Photo of the Week - October 9, 2009

We recently had several graduates from our Henan Cleft Healing home. One of them was sweet David-Michael, a true charmer. Before he left to meet his new foster parents, the aunties snapped the following photo. Doesn't he look cute sitting in his Bumbo seat looking like he is ready to strum a guitar? We think he wanted to serenade the lovely ladies who took such excellent care of him in the cleft home!

We certainly will miss you in the healing home, David-Michael....but we know we will get to follow your continued progress in foster care as well.

Everyone just wants a chance

Today I got a formal report from one of our volunteers who recently visited an orphaned child LWB had sent to the Blue Sky Healing Home outside of Beijing. Little Yong had been born in Hunan, and his orphanage quickly realized that something wasn't quite right with his health. He wasn't developing normally and had a very floppy body. Sadly, after testing we learned that Yong has a rare and progressive neurological disorder. But thanks to the wonderful care at Blue Sky, he has now gained enough strength to crawl and move himself about, something he never was able to do before. I think you can tell from his photo how very proud he is of this new accomplishment! We are all so excited to know he is getting this chance at having a much better life.

Reading his report today reminded me of the story of another boy with a special need who was given a chance he had never had before. His name is Jason McElwain. I first saw his video when my son's high school raised funds for Autism Awareness. If you haven't seen his story, then you are missing one of the best "feel good" videos on Youtube. It can be found at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZJhfP50bxE

Every child wants someone to believe in them. How wonderful that Jason's friends and coaches did just that. Thank you all for believing that every child deserves a chance. I can't wait to follow Yong's progress and see what wonderful things he has in store as well.

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!