Baby Wen

In light of the news about Han, LWB asked that we allocate our funds to another child. If this little one's smile doesn't melt your heart then I don't know what will! Here is a little bit of info about her:

Wen is now ready for her colostomy closure so she can continue to gain weight. There has been so much improvement in Wen over the last two months. Her color is great and she is putting on weight well. She is a very sweet baby full of smiles for anyone that talks to her. She has two small stuffed animals one blue and one red that she is always cuddled up to. She likes to play with their tails. We have seen such great improvement for Wen through the diligent care of our Heartbridge unit! She now needs the next surgery to maintain her weight gain and help with nutrient absorption.

It's so encouraging to know that we can help Wen to have a the great start at life that she deserves. Thank you again for your generosity!

A sad reminder

I just got an email from the LWB staff that baby Han passed away. He was taken to the hospital for fevers and vomiting where it was discovered that he had a large brain tumor pressing behind his eye. I know that his caregivers are grieving deeply for this little guy. A sad reminder that though many of the orphanage staff love and care for their small charges to the best of their ability, their resources are so very limited. With access to better diagnostic tools, maybe Han would have made it...or maybe it was just his time. Only God knows. I hear a lot of talk about Chinese people abandoning their babies. A woman recently said to me about our youngest, "Look how precious she is...how could her mother NOT want her!" Another person commented, "I don't care what I was going through, I would NEVER abandon my baby". That's easy to say when we live in our spacious house with 2 cars in the garage, leftovers going to waste in the refrigerator and ample health insurance. Can we really be so sure of what we'd do when we've never even visited a country overwhelmed by poverty, much less lived in these folk's shoes? I know that in China, few people have the money even to visit the doctor for a cold. Paying for an expensive surgery for a sick or disabled child is absolutely out of the question. At our daughter's orphanage, 8 babies were abandoned in one day. All of them with serious heart defects. This happened one day after a news report that this orphanage provided heart surgeries for sick babies. It breaks my heart to think of the possibility that these mothers faced a choice no one should have to make.... Keep my baby and she will most likely die, or give her up forever to give her a chance to be made well. I'm not saying that there aren't women who abandon their babies because they are truly unwanted or inconvenient. I'm just asking that we think before we pass judgement. The bottom line is that these kids need people who will advocate for them, pray for them, and adopt them. Let's be part of the solution and leave the judging to God.

The check is in the mail!

In case you haven't noticed, we totally BLEW OUT our goal (special thanks to a couple of very generous donors). When we first started raising money, we wanted to help baby Zhou, but God had another plan. Her little heart just couldn't wait and her surgery was funded right away via another source. I just received an update about her... she is holding her own and is scheduled to be moved to a hospital in Hangzhou for surgery later this month. Please continue to pray for her.

Baby Han from Anhui Province, the cutie pictured above, is in need of lens surgery on both eyes. We are now able to completely fund his surgery ($1,000) with the money that was raised! We pray that the surgery is a success and that very soon his paperwork for adoption will be turned in. Hopefully he will be able to see his new mama's face with his newly healed eyes.

There is still over $300 left and some money is still rolling in. Once it is all collected, we will see what other needs there are at that time. Again thank you for your hearts for these amazing kids.