November - National Adoption Month

In celebration of National Adoption month, we would love to hear your stories about what adoption has meant to you and your family. Even if you are someone who has just considered it or knows someone who has adopted, we would love to know your thoughts.

How have you been touched by adoption and how has it changed your life? What were your preconceived ideas about adoption and have they changed? What surprised you the most about adoption?

Orphan Tourism

I was forwarded a very interesting article last week about “orphan vacations.” You can read the article here:

In the first section, the author discusses that this type of trip could encourage orphanages to purposely keep the children in bad conditions to encourage donations. I have had firsthand experience with this in one private orphanage (not an official government facility). The conditions were terrible, with crowded rooms and broken cribs, and no heat or warm clothing. We were moved to tears when we first visited, and of course our hearts wanted to give in every way possible. However, thankfully we took the time to do our research on the facility, and we discovered that multiple groups had donated large sums of money, while nothing ever improved. More research revealed that the person in charge of the orphanage lived in a brand new building in very nice conditions. I believe in this case the children were being used for donations, and thankfully the Chinese government eventually shut the home down.

I do think there is a big difference between going on an “orphan vacation,” which implies a recreational component for the adult, versus volunteering to go overseas to truly serve children in need. We have sent many teams into orphanages to help with physical therapy, education, and medical care. But I honestly had no idea the term “orphan vacation” even existed. A quick Google search just proved otherwise.

Have you heard of this new type of vacation? What are your thoughts on this topic?

Amy

An Essay from China

We always love hearing that young people want to get involved to make a difference in the world. Recently we received the following letter from a wonderful group of school students in Shantou, China, who have formed a club to help orphaned children in their hometown. We wanted to share their words with you today because they truly touched our hearts. What a wonderful world this could be if everyone believed as they did that reaching out to children can show us the true meaning of love.

“Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.”

I always love reading these poetic words. They are beautiful. They seem to sound right to my ears in a pleasant way. I neither understood the true meaning of it nor gave much thinking of it before my visit to the Shantou orphanage with my teacher.

Two years ago, one day before the New Year, after entering the classroom, our English teacher asked for volunteers to visit a special place to meet some lovely babies. Spontaneously, I raised my hand. On the way to where those babies stayed, I felt nervous and curious. My heart was mixed with a kind of hard-to-explain sadness and excitement. Our teacher told us, “Those babies don’t have parents. We are going there to see whether we can offer some help.”

It was the first time in my life to see so many babies at one time. Two or three babies were sitting in each of their little four-wheel-chairs. Several others were lying in their cribs. One toddler was holding onto the cribs, learning to walk while the other is crawling on the play mats. These babies were NOT cute at all for the mere look at their little faces. One tiny face was covered with tears, saliva and spilled milk. He was a cleft baby. Another tiny face looked BLUE. This baby had a heart disease. One baby was born with deformed legs and it was obviously that he could not walk if he was able to live to an older age. After asking for the permission, I held up a crying baby girl carefully in my arms and started to talk and sing to her. She then stopped crying and suddenly giggled. That was the miraculous moment when something special touched my heart. “I must do something. I want to do something to help these babies.”

“But what can I do?” Together with several other classmates, we joined a charity group in our school. Then we started the “DIAPER” program. Our work was first confined to our school campus, but later we decided to tell our parents, friends and citizens in the community about the babies. On the leaflet, we wrote: “The New Year is approaching. While we are missing our beloved living afar, we hope that we could get a diaper for our babies nearby.”

Not only were we able to raise enough funds for diapers, baby waist-wrappers, winter clothes, portable thermoses and heaters, but found many generous hearts willing to help. Students and teachers at our school surely made the first step. One parent of my classmate heard of news and donated a large box of baby shoes and baby hats from their family-run shop. At the front gate of a kindergarten, parents were urging their children to put a 10-yuan note in our box, saying, “You know? You are helping some little brothers and sisters in Shantou.” Our hearts were warmed by many of these generous people. A tricycle worker, an old doorman, a primary school girl, a grandma on her way to the market, a foreign tourist, all were willing to show their love and care to these vulnerable babies.

In a thank-you letter to Shantou students, (who donated artwork to help heal orphaned children’s hearts,) Amy Eldridge, director from Love Without Boundaries wrote, “We know that one of the greatest gifts in the world is love, and you have shown us how much you care for others, and what it means to help unselfishly.”

Different people may have different understanding of love. For most people, love means being willing to help others unselfishly and the appropriate action of showing it. Love with word, yet without deeds, is meaningless. As a vocational school student, I perhaps cannot do much GREAT deeds, but through this volunteer’s activity, I have gained a deeper understanding of love. I have learned to give off without thinking of rewards; I have learned NOT TO TAKE EVERYTHING FOR GRANTED; I have learned to give thanks; and the most important of all, I have learned to be strong.

In fact, all I have learned should be indebted to those children I visited. It is these children who teach me the true meaning of love.

On a recent visit to the orphanage, in their classroom, I experienced an unforgettable moment. When the teacher announced the time for lunch, several teens stood up, and clearly they are boys with some mental disabilities. But each of them holding a toddler’s hand, together they walked down-stairs to their room. A tiny girl, no more than 18 months, independently toddled off to her room about thirty steps away. A four-year-old girl, who has an incurable eyes disease, gave everyone a most beautiful smile when she waved good-bye.

I see the best character in these children – affectionate and hopeful, caring and strong.

A great Chinese teacher, Confucius said, “To be fond of learning is akin to knowledge. To practice with vigor is akin to benevolence. To possess the feeling of shame is akin to courage.” One student asked his master, “What is Benevolence?” “Benevolence means to help others in the way you want to be helped. It means to love others as himself.” Confucius answered.

“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.”

These are not the simple words lying in the text book, waiting to be memorized. They are the lights that shine upon our path of life. If we follow these lights faithfully, then our world will be much brighter and better.

Happy Birthday LWB!

We must never underestimate the importance of one moment, one word, one deed in the life of another human being. – Erwin McManus


This week, LWB is celebrating our sixth anniversary of helping children in China. When I close my eyes and think of all the children whose lives we have touched, all the volunteers who have given their time, all the supporters who have donated essential funds, all the families who have opened their hearts to adoption…..I am filled with both awe and the deepest gratitude.

The reality is that six years ago, I didn’t have a clue about what was involved with running a charity in another country. I didn’t know what it took to open a school, or start a foster care program, or set up a medical mission. I knew nothing about 990s, or foreign relations, or negotiating hospital contracts. All I knew was that I had walked into an orphanage in 2003 and had my heart broken by the number of children living in such need. All I knew was that my own life was blessed with the joy of family and love, while millions of children around the world were living as orphans. And once I realized the enormity of what being orphaned really meant to a child, there was no way to go back to life as I had known it. And so my friends and I stepped out in faith to make a difference in their lives and never could have dreamed of where we would be today.

While I can now say that I do know about running a company, building a healing home, arranging for surgeries, and the hazards of trying to send a container ship to China (don’t do it), my heart feels the exact same way it did on the day I walked into my first orphanage. Today, while I open my full pantry, while I snuggle with my kids to read them a story, while I wake up feeling that life is filled with possibilities…..children are being abandoned, children are going hungry, children are waking up sick and alone. But what I have learned with absolute certainty over the last six years is that we can help them. We can change their future, by reaching out with action to show them just how important their lives are. I believe nothing is impossible when love is involved.

So thank you, on behalf of everyone at LWB, for helping us over the last six years to change the lives of thousands of children in need. We have known great joys, deep sadness, real frustrations, true miracles. I know our lives have been changed as much as the children’s. It is my hope that until every child around the world has at least one person who believes in them, that LWB can continue doing its small part to change the lives of those in China. As Martin Luther King, Jr once wisely said, “take the first step in faith, even if you never get to see the whole staircase.” Until every child knows love, we’ll just keep climbing.

Amy Eldridge
Executive Director

Always Positive?

I think all of us have gotten dozens of holiday letters from our friends which extol the virtues of their beloved children: "Donny was voted most likely to succeed, won state in basketball, and scored a 1600 on his SAT....Lisa won the national junior golf title, saved an elderly lady's life, and is now fluent in four languages." Just once I would love to see a holiday letter that said, "my daughter is flunking chemistry and my son just sits around all day playing video games and eating Taco Bell." I think I would find that pretty refreshing.

I think most charities fall into this same "holiday letter" mentality, in as much as we are hesitant to ever post a mistake or say that a project isn't going well. Since all charities are run by humans, I would have to think that just about every charity learns through experience, often the hard way. But you would rarely know that from charity blogs or websites. We are just as guilty of this as everyone else, of course. Our blogs and newsletters are filled with positive success stories, which thankfully we have a lot of. But we certainly have matured our programs by learning real lessons when things didn't go as planned. For example, we recently tried a "halfway house" program for young ladies aging out of their orphanage. We renovated an apartment, hired a house mom, encouraged them in every way to live on their own.....and it didn't work. Despite our absolute best intentions and a lot of hard work....the project didn't go the way we had hoped.

So how do you feel about charities being honest in telling things like they are? Do you prefer to only know the good? Or would you want to know if you gave to a project and it didn't work out? I have often wished that some of the groups that I gave money to with little results after Hurricane Katrina would just say with complete sincerity, "we know we messed up." I think most people can understand and forgive just about anything when people are honest. Or do you think that charities need to project an always perfect image to keep their donors committed?

How do you Serve?

On Monday, in the US we remembered all those people who have sacrificed their lives for our country. How very lucky we are to have all of our freedoms and choices available to each of us. There are so many words that come to mind as I think of these people who have given so much….”Service” is at the top of the list.

Also on Monday, Dr. Tom Morris, a philosopher, speaker, and former professor, started a thread on service from his Twitter account. Dr. Morris is a person that I love to check in with, because I learn so much and he always is inspiring. There was much discussion on what service means and from this, he was inspired to write a wonderful article on service at Huffington Post through this Link. There are so many great quotes from this article; I would love to share a few of them:

"Service lifts us up as we lift others up", "True service always inspires", "Service brings people together"

On a global scale, so much is done because we serve others. Over and over I see how lives are changed because people have taken the time to give themselves in service to another. People with passion and mission can change the world.

I am so fortunate to be able to volunteer with some of the most self sacrificing people I have ever met. LWB now has over 140 volunteers…an all volunteer run, virtual foundation. So many people have taught me much about service and passion to lead change. I have received far more than I have ever given.

What does service means to you? Is there a special project or mission you are committed to you? Have you been able to see a difference through your actions?

Karen LWB

One Year Ago

One year ago today, the 8.0 magnitude earthquake shook central China, leaving 87,000 people either dead or missing and millions homeless. I remember watching the news and seeing the horrifying pictures that brought me to tears. So many families torn apart, and villages literally wiped off the map.

Millions of people around the world watched too. It was incredible to see how so many people came together to help. In this age of the internet and 24/7 news coverage, how closely we are now tied together and how connected to crisis we can feel. We don’t just see those in need in our backyard like we did 50 years ago, but now we see those who are thousands of miles away. We no longer see boundaries, but see people and needs globally.

How does watching the news of a major disaster affect how and when you help? With the way news comes to us now, with stories almost daily of people and places in need, do you feel like you help more often or in a different way than in the past? How were you personally moved by China’s earthquake?

On this first anniversary of the Sichuan quake, our thoughts are with everyone who lost someone they loved and with all of the people who had to completely rebuild their lives.

Karen LWB

Credit: U.S. Geological Survey
Department of the Interior/USGS
U.S. Geological Survey/photo by Sarah C. Behan

In the Blink of an Eye

How often do we race through life so fast, with activities, work demands, and other events, that we don’t enjoy each and every day? Then something happens, something so deep, that it shakes you to the core and helps you to remember how precious each day is. When I was in New York two weeks ago, something just like that happened.

We were on the sidewalk directly across the street from the area of the World Trade Center, when all of a sudden, there was a lot of commotion. Taking a few seconds to try to figure out what was happening….we realized that there was a woman lying on the sidewalk with people all around her. Right behind us there was a group of teenagers sobbing. We quickly learned that the woman on the sidewalk was a beloved choir director from out of town and the kids sobbing were her students who had come to NY to perform that evening at Carnegie Hall. She had suffered from a major heart attack. We found a person who looked to be in charge and asked her how we could help. Splitting up into different groups, we found ourselves sitting and praying with these teenagers. We all felt so helpless as the emergency crews arrived and began trying to save her life.

After she was taken away in the ambulance, we said once last prayer with the group and gave the group leader a hug and then just started walking….stunned by what we had just experienced. Just a block from where we were was St. Paul’s Chapel, the little chapel that stood when the towers came down, without so much as a broken window. We went in, so grateful to have found this little church…..the perfect place to be after watching someone fighting for their life. In this little chapel, there were reminders of all of the people who had come together after 9-11, as well as memorials. We sat there reflecting not only about the woman fighting for her life on the sidewalk, but also about all of the lives lost just across the street from where we were standing.

That evening, not knowing what else we could do, but knowing that we needed to find out how the teacher was doing, I called the police station nearest to where we had been. The officer was so kind and told me that he had just been working on her card. He was able to tell me the hospital where she had been transported. From there, we were able to call the hospital and learned that she had been admitted to a local hospital.....admitted! As I hung up the phone and we all celebrated, because we realized that since she had been admitted…..that meant that she was alive.

Still so much in our thoughts, we learned that last week she had been discharged, and yesterday I wrote her an email just to let her know how much we cared and had prayed for her. I received the most beautiful email back from her today….telling me that her students had performed at Carnegie Hall that evening, with the support and love of all of the chaperones. She began her email - Life is truly amazing and I'm glad I'm still here to enjoy it!

Through all of this….I have thought so much about the fragility of life. What if today was your very last day on earth? How would you spend it? Would you be able to leave this world feeling like you lived it the way you wanted? Or are there things you feel you need to change? I know for me, the experience I had in New York was an important reminder that we need to slow down and enjoy our family and the things that matter. Through the life of this teacher, my own life was impacted as I realized yet again how important every day really is, both to count our blessings but also to try to make a difference. Have you ever had a wake up call such as this one? How did it impact you?

Karen LWB

Are things “meant to be”?

Every year up until 2008, LWB doubled in size with its programs and donations. Last year, however, our donations declined just a bit. We reflected on the reasons behind this and one thought we had was that our largest support group has always been adoptive families from China. With adoptions slowing…maybe our donations were going to slow, too. We thought long and hard about our future plans, and we knew that one of the ways to help more children in need was to get our message out to people outside of the adoption community, while staying loyal to our core donors of adoptive families.

Then comes a night in December that I will never forgot….I was just finishing up my emails for the night and came across an email that another LWB volunteer had forwarded to me. It was about a contest in a magazine geared to moms….Cookie Magazine’s Smart Cookie award. It was past 9:30pm CT and the contest closed at 11:59EST. I thought about blowing it off, quite honestly, but it was 250 words or less on a mom who was making a difference and I thought I had nothing to lose. My first attempt writing about Amy was over 750 words…it is actually really hard to write about someone in just 250, especially Amy. I chopped up my entry as quickly as possible and pushed send. Never in a million years did I expect to hear anything. Amy had just told me the week before that we needed medical money, and this contest came with $35,000 in prize money for the charity. I knew that would help so many children, and was astounded when two days later, I got a call from Cookie magazine. Amy had been chosen as one of the five finalists, and of course LWB went on to win the donation from CITI. Baby Tai, above, will now have surgery because of this money.

We had all prayed and prayed for a way to help even more children, and I never would have thought that way would have come into my inbox through a magazine contest. I can’t help thinking that it was truly “meant to be”. So what do you think? Do you believe things happen for a reason?

Karen

Be a Hero

Baby Mei was born with several heart defects. This precious 8 month old baby girl has a VSD, a ASD and PH. She is urgently waiting for her heart surgery. Right now, LWB is holding our 6th Annual Art Auction where 100% of our proceeds will go to heal children like Mei. You can either take part and bid on some wonderful items at http://snurl.com/gsr5u

We know the economy is tough and many people aren't able to participate by bidding like they did in the past, but the truth is that you can still be a part of saving the life of a child with heart disease simply by passing on the news that our auction is now live (until Tuesday). Please use every internet means possible to let people know: Facebook, Twitter, blogs, email. We have so many children waiting for the heart surgery they need, and our art auction provides essential funds to give them a second chance at life.

Thank you SO much!

Karen

Photo of the Week

There was no question this week as to what picture we were going to choose. Our cleft home nannies are so amazing. As you can see in this photo of our little Lyn with her nanny, there is a true sense of love and connectedness that exists between the two. We just loved how this was captured in this beautiful photo. Our nannies go above and beyond the call of duty and truly love and care for "our babies" as if they were their very own. We are just so grateful for them all and the role they play in each babies' story of hope and healing!

Gratitude and the New Normal

I’m enjoying my morning with my laptop (the new morning newspaper?), a cup of coffee, and my daughter’s favorite shows on the television when I came across a blog entry titled Do Over. The author writes about her husband Chris losing his job, finding a job herself, and trying to stay positive through the experience. Eventually, the effort to stay positive wore thin and worry slowly crept in. After the worst year she and her husband had ever experienced, the next year was even more difficult. She writes:

If only I had known that was only the beginning.

The beginning of our new "normal". A normal that brings with it daily worries about things I once took for granted as easily as the air I breathed. Things like medical insurance and being a stay at home mom. Things like full tanks of gas and a kitchen full of groceries and a husband that doesn't get sent home during the day because "there's just no work".

I think there are so many of us who are either experiencing this situation or fearing it. How would we make it if my husband lost his job? With seven children and a mortgage, just living is expensive. Without a doubt, one of the best things in my life is making a difference for children through my volunteer work with LWB. Would I be able to continue if life became too difficult financially? It’s something I would have to consider. Could I find a way to make life better for children in need, no matter what our financial circumstances? What motivates me to make a difference?

But, here is the conclusion of the blog and this is what really caught my attention. The “new normal” might have an important upside that I hadn’t yet considered:

Without the last two years I wouldn't have learned to prioritize, to improvise. I wouldn't have learned what I'm made of. I wouldn't have learned that I can rise to the occasion.

Most of all, I wouldn't have learned how to be truly, truly, overwhelmingly appreciative when Chris learned this morning that he got the job.

Gratitude. Yes, I am more grateful for things than I used to be. I’m grateful I can keep seven children fed and happy. I’m grateful my husband has the job we depend on. I’m grateful we can make our mortgage payments. Maybe this is the whole point of the “new normal?”

In realizing my blessings, I’m also grateful that I can make a difference in the world – and I hope that it isn’t something that comes from the largess of my family’s finances, but from the largess of my heart. Is gratitude the crucial component of giving back, paying it forward so to speak? And if gratitude grows stronger in tough times, then does the inspiration to make a difference kindle stronger, too?

Debbie Smith

Public Relations Director

Charity Day on Twitter

Bill Handy, an expert in social media, has a challenge for everyone. He has asked everyone on Twitter to promote their favorite cause. He has “spent an inordinate amount of time networking, researching, pondering, pontificating.” During his research he saw a lot of people talking about social change, but not a whole lot of action. http://billhandy.com/2009/04/04/april-7-is-psatuesday-win-my-money-for-your-favorite-cause/

Today, April 7, he has created #PSATuesday – or PSA Tuesday. His goal is two part. One, for people to tweet their favorite charity to get the word out about. To do this, tweet your favorite charity with a #PSATuesday tag. Next, donate, even if it is just a little, to your cause.

We would love for LWB and the good we are doing, to be spread around Twitter. We need your help to do this. Please use our Twitter name @Chinalwb and a link to our website http://tinyurl.com/dkpff6.

Follow us on Twitter at - http://twitter.com/chinalwb

What's Your Dream?

LWB's 7th medical exchange just started this week in Shanghai. You can read more about it on our main LWB blog at http://www.lwbblog.com Seeing the photos of the children has made me reflect back on the missions I have been on, and it made me think today of the very first international medical exchange we ever did, back in 2004. I can only smile when I think of that trip, as I knew absolutely nothing about sending a medical team to China, of getting medical supplies through customs or obtaining international medical licenses. All I knew was that there were babies in orphanages who needed cleft surgery, and I knew we wanted to help them. Thankfully everyone involved on both sides of the ocean granted me a lot of grace for my mistakes, and wonderfully.....SO wonderfully.....over 50 babies were healed.

It was on that trip that I met Dr. John Padilla, who has sinced tragically passed away. We were sitting on a bus in China when he first turned back in his seat to ask me, "hey Amy...if you could dream anything for your foundation, what would it be?" How's that for a question that makes you stop and think? And so I began to tell him what I dreamed of, about a day when no baby would be abandoned simply from being born with cleft, of a day when any family who was too poor to afford surgery for their child could have it for free, of a day when LWB would be throughout China helping kids. And then he looked right at me and said, "then make it happen."

Of course I tried to protest and tell him those dreams were too huge for our then tiny foundation, but he smiled with confidence and said, "Dream big.....dream big....dream big."

I can't help but think of him each time another LWB cleft trip happens. Because of John's encouragement to never stop dreaming, LWB now has a cleft home specifically for babies born with cleft. We have a Unity Fund for rural families who have children born with medical needs so they don't have to make the awful decision to abandon their children in order to get them healed, and we of course are now helping babies in orphanages throughout China. John's words have stayed in my heart that great things can happen when you do dream big.

So my question today is whether you have a dream of what you would like to do in this world. Is there something really big you want to do but you don't even know how to get started? Do you think you will act on that dream? Why or why not? Of course this mom from Oklahoma would encourage you to try....as I have seen amazing things happen when people step out in faith to help others.

Amy

Photo of the Week

How many of us have had our children plead with us for a puppy of their very own? I loved this photo the minute that I saw it. How it reminded me of the day that we got our dog six years ago.

Our local manager Crystal wrote in Caleb's most recent report that he loves dogs and he knew that a neighbor's dog was going to have puppies. He pleaded with his foster mother for days to keep one of the puppies. Can you tell what the answer was?

Karen Maunu
Associate Executive Director

Social Change

Our charity question of the week:

“Social change” is the current buzz word in the non-profit world... It is not just about simply helping people, but how charities are bringing about a larger change in society. Reading recent articles about this topic this past week has caused me to reflect on who we are and what changes we are creating with the work we do.

LWB started out by helping one child with heart disease. From that, the ripples grew with more medical children, our school programs, foster care, and orphanage assistance. We know that we are making a difference one child at a time, but have we affected social change in what we are doing?

Three years ago, we developed the idea of a special needs manual to educate orphanages on how adoptable so many children were. Our goal was to get the manual in the hands of as many of the orphanages throughout China and tell them how many families would love to have these children in their families. After the completion of the manual, we started trainings for orphanages, teaching them about special needs and providing training on how to file adoption paperwork. The program worked, and many new orphanages began to submit files on the children with special needs in their care.

In addition, in the orphanages where we work, we have continued to have conversations with the staff about the fact that every child, regardless of their needs, deserves a family. This has resulted in many more children with special needs having their adoption files submitted. For example, one orphanage in Hunan where we have a school program submitted paperwork on only 3 children in 2007, but in 2008 submitted 25; all children with special needs and many in our school. Beyond this, with our foster care programs involving children with special needs, local people have begun to interact with these children and realize that they are just normal little children. We have seen an increase in domestic adoption and a general shift in how children with special needs are viewed in the villages where we work.

The social changes that we have been making have been a ripple effect of our primary goal....providing direct aid to the children. As I have been reading articles on the importance of social change...I have to ask, is that enough? Is it the duty of a charity to set about making changes purposefully? Or is it enough to have change happen haphazardly as an after effect of our charitable actions? What do you think?

Karen Maunu

Associate Executive Director

The Economy and Charitable Giving

It goes without saying that just about everyone knows our economy isn’t in a good place right now. People are putting off buying a home or purchasing a car and are trying to save as much as possible. So where does charitable giving fall into that mix?

Just about every charity director I know has told me that their donations are markedly down this year while requests for help are way up due to the harder financial times. One of our LWB volunteers works in a local food pantry once a week, and she told me that the number of families applying for services has doubled. As I speak to groups about helping orphaned children in China, more and more I am asked directly, “why should we help in China when so many people right here in the US are hurting now?”


I believe so fully that a child is a child is a child, no matter where they happened to be born, and that any child who is hurting deserves to be loved and helped. Children who are orphaned have a very special spot in my heart as well. During these hard times, I still recommend LWB enthusiastically to people as a charity to support because I know the dollars are going exactly where we say they are, because I know we produce results and change lives with those donations, and because I know our amazing volunteers are thanking donors and keeping them informed of how their donations are used. But I am wondering what the rest of the world is thinking.

In our current economic crisis, do you think each country needs to care for “their own” first and foremost? Or do you still support international giving? Has your family had to make the decision to not give as much this year due to shrinking 401Ks and job instability? Let us know your thoughts. And as always, let us know if we need to be doing anything different to show our gratitude. Every morning I get up and give thanks for everyone who chooses to make a difference in the lives of children in China. We absolutely couldn’t do it without you.

Amy Eldridge
Executive Director
Love Without Boundaries Foundation
“Hope and Healing for Children in Need”