The final 23 hours

Love without boundaries is now in the final 23 hours of the face book challenge. The main competition, Tibetan Freedom Movement is sponsoring keggers (that is free beer in very large amounts) to get University students to donate to the face book challenge. Please do not take this wrong, I'm not making a political statement here but what kind of cause is Freedom of Tibet verses heart surgery for 10 babies. Tibetan Freedom Movement spends their money on beer...and they are not going to get China to free Tibet! We are trying to do something real...
I am not going to offer you anything to get you to give $10 to the LWB cause. I hope you will give because every child counts. Your $10 could be used to save 10 lives...now that's real! We need your donation.

To give just sign up for face book. Then donate here to LWB. Even your $10 donation will make you an individual donor. The organization with the largest number of individual donors will receive a prize of $50,000. Let Richard Gere give The Tibeten Freedom Movement $50,000. We need the money for child waiting for heart surgery.

Sarah dressed as an Indian today in kindergarten. They get to celebrate two days of caravel. Tomorrow she will probably go as a princess, but you never know? When I was a kid I dressed as a cactus at my grade schools "western days". I lived in Phoenix, Arizona. Everyone else was a cowboy or Indian. I got really teased for being different, but then I won the school prize for most creative costume. All the girls in Sarah's class were dressed as a princess. Thank God her teacher was also dressed as an Indian.

the time is running out

There are only a few short hours until the end of the face book challenge. I feel really helpless to watch this unfold. There are 4 organizations that are very close to each other in the total number of donors. The top 3 organizations will receive prizes. The top organization will get $50,000. Of course I will be overjoyed if LWB wins the top prize. I am sure you’re all sick of my begging for your donation. I would give more money if I felt it would help...but my donation can only be counted once. So I am helpless waiting for others to respond. I often feel this way when I see all the waiting children. I can not adopt them all. This is a work that requires many hands...

Give to LWB Now!

It's the last day to give to LWB in the facebook challenge. LWB is losing and they need more individual donors. Please we need you now!

The cold in China

I snagged this photo from Mary's blog. Her husband Doug is in China picking up their new son Sam. Thank God he was able to get to Guangzhou. Many travelers are stuck. It's a special problem because next week is Chinese New Years. The Chinese people travel by the millions. The photo is from Nanjing, Sarah's home town.

only 3 more days to give to LWB on the facebook challenge

LWB is once again on the top of the donor list in the Facebook challenge. If they remain on top until Friday, they will be given an extra prize of $50,000. The bad news is there are a few other organizations that are very close to LWB in total number of individual donors. We can not let down our guard. The difference between first and second place is $25,000. They will only count individual givers. My donation has already been counted...how about yours? Have you given yet? Please give now! It is a really good cause. Your gift could help save lives! Do not just think about it...do it! 10 children will receive heart surgery if LWB wins the facebook challenge. Your $10 gift could make all the difference! Please be part of something really wonderful. Thank you so much for taking the time to make a difference!

The photo is my son Philip who received life saving heart surgery when he was an orphan...so many others need a chance at life!

Don't you just want to bring them all home?

Here is another little waiting boy with the cutest eyes. They call him Forest. He has VSD - a hole in his heart. This is correctable and super easy to manage. What a lucky family he will have.

Yours

She hides food

There is a small plastic box with raisins hidden in the cupboard, another box with cherry tomato's hidden under the kitchen sink, and her Christmas candy hidden in a box under my desk. Sarah hides food. This is something Philip and Thomas never did. I guess they always got enough to eat. Over the past year Sarah has gained 6 lbs and grown over 4 inches taller, her foot is 5 sizes larger then it was last April. I don't really mind that she hides food (not now when it's cold). In the summer we will have a problem with bugs. She was in the "best orphanage " in China. It sometimes amazes me to think of her hungry, but she was hungry.

Waiting for my Mommy & Daddy to find me

This is Cameron who is waiting on CHI's list. He is a beautiful boy with a correctable special need (his ear needs plastic surgery). His file reads "Cameron can stand without help now. He is very gentle, active, quick responsive and love to imitate. He likes bricks and little toy cars and enjoys playing simple games with other children. He can hold the bottle and feed himself He likes to be taken outdoors best." He turned 1 year old in November. What a beautiful boy! He has lovely eyes! for more information contact CHI at
stefani @ infowest.com (remove the spaces)

Some mixed thoughts

I don't think anyone could begin to imagine the mixed thoughts that run though my mind in any given day. These days the thoughts are even more varied and confused. My mother in law is dying. Perhaps this one thing makes everything else seem so important. Like I've got to somehow figure out what's left of my short life...I've got to set goals and get a plan. Thomas has been going through a pretty difficult period in school. The homework has been overwhelming for him. He hasn't gotten it all done. He felt so defeated. I felt so afraid. Today he began a 3 time per week after school tutoring program. They will help him with his homework. They will explain the difficult German grammar (something I could never do). Again we both have hope. It's hard to see someone you love feel so defeated. There are other things also weighing on my mind. Sarah is simple. She loves to ride her bike to school. She loves school. She loves her family. She loves me. That is all there is to it. No big questions...no plans...no thought about the next 10 years. For Sarah life is simple and good. I'm so glad I have her. She brings me back to the moment...everything else is so complex!

Sam is doing great!

Mary & Doug's new son Sam is doing very good. Today was "gotcha" day in Nanjing. I'm so happy for them! Praise God a son!
LWB is again number one in the facebook challenge! I knew the adoption community was going to come through for them. Thank you so much if you have made a donation! If they win the $50,000 grand prize, 10 children will receive life saving heart surgery! This is so great!!!I know they will win...we will all be part of this very sweet miracle!
I found out that the very lovely 10 year old a few posts back is in foster care. She is very healthy, smart, loves music, is very good with younger kids, helpful and neat. In fact her whole profile was very positive. She sounds like the perfect daughter. She lives in Beijing. Whoever adopted her would need to spend a whole week in Beijing (poor family...The Great Wall, The Summer Palace, and The Forbidden city...poor family)! I think the biggest problem the family is going to have with her is beating the boys away! She is so beautiful!!!

9.7 million children/ 26,000 per day

In 2006, nearly 9.7 million children died worldwide before their fifth birthdays, mostly from preventable causes such as diarrhea, malaria or malnutrition, the U.N. Children's Fund said in its annual report.

More than 26,000 children under 5 die each day on average.

TA! TA! TA!

Go over and tell Kristy in Oregon congratulations. They got their TA (travel approval). They are going to get their beautiful sweet girl Ellie. It has been a long journey and I'm so glad the wait is finally almost over.

LWB Face Book Challenge- get off the fence today!

Today is the day we should all give to the LWB Face book challenge. LWB is behind in the number of individual donors. We need many people to step off that fence and give. Even a simple donation of $10 could help LWB secure an additional prize of $50,000. If you watched the documentary THE DYING ROOM you know how awful many Chinese state run Social Welfare Institutions once were. One of the chief catalyst in the transformation of these SWI's is LWB. They provide education, medical care and nutrition for Chinese orphans. They sponsor training for the staff of SWI's. They encourage SWI directors to file the paper work for special needs children placing them for adoption (in the past the directors of orphanages thought no one would want sn kids). LWB has made a world of difference in the lives of thousands . Please sign up for a facebook account, and donate even $10 to LWB. Thank You!

A Helping Hands New Waiting List

A Helping Hand Adoption has a new waiting list. Click on Special Delivery. Many of the kids are already spoken for but they have several other kids still waiting. One of the kids on the list (Ming)is this beautiful healthy 10 year old girl. She has no special needs except her age. I think she is stunning. Kids are no longer able to be adopted after the age of 13. I hope she doesn't need to wait much longer.

A blog to watch this week

Doug, the husband of Mary (a good blogger friend) is on his way to China today. He will be picking up their new son Samuel this week. Mary took really wonderful photos of Sarah a year ago (well about 14 months ago) when they picked up their daughter Lydia in Nanjing. Now Doug is going back to Nanjing...busy, busy, busy! Mary actually just gave birth to a baby girl. They have gone from a family of 3 to a family of 6 in less then 15 months. God bless them all! I hope Doug will send pictures! I bet Mary is heart broken she isn't traveling to Nanjing!

99¢ Mousepads

Four days only! Offer ends January 24th, 2008. You need to use this Coupon Code: WFMPHG3 at Winkflash. There is a limit of 5 mouse pads, but what a nice gift to give to grandparents and school teachers, godparents and friends.

Martian Luther Kings birthday

I just watched a CNN special report about Martian Luther King Jr. It had me in tears as I watched the courage of the people, both black and white living and some dying for what most of us take for granted "basic human rights". The right to get an education, to vote, to get paid a fair wage for our work, and less tangible things like a right for human dignity. I guess one of the things that drives me in my passion to help orphans is this need to secure their basic rights. A right to have food, health care, education, and love. When you adopt a child, you are giving what every child should be born with. This is no small matter.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Happy birthday to my baby brother!

My brother Rick has a birthday next week. I don't think he will actually see this post until Tuesday (his birthday). I saw this card and thought it was pretty cool. Maybe some of you could add your birthday wishes to my brother. He is having to go through some really difficult family trials. Please take a minute to bless him, and pray a prayer of blessing over his life! Thanks!

The Future of International Adoption

This is an article on Rainbow kids called The Future of International Adoption. It seems bad news for families seeking to adopt healthy new born babies. From my observation the future is moving towards Special needs children getting adopted. We saw this same pattern in Korea. At first, thousands of "healthy" Korean babies where available, then more single moms decided to keep their children, and the Korean people also began to adopt the other children. Now basically only SN kids are available from Korea. I suppose you could see this as a bad thing if you had your heart set on adopting a healthy Korean baby. Over all I see it as good. Adoption is not the very best thing for a child. When a child is adopted Internationally, they lose their birth family as well as their birth culture. Sure they gain a great deal too...but they lose these very important things. When a child can be adopted with in their birth nation, they can keep their language and culture (a shared culture). We love China, and Thailand at our house, but that is not the same thing as really giving our children a pure cultural identity. In fact it gets very complicated at our house because I'm American, and Juergen is German. Our kids end up a little of everything. We will see how confused they become when their identity matters more as teenagers? Anyway, you all know I'm a big advocate for SN kids. I personally think it's good if adoption moves in this direction. I'm very sorry that it's harder for single people to adopt. Although I do think it's better for a child to grow up with a Mom and Dad, I know many singles that do an amazing job as single parents. I think it's far more important for a child to have a parent then none! Single people who adopt must go through the same process as married couples adopting. I see the SN kids waiting much longer for families because they know longer allow singles to adopt in China. I hope this changes.

Adopted: The new American Family

This clip is from a movie called "Adopted: The New American Family". I like the last quote of this clip. Adoption should always be about finding families for children, not children for families. This puts the emphasis on the children, and what is important to them. It isn't about us, it's about them.

Single parents are still allowed to adopt from China/ Hong Kong

Hong Kong allows single parents to apply to adopt. If you are a single person who has a desire to adopt a Chinese child, perhaps your child is in Hong Kong? Hong Kong only has SN kids available. Check this site out for more information.

Bethany Christian services has a Hong Kong program
Hawaii International just got approved to do Hong Kong adoption

and also Family Connections Christian Adoptions

There may be other agencys too.

A very special family is needed for this beautiful girl

I just read this note on a yahoo group. It's about a very special girl who needs a family. The agency is trying to raise a grant for this girls adoption (her whole adoption). They want the family to be able to spend their money preparing their home for her. You see, she is in a wheel chair. She is paralyzed from the waste down. She is very smart, but has a poor chance to receive a good education in China. I think I would adopt her myself, but Germany is not very wheel chair friendly. We live in a house with 4 floors (a whole lot of stairs). She has been personally seen by the director of the adoption agency. They say "She is AMAZING!!! Winter is SO smart and VERY talented". At this time, she is unable to bathe herself, BUT she can dress herself, take herself to the bathroom. The US has such great resources for kids like Winter. Please pray she finds her family soon, and if you are perhaps her family contact Kathy at Small world Adoption.

KATHRYN L. STORRO
WA Director and China Specialist
Small World Adoptions
509-892-6789

www.swa.net

The Dying room

This is an old look at Chinese orphanages. It was a documentary that shook the west up to the need for adoption in China. I hope many of the SWI's have improved greatly since this was filmed. Still, most of the orphanages in China are not open to International adoption. When we adopt from China, the orphanage gets a standard fee of $3000. This may not sound like much, but it does help improve the conditions for the kids that remain in the orphanage. If a SWI does not have this money, who knows how poor the conditions really are. This is why organizations like half the sky, LWB are so important.

THE Dying Room

My favorite color is green

Still waiting

This is Monroe Grace who is almost 10 years old. She has been on CHI's waiting list for almost 6 months and she still has not found her family. She is a little cross eyed and was developmentally behind when she was much younger. To be honest with you most orphans are. How could a child thrive in a social intuition? Her profile says she has caught up in every area except math. She has some trouble with math. Of course the Chinese are miles ahead in math, and she is probably pretty good at math compared to American kids her same age. I can see by her photo she is going to need some dental work. Still she has such a bright smile, and a very cute nose in my personal opinion. Her file says she is social and lovely. Please pray she finds her family soon. I would hate to see her file returned...surely someone wants a sweet and lovely girl. A family to let her grow her hair out, a family to treat her like a princess. CHI's office will be closed on Monday but for more information contact CHI at
stefani @ infowest.com (remove the spaces)

Acacia Village

I just saw this video at CWA. They are building an orphanage in Ethiopia. We support AAI's Ethiopian Orphanage, but there is need for 100's of new homes to help meet the need. This is a very good video. I think Ethiopians are so beautiful (I know, I've said that before)!

CWA New list

Christian World Adoption has a new waiting list of SN Chinese kids. This little girl had a ankle problem that was corrected by surgery. As far as I can tell she is smart, and healthy and ready for a family. She is only 16 months old...that is young! Even in the "normal" Chinese adoption program for the people waiting for "healthy" babies, the kids are usually about a year at referral.

Chinese New Years is on Sarah's birthday

Sarah's 5Th birthday is February 7Th, this is also the first day of the Chinese New Year. HERE is a site that has some fun Chinese New Years stuff for kids.

Breakfast out

Juergen and I ate breakfast out with some good friends. Sarah was a little sick, so we had to take her with us. I'm sure it would have been nicer with out my overly demanding girl, but still it was great company! I hope we can do this more often. So far breakfast out is the only date Juergen and I can manage to keep. I probably keep saying it but we really need to get Sarah use to a babysitter. I guess that should be one of my many New Years Resolutions...time away with Juergen! The flowers are already pushing up from the earth. I hope we get an early spring. That would do wonders for my disposition! I'm not a big fan of winter (Oh, you say)! I guess if you had a house full of kids you would love the warmer weather too! We don't even get much snow here...just dark cold days. Swimming starts up again next week. At least that is something great to look forward to.

blanket party

On Feb 1 there will be a blanket party at owlhaven. You will be able to go to their blog and donate money on Pay pal to help buy blankets for poor moms in Ethiopia. Here is what she wrote about the need,

"The volunteer said that when women come to the hospital to give birth, they often come with nothing — absolutely nothing — for their babies. The staff at the hospital would love to be able to give those mothers one baby blanket each, so they could wrap their babies up before they take them home.

Can you imagine being so desperately poor that you could not afford a scrap of cloth in which to wrap your baby?"

I will be sure to remind you to go to the blanket party on Feb. 1 and tell your blog friends to join you. My daughter Nicole and I watched a video that's put out by AAI about their children's home in Ethiopia. There are over 4.5 million orphans in this country, mostly due to AIDS. The poverty is some of the worst in the world. This is perhaps the oldest country in the world. The people are joyful and beautiful despite the terrible poverty and hardships they face. Ethiopia allows large families and singles to adopt. For some of you who can know longer adopt from China due to the new rules, Ethiopia maybe a good choice. AAI is a great agency. We used them to adopt Philip and Thomas. I have only good things to say about their wonderful caring staff. They love the children they are finding families for.

What beautiful waiting kids

Adoption House has a new list of waiting kids. What beautiful kids you have to take a look!!! I would take joy! Her SN is easy to repair. Her first birthday is this week!

Give to LWB on Tuesday

LWB is going to try to win the face book challenge again on Tuesday (that is the daily $1,000 give away). The money will go to life saving heart surgery for an orphan in China. Please consider giving to the cause on Tuesday! Thank you!

Adopt a hearing impaired child

I saw this on another blog. I want to remind you to pray for the two girls at CHI who are hearing impaired, still waiting for their families to find them. Contact Stefani at CHI stefani @ infowest.com (remove the spaces) if you are interested in one of the waiting girls.

The Lord is king forever and ever!
The godless nations will vanish from the land.
Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless.
Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them.
You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed,
so mere people can no longer terrify them.


Psalm 10:16-18

ASIA has a new list

The adoption agency ASIA has a new list of 25 kids. 12 are under the age of 1 year. If you are looking to adopt a waiting child with a minor or corrected special need you may want to check here. You will need to contact them for a password. That will require answering a few questions. I hear they are a good agency to work with.

Insider information

I'm on the yahoo group of Madison Adoption and I read they may get their new waiting child list next week. If you are looking for a waiting child from China, you may want to sign up to join their yahoo group. Then you have a chance to view the list when it comes out next week or soon after.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MAAWC/

Waiting girl

I was looking at waiting kids on Rainbow kids site. I saw this cute little 2 years old girl. Her SN is Albinism. I followed the blog of one family (sorry I lost the link) who adopted a girl from China with this SN. I learned a few things. Most kids with Albinism are highly intelligent. They have often poor eye sight. They need to be careful about the sun. I guess apart from that they are pretty healthy wonderful kids. She looks like a real cute kid! The description of her reads... "This gentle little girl was born on 01/22/2006. She is an active child and likes to play with dolls. She walks around on her own and babbles often. She has albinism. Her development is appropriate for her age." She is with Children's Home Society (One of the oldest most respected adoption agencies in America).

.

China reinforces one-child policy

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/01/07/china.one.child.ap/index.html#cnnSTCText?iref=werecommend

China blogger beaten to death

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/01/11/china.blogger/index.html

I did it for my daughter

This morning Juergen brought Sarah to kindergarten. He was in a hurry so he didn't let her ride her bike. I knew she would like her bike to ride home on. I dragged her little bike the 5 blocks to the kindergarten for her. I'm 46 years old, and sometimes my back lets me know it! I thought to myself, "what will people think when they see this middle aged women walking down the street dragging a little bike". Then I thought, "Oh, they will think isn't that sweet what she does for that orphan she took in". Then I thought to myself, "I didn't do it for an orphan, I did it for my daughter". I wish I did show this kind of selfless daily giving for the "orphans" of this world. The truth is I don't. Sure I care about orphans in general, but I don't kill my back for them! I did it for my daughter...and every child deserves a parent who would do stuff for them too. Every child deserves to be someones child. This is why I am so passionate about adoption. An orphanage provides food, cloths and an education. A family provides bike service!

Super support group

I'm having fun on my new yahoo diet and exercise support group. We have a small but very enthusiastic group of people who I believe are highly motivated to help each other become healthier in 2008. If you want to join with us then just apply to my catching butterflies diet group. You don't need to tell anyone how much you weigh, just that you have come to try to get healthy! This is a closed and private group. Only members can post on this group, or read the archives.

Video of a waiting girl

Here is a video of a little darling waiting on IAAP's list. Isn't she a doll!

Up date: She just got a family. Any suprize?

My first award

Thank you Kim at the 7Th diamond for nominating me for a "blogging with purpose" award. I'm honored. She's a blogger with a real heart! I'm suppose to nominate 5 other bloggers...I'll have to give that some thought. For now, let me bask in this moment. I would like to thank all those little people (my kids) who made this moment possible! With out them I would have so much more time and money...but I would in fact lack purpose. Now I not only have purpose, I have a purpose I'm truly passionate about. Thank you, thank you, thank you! XXXOOO, please no more applause, I'm getting embarrassed! OK, a little more applause, it's good for my ego!

New address for my Yahoo group

I created my first catching butterflies diet group on the German yahoo site. That was a mistake because it reads in German and most of you don't read German. I recreated the group on yahoo.com. It is a private group. If you would like to join our diet buddy group then go to the new site...
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/catchingbutterfliesdiet/

We are going to have allot of fun getting healthy together!

LWB won the day!

It was a cliffhanger! With less then 10 minutes until the end of today's challenge LWB was only 2 donors ahead of another organization. I donated again, and I'm sure other people did too. My donation doesn't count in the big $50,000 prize, but it does count towards the daily challenge & $1,000 prize. Today's money goes to the little boy Yang who is waiting for heart surgery. Philip had heart surgery in Thailand when he was an orphan. Some day Yang will not be an orphan, someday God willing he will be the healthy son of a wonderful family. I wish that family could know many people donated money for their sons surgery...many people cared! LWB needs to keep receiving donations over the next few weeks. The face book challenge runs until Feb 1st. LWB's is in the lead for the $50,000 grand prize...but that lead could change very fast. Please, for kids like Yang, and our son Philip...give. Even your $10 gift could mean so much. I'm so grateful Philip is healthy. I'm so glad he lived to drive me crazy. The world would be a sadder place without our mini Jackie Chan!

From LWB

"Let's win the $1000 prize today so baby Yang (pictured) can have heart surgery. Every penny raised before 12 noon PST January 9th will go to giving this BEAUTIFUL little boy the surgery he needs. Tell all your friends that today is the day to donate again! $10 each can save him."

Donate $10 to LWB today on the face book challenge! If you already gave...well it's not going to hurt to give again! Look at that sweet boy. Who knows? Maybe he is your son and you just don't know it yet!

My own yahoo group

Hi, I just started my own Catching Butterflies Diet Yahoo group. If it's your goal to exercise and or diet in 2008 and you want to get some support come join my group. It's a private group. I'm not going to ask you how fat you are. I just want a group of diet buddies whose aim it is to help each other win better health...
PS. I'm a Christian. You don't need to be a Christian to join my group but you better not be offended by the mention of God or prayer. This is mostly about health, but I can use all the prayer I can get!

The girl got a family today!

Good news, the little 4 year old at IAAP got her family today! Now pray for this boy. His SN was club feet. He had surgery to correct this.He may need some physical therapy to help him gain some strength...or sports. He is healthy...maybe a little cross eyed (only a little). They say he is smart. The boys always wait longer.

Only 4 days until their files are returned to China

IAAP is the agency we used to adopt Sarah. They have a waiting 4 year old girl and a waiting 5 year old boy (both with corrected special needs). They are both healthy and intelligent. They need families now! China only allows an agency to hold a child's file for 3 months. Generally the agency must return the files after this time. Most agency's can ask to hold the files over for an additional 3 months, but after that they must be returned. A child's file generally gets sent to another agency, but eventually they are labeled un adoptable. At that point, they will never have a family. They will send the rest of their childhood in the institution. They will suffer with the feeling nobody wanted them. I've seen the look of optimism in the eyes of young orphans, and the look of empty hopelessness in the eyes of the older kids. Thomas was adopted at the age of 7 years. It's taken years to convince him he wasn't worthless because he waited so long. Please pray for these two kids to find their families now! Every child should know the joy of having a family, and a place where they belong!

Sarah went back to kindergarten today. She played hard and passed out on the sofa. I was sitting in the living room with Nicole just watching my beautiful sleeping girl. I told Nicole (now 14 years old) I remember what it was like as a child to wake up after an afternoon nap, not even remembering that I had fallen asleep. You know just passing out, then waking up. I asked her if she remembered that feeling. Nicole said, "yes, I still experience that feeling"! I had to laugh!

This note is from the director of LWB

Now that our main website is down, the Facebook donations are the only ones we can receive. So every dollar this next week is truly essential since we can't raise funds for any critical babies on our site. THANK YOU to everyone for spreading the news of the babies in need!
-Amy Eldridge



If you have not given to the LWB Face book Challenge please do. It is terrible that someone hacked into their system. Awful! Still what was meant for bad could be used for good. If all of use would just donate $10 to the face book challenge, LWB would easily win an extra $50,000 towards their cause. Donate by joining face book HERE.

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/view_cause/51591

This letter was sent to me from LWB

January 6, 2007

LWB Website To Shut Down

I am so sorry to report that someone has broken into our website and planted a malicious code that over the last few days has been destroying our ability to access the site. We have been unable to update the kids who need help or change any of the items. Sadly, the web hosting company whose server our site is on cannot do anything to stop it as the viral code the hacker used was encrypted. Our only choice is to take the entire site down and rebuild it. I honestly have no idea how long this will take as the wonderful guy who first built our site had added so many great features where we could list the children who needed help and then update it daily on how much funding was still needed. We are unable to retrieve that database function.

Please know that none of the credit card information sent for donations went through this site. It all goes through the secure Authorize.net, so no one needs to worry about that if they recently donated. It has just destroyed our own personal website and our ability to add any more children who need support. Also, if you have previously signed up to receive email newsletters from the website, you do not need to re-sign up.

All of us at LWB are just so SAD that anyone would have done this, as it ultimately hurts our ability to help the kids, and they are the only ones who matter.

Thank you for your understanding as our website goes down, most likely later today. Don't forget to come back when we get something back up!

Waiting boy...he just takes my breath away!

Here is a slide show of a waiting boy named Jian who is 8 years old. He takes my breath away! What a handsome young man! He has an abnormal finger. I think that is his only special need. I have not seen his file but you can ask more about him HERE.

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

New Years Resolutions Poll

I took a short Poll on New Years resolutions. People where allowed to vote on more then one resolution. 60% of you want to lose weight and get organized. I'm with you! I am headed back to weight watchers next Wednesday. I have a diet buddy, and we are both going to try to stick with the program. It is the only thing that works for me...as long as I stick with it. The organization thing would be high on Juergens list. lucky for him I feel like throwing things away. 53% of you said you want to exercise, and another 33% of you said you want to adopt. I would love to adopt again too...but I've been out voted (for now)! What are your 2008 resolutions? I'm sure many of you have goals not mentioned on my short list. I really want to understand the subject of healing. That is why I started a new blog, and I'm going to be reading about this topic.

Adopting a hearing impaired child

I think this waiting 2 year old girl on CHI's waiting list (2 posts back)is really sweet. They also have an older girl still waiting with a hearing impairment. I asked Sandra at the blog Jazzie and Tahlia if she couldn't write some advice to anyone who may be interested in adopting a hearing impaired child. Her adopted daughter is hearing impaired and doing super! Here is that post.

The catolog

I remember when I was a child the joy I had just looking at the pages of the Sears catalog. I would spend hours dreaming of all the nice stuff I could wish for for Christmas and birthdays. I think the time dreaming was more fun then the actual gifts. Yesterday I brought home the new Lego and Playmobil catalogs for the kids to look at. The magic works on them too. It's 9 months until Thomas' next birthday, 10 months until Philips. They are making a list!

Waiting child

There is a really cute 2 year old girl waiting in China. She had a family but they decided not to go forward with her adoption. Her special need is a hearing loss in both ears and she is slightly cross eyed. These are old photos, they are trying to get a new update. Contact Stefani at CHI stefani @ infowest.com (remove the spaces) if you are interested. Look, there are even butterflies in her picture! She's a winner!

The voters speak

I took a vote among my kids this morning. I asked them if they would want a new brother or sister? They all said no. I guess adopting Sarah was so hard, none of them are ready to start the process again. I'm sure Juergen would vote with the kids. I guess it will not be happening for awhile...or perhaps we just have not met the right kid. You see, Juergen said no over and over again. Then he saw Sarah and some how he could not say no to her. I'm so glad he voted yes. It was not a yes to adoption in general, it was a yes to Sarah specifically. God knows my heart will always vote yes. As hard as it is I believe there is always room for one more. How could I say no? We have so much, and they have nothing. I hope you will say yes to at least one child. They are worth everything...everything!


At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done. We will be judged by 'I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was naked and you clothed me, I was homeless and you took me in.' Hungry not only for bread - but hungry for love. Naked not only for clothing - but naked for human dignity and respect. Homeless not only for want of a room of bricks - but homeless because of rejection.
Mother Teresa

My new blog

I just started a new blog. It's called God Heals. I decided to look into this question of Healing. Some of you know my oldest daughter Jessica has autism. Juergens mom is dying of brain tumors. I believe God heals, but I just don't understand how...and what if any role I should play in this process. I just started the blog. I'm sure I'll post often, maybe daily to it. It is a topic I'm very personally interested in. I invite you to read it if your interested. I have many more questions then answers...but if you look for answers, you often find them!

Two lives emerged from the ashes, a LA times story.

LWB needs3 more donors

Hi, LWB needs 3 more donors to win an extra $1000 in the face book challenge. If you have not given yet, now would be a good time to do that. Your $10 donation could mean an extra $1000 towards the cause. Donate HERE.

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/giving

A bad dream

Last night I had the most intense dream. I woke up shaken. I am shaken still. I was walking with Juergen and Sarah towards a very busy street. He was caught up talking about future plans. We get to the road and Sarah goes in one direction, and Juergen pulls me in another direction. He drags me on a bus that is going away from Sarah. I start screaming because we are leaving her. In fact the words "stop...we are leaving her" still sound in my ears. It makes me wonder if we are suppose to adopt again. Is Juergen trying to drag me in one direction, while we leave our daughter behind? We would never leave Sarah behind...but maybe there is another girl?

the trap

I got a comment from someone on youtube who watched my video of Philip. They basically implied we should not have adopted Philip because , how could he ever understand his culture. Of course I looked at this persons youtube profile, and he had porn videos of Thai women. I guess he really understand Thai culture!
Speaking of porn, there is allot of it on tv and Internet. We caught Philip watching some porn on TV. I thought we had blocked it, but I guess not totally. It's everywhere. The kids bring it to school on their cell phones(I mean other kids, not mine). I just read that the wii can also be used to access the Internet and all the pornography that is there. If you have a wii, and wireless Internet, then you had better make sure you have the Internet blocked on your wii. Juergen and I need to begin a dialog with our sons about sex and porn.It sort of shocks me because they are 9 and 10 years old...babies. We feel it's a trap but we can not prevent them from being exposed to it. It is everywhere. They need to learn some self regulation. There is a very good site I found called porn talk. You may want to read about how to talk to your kids.

The good and bad news

It looked like LWB would win today's face book challenge easy! Well, they lost it by 2 donors. If 3 people more had donated just $10 each LWB would have another $1000 in their account. Everyone can only donate one time or I would have donated again. Anyway, that is the bad news. The good news is LWB is in the lead to win the grand prize of $50,000. Still, there are 30 days remaining and this could easily change. We need more people donating money. So far only 293 people have donated money to LWB. There are thousands of people out there who care about meeting the medical, educational and nutritional needs of orphans in China. We only needed 3 more donors today to win an extra $1000. Oh well, that is water under the bridge. Please help LWB win the $50,000. Please send your donation to the LWB face book challenge.LWB's big saying is "every child counts". I'm telling you every donor counts. Every donor helps them secure the grand prize, a prize that could make a very big difference for the kids!

http://apps.facebook.com/causes/giving

Waiting child

There is a very sweet looking boy on Families Thru International Adoption waiting list. He has a blood platelet disorder called thrombasthenia. I did some reading on the disorder. It is caused from a protein problem in the blood that makes it hard for the blood to clot normally. He probably has problems controlling nose bleeds, etc. It's similar to hemophilia. The agency has waived their fees and also have a $3000 grant towards his adoption. His profile reads,"He is a cute and active child who likes to ride a bike, draw and sing. Fu Qi likes to play hide-and-seek with the other children. A talkative child, he is independent, well-liked and is a quick learner! Fu Qi is happy and likes to read stories to the other children!" He sounds like a real treasure! I think with a blood disorder you need to be careful with him, and know what to do if he does start to bleed but he could live a "normal" life.

The first cup of coffee was from a Nanjing Starbucks cup. I sat across the breakfast table from Sarah, Nicole, Thomas, and Philip. Jessica had already put herself back to bed. Nicole remembered that 7 years ago today our friend Mattias picked us up in his big Mercedes van and drove us to the Frankfurt airport. We were on our way to Thailand for the very first time. On our way to pick up Philip. On our way to adopt for the first time. We had no idea how that experience would impact our lives. We not only adopted Philip, we also met Thomas there. I remember the line from the Dr Seuss Christmas classic The Grinch...and the Grinch's heart grew 3 sizes that day. I think seeing all those waiting children up close and personal causes your heart to grow. You can not help but want to do everything you can to help make their lives better. My heart grew and I could never fit comfortably into my old ways. We changed Philip's whole life...and he has changed ours.