A dream is a wish your heart makes. ~ Cinderella

Many girls dream about feeling like princesses for at least a day, just like these beauties in our Lu’An foster care program! Our foster care team from the U.K. and U.S. are in China right now visiting children in Anhui and Shanxi Provinces and were thrilled with all of the heartfelt hugs they received from these lovely girls.

It is our dream that these princesses will have every opportunity in life to make their very own dreams comes true!

This sweet sibling pair really enjoy school. Kevin was thrilled to meet his classmates, and he is doing very well academically and socially. Chelsea is learning more and more each day. She is using her expanding vocabulary to speak in sentences now…and she does like to talk!

Our wish is that Kevin and Chelsea can continue to progress and succeed in school, but they need your help. We need sponsors for their education. Your sponsorship of $20 per month will let you celebrate their achievements and be a part of their success as you receive quarterly updates and photos. Thank you for considering to help these two foster siblings!

Shawn Michael has been at the Lu’An, Anhui, orphanage for nearly half a year. He has cerebral palsy, doesn’t eat very well, and gets sick easily, but he is a good boy. A few weeks ago it was found that Shawn Michael cried seriously when his right leg was touched. LWB’s Orphanage Assistance program sponsors a nurse in this orphanage to provide medical care to the children there. The nurse thought that Shawn Michael might have a leg fracture or cyst within his leg. He was taken to the hospital for an X-ray of his leg, and it was determined that he has inherited Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI), or brittle bone disease, and he did have a fracture. With tender care he is doing better now, but Shawn faces an uncertain future since his bones are easily broken. Now he rests in bed. When he is happy, he will call “mama.” Sometimes he will speak “ah, ah…” as if he would like to talk to you.

The orphanage is very worried about his future. LWB is hoping he will be able to be adopted so that he could receive treatment for OI that is not available in China before he grows too much and has to endure too many fractures. We are also checking to see if we can help him nutritionally. We would welcome your donation for Shawn Michael’s medical care and nutritional needs, and we will be sure to update you on how this sweet young boy is doing.

Rocky

Rocky earned his nickname by being shy and pretending he was asleep when volunteers visited the Believe in Me Changde School in Hunan he was attending. When he thought no one was looking, Rocky would open his eyes and take a peek at the visitors, and he eventually overcame his fear. His bravery earned the respect of the LWB volunteers, who gave him the nickname “Rocky.” Nine-year-old Rocky was also a grant recipient in 2008; however, a family never was matched with him, and eventually the grant funds went to help bring another child home. We hope this time the grant will help bring Rocky and his family together.

David

Our second grant recipient is eight-year-old David from Fuyang foster care program.  He is a very sweet and shy young man. LWB has been fortunate to be a part of David’s life for a number of years now, helping him to have heart surgery and placing him in foster care through our wonderful sponsors. We have blogged about him previously (“David’s Summer“; “David’s Smile is Shining Through“; “The Magnificent Smile of David from Fuyang“; and “David’s Sweet Tooth…and Sweet Heart“)  and earnestly hope this $2,000 grant will be part of the red thread that brings him to a permanent family.

Love Without Boundaries is very fortunate to be able to offer grants for the following children as well:

Chloe

Chloe was featured in the blogs, “A Christmas Blessing” and “Compassionate Chloe.” Her adoption grant is for $1,000.

John

John was featured in the blogs, “Wanted: A Family for John“; A Christmas Blessing“; “John from Lu’An” and “Waiting For a Family of His Own.” His adoption grant is also for $1,000.

You can always view information about our grants and the recipients on our Adoption Assistance page. Anyone interested in making a donation for our adoption assistance grants can click here.

These grants can make an enormous difference in the life of a child. Thank you for joining in our advocacy on these children’s behalf!

Love Without Boundaries proudly advocates for adoption but is not an adoption agency. We invite you to contact adoptionassistance@lwbmail.com with questions about a child we have featured and encourage you to contact your local adoption agency for more information about China’s Waiting Child Program.

If you want this choice position
Have a cheery disposition
Please be kind, and also clever
Foster my curiosity and encourage forever
Love to play games, all sorts!

Love me as a son
And I will follow
Hurry, Family!
Many thanks.

Sincerely,
John

For nearly a year now, nine-year-old John of Lu’An, Anhui, has been waiting for his family to find him on the shared list.  His sweet grin and mischievous personality remind us of Jane and Michael Banks from “Mary Poppins” when they sing their wishes for what their nanny should be like.  They present their case with sincerity and giggles.  Above is what we imagine John would say given the opportunity to voice his wishes for a family that would be perfect for him.  John is sweet and friendly.  He loves to joke and has a good sense of humor.  His activity level is high, and he thrives on encouragement and peer socialization.

Our Lu’An foster care team has been able to put together a $1000 adoption grant for John .  See more information on this, see our blog entry, “A Christmas Blessing for Rachel, Chloe and John.”

We have featured John on our blog on several occasions (see also “John from Lu’An”).  John has seen a foster sibling be adopted more than once, and while we are excited for those children to find homes, we see how it impacts John when his friends and siblings have families and he is still waiting.  We hope John does not have to experience this loss again and that instead he will be the child to leave with his family.

Love Without Boundaries proudly advocates for adoption but is not an adoption agency. We invite you to contact adoptionassistance@lwbmail.com with questions about a child we have featured and encourage you to contact your local adoption agency for more information about China’s Waiting Child Program.

A Christmas Blessing
During this Christmas season, may you be blessed
With the spirit of the season, which is peace,
The gladness of the season, which is hope,
And the heart of the season, which is love

Somehow, not only for Christmas
But all the long year through,
The joy that you give to others
Is the joy that comes back to you.
And the more you spend in blessing
The poor and lonely and sad,
The more of your heart’s possessing
Returns to you glad.  ~ John Greenleaf Whittier

What a wonderful blessing to be able to announce that three of our children living in Lu’An foster care will receive $1,000 grants toward their adoption expenses.

Rachel and Chloe have both been featured on our blog, and you can click on their links to learn more about them.  We love this photo that our foster care  program director took of them during her visit to their village this fall!

Good friends Rachel (on the left) and Chloe!

John from Lu’An has also been featured on our blog.  He is also part of this very close group of Lu’An foster care children.  Below, he and Chloe are having fun opening some treats!

John and Chloe together

To learn more about any of these children so that your adoption agency can review their files, please contact us at adoptionassistance@lwbmail.com.   These children are in need of some holiday blessings for families of their own!

Love Without Boundaries proudly advocates for adoption but is not an adoption agency. We invite you to contact adoptionassistance@lwbmail.com with questions about a child we have featured and encourage you to contact your local adoption agency for more information about China’s Waiting Child Program.

“Clever, affectionate and popular.”
“A very good, caring friend.”
“Leader.”
“Devoted big sister.”

These are all words that have been used to describe Rachel, a lively eight-year-old girl in our Lu’An foster care program in Anhui Province. Rachel is an open and friendly girl who loves dancing and has often taken on the role of tutor to her friends at school. Rachel was identified early in life as having some developmental delays, but she is very healthy and is now consistently described in her monthly reports as very bright, articulate, hard-working and disciplined at school, as well as in her family. She received excellent marks in both math and Chinese on her most recent exams!

Rachel gets herself up quickly and eagerly gets ready for school each day.  Rachel’s teachers often point her out to other students as a good example. A devoted friend to other little girls who live in her close neighborhood, Rachel especially treasures her role as doting big foster sister to baby Leah, and she often spends time following Leah around, showing her off to the neighbors and taking very good care of her, as can be seen in the top photo!

I had the privilege of meeting Rachel in person when I visited Lu’An two years ago. She was so cute and giggly as she sat at her school desk, excited to meet us and clearly wondering what little gifts we might have brought.  Rachel will be a wonderful daughter to any family who opens their hearts to her, and I am very much looking forward to the day when I read that she has found her forever family!

Helen Edmonds is our Lu’an, Anhui Foster Care Assistant.

Love Without Boundaries proudly advocates for adoption but is not an adoption agency. We invite you to contact adoptionassistance@lwbmail.com with questions about a child we have featured and encourage you to contact your local adoption agency for more information about China’s Waiting Child Program.

Our foster care program director, Arlene Howard, is currently in China with some other great LWB volunteers visiting all of our programs in Anhui and Henan. They arrived bright and early in Lu’an ready for a full day’s work. The children were so excited to see them coming, as they know that visitors often mean lots of hugs and new toys! Jenny especially loved her new baby doll, and George obviously loved his new world ball.

Some of the older children were studying with their tutor when our team arrived, and very quickly the whole visit turned into a party atmosphere. The children have always loved to be photographed as they like seeing their digital images on the camera screen, but we had a new surprise today for them with our video camera. They thought video was the greatest thing ever, and soon the girls were singing and dancing for us. The oldest boy in our Lu’an foster care program took great delight in clearing the area so that he could do cartwheels on film!

Arlene got to visit three of the children who were Anhui Cleft Healing Home grads — Chelsea (above), Leah, and Kevin (below). All of them are doing absolutely great in their foster homes. One of the goals of our programs is to work together for the good of the “whole child.”  We love that our medical, healing homes, and foster care teams can coordinate to make sure each child is served in the best way possible.

All too soon it was time for a final hug goodbye before heading to the next town.

Arlene Howard, our Foster Care Program Director, has worked closely with the Lu’An foster care program in Anhui Province, for the past three years. Through all the reports and children, there are a few who have especially touched her heart. Chloe is one of these children. When the foster care manager visits, Chloe is always smiling, and she has become a cherished member of her local neighborhood. Over the years, Chloe has seen many of her friends leave the SWI for adoption. It makes you wonder how much she might hope to be one of those children who leaves with a family of her own.

Eight-year-old Chloe has a wonderful reputation as a sweet, considerate and compassionate little girl who tries to look out for her family members. In particular, she is a wonderful and tolerant big sister to her mischievous little brother, Anthony.

Chloe will often remind her mother to be extra careful on the bus, and she enjoys doing things to make her whole family happy. When Chloe first came to us she had some vision impairment. Sometimes this makes it difficult for her to read the blackboard at school, but it has not stopped her from working hard to learn and to please her parents and teachers. She is also known to be extremely generous, sharing her snacks with others and allowing Anthony to choose his favorite television shows even when she would rather watch something else. A sensitive and gentle girl, Chloe is a loyal friend; she and her friend Rachel are often found together, smiling and giggling — just look at them having fun in the photo below!

When Arlene met these two girls, she found them to be so cute and giggly as they sat at their school desks, excited to meet her and clearly wondering what little gifts the visitors might have brought!

We join Arlene in her hope that someday we will not read about Chloe’s distress when another friends leaves to be adopted. Instead, what a joyful day it will be when we learn that she has been matched through the CCAA shared list, that she has received a package from her family, and that finally she has joined her family for good!

Please feel free to share Chloe’s story and help her to join her friends from Lu’an around the world who have families of their own.  If you need help or have questions that Love Without Boundaries can answer, please email us at adoptionassistance@lwbmail.com…we will be more than happy to help!

Love Without Boundaries proudly advocates for adoption but is not an adoption agency. We invite you to contact adoptionassistance@lwbmail.com with questions about a child we have featured and encourage you to contact your local adoption agency for more information about China’s Waiting Child Program.

John has been waiting for a family of his own for many years.  In 2005, he entered LWB’s Lu’An foster care program in Anhui province. Although John is particularly close to his foster father, he longs to be adopted and become part of a family forever. He has seen at least two foster siblings chosen for adoption, and you can imagine how he must feel that it has not yet happened for him.

John, who is currently 9 years old, likes to make others happy and will do funny things to make people laugh. He likes music but is too shy to sing along. Hopefully with a little confidence, he’ll be making his own music before long!

John is described as smart by his teachers and those that know him.  He has a good memory.

In particular, John loves Chinese holidays. He knows that his foster family eats special foods for the festivals and he loves the chance to play a lot with other children. Fireworks are his favorite, and he looks forward to these every year.

Like many boys his age, John is crazy for Legos and toy cars. When our Lu’An Foster Care coordinator comes from England to pay him a visit, he always comes running to greet her and is excited to see what kind of treat she might have for him!

John is so in need of the love and attention of a family of his own, and we know he has so much love to give. If you would like to learn more about John, please contact us at adoptionassistance@lwbmail.com. We can’t wait to see what lucky family will bring a great big smile to this sweet boy’s face!

Love Without Boundaries proudly advocates for adoption but is not an adoption agency. We invite you to contact adoptionassistance@lwbmail.com with questions about a child we have featured and encourage you to contact your local adoption agency for more information about China’s Waiting Child Program.