BBC Children's Host Blog

Had to share this blog address since it tied in with our discussion on people's comments regarding children with special needs. The host of a new children's show has a limb difference, and it has caused quite a debate.

Amy

http://snurl.com/fm0au

Before and After

Our photo of the week was an easy choice this Friday! Little Gavin had a severe facial cleft which took Dr. Ness four hours to repair on our medical exchange in Shanghai. We absolutely love the before and after! Thanks to everyone who supported our 7th medical trip. You wrote such a beautiful story of hope for 22 wonderful kids.

Were You Prepared for Adoption?

I picked up the phone one night at 2 a.m. and found myself talking to a father in China who said they couldn't go through with their adoption of a child with cleft.

"When she eats, stuff comes out of her nose," he told me.

"That's perfectly normal in a child with cleft", I tried to reassure, thinking quietly to myself that surely they should have known this before they traveled.

"It's really freaking us out," he said. "We don't think this is the right child for our family." After listening for a few more moments, I knew the decision had already been made in their hearts. They would not be bringing her home despite anything I could tell them.

I hung up from that call troubled, as disruption always makes me sad, but I was also realistic in knowing that if the family felt disgust towards their new daughter, then that certainly wasn't a good situation for the child. But I did have to ask myself how someone could go a whole year of paperchasing and waiting to adopt through the waiting child path and NOT take the time to educate themselves on their new child's special need.

And so that is the question for today's blog. Were you prepared to adopt internationally? What books did you read to get ready? If you adopted a child with special needs, did you do research in advance? Was there anything that you absolutely weren't ready for? Did you have any moments during your adoption trip when you thought, 'I don't think I can do this?" Let's share any and all advice for people considering international adoption, especially through the special needs path.

I am a firm believer that education is essential. What have YOU learned from the journey?

And don't forget to keep following our cleft exchange in Shanghai. Visit our story blog for more details and links to absolutely great photos.

Amy

Disabilities or Abilities

A friend of mine passed on this video of one of the most inspiring young women. HeeAh Lee was born with only two fingers on each hand and legs that had to be amputated at her knees. She was so sick and weak when she was young, the doctors didn’t think that she would survive. Her spirit proved them wrong.

Her hands were so weak that her mother started her taking piano lessons, hoping that it would help. HeeAh Lee surprised everyone. Not only did her fingers get stronger, but she was amazingly gifted. She learned to play piano better than most pianists that play with 10 fingers. Audiences around the world now hear her play.

http://videos.komando.com/2009/01/17/the-four-fingered-pianist/

When I played this video the other day, Tyler, my 18 year old son, happened to be nearby. A piano player himself, he asked who was playing the piano on the computer. When I told him that it was a young woman with 4 fingers, he didn’t believe me. He actually had to come and watch for himself. As he watched, he told me how hard that piece was.

After watching this, I thought about another of my children who has a severe hand disability. It really made me think about the expectations that I have set for him and made me rethink the best way to parent him. This video made me think about special needs and how I view them.

When you look at a person with a disability, do you think about those things that they can’t do instead of being open minded about their abilities? Do we set lower expectations raising a child with a disability? How do we best parent a child with a disability, giving them all the support they need but not setting limits?

Karen

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