LWB Community

Arrival and Preparations in Kaifeng

The cleft exchange medical team has arrived safely to Kaifeng in anticipation of the surgeries beginning early Monday morning. In addition, 26 babies arrived on Sunday from orphanages throughout China, and our team helped them get settled into the hospital. We wonder if you can identify the province this group was from by their baby carriers?

We have four wonderful physicians on this trip from Minnesota – Dr. John Ness, Dr. Chris Tolan, Dr. Neil Derechin, and Dr. Kathy Clinch. They spent Sunday doing pre-op physicals on the children and making sure each child was in good health for their life changing operations. Read more.

A Gift That Cannot Be Replicated

There is something about traveling at 556 mph and 33,000 ft. above the earth that always makes me reflect on the past. A similar flight occurred just over eight years ago, and I was nervous then as I’m nervous now. At that time, I was yet to be a dad, but that was all about to change. I had just kissed goodbye my very pregnant wife so that I could bring back our twelve-month-old daughter waiting for us in China. Read more.

Help Save a Child’s Life…Through Art!

Every year our art auction raises essential funds for our medical program so that babies like little Fallon can get a second chance.  When Fallon’s orphanage phoned us last week, they told us she was extremely blue, short of breath, and hot with fever.  We moved her urgently to a cardiac hospital, and she will need surgery to survive. Read more.

Realistic Expectations: Potty Training

Last week we began a series on having realistic expectations during the adoption trip by covering the topic of cleanliness. Today we would like to continue with the “bathroom” subject, as one of the most common questions asked by parents is whether or not their child-to-be is potty trained.

Well…… define potty trained. And if the definition is “Western style toilet trained,” then the answer is probably not. Read more.

Let’s Start This Journey!

It’s Wednesday morning and in five days, the 2012 Cleft Medical Exchange will commence surgeries for almost 50 children at Kaifeng Children’s Hospital in Henan Province. While I’m excited, my more overwhelming emotion is nervousness. I have been involved with Love Without Boundaries for eight years, but this is the first time I’m traveling on a medical trip. Performing 50 surgeries in a week is a daunting task in a familiar environment, but one can imagine the logistical issues of doing this from 5,000 miles away, in a state of the art, yet unfamiliar hospital, with many of the children arriving from hundreds of miles away. But therein lies the heart of why I adore LWB, and why I am honored to be associated with this wonderful organization.
Read more.

Tongren Foster Care Cereal Fund: LWB’s Project of the Week

Diego and Hada are two of the six children in our Tongren foster care program who are in need of sponsors to provide nutritious cereal for them.  Diego, seen below checking out a box of cereal, wakes up bright and early and asks his foster mother to wake up!  His foster father works away from their home but calls frequently to check on them. Diego loves to hear the sound of his foster father’s voice on the phone when he calls. Diego has a good appetite and also likes to eat rice, noodles, and meat. The cereal program is a wonderful way to supplement his diet, ensuring that he receives the best nutrition we can give him.

Read more.

Visiting Heartbridge

A visit to our Heartbridge Healing Home is always a treat, and last month’s visit was no exception. The children there, who once were very weak and fragile, are thriving. You would never suspect from looking at and playing with these children the odds they have overcome. Attentive nannies, quality nutrition, and lots of TLC make an unbeatable combination!  Here are some of the beautiful faces from our visit.

Adrienne, seen above, babbled away to us, probably telling us about the great care she has received at Heartbridge. Read more.

Zayden, Ohanna and Qing Await Cleft Surgery

Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

Spring, the season of renewal, has arrived, and with it brings our 2012 Cleft Exchange! Only nine days left until lives are changed for good. Today, we have added three new children to the list of those awaiting surgery. Read more.

Gracie

We first learned about little Gracie when she was enrolled in one of our nutrition programs in Guangdong Province. As soon as we were sent her photo, we began to get opinions on how to best help her. We learned from several physicians who looked at her pictures that she was most likely born with a condition known as Treacher Collins Syndrome.

Children with this condition have issues with their facial structure, but they usually have normal intelligence. We first posted Gracie’s photo to our Facebook page several months ago, and the response was just incredible. Read more.

Visiting the Henan Healing Home

Visiting the Henan Healing Home is always a wonderful experience.  While this home might be small in size (with room for eight babies), it is HUGE on love.

Amy and Sheri snuggling with the babies at the Henan Healing Home

We have been working with a rural orphanage over the last year that really struggles with their babies born with cleft lip.  We have a very good partnership in place where they contact us about their newly abandoned babies, and we move them to our Henan Healing Home as soon as we can.   In February, we had taken in two new babies who were both really vulnerable and tiny when they arrived.  Some of you may remember when little Bennett and Abby arrived to our home, neither weighing more than 3 kg.   As we got new pictures of them each week, I could tell that their faces were starting to fill out, but it was hard to gauge just how small they were since the photos were normally closeups of their faces. Read more.