LWB Community

Nutrition: LWB’s Featured Need of the Week

LWB provided nutritious formula to two orphanages when it first began over eight years ago. Since that time our nutrition program has expanded to serve children residing in numerous orphanages throughout China. Quality formula is essential for babies to grow and thrive, particularly when they have medical needs. We use only quality formula, which, unfortunately, comes at a premium price.

In December we received the unexpected news that Nestogen, our formula of choice, will no longer be available in China. We plan to switch to Lactogen, a formula that is produced by the same company and has a similar formulation. This formula will meet our babies’ needs but comes with a price tag that is almost twice that of Nestogen’s. We now have the difficult task of telling the orphanages that, without additional funds, we must send half the amount of formula. Please help us keep our babies’ bottles full! Read more.

Care Packages to China

Over the holidays, we had a call from an orphanage who had been sent a care package from a kind and well-meaning adoptive parent. Unfortunately the package had been stuck in customs, and since there were multiple items inside the parcel, the customs agent was insisting on charging the orphanage a $60 fee to pick it up. The orphanage staff had to go into the city several times to fill out paperwork before the package could be released, which took quite a bit of their time as well. Once we had worked out the details of this last package, the orphanage director suggested that while they appreciate the good intentions, perhaps we could let adoptive parents know that packages often cost them precious money and time to pick up, depending on each city’s customs rules.

We know everyone sends packages with such good and kind intentions, but we felt it was important to point out some of the issues that can arise when a package is mailed to an orphanage in China. One orphanage was once hit with a $125 customs fee for a large box that a parent had sent. Read more.

Counting Down Our Top Ten Photos of 2011: Peeking Out

Number three in our Top Ten Photos of 2011 is preciouis Yi. Baby Yi is part of our nutrition program in the Guangdong Province. She is a very sweet baby with a mild personality who loves to smile when her nannies tickle her. Yi was born with thalassemia, and she needs to go to the hospital for blood transfusions once a month.

We love this beautiful photo of her peeking out of her crib. Her nanny says she loves to be held most of all… and we think very few people could resist picking up such a beautiful little girl. We hope that a family will choose baby Yi in 2012 so that she can continue receiving the medical care she will need long-term.

Counting Down Our Top Ten Photos of 2011: He Did It!

When we first saw this photo, we laughed out loud as little Guang looks like he is firmly placing the blame on someone else. As part of our orphanage assistance program, families can send baby formula to their child’s orphanage as a gift, and this photo was taken shortly after a shipment had arrived in Xinyang. We are so happy that Guang was adopted this year, and we have heard the great news that his family is completely in love! Read more.

Counting Down Our Top Ten Photos of 2011: Babies in a Row

Isn’t this a cute photo from the Pingliang orphanage in Gansu Province? LWB has been working with this orphanage to help provide high quality formula and extra nannies so the babies can receive more one-on-one time and be hand fed.  It’s easy to understand why voters chose it to be one of our Top Ten Photos of 2011!

The most wonderful news about this special photo is that two of the babies have already been united with their forever families, and the other two babies have been chosen for adoption as well! Read more.

An Adoption Story: Aaron

Sometimes, adoption stories contain surprises that we could never anticipate! We know you’ll enjoy reading about a little boy from our nutrition program in Gaoming whom we featured on the blog last December and the story of how his parents came home with not one, but two sons.

Early last December I read the LWB blog, as I often did while we waited to travel to get our son in China. One day, I was ecstatic to see pictures of our boy there featured in the story, “Artie Faces the Scale.” I excitedly read through the article about our son only to have my heart drop at the end when I read that “Artie” was available for adoption. Read more.

Winnie Wishes You Peace!

In the interest of adoption, LWB Community will be profiling some waiting children whose orphanages have asked for help in finding families for them. However, we do want to be clear that these children are not in LWB programs.

Winnie is full of good cheer! Always smiling, eight-year-old Winnie lives in the Foshan Shunde Orphanage, where LWB has done orphanage assistance projects. We featured her in a blog piece (“Winnie’s New Coat for a New Year”) right before Chinese New Year last year and were hopeful that she would be with a family of her own before the next new year. Although it doesn’t look likely for this year, we are going to take a hint from Winnie and remain happy and optimistic that her family will find her soon!
Read more.

Maoming Kids: LWB’s Featured Children of the Week

Our “featured child” this week is not just one child but scores of them! The Maoming SWI has approximately 300 children, and one of the needs of the orphanage is for cloth diapers. In this photo, taken earlier this year at Maoming, we see some very cute babies with their caregivers. As you can imagine, the orphanage goes through lots of diapers with so many children in their care.

Your donation in any amount for our diaper drive will help keep these little bottoms covered and will be greatly appreciated!
Read more.

An Adoption Story: Kai

Do you ever wonder about the children we blog about here?  Have they been matched?  Are they home with their families this holiday season?  How are they doing?  We are very fortunate that some adoptive parents contact us after they return home with their newly adopted child to help us answer these questions.
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An Adoption Story: Hyrum

One of the greatest joys for any LWB volunteer is hearing from adoptive families whose children were once  in one of our programs.  During this holiday season, we’d like to spread this joy to our supporters by profiling several children who were once featured on our blog and as a result found their forever families! Recently we heard from a wonderful adoption success story with a family who adopted a little boy who was part of our nutrition program in Guangdong.

We named our little guy Hyrum. We came across him through an advocacy group that Suzanne Damstedt, one of the LWB directors, participates in. She had alerted the group that a new child was posted on LWBcommunity.org. Out of curiosity, I hopped over to the blog to check him out. As soon as I read the title of the post, “Sweet Prince Brenden,” I was hooked.
Read more.