LWB Community

An Extremely Generous Adoption Grant for Ben

Many of our readers will be familiar with Ben, a sweet and wonderful boy who has been featured on our blog a number of times, including the blog, “Waiting a Decade for a Family to Call His Own”.

Ben is thirteen which makes him very close to ageing out and no longer being eligible for adoption. There is one final push in place to see if a family can be found for this boy who is beloved by all who meet him. His orphanage has agreed to waive the entire donation, and an extremely generous adoption grant has been added to the $2,000 LWB grant already in place. Read more.

A Mama of Her Own for Alejandra

LWB’s Medical Program first met Alejandra in early 2011 when her orphanage in Guizhou Province asked us to help provide for her medical care. Alejandra was born with a severe facial cleft and needed cleft surgery, as well as another surgery for a painful and complicated hernia. At four years old she had her hernia surgery first.

Alejandra before her cleft lip surgery…

Read more.

Shayla: LWB’s Featured Child of the Week

One-year-old Shayla is new to LWB’s Foster Care Program but is known to many as a previous resident of LWB’s Heartbridge Healing Home. Shayla was born with cranial meningocele, and she spent time recovering from her surgery with the loving nannies at Heartbridge. Recently graduating, she is now in LWB’s Guiyang Foster Care Program… and we can’t wait to watch her grow and flourish! Read more.

Waiting for Betsy’s Smile

May God give you…For every storm a rainbow, for every tear a smile, for every care a promise and a blessing in each trial. For every problem life sends, a faithful friend to share, for every sigh a sweet song and an answer for each prayer. ~ An Irish Blessing

Everything’s is changing now for Betsy!  It was a year ago that Betsy joined our foster care program in Fuyang.  Abandoned two years ago as a child and not a baby, Betsy has experienced her share of trauma already in life. . Read more.

Keeping Up with the Huainan Kids

While in Huainan last month, we split our time between visiting the children in the orphanage and then those who are in our foster care program out in the community. We had brought lots of little treats to the kids in our orphanage school program: hair bows and flowers for the girls and planes for the boys.

Well, we quickly threw that plan out the window as ALL the kids wanted to look glamorous with hair decorations. They would come back again and again to get another flower or bow until they felt they looked just right. Don’t they look beautiful? Read more.

Wisdom Wednesday: There’s a Pea In Your Nose!

There it was.  A little green pea was making its way out of Ellen’s nose.  I knew it was possible. I had heard the stories of raisins, kernels of corn, chocolate and even noodles sneaking their way into a toddler’s nose.  It’s all part of having a cleft palate.

Even after having a cleft palate repaired, often little holes or fistulas still remain.  Read more.

Meigan: LWB’s Featured Child of the Week

Meigan, a precious two-year-old girl, started preschool in LWB’s Believe in Me Jinjiang School just a few weeks ago.

She is very shy and was a little bit scared to begin her new “big girl” life, but we hope that she will settle in with ease as she gets to know her new teachers and routine. This beautiful girl is going to learn appropriate preschool manners, participate in art activities, and be exposed to writing and reading of Chinese pinyin. Read more.

Visiting the Older Children of Huainan

The city of Huainan was the next stop on our journey.  LWB has been helping in Huainan for the last eight years through every program area we offer. The first evening we arrived, we took seven of the older kids from this orphanage out to dinner. I know that one of the things that weighs on a lot of adoptive parents’ hearts is what happens to the kids who “age out” of their orphanages. It is something we are continually thinking of as well, and through our Secondary and Higher Education program, we want a clear plan for every older child in our care.

There are many issues facing kids who have grown up in institutions. Without having parents to encourage them, many kids in orphanages fall far behind their peers in both grades and study habits.  Read more.

Terrific Terrell

It may be difficult to believe, but terrific 1 ½-year-old Terrell is described as “shy” by his foster parents.

Last month our foster care manager in Fuyang had this story to tell us after her visit to see Terrell and his foster family. Read more.

Visiting Zhang Village Foster Care

Next on our trip was a visit with the children in our Zhang Village foster care
program, which is located in Hefei. When we first began this program many years ago, it was for children with more intense medical conditions who needed to be monitored closely by our Anhui Healing Home staff. At first, it was located in a small village of Hefei called “Zhang Village,” and all of the children lived in one community. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you feel about it, that village was demolished last year to make way for new high rise apartments, something which of course is happening more and more in China. Now the children are located throughout the city.  So while it technically should be called “Hefei Foster Care,” we are sticking with the original name for nostalgia’s sake. Read more.