This morning as I was slowly jogging around our neighborhood, I couldn’t get the words to the song “Run Baby Run” out of my mind.  Not that I know all of the words, nor am I really a runner.  But I am in a family of runners and we are all gearing up to “run baby run baby run” – for orphaned children in China.

Love Without Boundaries has a team running in the 35th annual Marine Corps Marathon held in Washington DC on October 31st.  My husband, Ben, will be trying to keep up with our oldest son and daughter in this year’s Marine Corps Marathon.  Our youngest five children are running in the kids’ Fun Run held the day before, and they’ve already started training – they ALL want to be first.  What they don’t realize is that the “real” winners will be the babies the funds will help through LWB.

The funds raised by TeamLWB will directly benefit Love Without Boundaries Healing Homes program.  Orphaned children in China need us more now than ever before as birth defects have risen 40% in the last eight years.  Orphanages are reporting that 98% of the children they care for have some sort of birth defect.  Our Healing Homes give babies born with cleft lip and palate, heart defects, intestinal obstructions and a myriad of other life threatening conditions, a second chance and hope for a future and a family.

The Marine Corps Marathon has long been considered “The People’s Marathon” because it draws people from all walks of life.  It’s a beautiful course winding through our nation’s capital.  This year you will be sure to see even more crazy characters than usual running as the race is held on Halloween!

It’s not too late to join TeamLWB in this sold out event.  If you can run 8 miles now – you are right on track to be running 26.2 miles in four months time.  We still have room for team members on both the marathon and 10K teams (space is unlimited in kids run) we would LOVE to have full rosters!

There is a way for everyone to be part of TeamLWB – from running in the marathon, to run/walking in the 10K to the Kids Fun Run held on Saturday.  We also need VOLUNTEERS to help man our post race celebration tent and cheer our teams on.  It is truly an inspirational weekend as our runners fulfill personal goals and offer hope and healing to children in need.  To find out more and register, visit www.TeamLWB.com and click on the event you are interested in.

Join our Love Without Boundaries family as we “run baby run” for babies who don’t have a family to call their own.  My family will be there – will yours?  If you are still undecided, check out our video of last year’s race weekend here – hope to see you there!

Sandi Glass is LWB’s Special Events Director and mother of 9 very active children – 4 of whom were born in China.

DEDICATION:
1 : an act or rite of dedicating to a divine being or to a sacred use
2 : a devoting or setting aside for a particular purpose
3 : self-sacrificing devotion

“Dedication” is the first word that comes to mind when envisioning LWB volunteers. Our worldwide group of volunteers, as well as our Board of Directors, is one of the most talented and dedicated teams imaginable. Our volunteers come from all walks of life from twelve countries around the world. This foundation is blessed to have so many incredible individuals all working tirelessly for a common cause…to change the lives of orphans in China.

So…what is a typical day in the life of an LWB volunteer? The answer to that question is as unique as each of our staff members.   They range from adoptive parents to hopeful waiting parents. From housewives and busy moms to business owners and corporate executives. The list goes on and on. Each individual brings their unique talents to our table and whether they contribute two hours per week, 10 hours per week or 20 hours per week, the results of their dedication are felt by the many beautiful children that we serve in each of our five programs half a world away. The common thread tying all of these people together is their love of children and their generous hearts. Their compensation is witnessing a critically ill child get healthy after lifesaving surgery or a premature, failure-to-thrive baby put on weight with proper nutrition, or children lovingly cared for in foster homes, or children enjoying school and having the chance at a real education for the first time. Each day brings stories of success and hope and love. These are the paychecks of the heart that our volunteers receive.

To give a sense of a typical day in the life of our volunteers, we’ve asked some of our team members to share a bit about themselves.  This week, we’ll be hearing from two volunteers who work with our Healing Homes program.  First we spoke to Jan Champoux, who is featured in the above photograph.

1. Jan, how did you learn about LWB? I remember reading a plea from Amy Eldridge, years ago, when she was raising money to help baby Kang receive heart surgery. She touched such a chord with so many people, and I just remember thinking what an incredible woman she must be. A year or so later, I continued to hear about the new foundation, “Love Without Boundaries,” and the children they were helping. I remember thinking how inadequate I felt, raising my own daughter from China, while other people were reaching out and making a difference for MANY children still waiting in orphanages. Not long after that, several members from my DTC group got involved, I heard their stories, and when my schedule allowed, I jumped aboard too. That was in 2005.

2.  Describe a typical day as an LWB Healing Homes volunteer. After getting my kids off to school, I grab some coffee and head for the computer. You never know what might have happened during the day on “China Time,” so I feel like I need to check email before doing anything else.  On a typical day I will correspond to our staff in China, and also coordinate care and the comings and goings of children between Medical, Healing Homes, and sometimes Foster Care if we have a child ready for discharge. I am likely to hear from a sponsor or two with questions or comments about an update. I receive notification of donations, log those in, send out a thank you/introduction to their new child, etc.   There is likely to be a little joking around with some of my LWB buddies, we like to keep each other amused…you have to have fun at your job! There is usually some writing to be done, either on child updates, or blogs and other promotional items.

3. What do you enjoy most about being an LWB volunteer? I enjoy knowing that I am doing something to help a child who may not have anyone in their corner without the involvement of LWB. I love the friendships I have developed with other volunteers, and also program sponsors. It is so funny how you can feel “close” to somebody you have never met in person.   I enjoy feeling like I am making a difference to someone.

Julie Flynn Coleman, Healing Homes Director (and Director of LWB Ireland)

Next, we spoke with Julie Flynn Coleman: My hubby Colm and I were married for 17 years when Robyn, our first daughter, born in Hunan (Xiangtan) made us a mom and dad.  We then adopted Lian, also from Hunan (Loudi) and then Wynter from Anhui (Huainan) two years later.  The adoption process in Ireland is VERY long, and we were only the sixth couple in Ireland to adopt from China.

After seeing Amy Eldridge’s appeal for funds for baby Kang, I became very interested in what LWB was doing and really appreciated the fact that I could see where the money went.  To make a long story short, I found myself in China in 2004 putting together a playroom in Gaoming, and then I met Amy in Shantou to finish off a play/physical therapy room.  Later that trip, a group of us LWB volunteers journeyed to Loudi to discuss setting up the LWB Loudi Foster Care program!  (Yikes– was I scared then!)  However, the Loudi Foster Care program opened in March 2005 with me as the manager. I still stay in touch even though I left that position to take on coordinating Henan Cleft Healing Home in late 2008.

In addition to directing the Healing Homes program, I am now also the LWB Director of Ireland and keep the bank account going and the fires burning for that. I have hopes to register LWB nationally this year in Ireland!  I have also spent a term on the LWB Board as Vice-President.  I try to visit my beloved China (Loudi in particular) once or twice a year (depending on cheap flights and my hubby’s good heart to stay home and mind the girls).

Is there a typical day working for LWB?  Not really, which is what makes it so much fun!    However, here’s what a typical day for me looks like.  After I take the kids to school and put on some washing, I spend approximately 4.5 hours working on LWB stuff.   I check emails throughout the day as I collect kids, do homework and make dinner (great avoidance technique for housework!)   Then any time from 8pm on, I sit with my laptop again.

The biggest “joy” of all for me is when I see a child make it through the odds stacked against them to reach out, find and achieve their potential.  Above my PC I have a photo of a girl who once was in our foster care program.  She is now smiling in her forever family home!   I tell you all, one look her way, feeling that joy, knowing that somehow you might just have made the difference …. what more could a heart ask for?

To become a volunteer with LWB, please visit the Volunteer Application on our website.

Thanks to Kristine Fornek, the Human Resources Director for LWB (shown here with her family), for the introduction to this piece.

All around the world today, people will be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day.  The Irish community literally spans the globe with nearly 80 million people claiming Irish descent!  Please join the spirit of those who helped make you the person you are today by reaching out across the world to help heal one of the fragile babies in our Heartbridge Pediatric Healing Unit.  Many fragile babies at Heartbridge are suffering through pneumonia, and many have been hospitalized.  It has been a long and difficult winter, and we still have babies battling for their little lives.  So in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, we are holding a “Luck of the Irish” fundraiser from March 17-23!  We hope to bring the luck of the Irish to these Heartbridge babies to help raise funds for their continued nurture and care.

Historically, the Irish have moved to many lands to find a better life for themselves and their families. These men and women helped build and enrich the countries in which they settled. Large numbers settled in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, Mexico, South Africa, Brazil, states of the Caribbean and continental Europe.  Considering the population of the Island of Ireland in 2009 was just over 6 million, that is one big family celebrating around the world today!

This year, many landmark buildings such as the Sydney Opera House, the London Eye, Toronto’s CN tower and the Empire State Building will light up green as part of these worldwide celebrations.  The waters of the Chicago river, the San Antonio river in Texas and the fountains at the White House in Washington are all going to glow green too to honour this national day.  In Chinese culture, green is a color that represents the East and wood element. It is associated with healing, wisdom and health.  And health and healing are what Heartbridge is all about!

Please visit our “Make a Donation” page if you can help. May your good fortune and luck of the Irish guide you in filling a child’s pot of gold at the end of their rainbow…a chance at LIFE!

In hope,

Julie Flynn Coleman, Healing Homes Director and LWB Ireland Director

This past week, I had the good fortune to celebrate Chinese New Year with my daughter’s third grade class. I read the stories Ruby’s Wish and Sam and the Lucky Money to the children. We also made paper lanterns festooned with riddles in the tradition of the Lantern Festival that is celebrated on the 15th day of every new year. There was a lot of giggling as my daughter’s classmates simulated a lantern parade and tried to guess the answer to such riddles as: What animal has its own built in shower? (Answer: An elephant)!

When I arrived home from the celebration and checked my e-mail, I saw that the Love Without Boundaries 2009 Annual Report was posted on the website. I printed out the document and read it cover to cover. Although I’ve been a volunteer of and supporter of Love Without Boundaries for several years, I was especially pleased and proud of the work this incredible group of volunteers has been able to accomplish for children in 2009. The past year has not been known for tremendous economic prosperity. However, LWB has been able to positively impact the lives of many wonderful children.

Allow me to illuminate some of the most impressive accomplishments in a sort of lantern parade complete with riddles for you to solve. You must imagine parading through neighborhood streets in China lit up by a full New Year’s moon and hundreds of lanterns, each decorated with a riddle to solve along your way.  Let’s see how many answers you know. All of the answers can be found in LWB’s 2009 Annual Report:

• In April 2009, LWB celebrated a successful cleft medical exchange with the Children’s Hospital of Fudan University in what city?
• LWB’s Orphanage Assistance Program supplied warm winter coats to children in how many cities across China?
• Ten years ago, only 5% of adoptions from China were of children with medical special needs. In 2009, the number increased to ______%.
• The LWB Medical Program touched the lives of 407 children in 2009. Children who receive surgery under LWB’s care receive follow up care for at least_________________________ .
• Over _________ children were adopted out of LWB’s Foster Care Program into loving forever families.
• LWB Education provides education opportunities for children as young as 20 months through college. How many students graduated from college in 2009 with assistance from LWB?
• LWB’s three Healing Homes provided extra special care to __________medically fragile children.
• Since its formation in 2003, Love Without Boundaries has touched the lives of ____________children.

How many riddles did you solve? Read LWB’s 2009 Annual Report and let us know!  We wish you a happy, healthy and prosperous Year of the Tiger. With your support and encouragement, LWB looks forward to continuing our work of improving and enriching the lives of orphans in China.

Bridges, Shirin Yim. Ruby’s Wish. Chronicle Books. 2002
Chinn, Karen. Sam and the Lucky Money. Lee & Low Books Inc., 1995

Linda Mitchell is a wife and mom to four, blog contributor for Love Without Boundaries and volunteer at her kid’s school, student of School Library Media, K-1st Sunday School Teacher…..and creative writer when she can get a word in edgewise.

LWB’s foster care programs in China allow approximately 300 children in seven provinces to share in the love of a family of their own. Many of us look forward to seeing the photos of these darling children with their doting foster families. It’s evident to see how much care and love they are receiving in a home environment!

A generous donor has stepped forward who understands the great importance of foster care to the lives of these children and has offered to match any donation made to the LWB Foster Care program made between February 15 and March 15, 2010…up to $36,000!  With this in mind, we thought we would take a few moments to share with you some of the needs of our foster care program and what it takes to make it a success for each and every child.

Start up day for one of our foster care programs.  Families have picked up their new foster child and receiving cribs, bowls, bedding and other essentials.

Every time a child enters one of our foster care programs, there are charges. We pay for the child and the foster family to undergo health checks, provide a safe crib, and supply initial toys and clothes. These start-up fees run around $250 per child.  Each child has two sponsors who pay for the foster parent salaries through their monthly subscriptions. However, those subscriptions only just cover the foster care fee, leaving us little money for anything extra.

Last summer, little Niamh had a fever and needed to see a doctor.

Also, as with all children, our foster children sometimes become sick and need to see a doctor. LWB covers these minor medical bills. Many of the children in our foster care programs also have medical special needs. While our medical program and donors pay for any required surgeries, these children often require ongoing physical therapy, like Liam in the top photo, and equipment like pediatric walkers.

Freddie was born with one leg shorter than the other and is now learning to walk.  In this photo, he was borrowing his sister’s walker because he didn’t have his own.  Wouldn’t it be great to be able to order these walkers for every child who needs one?

In the future, LWB hopes to open additional foster care programs as we have witnessed the the life-changing results that can occur when an orphaned child is placed into a loving home. However, before we can consider starting up new programs, we have to take initial start-up fees into account.

Post-surgery, children like Alex and Emma often go from our healing homes directly into foster care and still require high-calorie formula and other special care.

Times are tight, and so we’d love to hear from you about creative ways that could help raise some spare money for our foster care kids.  How about a coffee morning at your workplace, or even skipping your morning latte for a week and putting that cash aside for these kids?  Perhaps you could even create a game and challenge your kids to look for spare change in their rooms or under the sofa cushions?   Letting friends and family, church, work and school communities know about this challenge is a great way for everyone to get involved in raising a few dollars here and there.

Any amount will help — especially when it is doubled — and we hope you will consider making a donation to our Foster Care General Fund before March 15.  Wonderful things are already being done to care for these children in our foster care programs, and we are busy dreaming of what more we could accomplish!

“I love the child I sponsor through Love Without Boundaries so much I want to know how I can send her or him a birthday present!”

One question that volunteers of Love Without Boundaries are asked frequently is how to send a birthday present to a sponsored child. Sponsors of children become quite attached to the child they receive quarterly reports of in a year. Sponsors pray for these children, hope for adoptive families for these children and above all desire that their sponsored child feel especially loved.

The answer to the above question of sending a gift is yes and no. First, LWB has been asked by officials in China to not give out the specific birthdays of children that we work with to the general public, as sometimes this information is used to pre-identify a child for adoption. Also, it’s wise to understand that birthdays are viewed differently in China than they are in the west. The Chinese celebrate birthdays considered special such as the first birthday, sixtieth and birthdays every ten years after the sixtieth that a person lives. Except for the first birthday, the effort of putting on a birthday celebration typically falls upon adult children bestowing honor and respect on their parents with special foods such as long life noodles and eggs.   Asking orphanage or LWB staff members who are already busy with taking care of the needs of many children to celebrate one child’s birthday isn’t a custom that they are familiar with. It’s one of those differences of the west that probably makes them scratch their heads and wonder why.

Furthermore, when a child enters an orphanage, everything about the child’s life, out of necessity and limited resources, becomes group oriented. Children wear orphanage clothing—not their own set of clothes from their own closet. Children eat meals served by the orphanage in group settings. Toys are for all of the children of the orphanage. To send one present for one child in an orphanage doesn’t fit the style of life an orphanage provides. Imagine sending a very special gift to just one child in any day care that you’ve ever experienced (and children in day care in the west are accustomed to going home where things are theirs and belong to only them in space that is theirs). A special toy sent to one child in a group in an orphanage would at the very least cause tension and frustration for the recipient of the gift as well as the adult care givers. Imagine also being a child who never receives an individual special present while others do. It would be easy for that child to think he or she isn’t as important or well liked. We want all of the children in our programs to feel equally valued and loved.

LWB does encourage celebrations and extra gifts for sponsored children in the form of a group gift for either a child’s class at school, foster family or group within the orphanage that a child lives with. Gifts can be inexpensive. A donation of $25 would purchase a number of items to benefit a child in any LWB program such as:

• · A healthy snack of fruit, nuts and a drink for the child and their school or orphanage mates
• · Antibiotics for children in medical care or for one of LWB’s healing homes
• · Developmental toys for a foster home or a group of children in an orphanage
• · Formula for all infants of the orphanage
• · Paper and pencils for an entire class of Mama’s Wish students

Larger donations are gladly accepted for children as well. LWB has a wish list of group gifts that can be purchased for a sponsored child’s orphanage, foster home or classroom. Gift cards can be purchased in honor of a child’s birthday and the donation sent to any program so that the funds can be directed at the most pressing need. Furthermore, Chinese New Year and Children’s Day on June 1st are commonly accepted gift giving occasions for children in China. Donations toward group gifts on those special days would bring joy to many children.

Students at Believe In Me — Jingzhou enjoy a donation of developmental toys

Love Without Boundaries was founded and lives upon the belief that every child counts on their birthday and every day of the year. With you, we celebrate a child’s maturing and growing in healthy ways. We also work hard to remember to celebrate in a way that respects the culture they live in as well as the specific home environment in which they are being raised.

Linda Mitchell is a wife and mom to four, blog contributor for Love Without Boundaries and volunteer at her kid’s school, student of School Library Media, K-1st Sunday School Teacher…..and creative writer when she can get a word in edgewise.

At first glance, this photo of Jacob and Levi enjoying “floor time” doesn’t seem to be that unusual. Don’t all babies love playing on the floor? However, floor time is not always practical or safe in an orphanage environment, so it is a complete joy to see these boys and others from Heartbridge scooting around the floor amidst a jumble of toys.

“Floor time” is an essential part of the healing that goes on at Heartbridge. It is a simple, basic pleasure for the children that assists with their strength, dexterity and social development. Spending time playing on the floor helps babies learn how to roll over, sit up and crawl and allows them to develop confidence.

Floor time has really paid off for Jacob, the older of these two boys. Jacob was born with anal atresia and required immediate life-saving surgery. Spending time playing on the floor with his caregivers and friends has certainly accelerated his healing and development. Isn’t it amazing that he took his first steps in August, just in time for his first birthday? He certainly seems to think so!

Jan Champoux is Heartbridge Coordinator for Love Without Boundaries Foundation. She lives in Nebraska, USA with husband Rob and four children. Jan and Rob have a son and daughter in college, and also a son adopted from Korea, and a daughter adopted from China, both of whom are in the fifth grade.

It is such a joy to see this impish grin on little Kathy’s face. Kathy came to Heartbridge in July after having been through two difficult surgeries, and for awhile Kathy was not interested in food at all. We we all very concerned about her. Now, however, she seems to have discovered her appetite….and her own flexibility as well! Kathy amuses the nannies with her acrobatics. Mona, our Heartbridge RN, tells us, “She likes to lie in her rocker, play with her hands and raise her legs up and down, over and over.” Surely these exercises will help Kathy to have some pretty good abs!

“And one and two and one and two….”

We’re so pleased with her progress this month and feel confident that she will grow stronger with time. Our thanks go out to everyone who helped with Kathy’s surgeries and her Heartbridge sponsorship. You have made such a difference in her life!

“Hooray for me!”

Jan Champoux is Heartbridge Coordinator for Love Without Boundaries Foundation. She lives in Nebraska, USA with husband Rob and four children. Jan and Rob have a son and daughter in college, and also a son adopted from Korea, and a daughter adopted from China, both of whom are in the fifth grade.

Seven enterprising girls in Georgia took the fun of a lemonade stand, added caramel apples and cookies, and turned it into a successful fundraiser to help children in China.

They also got their moms in on the act. The moms of the FCC (Families with Chinese Children) of North Georgia organized a two-day yard sale on what looked at first to be a rainy weekend in August. Fortunately, the sun shone on them the second day, and the group netted over $1000! These funds will be donated to LWB’s Heartbridge Pediatric Unit in Beijing, a facility which provides 18 beds for medically fragile children who need extra care while awaiting surgery.

Carina Morton, who organized the yard sale, says that her daughter Jayme has a special place in her heart for LWB and the children of China and was thrilled to think of the money she and her friends made at the lemonade stand going to babies in need. She also can’t say enough good things about her local FCC group; without their help, the yard sale would not have happened. “Our FCC North Georgia group is awesome. There are so many giving hearts!” she says.

We know that the children of Heartbridge will benefit tremendously from their generous donation. Kudos to our young friends in Georgia and the moms of FCC of North Georgia for reaching out to help children in need a half a world away!

Once a month, our Beijing Regional Manager, Cindy, visits all the children at our Heartbridge Pediatric Healing Unit. Cindy takes great pride in sending us beautiful photos of our happy babies…but Douglas here has not been cooperating lately. You see, Douglas — like many of us — is NOT a morning person!

Above you can see Douglas in June, and below you can see him in July. This is how he always looks when he wakes up, and he does NOT snap out of it quickly. Cindy has unfortunately arrived at naptime the past few months, and apologizes for the sorrowful photographs. I truly don’t mind them. I like seeing all sides of a child’s personality, and it has occurred to me that perhaps I look just like Douglas before I have my morning cup of coffee. And the last thing I would want to see is a camera in my face!

Thanks to our wonderful Heartbridge staff, I have learned that this sad expression doesn’t begin to reflect Douglas’ true personality. He is actually very lively and quite the little prankster! When Cindy visited in May, she sat and talked with his nanny for awhile, and then stopped to ask why the nanny kept a hand on his walker at all times. As it turns out, Douglas likes to keep things interesting: when nobody is looking, he will go zooming across the floor in his walker, as fast as he can, and rattle the crib of a sleeping baby. “He is very fast and rather naughty,” said his nanny with a loving smile. The nannies all love spirited babies, so being called “naughty” is actually a compliment.

Since I am not there to deal with the newly-awakened babies, I really do love to see the children become healthy enough to be a little mischievous! Above you can see Douglas as a newborn last October. He was born with microtia (an underdeveloped ear) and a severe intestinal blockage which required immediate surgery. He came to Heartbridge to heal and grow stronger after his operation. Douglas is now nine months old and weighs a very respectable 7.9 kilograms (over 17 pounds). Mona, the nurse at Heartbridge, just sent us a photo of Douglas demonstrating that he can stand by using only one hand to steady himself…quite an accomplishment, and you can see the pride (and an adorable SMILE) on his face!

Mona says that if you will hold both hands, Douglas will smile, babble to the music, and dance and dance and dance. Pretty soon there will be NO stopping him! Last month we learned that Douglas’ adoption file has been started, and hopefully he will appear very soon on a Waiting Child adoption list. Some lucky family is going to find their hands (and their hearts) very full with this wonderful little boy!

Jan Champoux is Heartbridge Coordinator for Love Without Boundaries Foundation. She lives in Nebraska, USA with husband Rob and four children. Jan and Rob have a son and daughter in college, and also a son adopted from Korea, and a daughter adopted from China; both in the fifth grade.