Have You Voted Yet?

There are just 5 days left in the Chase Giving Challenge. We have heard from many people who didn’t realize they needed to vote AGAIN in Round Two, as it is a brand new contest. Please take the time to visit http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/263934 and cast your vote to help orphaned children in China. It will only take a moment, but the results could last a lifetime for all the children who still wait.

Everyone with LWB is so grateful for your help!

A Happy Transformation

Any time I need inspiration, all I need to do is think of the children we help in China. Any time I’m having a bad day and thinking that something in life “isn’t fair”, all I have to do is go to my computer and pull up any of the images I have saved of children who truly face a life that isn’t always fair. My attitude changes in the blink of an eye.

We just received some wonderful photos from one of our Believe in Me schools. These schools were originally set up for those children who are unable to attend public school due to having some sort of medical need. They have expanded over the years to include tutoring for orphaned children in public school, as these kids have no parents to push them each night to study harder. We’ve also added preschool classes so that children from age 2 up can have their lives filled with art and music and play, rather than sitting in a crib all day.

When I received the photos today I was flooded with emotions. I remember vividly going to this city’s orphanage two years ago. The director was so kind, but the orphanage had been built over 100 years ago. The rooms were tiny and crowded, with old metal cribs and not two inches of outdoor space for the children since it was right in the middle of the busy city. The children’s lives were completely spent inside the aging walls, and most of their faces that day were somber, as you can see below.







We were all thrilled to learn that the provincial and city government had released funding for a new orphanage to be built. As I toured the facility, I was filled with anticipation for the children, as the rooms were big and airy, and the walls had enormous windows so the sun could come flooding in. I stood in front of the building and looked at all of the land and listened as the director excitedly said that the children could finally play outside.

LWB was offered space inside the Jinjiang orphanage to open a Believe in Me school, and we were thrilled that our friends and supporters made this a reality. Now the children excitedly go to school each day and absolutely love their teachers. Instead of solemn expressions and quiet demeanors, the children are now filled with joy, and the classrooms are filled with laughter. This is a transformation that I want to celebrate today. Everyone in Jinjiang should be so proud of what they have accomplished for the GOOD of these children! Don’t you love when dreams become reality???

Finding Inspiration

I feel so thrilled to be a guest blogger for Love Without Boundaries. As I read all the wonderful work that LWB is doing in the world, I cannot help but feel inspired.

When it comes to finding inspiration as the summer comes to an end, I find myself excited to welcome autumn, my favorite season. It was the day before Halloween in 2003 that my husband and I took a very long flight to China to be united with our 9 month old daughter, Grace. While the weather those two weeks was warmer in China than we expected, my excitement grew knowing that we would come home to cooler, autumn weather and the changing of the seasons. Just 2 ½ years ago, during this same time of year, my husband was preparing for a business trip to Seoul, South Korea. We worked really hard with our adoption agency to arrange for a day during his trip for him to visit with our soon-to-be adopted son and meet his foster parents. Gratefully arrangements were made, and John got to spend some time with our son prior to his trip home. Dean traveled home 2 months later. Lastly this time last autumn I was busy “nesting” in preparation for our youngest adopted daughter, Gwen, to come home. As I reflect back on those particular moments it is so easy for me to find them wondrous and inspirational.

But it is important to remember the little sparks of inspiration & beauty that touch our lives on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis. Sure there are days when I’m clearly exhausted from a hectic day, but usually I am able to find something to be motivated by. As fall quietly saunters in these are some little aspects of my life where I find inspiration. I am inspired by the cooler weather which always compels me to throw on a cozy sweatshirt that is two sizes too big. I am inspired by spending time together as a family as the crisp air finds us cuddling more, eating comfort foods and doing my oldest daughter’s homework. I am inspired by new school supplies, the paper leaf cutouts hanging in my son’s classroom and the smell of a pumpkin spice candle. I am inspired to hum along when I hear my two year old sing his ABC’s at 6:30am, gaze at the full moon, and going to bed early. The great thing about inspiration is that it can be found anywhere and everywhere! It can be found through listening to your children laughing, the rustling of the leaves or a hot cup of tea.

So today, during the busiest part of your day I invite you to stop and look around for something that inspires you. When you find it, take a moment…breath and really soak it in. Once you do that, I guarantee that your day will become a little lighter and brighter.

Kim Rabago is an aspiring writer and advocate for women’s health issues. She earned her Master’s in Social Work from Widener University. She currently works with individuals and families who are experiencing transitional phases in their lives. She and her husband, John are proud parents of three internationally adopted children. When she is not running around with the kids, she enjoys spending time at the beach, reading and yoga.

Photo of the Week - Baby Ruby

This baby is Ruby, a precious gem, and she is absolutely precious! She was found abandoned in a cardboard box and wrapped in a blanket. Along with her was a package of formula, a small bottle and a birth note stating the date of her birth—obviously someone loved this child very much. Ruby is healthy except for the teratoma she has at the base of her spine. This needs to be removed as soon as possible. Currently, she is waiting on our website for funding and will be moved for surgery as soon as her funding is received. Please keep baby Ruby in your thoughts and prayers!

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

Photo of the Week - Happy Graduation!

Several years ago we became involved with a program called Mama's Wish, which helps the poorest but most promising rural and nomadic children on the Tibetan plateau. For many of the girls in this region, arranged marriages at 14-15 take the place of a high school education, and a university degree would be an impossibility. Thanks to our wonderful supporters, LWB helps 100 students in this region "dream big" by funding their education. Just this week, the first college graduates from this program received their degrees, and we couldn't be prouder of them! Meet Wan Ma, who just received her college degree in Animal Husbandry from a university in Chengdu. She is hoping to continue her education to receive her Masters Degree, and then return to her village to make a difference in the lives of those who live there. Congratulations Wen Ma! We wish for you a BEAUTIFUL life.

The Dichotomy Times Two

Some of you might have read my original post called “The Dichotomy of the Season”, which I wrote a few years ago as I struggled to reconcile the excesses of our holiday seasons with the realities of how many children around the world are hurting.

This last week, I had another experience which has caused me to deeply reflect on the inequities in our world, and I am wondering how everyone else comes to terms with this in their own hearts.

LWB was incredibly blessed to be able to win the Smart Cookie Reader’s Choice Award sponsored by Cookie magazine and CITI. Through this event, we received essential funding to sponsor many children needing medical care as well as general funding for our Heartbridge Pediatric Healing Unit outside of Beijing. What I didn’t realize at the time was that the staff of Cookie magazine passed my name to a new TV series which will air on a cable channel. This new show, which will air in July, surprises unsuspecting people whose families and friends feel they need a break from their work, and takes them on vacation.

Last Thursday, during what I thought was a small documentary interview on grassroots charities, I was surprised by my family and friends and quickly whisked away to Scottsdale, Arizona, where I spent three days doing things I never in a million years would have ever done for myself. Our activities included soaring over the Arizona desert in a hot air balloon, having a private meal prepared for us by one of Arizona’s top chefs, and being treated to an afternoon of art gallery browsing and then presented with an original ink etching. Not only that, but we were housed at our own private ranch, complete with pool and rock waterfall. Pampered doesn’t even begin to describe it, and so those of you who know me well know how very much I struggled with it all. Probably the very hardest moment to me was the massage, which was done at poolside. Oh I tried to relax….I really, really tried…….but the harder I tried, the more I pictured all of the faces of the children in China that I know are waiting for help right now. And the more I tried to clear my mind, the more the images burned brighter and the more ashamed I became that I was lounging poolside being “served” while so many children around the world are in need. It felt ……well…….not right.

I don’t want you to get me wrong…….this was a once in a lifetime trip that I will never forget, and we had so many moments of real laughter and fun. I loved getting to have so many new experiences, but I realized so clearly that what brought me the most joy was simply connecting with others. It was in meeting the artists and watching them work, in getting to sit and visit with the ranch owners about how their love story began on a dance floor, in being able to sit and talk on the porch with the production crew about the children in China after the cameras were turned off that I truly found my much needed rest. It wasn’t in the actual balloon ride; it was in being up 6000 feet with a dear friend laughing about conquering our fear of heights. It wasn’t in the actual meal by the chef (although it was magnificent); it was getting to talk with her and learn how she creates her new dishes and finds her inspiration. It definitely wasn’t in being filmed since that’s far out of my comfort zone; it was in driving our extremely kind cameraman to see his aunt and uncle in Phoenix and getting to hear about what he’d experienced in his work. The true gift of the weekend was in meeting new people, finding our connections, and forming friendships. Once again I realized that our lives on this earth were created to be shared. Life isn’t supposed to be done alone.

So all this past week I have been reflecting not on the dichotomy between those who have “stuff” and those who do not, but instead on the dichotomy between those who get to feel love and those who do not. My family and friends wanted this surprise for me because they care about me, and that is a gift I will keep inside my heart forever. But I continue to struggle with the knowledge that all over this world there are abandoned babies who cry out for help and no one comes, orphaned toddlers who lie alone in the dark, hearing the thunderstorm approaching, with no mom or dad to run to for comfort, forgotten children who look out barred windows and see families walking in the street picking up their children in love and who must then turn away to get ready for their day alone.

That is the discrepancy that is burdening my heart right now.....the disparity between those who are loved, cherished, treasured, valued.....and then all of those children who are not.

My hope when this new show airs is that it will help at least one person who watches it to consider adoption as a wonderful way to form a family. If even one more child can go from being orphaned and alone to being someone who truly knows love, then all of the cameras and wireless mics and being filmed (yes even while getting that massage) will be worth it all. I hope we can all take a moment to realize how truly blessed we are to have people in our lives who love us, and then take a moment to say a prayer for all of the children around the world who wait each day for someone…..for anyone…..to truly care.

Amy