Foster care is one of LWB’s most expansive programs.  With sixteen foster care programs in seven different provinces, LWB needs each and every one of our nearly 50 volunteers to keep these programs running smoothly!   Two enthusiastic foster care volunteers have agreed to let us peek into their daily lives as an LWB volunteer and see what inspires them to dedicate their time to helping orphaned children in China.

Jessica White, Huainan Foster Care Co-Coordinator: I first learned of Love Without Boundaries during the process of adopting my daughter Emma. I remember reading and rereading Love’s Journey, and thinking that “someday” I would love to get involved with such an amazing organization.  That “someday” came three years later when one of the mothers from my travel group mentioned that LWB was looking for volunteers in their foster care program.  We had recently adopted our son Will from South Korea, and he had spent the first year of his life with a foster family. The difference that foster care had made in his life was remarkable. I immediately sent in my volunteer application and joined the foster care team in 2009. A few months later, I transferred to the Huainan Foster Care program that serves my daughter’s orphanage, and I cherish the opportunity to remain connected to her first home.

I am a stay-at-home mom to a four year old daughter and two year old son, so most of my LWB work is done at naptime. After I get the kids tucked in and the lunch dishes in the sink, I settle down with my laptop to catch up on the day’s emails. I share the responsibility of coordinating the Huainan Foster Care program with a good friend and fellow Huainan mom, and we communicate frequently through texts and emails. We receive reports from China on each of the children in the program, and a large part of my job is to review and format these reports before sending them on to each child’s sponsors.

The best part of my job is watching the way the children grow and thrive in loving foster families.  I become so attached to each of the little ones in our program and feel so blessed to be able to become a part of their lives. I cheer when they take their first steps, worry when they have runny noses, and shed tears of joy when I hear that they have found their forever families.  I consider it a privilege to be able to contribute to an organization that is making such a difference in the lives of these precious children.

Meg Gallson, Fuyang Foster Care Assistant Coordinator and Associate Director of Adoption Advocacy: I’m a licensed social worker, and in January 2007 I had my first experience matching a family with a special needs child who was also in a LWB program. It was WONDERFUL! I was able to learn a lot about LWB through discussions about what LWB did for her while she was in their care. I could tell immediately that LWB cared about this child (and could assume that they truly cared about ALL of the children they were able to help).

I spend time every day e-mailing and reading e-mails that have to do with LWB. Usually my breakfast includes reading the daily Yahoo de-briefing — a great start to my day! Getting to read the updates on various programs, new children who have joined the programs or received surgery, as well as learning about new ways we are getting the word about LWB out to the world — all are important on a daily basis.   Because I work with Fuyang Foster Care, I get to help Vicki Hossack read the children’s monthly reports and then edit them a bit before sending them out to the children’s sponsors. It is always rewarding to get to say thank you at least once a month to these magnificent sponsors who are ultimately equally as responsible as LWB itself for getting these kids into a foster home.  Without them we could not afford for these children to reap the benefits that a foster family can provide!

I also have been able to help keep track of grants that LWB provides for specific children’s adoption. It is SO rewarding to be able to help make a child’s adoption possible by providing some monetary assistance. Every day I am keeping my eyes and ears open for news about children who are part of the Love Without Boundaries program – and sharing the word of what LWB does for children to family, friends, and random people I meet.

It is most rewarding to be a part of something that serves someone else, and not just anyone, but children – the most vulnerable of all.   Amy Eldridge, our Executive Director, said something the other day about how many children in orphanages really need someone to believe in them. Almost all of them have faced a great loss or abandonment in their lives, and so she explained: “ it is for this reason that we feel such a responsibility to make sure that when a child comes into OUR hands – that we do everything possible to not let them down. While we cannot change the entire orphan situation, we have learned that when you give your all to one child in need, AMAZING things happen.”   This is what I enjoy about LWB.   Every day we touch people in ways we do not even realize most of the time.  Touching someone positively, doing something filled with “hope” and possibility – this is what I believe all people are here on earth to do, and LWB is one beautiful way we can do it.

It’s Friday, and we’d like to introduce you to some darling new arrivals to our foster care programs!

At just two months old, winsome Kim has already experienced surgery for pulmonary cysts. We are hoping she will be released from the hospital next week so she can join our Zhang Village foster care program. Doesn’t she look anxious to get started with the real business of life? All of us on the Foster Care team feel incredibly privileged to be able to work with children like Kim and watch these children grow and develop within their foster families. We enjoy watching their personalities develop and are so grateful to our wonderful foster families and sponsors.

Jimmy is truly a new arrival as he was born just this month. He is all ready to join our Zhaotong foster care program once he gets a sponsor! At a later stage, Jimmy will need corrective surgery for urological issues.

Kim and Jimmy are so young but are by no means our youngest children. We have a newborn baby who is not even a week old. She just received surgery for an intestinal blockage and will be coming to our Huainan foster care program in a few weeks.

So many other lovely children have received surgery courtesy of our wonderful medical donors and are now awaiting a sponsor so that they can enter foster care. Take a look at just a few of the children we currently have on our website!

For just $35 a month, sponsors receive monthly reports and photos so that they can watch their little ones grow and develop. You can learn more about them by emailing us at foster@lwbmail.com.  Please consider playing a part in these children’s lives!

Often in our busy lives we forget how amazing and exciting a shopping trip can be. Consider all the merchandise offered from clothing to food. The decisions and choices made between wants and needs, nutritional versus fun food, and keeping within a budget require critical thinking skills and experience. Four fortunate students from Believe In Me –Huainan traveled with their teacher, Kathy, by taxi to a local super store in Huainan, Anhui.

The students entered single file into the supermarket, ready for their shopping adventure. They nervously stepped onto an inclined moving walkway journeying up to the second floor.   Everyone excitedly talked at once as they took in all the store had to offer. “Look how pretty the coat is!” “Look, look at how interesting the toys are.” The new shoppers proceeded to the stationary department and were given a budget of 35 rmb (about $5 US) each.  All students seriously considered the shopping task, picking and choosing items to stay within the assigned budget, thinking through the math, adding and subtracting, counting on their fingers and then finally selecting their items.

The group proceeded to the fruit and vegetables section and were introduced to produce they had never seen before. With the shopping complete, they each checked-out, received a bag and a receipt, and said “Thank you.” The shopping trip was a wonderful practical learning experience for our students. We hope that each BIM–Huainan student will get the same exciting shopping trip opportunity in the future.

Last month, several other children joined Kathy at a restaurant where they learned to order and practice table manners. The food in Huainan is absolutely wonderful, and we’re sure the smells and flavors were so yummy to the kids. There is so much to be learned in life for these great children!

Karin Cooper is the Believe In Me — Huainan School Assistant Coordinator.

Chinese New Year 2010 comes in with a roar — it’s the Year of the Tiger! We at LWB want to wish all of our friends and supporters “Xin nian kuai le!” — happy new year — and share a few photos of some of our precious children who are also celebrating the most important of Chinese holidays.

Chinese children are typically given a new outfit to help celebrate the new year and to symbolize new beginnings, and Ben and Jon from Huainan Foster Care are modeling their cozy new clothes in the above photo. Red is the color of celebration and happiness in China, and so many new year items are the color of red to symbolize the joy of a new year. We’re not so sure Ben and Jon look too joyful about having their photo taken in their new outfits, but we imagine they’re going to love the food that comes along with the celebration!

The babies at the Henan Cleft Healing Home also received new clothes and have lined up with their nannies to wish everyone “Xin nian kuai le”. Happy Year of the Tiger from all of us at LWB!

We would like to introduce you to a beautiful, brand new American citizen — seven-year old Bella.  Bella has only been living in the United States for two months.  Before that time, she was living in a Social Welfare Institute in Anhui province and attending kindergarten prep at our “Believe In Me” Huainan program.   It warms our heart to hear how far Bella has come since she first began as a reluctant student at BIM, and we’d happy to feature her story as LWB’s February Story of the Month.

We first met Bella when we visited her SWI in October 2007 after she had been a student at “Believe In Me” for a month.  LWB Education Director Missy Ridley was instructing the teachers on how to conduct morning circle time.  Through the teacher, she asked each child to state their favorite color.  None of the children were able to communicate their favorite color….none except Bella.  She was the youngest in the class, but that didn’t deter her.  She immediately and loudly proclaimed her favorite color was blue.  She had only been a student there for a few weeks and within that time had become an active and enthusiastic participant!

From the “Believe In Me” reports, we got the impression that Bella was quite a character.  She enjoyed performing in front of the class and reciting poems.  Also, she loved having her hair done in different clips and barrettes.  Bella enjoyed school and many teachers made note of her “rich imagination”.

This year, Bella moved up to tutoring services and began attending public school in Huainan.  However, in November 2009, Bella experienced a life-changing event when she met her forever family.  From what her new parents tell us, she has displayed great resilience and has met her new life and new family with great gusto!  They write:

On adoption day, Bella adjusted well and even tried to comfort the crying babies at the Civil Affairs Office!  The rest of the trip in China was filled with a mix of moods and emotions as we tried to bond and become a new family.  There were sad moments as Bella mourned the loss of the only life she knew, but there were many delightful and happy moments as well.  By departure time, Bella  genuinely looked forward to seeing her new home and insisted that she was ready to leave her old life behind.

We arrived home on December 10, just in time for Bella to become the best Christmas gift her Mama and Baba could ever have asked for.  Only a few days after returning home, she insisted on going to school and immediately loved her new teacher.  It didn’t take long for this brave and independent 7-year old to ask that Mama not stay with her during class and plead with her parents to let her take the bus to and from school like all the other neighborhood kids.

School is hard work and there is much to catch up on, but we try to keep it fun and interesting.  Bella attends both regular first grade classes at public school and Saturday Chinese school.  All of her teachers report that she is a bright and outgoing student who appears to be adjusting well given the recent life-changing events of an international adoption.

By far, Bella’s favorite pasttime is going to the pool.  She has become quite a happy little fish, and her favorite water activities include jumping into the water, observing other swimmers from underneath the water with her goggles on, and retrieving objects from the bottom of 3-inch deep water.  She fully submerges herself for several seconds and pops back up with a big smile.

Bella is also learning all about responsibilities, chores, politeness and making good choices.   While many of these are simply expected of her as a member of the family, others are rewarded with a small allowance.  In addition to her own little bank, Bella puts aside a few of her quarters every week into the orphanage fund.  She plans on sending a big box of chocolates and treats to her friends in China next Christmas.

What a big heart Bella has!  We at LWB are thrilled that “Believe In Me” Huainan was able to give her such a great beginning, and we look forward to watching her continue to thrive and exceed expectations in the loving embrace of her new family.

You may remember the story we shared several weeks ago about a beautiful girl named Claire who has been hospitalized for surgery on her urologic fistula. Well, we have been eagerly following her progress and received this heartwarming update tonight!

This past week, Claire’s incision became infected and more surgery was required. When our hospital manager David visited her this week, he was distressed to see that Claire was still not feeling well.

Wanting to make her happy, David brought her a gift — a giant teddy bear — and said, “Now she has a good friend who can accompany her all day. I’m so happy my work made the bright smile come back to her face.” The elated smile on Claire’s face says it all. We love knowing that her new friend the bear will be by her side throughout her hospital stay and will accompany her back to her foster family in Huainan!