A Miracle Called Timmy

I started to post this on the Eagles Wings China FB page, but it got too long. This week our profile picture is of a fantabulous little guy whose "code name" is Timmy. After I posted his photo I realized very few people know his story. 

Long before I knew him, Timmy had a bilateral cleft lip which was repaired. But Timmy lived for 7 years with an open palate...I didn't even know it was still open until I had been here 6 months. I tried to get a team to close it in April '11. They said he was too old (at 6!) to ever be able to learn to speak properly and from his erratic and uncooperative behavior as well his almost non-existent language, they judged him to be brain damaged so what was the point. GRRR! And this was an Australian group, not Chinese! I was shocked and angry and frustrated and just so sad. I can't imagine how *I* would behave if I was 6 years old and could not communicate with the people around me. I knew Timmy was in the process of giving up -- why should he care about behaving when no one seemed to care about listening to him? My heart was broken.

Later in 2011 we made some changes in Timmy's home and gave some very focused training to his caregivers, helping them understand what it might feel like to have no one understand you. God bless them, they GOT it! We worked really hard on *hearing* what Timmy meant and not what he could actually verbalize...and guess what? Timmy's behavior improved! Not overnight, not always, not 100%, but so much that everyone who worked with him saw the difference and knew, they KNEW, that there was a boy inside who wanted to be heard, to be loved and to become a part of the world around him.
So...this year another cleft mission came to our area, this time Love Without Boundaries. I asked them to give Timmy a chance. And they did!  I was nervous and excited, just hoping that Timmy's behavior would not fall apart under the stress of a hospital stay. Our Floor Manager for his home went with him. She had really stepped up to work specifically with him, bond with him and make sure everyone else was patient with him. He had grown to trust her as well. Timmy was accepted for surgery.
Imagine the doctors' surprise when on the operating table they did not find just an open palate but a displaced voice box, a much more complex surgery than they were prepared for, but also the missing link in why Timmy had not been able to develop even basic language despite his cleft palate! Rather than close his palate and move on, the wonderful, God-sent physicians told the Chinese doctors assisting that they were going to learn something new today!!  So they tackled repositioning his voice box so Timmy would be able to speak. We are truly indebted to these skilled and caring surgeons who took the time to change this child's life.
After returning to Eagles Wings and a few weeks of resting his voice, Timmy began the long process of learning to speak. Interestingly, he really didn't even know the words for many things; his total language process had been derailed by his inability to communicate. So he spent many days just asking for everything to be named and then practicing the words. He works with one of our therapists several times a week to learn more words and practice saying them. His speech is not very clear and will probably never be perfect, but with patience and perseverance, Timmy can communicate with his friends and his ayis, and most importantly he knows that someone (many someones!) care about what he has to say.

Last week when Timmy was at Bring Me Hope camp, one of the volunteers there had been with Timmy at camp three years ago. She recognized his struggles and had been praying for him for three years. Imagine her surprise, amazement and pure DELIGHT when she saw Timmy this year, cooperating, participating and COMMUNICATING like all the other kids. She cried tears of joy. God is good...all the time. Jas 5:16

Timmy is in need of sponsorship. If you would like to help, please see the Sponsorship and Donations tabs above. To let us know about your sponsorship, fill out the SPONSORSHIP FORM.

Donna
Director, Eagles Wings

School's Out!

Well, yes, school has been out for a month, but I wanted to share with you some of the fun projects that our Eagles Wings 7 girls and Eagles Wings 8 boys have been doing to enjoy their summer break.

The first week of our mini-day camp was about farm animals. The kids colored and completed a farm scene and also created a stuffed animal (cat? pig?) from scratch. Tracing, cutting and sewing are things that don't come easily to some of our kids, but they persevered and everyone made something!

Bring Me Hope

Hopefully you have seen the fantastic video that Bring Me Hope did of our happy campers. Here are a few more photos to revisit those special days.

Gee our kids had a wonderful time! They were all crying on the bus when it was time to leave. And that's how camp should be. Thank you so much to all the wonderful volunteers who give of their time and their treasure just to come give our kids a memorable week. I'd say they were VERY successful!

Bring Me Hope -- THANK YOU!!!

Let Them Eat Cake!

What could have been more appropriate for the day-before-Bastille Day than CAKE! We were actually celebrating George's 6th birthday, and it was a fun way to finish up our first week of daycamp. No one was more surprised than George as he didn't realize it was his birthday until we brought out the cake. "Wo?", he said. Obviously, he knew just what to do once the candles were lit!

Happy Birthday, George, from your friends at Eagles Wings and all the people around the world who love you. May the year ahead be filled with love, happiness and many delightful surprises.

Here It Is!! DayCamp Part 1

This is the video of our day camp for kids under 10 (mostly) which we conducted at our COAT School. There were 27 children participating, divided into two groups based on age and abilities. The theme for this week was Farms and Farm Animals. Each day there was a story and songs with a farm or animal theme, followed by crafts, games and snacks. The main objective was to have FUN, but in addition we tried to give the kids the chance to use scissors, paints, crayons, glue and lots of fun textures to work on small motor and sensory skills. Everyone had a blast, and it will be tough to keep up this level of fun all summer long, but we will try. A very, very special thanks to my daughter, Lindsay, who came up with most of the ideas, put together the plans and materials and then went and ran the program every afternoon. She did GREAT!

Sorry for the length but just too many cute photos to leave any out.

Guess What!

Yup, you guessed it ---- ONE LESS AGAIN!!


We are all teary to say good-bye to this sweet little pumpkin. He really became his own person in the last six months, growing from the tiny, shy and quiet baby that we met nearly two years ago to one of the sweetest, happiest little guys we have known. We love him dearly and for that reason we REJOICE that he now has a mama and baba of his very own. We hope we will be able to see him in the future as he was adopted domestically by a family about an hour away.

May God bless you and keep you, sweet boy!

Craft Project of the Week

Do you like videos? I hope so because I wasn't sure how I was going to weed through all the great photos from this week's craft project and just share a few. Soooooo I put a bunch in a little video. No music, no frills, and it isn't very long. This craft project was led by my daughter, Lindsay (aka TianTian to the kids). The artists are the five and older kids at our COAT School of Hope and Happiness. I hope you enjoy it and also get to know a few of our kids a little better!