Happy Birthday, Lucy!

Today our Lucy is 12...or 13, depending on where you live. Traditionally in China, your age counts the year you are beginning, not the year you have finished, as in the west. So today our Lucy started on her 13th year and thus is shi-san, 13. Which also means that for the next 3 weeks I have 2 15-year olds and THREE 13 year olds in my house (and a 9 year old -- she and I are the only non-teenagers).

For orphaned children, birthdays are seldom even acknowledged much less celebrated. With 60+ children in Eagles Wings you can imagine that it is difficult to have a big party and many gifts on every birthday. One of the issues that I hope to work out as China Director is how we make every child feel special on their birthday without having it be focused on cake and ice cream and presents. In some ways this is a small issue, but in the context of raising children with a sense of value and of individuality, I think it isn't really that small. In fact, I think of all the things we do here, this may be one that our children will remember well into adulthood.

So today was all about Lucy. A cake, many homemade cards from her sisters and brother and a couple of small gifts...all in all it cost me about $12. I think these photos tell you what it meant to her.

Eagles Wings Holiday Fundraiser

We are once again making handmade donation cards to raise money for our holiday celebrations at Eagles Wings. We want to provide a small gift and a holiday meal for each child as well as a holiday bonus for our hardworking staff. These costs are above our normal budget, so we are once again offering a great gift option for that hard-to-buy for relative/teacher/neighbor or anyone who would appreciate a clutter-free, calorie-free gift that benefits children without a family.  You may make a donation of any amount; each multiple of $25 entitles you to one donation card. Click the link below to complete the form...we'll have your donation cards in the mail in time for Christmas!

Holiday Donation Form

FYI - The donation form link will redirect you to our family blog. 100% of these proceeds go to Eagles Wings, these funds are not intended to support our family.

With an thankful heart,

Donna

Director, Eagles Wings

Meet Tessa!

Isn't she adorable? Even hanging upside down! It wasn't so long ago that Tessa would have been very frightened by being spun around or tipped over. Like many children with vision impairments, she had some sensory difficulties as a young toddler. Now she loves it! Unlike many VI kids, Tessa's overall development has been right on target. She started exploring her environment as soon as she could crawl and took her first steps soon after her first birthday. The attention she received as a baby in Eagles Wings 2 has enabled her to grow up just like a fully sighted child. We are so proud of her! Now we wait with excitement and a little sadness for Tessa's forever family to finish the adoption process and come get her. We don't know exactly when that will be, but we do know that there is a very lucky family out there working hard to add her to their family.

Well, I clearly get the prize as the world's worst blogger. I had great visions of spending "just a little" time each evening updating the blog about my day, about some of our children, what's going on, what's coming up. So much for those great plans! I can assure you that my silence is not a consequence of a lack of activity...quite the opposite! There is so much happening that it is hard to pull out just one nugget! But I do promise to try.

One "nugget" that I want to share is that we are making wonderful progress on the adoption front. As an adoptive mother myself, this is very near to my heart and very exciting. In 2010 Eagles Wings sent a record number of children to their forever homes, and 2011 is shaping up well also. We have five children who we know for sure have families working to bring them home; there may be others that we are not yet aware of. That's wonderful...nearly 10%!  We have also seen greater numbers of our children selected to have their paperwork completed so they have the opportunity to be adopted, including children with cerebral palsy and Down's syndrome, who in the past have not been considered eligible. I am happy to say that we have developed a good relationship with those who have the final say, and I have been working behind the scenes to bring some children to their attention who have great potential for adoption. We will greatly miss the ones who leave us for other homes, but will rejoice that they have opportunities that only a family can give. At this time the information on who is being adopted is confidential, but we will certainly share that information when we can, so you can rejoice, too!

Tomorrow is a very big day for one of our little girls,  "Zoey" has congenital cataracts and a possible cyst or tumor in one eye. She is traveling to Beijing with one of her caregivers to be examined at the eye hospital. Based on their diagnosis, we will find out what course to pursue. Please be praying for Zoey and her caregiver as the trip will be long, and with her lack of vision she is very sensitive to environmental changes; this will be a challenging day. But we hope that we will soon have Zoey well and ready for therapy to help her adapt and thrive in the future.

"John Wayne" is a little boy who has been near and dear to my heart for almost two years now. I met him on Christmas Eve 2008 as he was bundled into my arms and sent home with me to Eagles Wings 2. Since then John Wayne has undergone treatment for a club foot and had his paperwork prepared for adoption. So far we aren't aware of a family who has chosen him, but hope that that will happen very soon! He is a very lively, smart and happy boy. He runs everywhere and enjoys laughing and playing with his friends.

With a promise to try to keep in touch better, and

With a thankful heart,

Donna
Director, Eagles Wings

Our Team

Every Tuesday the management team meets for an hour to discuss pressing issues and work out solutions. We also have announcements and discuss staffing. In this photo, from left to right, is Gao XiaoDui, manager for EW2, Wang Chan, leader of our school, Donna Laurie, China Director, Ma XiuXia, manager for EW4, Gu XiaoGuang, Logistics Manager and Guo Xi Mei, manager for EW5. Missing are Chew Gim, volunteer manager of EW3 and Zhang Ying, manager of EW 6 and Donna's assistant.  Also absent were Lou Huan, Administrative Manager, and Dong Mei, Purchasing. Both are still at home with their new babies.

We are also very grateful to have had a continuous supply of volunteers this fall. This makes a huge different to us! At left are Finlay and Alice, residing in EW2 and helping out with special projects. Next are Marion and Gladys, nurses who are helping with our cognitively disabled children in EW4.






Things have been busy this week, particularly in Eagles Wings 5. We have four fragile babies in that house now; three were just released from the hospital yesterday.  Our cleft baby has an undiagnosed heart defect which we are working to find resources to have repaired. We also have three blind children in this home: Our youngest baby, just 3 weeks old, is quite frail but she has been gaining weight rapidly under the good care of Jenny and Liz, two volunteers who returned to Australia this week, as well as Guo Xi Mei and her staff.  Another has a brain tumor, and the third one has had significant gastric problems and now has a colostomy bag. This is a challenge for the staff. Please keep them in your prayers.

With a thankful heart,
Donna
Director, Eagles Wings

Eagles Wings 5

From Linda: Eagles’ Wings 5 is for tiny or weaker babies or babies recovering from surgeries.  There are now 8 babies there.  This tiny little fellow arrived this past week from an orphanage several hours away from our town.  This orphanage  came to inspect all our homes before they let us have any of their children. Now we have four children from there, and they are very pleased with our care. 

This baby was born with eyes that did not form properly.  His name means “shining cloud”. The lady from the orphanage was a very kind person, and when she handed him to me, I knew he was meant to be in Eagles’ Wings where he will be loved and well cared for.   

At present, both JennAi, whose vision has made Eagles Wings 5 possible, and her friend, Liz, a nurse from Australia, are volunteering in Eagles Wings 5. We had trouble measuring the weight of our babies accurately as we couldn’t afford a good digital baby scale, and most of our ayis are village women who struggled to measure the length of babies as they kept wriggling (the babies not the ayis J). Now Liz has taught all the ayis how to measure head and chest circumference as well as body length, and, Kirsty, a friend of Eagles Wings in Beijing, donated two good quality baby scales. "Ask and it shall be given". We are so thankful for everyone who plays a part in this work!

In the meantime, Donna, our recently arrived “In China Director”, and one of the ayis from Eagles Wings 2, where five of our seven vision impaired children live, are going to Beijing next week to attend a conference on the education and raising of vision impaired children.

School of Hope and Happiness

From Linda: "Here you see our children finishing up from “fruit snack” and getting ready for combined class time.  This is when they sing and play word games and they end the session with small group activities suited to all levels of ability and age.  These children are soaking up learning like little sponges and they can’t wait to get to school each day.  We have 3 classes… kindergarten, advanced class and special needs class for slow learners. Thanks to all of your praying and loving, you have made a wonderful contribution towards happy childhoods for all our students."

This place is SUCH a blessing for all the kids who are not able to attend regular school. Without it they would have limited access to any education.  The kids LOVE school. When I was there two of "my" kids with severe mobility issues were tutored at home rather than taken across town to the orphanage (where the school was at that time). The tutoring was okay, but they missed out on so much of the school atmosphere and other activities. So I put together a plan to help them gain mobility and asked that they be included. You would have thought I had hung the moon! Those two little faces were so happy and excited to be GOING to school! The little boy who was five at the time could hardly sleep for two days beforehand, and kept checking with me to make sure I hadn't forgotten.  :) What JOY just to have the chance to go to school. We are so glad to be able to provide this experience to most of our eaglets.
If you are a teacher or have a heart for teaching, would you consider spending your summer holidays teaching and training our teachers in China? You would really make a difference. Can you provide a donation to help support our school? We rely on individual donations to keep the school running. We also need to provide a mini-school for our cognitively impaired children who benefit so much from the activities but need greater support for their many physical challenges.

With a thankful heart,
Donna
Director, Eagles Wings