LWB Community

Santa for the Orphaned

The other day my seven-year-old son and I were talking about a baby LWB had recently taken in for surgery. I told him that she would need to stay in one of our healing homes until she fully recovered, as her orphanage was very rural and extremely poor. I was trying to explain to him at a first-grade level what I had seen at her orphanage when I visited there this year. I described the coal “stoves” in the center of the room that were the only source of heat and explained that there weren’t any toys to play with. My son was silent for a minute and then once again reminded me of the wonderful innocence of childhood when he said with completely certainty, “But at least it is Christmas, and Santa will be bringing them all toys.” Isn’t that a beautiful thought? Of Santa arriving to every orphanage around the world with the supplies that are needed?
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Giving Thanks for Our Supporters

When we first saw baby Delyth’s photos after her orphanage called us for help, we honestly weren’t sure if she would survive.  She was just so tiny and weak from her complex heart condition, and in every photo her mouth was open wide as she struggled for oxygen.

Delyth was able to have open heart surgery as soon as she was stabilized, and then she was moved to one of our healing homes.  Today we give special thanks for all of the people who support our medical program – as we think everyone would agree that this world is a better place with Delyth in it.
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Lucy: LWB’s Featured Child of the Week

Two-month-old Lucy has recently come to live at the Henan Healing Home to be strengthened and nurtured until she can have her cleft lip repaired. She was very weak when she was first found and taken to the orphanage in Xuchang. However Lucy is a fighter, and she is making great progress… which you can tell by looking at those cheeks! She also realizes that she is a lovely princess and likes to be with her nannies every moment she is awake. We know that with her spirit she will overcome all of her obstacles!

Kyra: LWB’s Featured Child of the Week

Kyra received surgery in May 2011 to repair her cleft lip. She spent her initial recovery time at our Anhui Healing Home and was moved to a wonderful foster care family in July. She celebrated her first birthday in September!

Kyra has adjusted very well to her new family life and loves to play with her older foster brother. Read more.

Giving Thanks for Second Chances

As we head into this wonderful season of Thanksgiving, we would like to share some of the things we are especially grateful for with you – our great supporters who make this work possible.

Today we celebrate little Marisol, who fought so hard following her heart surgery and beat all the odds. This gorgeous little girl, who spent many months on a respirator, is now charming everyone who meets her at our Heartbridge Healing Home. We give thanks for true second chances.
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Julia: LWB’s Featured Child of the Week

Julia arrived at the Fujian Healing Home (FHH) in July 2011, at just five months of age. Julia had already been through surgery for an abdominal obstruction, and her orphanage in Gutian was having a difficult time with her post-op care. Fortunately we were able to take this sweet girl into FHH for additional treatment and to receive some “TLC” from our wonderful staff. It didn’t take long at all for Julia to start melting the hearts of the caregivers at FHH; with her wonderful smile and shining eyes, she is irresistible!

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Diana: LWB’s Featured Child of the Week

Tiny Diana was born in November 2010 and came into orphanage care with a severe abdominal defect called bladder exstrophy. Diana’s bladder formed on the outside of her body, and she needs a very specialized surgery that is not available in mainland China. It quickly became clear to orphanage staff that Diana was going to need a great deal of extra care before she could even be considered for surgery, so LWB volunteers worked to make room for her in our Heartbridge Healing Home.

Diana weighed a scant 3.5 kg (7.7 pounds) upon her arrival in February… much too small for a three-month-old baby. Over the next seven months Diana managed to gain nearly six pounds, but she is still very delicate.
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Beautiful Souls

Sometimes we get very honest letters from people who say they find it too difficult to look at photos of babies with unrepaired cleft lip. We work with so many babies with cleft that we don’t even really see it anymore. Instead, we just see their gorgeous eyes and smiles…like Zeke, a current resident of our Anhui Cleft Healing Home (ACHH), grinning below. We’ve always felt that sharing photos helps people see the kids for the beautiful souls they are.

We recently posted Zeke’s photo on our Facebook page and asked our readers for their thoughts on seeing photos like this. We were so thrilled with and moved by the comments that we received that we wanted to share some excerpts here!

The search for a “perfect” look should never be larger than that of deepest happiness. Keep posting “non-perfect” photos of real happy babies!!

The first time I saw my son’s beautiful little face, I didn’t notice his bilateral cleft….all I saw was the face on an angel.
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Shayna: LWB’s Featured Child of the Week

Shayna is a beautiful baby girl who is in LWB’s Healing Homes program at our Anhui Cleft Healing Home (ACHH). Shayna was born in Fuyang in February this year with a cleft lip and palate and has a very sweet personality. At three weeks of age, she was hospitalized for myocarditis at a local hospital and overcame this serious illness over the next two weeks. She was brought to ACHH directly from the hospital and slept quite a bit that first week, but she quickly began to show us her curious nature by looking all about the room whenever she was awake.
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Lindsey: LWB’s Featured Child of the Week

Lindsey is our most recent addition to Huainan Foster Care.  She came to us from our Anhui Cleft Healing Home where she had surgery to repair her cleft lip (read more about her in our previous blog).  Lindsey is a bright and curious girl who is interested in her surroundings.  Her face lights up when she spots people who are familiar to her.
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