Saturday, September 29, 2012

Some Good News

After the pain of the last few days, we needed some good news. I'm sure that you can understand our joy when we heard that little Annabel was going to be released from the hospital. This little darling arrived two months ago. Her story is an amazing one indeed, one that will soon be on the website! To make a long story short... we weren't sure that she would make the trip, but she did; we met her at the hospital where she was immediately admitted into ICU... and now two months and a dozen miracles later... Annabel is home.


She is tiny and weak, but also so strong. We can't wait to see the difference love and nutrition make in this precious child. (IV nutrition for the first 3 1/2 months of your life is a great way to stay tiny, as you can see)


Above is Wendy, the nanny who stayed with Dale in the hospital for nearly a week before he was admitted into PICU. She is grieving, as are all of Dale's nannies, and we know that watching and holding the miracle of Annabel is going to do beautiful healing on all of our hearts.

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You can find more fun news in our most recent scrapbooks!

The September Birthday party was amazing - Alea, our little miracle, celebrated her first birthday!

We took the children to see the sunflower festival last week.

Eating mooncakes in celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival was fun!

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And it's looking like our 200th adoption is going to be in two weeks... and we're going to celebrate this milestone with not one, not two, but three adoptions. Can you guess who?
Friday, September 28, 2012

In Memory of Dale

It's hard to come up with the words... the loss of Dale has hit everyone here quite hard. We rejoice that he is finally at rest, but grieve that he will never come home. He is Home.

And how beautiful it is that an orphan is cried for. He is remembered and he will never be forgotten.

After fighting hard for six months, Dale is finally at rest. He came to us for hope, and that's just what we gave him. Dale got the opportunity to be loved on without abandon, and to be operated on by one of the top heart surgeons in the country. He was never given up on.

 
It's easier to not take the hard cases.
But we can't do that.
We couldn't do that...

Many tears have been shed today and yesterday as we grieve the loss of Dale's precious life, but we would do it again.


Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Checking out the New Ones

Have you said 'hello' yet to our two newest babies? Ladies and gentlemen, meet.... Stella!


... and Lewis!


I know?! Could they possibly be any cuter?

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Lewis and Stella's first day in the playroom was interesting. Stella settled right in and started showing off while Lewis looked disoriented and scared. But Will was right there and knew just what to do. Will's nanny had just told him that Lewis was going to be his roommate, and so Will determined to make his new brother feel at home... and check him out.


He quickly gave Stella a long look and approved her for residence in the playroom.

May we keep her, ma?
But Lewis was a more fascinating case study for little Will. Will padded his way around Lewis, back and forth, circling him multiple times... almost like a dog would. Getting up into poor Lewis' face a couple of times, Will gave him a good lookin' at while wearing the biggest grin possible on his face. Jeffery's a good little baby, but he's not the playmate and conspirator that Will craves during nap time.


So, according to Will, Lewis and Stella are keepers. What do you say?

Eavesdropping

Will listened intently...


...as Henry talked on and on and on...


...about something quite important, it seemed.


But we have no idea what the phone conversation was about.

Wordless Wednesday: Ticklish




Tuesday, September 25, 2012

The Forever Home: It's Dress-Up Time!



Every weekend the girls drag out the tub of dress-up clothes and have a blast!  It's one of their favorite things to do :)  Elly's looking pretty in her tinkerbell outfit!




Sylvia enjoys playing Cinderella while resting comfortably on her foster dad's lap.




Mollie is always looking for a fun, new outfit. She's a stylin' kinda girl!




Holly even dressed up her Cat-in-the-Hat doll!




Emma says "Hoooowdy!"
Monday, September 24, 2012

Lookin' Good!

Jeffery came home this afternoon after his very successful cleft lip surgery.


He looks fantastic, doesn't he?


A few more months of growing and he'll be ready for his cleft palate surgery. We love it when our little ones get their surgeries out of the way. One more to go and Jeffery will be done!

1,000

This post, the one that you're reading right now, is our 1,000th blog post.

Yikes.

That's scary in an impressive sort of way.

Lydia's signature silly face
 In celebration of this momentous occasion, let's share some love, how about? Have you noticed that the blog has a "button"?

The NDFH Blog Button


If you have a blog of your own, we'd love it if you would grab this button and put it on your own blog!

We currently have 341 blog followers... do you read the blog but have never clicked, "follow"? Well, today would be the day!

One of my favorite parts about NDFH and it's blog is that it reinvents the term "special needs orphan." It's easy to approach this subject with stereotypes and trepidation, but when you see cute faces likes these ones...



Well, it changes your life, doesn't it?

Here's to 1,000 more life-changing blog posts! Tell us, what have your favorite posts of the last three years been?
Saturday, September 22, 2012

When a Bench Seat is Empty...

William was missing his little foster sister Cora, who had to take a quick overnight trip to process her passport - she's going to be adopted soon! "Did you miss her last night?" I asked William. "Yes, I missed her." he said. "and I slept in her bed last night!"

According to William, Cora's bed is more comfortable than his is.


Then, suddenly, someone plopped Lily down into the empty bench seat at William's side. His reaction was priceless.


"What about Lily?" I asked. "Do you want her to go home with you?"
"No!" William said, "she can't go home with me! She has to go to her house."

"But she can sleep in Cora's bed, can't she?"

"No! She has to go to her house." William was determined.

Lily, after recovering from the exciting shock of being placed in William's cart, staunchly replied, "I won't go. I have my own family!"

Foster families are only temporary for these children; we hope and pray that each one will be adopted into forever families of their own. It's so exciting and reassuring to watch them attach appropriately to their foster families and absorb love. It's going to be hard for these little ones to say, "ZaiJian" to their loving foster mamas and babas when they go to meet their adoptive parents, but we believe that the "hard" in this case is totally worth it, as the children learn and grow in love.
Friday, September 21, 2012

I Am!

Preschool was over and Wendy and Philip were about to head home in their foster mama's cart. She was chatting with some of the other foster moms, so I decided to ask Wendy and Philip a few questions to pass the time.

"Whose bed is the most comfortable?" I asked.

"Mine is!" Philip announced. Wendy reluctantly agreed.

"Who has the best chair?" "Me!" cried Philip.

"Who eats the most?" "I do!" Philip enthusiastically responded.

By this time, Wendy had figured out how things went, and so when the next question came...

"Who likes your dog the most?" both Philip and Wendy's hands shot up and they cried, "Wo!" Me!

And then I asked the most important question, "Who is the most obedient?"

"Me! Me!" they both shouted.

"...and who is the most naughty?"

"Me! Me!"


According to Wendy, her new foster family has a dog, three rabbits and one elephant. Philip denied the elephant.


So what do you think? It sure looks like these two are getting along quite well!

p.s. when I asked the foster mom, she said that yes, both Wendy and Philip are the most obedient and naughty. Why are we not surprised?

Just One Year

It was one year ago, September 20th 2011, when a baby boy arrived at New Day Foster Home. We knew that Joseph had a heart condition, but we were not expecting him to be quite so blue, his oxygen count quite so low and his condition quite so unstable. Five days later, September 25th, Joseph was admitted into PICU with heart failure.


But that was just the beginning of Joseph's story. His Amazing story had just begun. After two scary but successful surgeries, Joseph was officially on the road to healing October 31st. And now, today? Well... see for your self the difference a year has made on this little guy's life!
Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Snuggle Bugs

Our babies don't need cuddly sleepers to be considered "Snuggle Bugs," but a cuddly new outfit sure doesn't hurt! A visiting family brought us a great big bag of sleepers, new and lightly used. They came at the perfect time, we were recovering from a tummy bug in the CCU and after multiple changes of clothes each day, the drawers were empty and the little ones needed something fresh and new.

These four ladies are bursting with personality.


...and the five upstairs babies are just exploding with cuteness!


Don't you love them?


Ken and Esther looked like little baby dolls in their new sleepers... but Ken wasn't too keen on Ester sharing his nanny's lap. 


And then, "The Twins," who sometimes go by, "老大oldest" and "老二second" around here, looked so cuddly and cozy in their new sleepers we just couldn't help giving them each an extra-big snuggle before bed. Can you guess which one is which?


Thank you so much, Jill and family! We're going to be wearing these all of the time.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Wordless Wednesday: Mollie's Wonder

The Forever Home: Imaginations At Work



Put a child in the sandbox and imaginations take over.  You just never know what they'll make out of it.  Is that a pie Elly?




Emma's still in the prep work stage.  She's dreaming up something really wonderful I"m sure!



Sylvia is just having some fun digging :)


And Mollie.....well.........she's created a special dessert, wanna try some?!  
Monday, September 17, 2012

Life and Trials of the Cute and Adorable

Excerpts from playtime the other day---

This rattle is so much fun! It's one of my favorites


uhmmm, and this pacifier is mine and mine only. I love it.


Wait, how did all of my favorite things get so far away?


They're telling me to get on my what!?! My belly?! Okaaay... I'll try it.


Thanks mama for helping me get onto my belly! I couldn't figure out how to get my second leg behind me.


Finally! Success.
Sunday, September 16, 2012

You Can't Get Me To Smile!

Say what? You and everybody else have been waiting patiently for me to smile since coming home from the hospital?


Well, it's not going to happen anytime soon. Wait. Hey! Are you tickling me...?


Oh, oh! That tickles!


*sigh* ...how happy I am to be home and healthy.


Whoops... did they just catch me smiling? I sure hope that it didn't get caught on film...