"Mother's Love"

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

Piggies

The picture to the left was one of my favorite ones during our cleft mission last year. I loved the ten little toes peeking out from the surgical drape, and I loved knowing that the child on the operating table was getting a brand new smile.

This week we got another photo of some precious "piggies" that I wanted to share. This one was of a tiny little girl who had surgery in Shanghai. This time when I looked at those tiny toes, it struck me that the children we provide surgeries for are too little to make any decisions on their own....and so it is essential that all of the medical decisions we help make for them are the right ones.

For some reason when I saw this latest photo, it reminded me of the word "trust". The orphanages and foster families have placed their trust in us that we will provide the absolute best medical care possible to the babies in their care. We take that very seriously and make every decision as if it was our own child on the OR table.

We want every child we help to become strong enough to have their own mom or dad someday...a mom or dad to play "this little piggy" on those oh so wonderful tiny toes.