I first met Miao in April, 2006 when my Dad and I were given permission to visit  my daughter’s orphanage in China.  The orphanage had been closed to any Westerners visiting and past offers of assistance had been politely refused.  When we visited, we were in the baby room holding and playing with babies in cribs when our guide was pulled over to look at this little toddler.  Her color was very blue, and she was quiet, very quiet.  The next thing I knew, he was looking at medical files (I could tell because he was reviewing an EKG strip) and whipping out a second cell phone.  He was speaking in English, which should caused me to think that something was up, but I was busy making sure my daughter’s visit was a good experience so I didn’t focus much on his call.  On our way to lunch, our guide told me that they “would let us take her”.  What?   Oh, he forgot to mention that he worked with Love Without Boundaries, and the orphanage was certain the little girl would not survive without help, so they were going to allow LWB to arrange heart surgery for her.  He had been on the phone in the orphanage, very late at night with someone from the Medical Team in the US, gaining approval to arrange for her life-saving heart surgery.  Wow!  Well, that was the moment I then became involved with LWB.

Miao went from blue to an adorable pink shortly after the critical surgery.  Unfortunately, during my next visit (this time as an LWB volunteer), we found her to be yellow.  Yes, yellow.  Apparently she had a blocked bile duct so, arrangements were quickly made for another medical procedure.  Miao went from yellow to pink very quickly this time at the hospital.  This was the trip  where we also convinced the orphanage administration to try foster care through LWB – and so that was another great moment.

I missed Miao on my last visit to China this summer.  We were running out to a field trip with 25 students from her orphanage school,  and then working on the sponsor crafts in the late afternoon.  I made plans to meet with her the next day, but then I learned she was ill.  Gravely ill – and it had come on so suddenly that the orphanage wasn’t sure she would survive.  LWB’s medical team whisked her off to the hospital, and then she was sent to Heartbridge to remain until her family could adopt her.  While in the care of LWB, the photos showed she gained weight and, once again, had a much healthier color to her.  Miao really thrived at Heartbridge, and I celebrated when I learned that her family was finally traveling to China to adopt her.

Miao at Heartbridge

I am overjoyed for this beautiful little girl, but also for the many volunteers and staff who found their way to LWB to make it possible to help these children so in need.  You know, I still think about the fact that I insisted on one thing on our trip in 2006 and honestly, only one thing.  It was our guide.  I had learned about him from a fellow adoptive parent who used this man’s services for a film project he was doing.   I wanted someone I could really trust in-province so I asked our tour agency to arrange him as our guide.  Initially they resisted saying they used to use his services but didn’t any longer.  Then they said the dates would not work.  Then he could not meet us at the airport on the day we had planned.  So, we paid extra, changed the dates, and caught a shuttle to the hotel, but we had Zhang Ming on our trip.  I had heard of LWB but had no idea he was with them and that he could do what needed to be done so quickly for the kids.  I feel God had a plan for Miao and used us as his instruments to deliver the plan.  The door was opened through our trip.  If it hadn’t been us, it would have been someone-  but I am blessed to think that He did use us just a bit.  And thanks to everyone who believed in LWB’s work by donating and volunteering, MANY children have been helped in this large orphanage  through medical, education, foster care, healing homes, nutrition, and orphanage assistance.  So much still to be done but it all started with Miao. And that is a definite WOW!

~ Sandy Hartman, LWB Education Volunteer

Well—I broke my own rule on this trip—thankfully in the back seat of a van and after we had already left the orphanage.  Sometimes the need is just so immense.  It is a sobering experience to hold a tiny baby and know she needs immediate medical help, and then have to put her down and walk away.  I visited five orphanages in five days, and our list of children needing medical assistance grew and grew.

Many times I have thought that if any of us ever opened our front door to find a baby lying there – blue and struggling to breathe or severely malnourished, we would move heaven and earth to help her right that moment.  We would take her to the emergency room, call the local newspaper to get the story out, do anything necessary to make sure that baby had a second chance.  None of us would walk away from that one single baby in our path.

But when you are in an ORPHANAGE, surrounded by kids, and you look around realizing that every child needs some sort of assistance……where do you begin?  How do you decide?   I have learned there is no good way – and so you begin with ONE.  One life at a time.  And you pray for the others to stay strong until it is their turn and ask God to forgive you for getting on a jet plane and going back to your full pantry and warm home and so often needless spending on things you honestly don’t even need.   All the while knowing in your heart that children are lying in orphanage cribs right this very moment going hungry and struggling with medical needs.

I think we are all guilty of forgetting what we have.  I rarely think to give thanks for central heat.  Running water?  Glass windows?  How many of us stand in front of 4-5 pairs of shoes each day (or more) deciding which pair to wear, never thinking of how many kids don’t own a single pair.  How many of us eat more than a meager bowl of rice each day and yet forget our blessings?  I would definitely have to raise my hand many times, and I am ashamed that it takes returning to rural China to bring me back to the reality of how many kids are orphaned.  Of how many kids are alone.  Of how many kids are waiting for just one person to fully believe in them.

On this trip, as wide eyed children froze and held their breaths when they saw the crackers in our bag, too scared to even hope that perhaps one would be for them, my mind went to my own kids coming home from school in the afternoon and thinking nothing of making a whole frozen pizza or a hot can of soup for a snack.   I thought of the bowl of fruit on my counter they can always choose from.  And how we can have an entire freezer full of food and yet they can innocently look at me and say, “mom, there’s nothing to eat in this house.”

And then I suddenly came back to the moment and realized that a nanny was placing a tiny baby with frostbite in my hands, and explaining that she was found in the mountains and the tops of her ears could not be saved.  And my heart broke yet again by the immense needs of so many children in this world.

Today I ask you to pause for a moment and ask if you have also become complacent at times about the urgent situations facing so many orphaned children.   It is so easy to put it out of our minds when that baby is not right outside our doorstep, and yet I can assure you that tiny baby is very real and very much in need right this moment for someone to care about her life.

So for the little girl we met with heart disease or the baby boy with a facial tumor or the tiny baby with clubfoot and cleft -  can you make a $5 or $10 gift to help them find healing?   I promise you won’t regret it.  When we count our own blessings and then pay it forward – we really can change the lives of children in need.

Amy Eldridge, Executive Director

We were met at the train station by the new director of one of the local orphanages, Director Wang. She is new to the job and told us we were the first foreign team she had met. The orphanage we visited that day has only done seven adoptions since opening five years ago. We really enjoyed meeting their very kind staff, and we told them we hoped we could help increase the number of children who could find families by working together.

After a delicious lunch with Civil Affairs, we went to see the kids. This orphanage has many, many babies with medical needs. Almost every crib had a child who needed help. They had many children with CP as well and really want to learn how to do PT. We told them we could hopefully send some caregivers to Anhui Children’s Hospital for PT training, and they were SO grateful. As soon as we made the offer, they said, “When can we send someone?” I think they just feel overwhelmed at having children they obviously care for but are unable to help.

Some of the children we met included:

An absolutely beautiful eleven-year-old girl in a wheelchair. She is so smart and sweet. They have had her tested locally but cannot find out why she can’t walk. She does have pain when she puts weight on her legs, but everything else is normal. She really needs a tutor as she wants to go to school so badly, but there is no way for her to attend in a wheelchair.

A gorgeous toddler with cleft who loved our balloon animals and was SO active and laughing in her crib. This orphanage has no cleft bottles, and so feeding babies with cleft has been a true struggle. But they WANT to feed the babies, so one of the head aunties felt so terrible when this little girl couldn’t eat that she created her own NG tube. She cut a piece of rubber tubing that she would put down the baby’s throat at each feeding, and she would literally POUR the formula into the tube slowly for her to get calories. She saved this little girl’s life, albeit in a very drastic way.

A little boy who had an unrepaired spinal tumor, but it was low on his back and not broken open. He could walk in his crib holding on to the rails, so we are hopeful he can be chosen for adoption and receive surgery overseas.

This orphanage had several tiny preemies, and so we called one of our team members in Beijing and asked her to immediately send two cases of PreNan formula and a case of cleft bottles. We were all wishing the formula company had overnight delivery!

They had two babies with bilateral clubfeet – and we explained about Ponseti casting. They were very excited to know they could help the kids without making them go through surgery.

One little boy with more severe CP broke our hearts as we were handing our cheerios and crackers to the kids, and he wanted food so badly. However, due to his CP, he can’t swallow correctly and so the aunty said he could not have solid food. He was heartbroken that he couldn’t have the treat, and he just cried and sobbed the whole time we were there. Another little girl that was doing a low moaning cry was a newly abandoned little girl that they estimated was four years old and most likely deaf.  She was so overwhelmed by it all.

I fell in love with a sweet five-month-old who has a huge facial tumor between his eyes. The ayis told me how worried they are about him as it is growing rapidly. Oh this baby was interactive! If you even looked at him he broke into a huge grin, and several times I would go touch his tummy and he would belly laugh. Please pray with me that the tumor can be removed. He is on our website now for urgent sponsorship here.

We were all touched by a teeny tiny little three-year-old that most likely has a genetic syndrome but we weren’t sure what. She had little skinny fingers but the tops of her hands were swollen and puffy. Her feet were flat and puffy as well, and her hands were very creased. There was just something about her that made you want to pick her up and hold her gently.

We then were shown a premature infant boy who also had cleft lip and club foot. He was born last month and left in the cold mountain air – and when the orphanage admitted him he was severely malnourished. If you pinched the skin on his legs, it stayed pinched in a peak as he was so dehydrated. But his eyes tracked Julie wherever she went, and he appeared to be making eye contact with us. He had a very weak cry but it wasn’t inaudible. THANK GOODNESS Julie and Arlene had a cleft bottle with them, and Julie immediately trained the ayi on how to use it and how to squeeze and count. I called our medical director in Guangzhou immediately, and then our Healing Home manager to see if he could go to our home in Fujian. We are all praying that he can survive the journey and get on the path to healing.

After the orphanage visit, they took us to a beautiful local park which surrounded a lake. One of the things that you notice in this region is how very young all the parents are. Many teens are married by 15-16, and so we saw many teenage boys carrying babies on their back in papooses. We created quite a spectacle in the park, as this town rarely has foreigners. Some brave little school boys started following us, daring each other to call out “hello lady!” One little boy followed us all the way to the parking lot, giggling at his bravery, and when I took his photo he totally struck a pose for me. Future politician for sure!!!

All too soon it was time for us to make our journey to the next city, and we said goodbye with many promises that we would begin to help them medically. I would really appreciate your thoughts and prayers for many of the more vulnerable children we met here.

Amy Eldridge, Executive Director

I look at my daughter today on this very special family anniversary, and I see a vibrant preteen who believes she can accomplish anything she sets her mind to. I still can’t believe I was so blessed to be her mom. I am sure that most people who know she is adopted think she is the one whose life changed the most, traveling all the way from China to the U.S. and slowly becoming an American. What they probably don’t realize is how very much her adoption changed MY life as well… changed it completely in fact, in the most wonderful ways. I am so glad that I get to have that wonderful “insider” knowledge that family isn’t about genetics. A friend reminded me this week of the great line from the move “The Blind Side”: Family isn’t who you are born to; it is who has your back. I am so glad to be part of an adoption community that treasures children and rallies in incredible ways to make sure as many kids as possible find homes. And of course Anna’s adoption made my heart open to the needs of orphaned children all over the world. That first step off a train 11 years ago was really the first step toward the establishment of LWB, although I sure didn’t know it back then!

All of us at LWB are so passionate about adoption, and we wish that every orphaned child in our programs could someday find a permanent home. Recently I have been saddened whenever journalists write that adoptions from China now take four to five years, as I believe it causes so many people to not even consider adopting from there. Yes, we all know that the non-special needs program takes that long, but the media shouldn’t ignore the fact that over half of all adoptions last year from China were of children with medical needs. Right now there are almost 2,000 orphaned Chinese children waiting for a family to choose them on the “shared list.” Most of those adoptions can take place within a year of finding your son or daughter. Please help us spread the news that thousands of incredible children are waiting right now in orphanages throughout China – waiting for someone to realize how very precious and special they are. Waiting for someone to see their photo and say, “YOU are the one I’ve been missing in my life!”

Without a doubt… adoption changes EVERYTHING for an orphaned child. There is no greater gift to a child in an orphanage than a permanent family. But today let’s also remember that it changes the lives of us adults as well. How blessed I have been to have my heart grow again and again to parent another amazing child.The simple words of a song from my childhood certainly sum it up best:

“Love is something if you give it away, you’ll end up having more.”

Isn’t MORE LOVE a beautiful thing?   Happy family day, Anna JoLin ZiHan Eldridge. Thank you for changing my life for the better.

Amy Eldridge
Executive Director, Love Without Boundaries

(LWB has several resources to help families learn more about the waiting child path to adoption. Visit www.adoptspecialneeds.org for our educational site about most pediatric medical needs seen on China’s shared list. Visit www.youtube.com/lwbvideos to watch our video, “Adopting the Waiting Child” and to watch videos on specific special needs as well.

Well, we have wonderful news to share right before Thanksgiving week. Corey’s mom was released from the hospital in Jiangxi yesterday and she was reunited with her baby boy. She would like to send her sincerest thanks to the “strangers across the world” who helped her son and allowed her a second chance to be with him.

Meeting her son again

Looking at the surgery site

Baby Corey, right where he belongs… in his momma’s arms

Corey will need 3 more surgeries in the future, and we will keep you posted on when they will be. THANK YOU for believing in our Unity Fund and for supporting families who have no ability to pay for the life saving surgeries their children need.

His first stage surgery went beautifully, and the doctors said he will not need another operation until two months later.

Our director in Anhui spoke several times by phone with the mom’s cousin and convinced him to come to the hospital today.  We learned what we expected.  The child’s mom is very poor (she worked as a cook at a temporary construction site), and, after delivering her son, she knew she could not afford the medical care for such a sick child.  That is why she panicked and abandoned the baby boy.

The surgeon has said that Corey can be discharged, and the cousin has promised to find someone to care for Corey until his mom recovers from her hospitalization.   The mom is now awake, and she has told us she wants to take good care of Corey and won’t leave him again.

Since we now know who the family is, we will be checking carefully on Corey to make sure things are going well.  Also, we have pledged to the family that we will cover the next surgeries he will need so that he can be a perfectly healthy little boy.  We know they still have many challenges ahead of them, but we are so grateful that you have helped us prevent another child from being orphaned.

We just can’t thank you enough for stepping forward to help this family during a very difficult time.  I know so many hearts have been touched.  Please keep thinking of Corey’s mom as she recovers.  We are very anxious for the mom and her baby to be reunited.

We learned quickly that the police had identified who the birthmother was, and that they had plans to arrest her and put her in prison for infant abandonment. The hospital told us that a distant cousin had been found, and that someone would be coming to get the baby. But no one arrived, and the little boy remained alone.

We then learned that the birthmom was not married, and that the father was a migrant worker who had long since disappeared. When the mom learned she would be arrested, she fled to another province, where she began hemorrhaging after her recent delivery. She is now in critical condition in a hospital in Jiangxi. Her family is refusing to help her for having a baby out of wedlock.

One of our staff members was able to speak with the relative who was found, and he said that he cannot help the baby right now. He is trying to borrow money for the mom’s hospital bills, and so for now, the little boy doesn’t have anyone who wants to care for him.

I think for those of us who have adopted internationally, we tend to imagine our children’s birthparents as married, impoverished, making the difficult decision in love to give a baby up. That is the storybook version. But we all know that real life is often a bit more complex than that, and that babies are born into every situation possible. With this boy, we are hearing that this is a “bad situation” and “too difficult”. But a lot of life is that way. All we know is that right at this moment there is a tiny baby boy who is completely innocent in all of the drama unfolding. There is a baby boy who was born into the world and then left on the sidewalk with critical medical needs. A baby whose life is still priceless, and who is lying in a hospital bed with no one beside him. This child’s life has now come into our hands, and we don’t want to walk away from him as well.

One of my favorite phrases on earth is “compassion over judgment.” And I believe that this little baby needs people to believe in him who don’t care about the circumstances of his birth. He needs people to simply help him, and so we are going to try. We need 20,000 rmb to pay for the first stage of his surgery (approximately $3000 US). We don’t know at this moment if a family member will step forward to care for him or whether he will end up being placed into the local orphanage if his mother goes to prison. But at THIS moment, he just needs someone to help him. And so we are letting our friends know his story with the hope that someone will step forward to help fund his medical care.

We have given him the English name of Corey, which means “God’s peace.” We think he is going to need that in his life right now. We are hoping that baby Corey can first find healing… and then someone to take him in.

Donations can be made for Corey’s medical bills at this link (please specify “Corey” in the notes section). Thank you so much for keeping him in your thoughts!

The medical team from the US was trying their best to hurry out of Fujian before Typhoon Meigi came ashore. They were delighted to find that several caregivers and babies would be traveling with them to the airport. Maureen Brogan wrote the following:

“We quickly took the babies onto our laps and got in our last snuggles on the hour long ride. We considered smuggling them on the plane- they would have fit quite nicely in our carry-ons! I loved the way Harris watched the view out the windows, and how he would look up into my eyes and grin. Louise was cooing and snuggling with Jenn, and it was very hard to hand the babies back to their caregivers when we finally arrived. We carefully wrapped them in the quilts Dr Ness’s mom made for them and watched as they checked into their flights.

We had a bumpy ride to Hong Kong and a short delay for our flights back to the US. Our thoughts and conversation on the plane were of the children we had fallen in love with during the week. We know they can all look forward to a brighter future, thanks to everyone who made this trip possible.”

Harris looking out the window as he gets ready to travel home

Maureen shared with us that three children in particular are weighing on her heart right now:

Louie, a sweet 6 year old boy, who was so cooperative the entire time he was in the hospital. He had not been considered for adoption as it was thought that his lip repair did not look nice enough. Now that his lip has been revised by Dr. Ness, it is hoped that he will be eligible for adoption soon. Maureen gave him a get well card from her daughter, Aiying, and he quietly asked if he could have a toy to bring back to his best friend at the orphanage. His caregiver told us that he was anxious to share his sticker book with his friend, a girl about 9 years old. We were happy to let him choose a beanie baby to give to her too, and he carefully looked for the exact right gift for her and choose a koala bear. We gave him a stack of sticker books to share with the other children, and he packed them up with a small smile and left clutching his get well card and balloon dog. The family who chooses him will be blessed with a very handsome, gentle, sweet son. We hope he gets his chance for a family soon.

Zachary, who had his palate repaired, still has a severe protrusion of his front teeth and gum. Despite this condition, he is a handsome boy. He needs an orthodontist/oral surgeon to start moving his jaw and upper teeth into the proper position. This procedure is not available in Fuzhou and his best hope for a bright future is adoption. He is a curious, busy toddler who treasures his friends. He was up and exploring with his friends just hours after surgery. However, after his friends had their surgeries the next day, he stuck close to them in their beds until they felt better and were ready to join him in his adventures in the hallways. We hope there is a family who can look beyond his upper jaw and see the handsome little boy who treasures friends and is ready for adventures and a family of his own.

Sweet Zachary

Garret was unable to be helped on this trip. He has very little upper lip tissue left after the failure of his first surgery last winter. He needs several procedures which are not available in China, and his best hope is to be adopted so he can receive the medical care he needs for a full and happy life. He is a jolly, sturdy, playful baby. With his ready grin and sparkling eyes, he charmed everyone he met. He kept us laughing all day, every day as he played with the student nurses and then quickly learned to get upright and start to toddle. To watch and record his first steps was a joy for our team, and it broke our hearts that we could not help him this trip. We are all praying that a wonderful family will come forward who will love him completely and help him receive the surgeries he needs.

Everyone who met Garret fell in love with him!

We hope you enjoy some more of the photos below of the children helped during this trip. Thank you a thousand times over for supporting our work, and especially for supporting the children who need a helping hand.

Getting one last snuggle with Louise before she heads back to her orphanage

Hayden – post op

Mary’s caregiver took her outside to enjoy the sunshine before they headed home

Joel’s nanny had him all bundled before they left the hospital

Maureen saying goodbye to Fenn, who is all smiles again

My nanny thinks I am SO handsome!

Ming Yi’s mom was very emotional as they left

Leslie sleeping peacefully in her nanny’s arms

THANK YOU for making a difference in their lives!

Today (Sunday), our team had a very busy day with their Chinese colleagues at the First Affiliated Hospital of Fujian University examining the children before the surgeries begin tomorrow. The nannies did their very best to keep each child happy while they waited for their turn to be seen by the doctors. Our team also gave several lectures today at the hospital. Dr. Ness spoke on bilateral cleft lip surgery, and Maureen Brogan gave a lecture on post op care. She told me today that the team is already having a wonderful time making new friends with the hospital staff. That is one of the wonderful extras that comes from these trips.
After the lectures, it was time to make sure the doctors had everything in place for the surgeries tomorrow. Suture and scalpels were organized, and Dr. Ness and Dr. Martin familiarized themselves with the OR. Meanwhile, our wonderful staff in China were kept busy with logistics and translating, and our medical director Richard Zhang was interviewed by several television crews about this joint US-China medical project.
Now on to the kids!

Some of you might recognize Fenn, from our Anhui cleft home. He was charming everyone today with his little grins. He loved the beanie babies that people donated and immediately made friends with our team. Dr. Ness feels his palate repair should go very well.
It was quickly discovered that Little Payton is one stubborn girl. When Dr. Ness tried to look at her palate, she tightened every single muscle in her jaw and quite simply refused to cooperate. It was only when he was leaving the room that she went up to him and opened her mouth so he could look!
We are so sad to report that Garret will not be having surgery on this trip. His prelabial tissue is gone and his maxilla is too far forward at the moment, so there is nothing to make an upper lip for him. He will need to have a special plastic device to apply pressure on the tissue upwards toward the nose before being able to have surgery. The doctors had a long discussion about his case. We are going to make sure his adoption paperwork is filed as quickly as possible, so hopefully he could be in a permanent home when he is ready for the repair.  Giving a caregiver the news that the child she has brought cannot receive surgery is always so difficult.  Everyone comes to these trips full of hope and excitement that their child will receive a better life through surgery, and when you have to break the news that the child doesn’t qualify….it is always very sad.

Blaise is also an unknown for surgery at this time. He has a very high white blood count and is very frail at the moment. His caregivers said he is very difficult to feed. We are going to continue one on one care over the next few days and make a decision later this week on whether he can have his operation.
We hope you’ll enjoy the following photos of some of the kids who have already arrived for surgery. Thank you all for thinking of the children and the medical team this week. We know so many lives will be changed!

Chloe – palate repair

Jesse – lip repair

Daisy – lip repair

Wade – lip repair

Whitney – lip repair

Harris – lip repair

Louise – lip repair

Dr. Martin examining little Jan – who doesn’t seem too pleased.

Thanks again for your thoughts and prayers for everyone involved with this important medical exchange. Children are still arriving, and we’ll have more news soon!