Pink Birthday Shoes

In the Guangdong province, we have a program called PAL, which stands for Preparation for Adult Living. It had become very clear to us as we followed children over the last four years, that many kids who grow up in orphanages don't have an opportunity to learn a lot of important life skills that a child would learn growing up with a parent. For instance, if an orphanage has a cook on staff, then chances are the kids don't get to take part in helping to prepare meals. They are usually just served the food when it is ready, and so they don't get to learn how to cook for themselves for when they enter society. Also, most orphaned children don't have access to "allowances", where they would learn the skills of saving money, spending wisely, and bargaining.

LWB is trying to tackle some of these real life issues for teenagers living in orphanages, and one of the ways, which might seem quite small, is by occasionally giving the teens a small allowance at special times like Chinese New Year, so that they can go out to the stores and markets and learn how to bargain. This year we also began giving each teen 100 rmb (about $13) on their birthday, so that they could choose the presents that would bring them the most joy on that special day but also so that they can once again have an opportunity to practice money management.

We just got in some photos from a wonderful teen's birthday. Emily has always been such a special girl to me. She had been involved in a severe accident with her legs which left her unable to attend public school when she was younger. She ALWAYS has a beautiful smile on her face and is just always so happy with any small thing she is given in life. I was really looking forward to seeing what she chose with her birthday funds.

I just love the first photo of the girls shopping because it shows what a fun afternoon they had together. After spending a GREAT deal of time in the shoe aisle (go Emily!), she decided on the following:

Cup -- 5.90 RMB

Shoes -- 39.7 rmb

bobby socks -- 6.9 rmb

T-shirt -- 19.8 rmb

Chewing gum -- 1.2 rmb

ham -- 2 rmb

Hamburger -- two. 7.9+7.9= 15.8rmb

Total: 91.3 RMB

We all wish we could have been there for her special day. And Emily...I do love those pink shoes!

Amy Eldridge

Almost Home

Karen, Nancy, Tracie and Lori are somewhere over the ocean right now flying home from China. They are going to write up their final posts when they get back to the US as they did not have internet access over the last two days.

This time I got to be the one to stay home and wish I was there. I have talked to the teams each day by phone, and scribbled pages of notes on all of the beautiful children they met who will need surgeries, on the new orphanages who have requested projects or supplies, and of course I have been oohing and aahing over every photo sent to me of the wonderful children they got to spend time with. That part is always so wonderful. I don't think most people realize how very hard these trips can be as well though....only sleeping 2-3 hours a night and flying and driving long hours every single day to cover as much ground as possible. Each time I am in China, my friends there say "you must rest, go back and sleep", but of course we all say the same thing over and over, "I can sleep in America!...there is still too much do!"

I also know all too well what it feels like emotionally to hold a baby with severe heart disease and wonder where the funds are going to come from, or to have orphanage directors make the most unselfish of requests such as "please can we have high quality formula to make our babies as strong as possible". Oh where is that legendary money tree? As the volunteers called me each day telling me the names of the babies who need to be moved for surgery, I started wondering how I could meet the most recent Powerball winner. I know there have to be so many people in the world who would love to help save the life of a child with severe heart disease, especially when it can be done for "only" $5000. When I talked to our medical director last night, I told her when she got back from China to "please take Saturday off", and she immediately said, "no way....we have kids to heal."

I am so grateful to everyone who helps with LWB's work...from the orphanages to the donors to our amazing volunteers. The four women flying home from China all left their own children and families in order to help change the lives of children. They funded their trips 100% out of their own pockets. In a culture that makes heroes out of celebrities who often make less than ideal choices, I just want to say that we all need to remember that there are heroes all around us. Each and every day there are people working quietly and without any recognition to make sure the lives of children around the world are bettered. It's not the stuff of Headline News, but it is definitely the stuff of what life is truly about.

Amy Eldridge

Love's Journey

When LWB first came up with the idea of compiling a series of books on the China adoption experience, we were hoping to raise enough funds to help "a few kids". I can admit now that we knew absolutely NOTHING about publishing a book, and yet we were bound and determined that we were going to learn. A wonderful group of volunteers was organized, and they began to create a book that could be a lasting keepsake for parents around the world. A dedicated team of men and women worked for months to put it all together, and it was with a very deep gulp that we signed a contract to publish 3000 books.

Just this week, we realized that we have less than 20 Love's Journey books left. I had to ask myself how many I thought we should keep for historical purposes, as it will never be reprinted. The amazing thing to me is that this book was so much more than just ink on paper. This book saved lives, and started foster care programs, and helped to build schools. To date, Love's Journey has raised over $100,000 which all went directly to impact the lives of orphaned children in China. We affectionately dubbed many of our kids who needed surgery as "book babies", and each time I would get a letter from someone who was writing to say how much they loved the book, I would smile thinking about the kids it had helped.

Our graphic designer is now hard at work on the second volume of Love's Journey. Over 4000 submissions came in for this next volume. Here is a sample of what the second book will look like.LJ2 is going to be yet another beautiful coffee table style book, with even more stories and essays from parents, children, foster parents, and orphanage workers. This time we are going to take an even bigger leap of faith and print 5000 copies. I can't wait to meet our next group of "book babies". We'll let you know when the second volume is available!

Amy Eldridge