directors. Plaques were presented, pictures of the whole group taken, and the special needs training began. Dr. Qiu and Dr. Li spoke in the morning, and provided beneficial information on heart defects. Their presentations were well-received, and many orphanages spoke to Stephanie about sending their heart children to Dr. Li.

After lunch, Zhang Min spoke regarding autism, cerebral palsy, and Down's Syndrome. Dr. Zhai spent the remaining time in the afternoon explaining the remaining needs in the manual. Everything went very smoothly and the orphanage caregivers seemed to be very responsive to the information they received. An official banquet was attended with the Civil Affairs officials, and we enjoyed the evening with lots of toasting and laughter. We also visited the directors banquet and toasted all who came. All of them are looking forward to cooperate with LWB and each asked us to visit their orphanage when we have a chance.

Stephanie has done a marvelous job organizing the training, and every detail has been attended to. We are so grateful for a successful first day of training!

We even experienced an earthquake early this morning, between 4 and 5 am and we teased the officials about arranging this just for our visit!

Submitted by Stephanie and Nancy

From The Netherlands to China with Love

2008-03-07T09:14:00.000-07:00

I received an email from a mom who had just been to China on a heritage trip with her daughter. This mom was from The Netherlands and her daughter had been adopted from an orphanage in the Jiangxi province. While they were visiting the orphanage her daughter had been from, they met a beautiful little 3 year old boy. This little boy, Gang, had a very serious heart condition..... This mom just knew she had to do something to help this little boy!

At the same time that we received word that he was operable and that the orphanage had all of the approvals for his surgery, our website went down.... The woman who originally told us about this little boy was not deterred. She was determined to raise the money for this little boy.....$5000 to heal his heart.....

I was so excited to get the first email from her, the Dutch adoptive families groups she had contacted had raised $1000 in just a couple of days....then the next email just six days later said that they had it all! So many people from The Netherlands rallied around this little boy and helped raise the money he needed and this was all without the website.

Because the money had been raised right before Chinese New Year, we needed to wait until after the holiday to schedule his surgery. In the meantime, this mom knew what a little boy who was going to be having heart surgery needed. She put together a FUN care package for both this little boy and his auntie. She wanted his hospital experience to be positive and wanted him to feel all of the well wishes. The care package also included something for his auntie. This package was mailed and received during the holiday, ready and waiting for the day of his surgery.

Last Thursday, February 28, he had his surgery and it was a success! Within two days, he was moved from ICU to a regular bed. His recovery has gone so well. He still has congested lungs, so he will need to wait a little longer before he will be able to be discharged.

In the meantime....Gang is having fun! Look at the photos we just received! Gang loved his gift! He was so happy to receive his presents. He had so much fun playing doctor – his favorites were the syringe and stethoscope. This little boy was also very generous and was very willing to share his toys too. What a memory he has! He can write his numbers and can imitate English words. He is SO smart! When it was time for our hospital coordinator to leave, he loved to give kisses goodbye! What a cutie!

We know that this little boy, who is now healed, will soon have a wonderful chance to find a family. We have heard that his paperwork is at or will soon be at the CCAA. Not only that, but he has so many friends in The Netherlands who will be a part of him forever........

Karen Maunu

Medical Director

Rub-A-Dub

2008-03-06T11:05:00.000-07:00

One of the joys of raising children is that we cherish all the "firsts". First smile, first tooth, first word, first steps. At the ACHH the next few days will be full of "firsts" for us. With that as in introduction, it is time for photos of the children's first bath in the home. Please "bare with us" as we share these adorable photos. Note: All photos have been strategically cropped.

We did not have a sink or toilet installed when Sandi left for China so watching the children take a bath today is a real treat as we didn't think that would happen for a couple of weeks. I think the nannies are enjoying this too because if you count the hands in this photo, there is more than one nanny involved here. What do they say...many hands make light work. Gosh, the baby can weigh more than 10 pounds dripping wet.

Tuan Yuan Adoptions Assistance Program

2008-03-05T11:19:00.000-07:00

The Tuan Yuan Adoption Assistance program of Love Without Boundaries is hosting a very special fundraiser! The first 70 donations of $35 or more will be recognized with a beautiful silk purse and a special acknowledgement card from Love Without Boundaries as a THANK YOU for helping us make a waiting child’s dreams of a family come true!

The Tuan Yuan Adoption Assistance program began in 2004 to offer adoption grants not to prospective parents...but to CHILDREN from China’s Waiting Child adoption program. When we hear of a “waiting child” who is due to have their file sent back, we offer an adoption grant in hopes that it will increase interest in the child. The right family just might be one who cannot afford all of the adoption fees.

We believe that EVERY child deserves to know the love of a family. As we watch the waiting child lists, we see children who, for one reason or another, are never chosen. These children wait for month after month, list after list, without ever having a family step forward to say “THIS is my child.” We are saddened when any child’s adoption file is returned to China.

“Tuan Yuan” means “bringing families together.” This is what we hope to do with our adoption grant. Every time our fund reaches $3000, we search for the child who seems to need our grant most, and offer to pay their orphanage donation. Your donation will help to bring the most important gift of all, the love of a family, to a very special child. Won’t you help to bring a waiting child home?

Please help us offer a grant to a child waiting for a family by donating to our Tuan Yuan Adoption Assistance Fund.

Donations are accepted securely through our website at www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/donate.cfm.

Under “category” please scroll down to Adoption Grants.

If you prefer , donations may be mailed to:

Love Without Boundaries
Attn: Tuan Yuan Program
306 S. Bryant, Suite C-145
Edmond, OK 73034.

The first 70 donations of $35 or more will receive a silk purse and an acknowledgement card from Love Without Boundaries. Purses are single-compartment and measure 8” x 6”. Please indicate Tuan Yuan Adoption Assistance Fund on your donation.

For more information please contact our Tuan Yuan Coordinator.

Deyang Orphanage Nutrition Update

2008-03-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

We received photos today from the Deyang orphanage, and I couldn’t wait to share them with you! We placed their formula order a little early so it wouldn’t be delayed by the Chinese New Year holiday, and we were glad to hear that the winter storms did not cause any further delay.
There is an absolutely darling new arrival at the orphanage, this sweet little angel who was born with Down’s Syndrome. She looks nice and toasty, and I absolutely LOVE her little hat!
As you can see, she has some lovely, round cheeks and is doing very well on the formula that you have been sending. We are happy to see that the other children all look wonderful, and have put on weight since our visit in November. At that time we upgraded the formula for some of the children with more serious medical needs, and we are thrilled to see how good they all look!

It’s been a cold winter, but the children are all bundled up well and there is plenty of warm bedding in each of the cribs.

Thank you all for keeping the children of Deyang in your hearts. I see enormous improvement from when we started this program a year ago, and we are all so thankful for your support! Our nutrition coordinator for Deyang, Sharon Yoxsimer, is on her way back from China with a new daughter, and I know she joins me in giving thanks for everything you have done.

With a grateful heart,

Jan Champoux
Nutrition Director, Love Without Boundaries

Xinyang, Henan, Our Newest Foster Care Program

2008-03-01T10:44:00.000-07:00

Our China Director, Stephanie Wang just returned from Xinyang, Henan after checking on the development of our newest foster care program. I am very happy to share with you what she had to say.

“The director of Xinyang CWI is a gentle man,who seems nice, and what I like about him most is that he cares about the kids there very much. He can easily call every child’s name, and on seeing him, most children were very excited and asked for hugs. He told me all 6 children’s papers have been filed for adoption. He showed me the pictures of the kids who have already been adopted; I can see he is so proud and happy for their forever home.”

Stephanie also got to meet our new Foster Care Manager, Daisy. Stephanie said that Daisy was not only beautiful but she was capable and had a open heart. I think that those are winning combinations for our work with children. She will be an incredible team member to check on the children and the families monthly, making sure that we are helping them succeed in their new family.

Stephanie wrote about a boy who in not in our foster care program but he could use some sun glasses. Heng is 10 year old and he studies in the local primary school in Xinyang. He works hard and has very good grades. But like all children with albinism, his eyes are very sensitive. We are hoping to get him some sunglasses (UV protected) that would fit a small boy. If you have a source for glasses, please email our Xinyang Foster Care Coordinator.

We have 10 families applying for the 3 openings that we have to care for our 6 children. This is wonderful news to have so many families to chose from in that we can hopefully get the best of the best families for our kids. Nancy Delpha, Associate Director of Foster Care, will be visiting Xinyang in mid-March. Hopefully Nancy will see the children placed in the homes during her visit.

We now have over 300 kids in foster care again…301 to be exact. It is never about the number of kids in our programs that matters. However it is nice to know that we are helping so many children know the love of a family. We wish that for all children. Our sponsor a child web page is bursting with kids. But every day we I have had to take off children thanks to new sponsors coming forward. I know we will soon we will get all of these children sponsored.

Sponsor a Foster Care Child

Anhui Cleft Healing Home Has Its Own Blog!

2008-02-29T17:10:00.000-07:00

Sandy Glass, our Cleft Healing Home Coordinator, and her oldest daughter are on an airplane at this very moment, traveling to China for the Grand Opening of our new Cleft Healing Home! She has set up a blog and will be posting all about her progress while there!

We would love for you to follow along! Please follow the link below to read all about her trip:

Love Without Boundaries Cleft Healing Home Blog

If you would like to read more about the home, please visit our website:

Love Without Boundaries Cleft Healing Home