LWB Community

The 2010 Cleft Surgery Trip is Underway!

Social media experts always advise to “keep your blogs brief” and “make it shorter”, and we have tried to do that with our blogs over the last year, but today I honestly don’t want to be brief. : -) The 2010 LWB Cleft Surgery Exchange is officially underway, and I hope you will feel as I do that every child deserves a moment in the spotlight since many have traveled so far for their surgeries. These trips involve months of planning, so many incredible donors, and a wonderful commitment by the orphanage caregivers, doctors and nurses, and so I want to make sure we report as much as possible to thank everyone who made this trip a reality. 
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Singing for Song

Sing to the mountains, sing to the sea !

Our sweet Song has been offered another $1000 in grant money towards his adoption…for a total of  $2500! The outpouring of love for this special boy from Fujian continues (please see our blog from July 5, “Grants for Adam and Song,” for more background on him). We are so overjoyed for him.

This little guy has the whole package:  humor, charm, looks and wit!  He is just “BRILLIANT” (the word used by our volunteers who met him).
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Help Us Make the Fujian Healing Home a Reality

Available Soon: A beautiful, airy 8-9 bedroom, 6 bath villa in lovely Fujian Province with a spacious garden. Perfect for a host of babies and their loving nannies!

One of the main purposes of our recent trip to China was to finalize the details for our fourth healing home – this one located in the Fujian Province. This new home will be a combination of our cleft healing home and our Heartbridge healing unit models – with one floor dedicated entirely to vulnerable babies with cleft and one floor dedicated to children with other medical needs, such as preemies, those born with heart disease, etc. The need for these homes continues to increase, as almost every orphanage we spoke with on this trip told us that 98% of the children now being abandoned have medical needs. As we stood in the orphanage infant/baby rooms on this trip, we clearly saw this reality. Every crib is filled with babies with medical issues, ranging from heart defects to spina bifada to cleft lip and palate. In the past it was already a daunting task for an aunty to care for 10 to 15 “healthy” newborns at once. Now their jobs are even more difficult as they attempt to care for the same number of babies, but ones with often serious medical needs.
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Grants for Adam and Song!

LWB is thrilled to announce that we are offering $1500 grants towards the adoption of two wonderful little boys who are awaiting families.

Adam is a four-year old from Loudi in Hunan province who has faced a number of medical challenges in his short life. He had a heart defect which has closed on its own and clubbed feet which are correcting nicely (with close attention to his bracing and skin care by his foster family). He has had surgery on his spinal cord, and CT scans are showing decreased swelling of his brain. Such a strong little boy!
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Shop ‘Til You Drop to Help Emily, Samuel and Many Others!

The 7th Annual Love Without Boundaries “Born in My Heart” Art Auction starts on eBay today (April 22) and runs through April 27. We have over 350 INCREDIBLE items to auction this year, with every penny going to fund surgeries and medical treatment for Chinese orphans. This year we have many beautiful original paintings and prints, porcelain sculptures, a gorgeous array of quilts, calligraphy, scrapbooking pages, amazing photography, embroidery, gift baskets, jewelry, clothing, heritage items (including a reproduction of a terra cotta warrior) and so much more. We even have tickets to the Metropolitan Opera in New York as well as Yankees baseball tickets!

But let’s shift the focus away from the beautiful stuff. This event is really about children like Emily, who is new to LWB and little Samuel, who is one of our “seasoned veterans.”
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Physical Therapy Camp

So many children in orphanages live with cerebral palsy (CP) and other issues that make mobility difficult. Thanks to Ellen Dietrick, our Physical Therapy (PT) Coordinator and her friend Lisa, an Occupational Therapist (OT), so many lives have been changed this past week as they conducted “Physical Therapy Camp” in Fujian province.
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A Closer Look at Our Top Ten Photos of 2009….Number Two

When LWB first began our “Believe in Me” education program, which builds schools inside of orphanages for children who cannot attend public school, our goal was for each child we served to know the joy of learning. Our #2 photo of the year is from our “Believe In Me” Jinjiang school in the Fujian province. The children here are so excited to attend classes. They have had a whole new window to the world open to them as our teachers encourage them to use their imaginations and dream.

Our Heart’s Delight

“The term dim sum (dumplings are dim sum) literally means ‘Heart’s Delight’ ”* Did you know that before taking a trip, dumplings should be served to ensure a safe journey? These happy children have been on a journey for so long already in their lives. All of them became orphaned at some point.