Friday, January 31, 2014

Happy Chinese New Year !

Happy New Year! Happy New Year! 
Happy New Year to you all!  
We are singing; we are dancing.
Happy New Year to you all! 
Xīnnián hǎo ya! Xīnnián hǎo ya!
Zhùhè dàjiā xīnnián hǎo!
Wǒmen chànggē, wǒmen tiàowǔ.
Zhùhè dàjiā xīnnián hǎo!
新年好呀!新年好呀 !
祝贺大家新年好!
我们唱歌,我们跳舞。
祝贺大家新年好

Thursday, January 30, 2014

NDSouth: A New Year Celebration

Happy New Year from New Day South! It is New Year's Eve here and we are all excited to embark upon the "year of the horse" tomorrow.

Chinese New Year is a big holiday in China and everyone travels to their hometown to spend the holiday with their family. Since our nannies are unable to do that since they need to stay and care for our children, we throw them a special New Year party. 

Our party took place on Sunday evening. New Day South is currently rending two apartments for the foster home, one is where the older children / toddlers live and the other one is where the babies reside. It is not too often that all our children are together but this happened Sunday evening. It was a fun time for everyone!

Sally and Selah are becoming fast friends. 


Noelle was soaking up some cuddle time.


Since this is not the apartment Sadie lives in anymore, she loves playing with the toys here.



Beautiful Leila all dressed up for the party.


Sadie and Selah with one of our volunteers.


Playing so nicely!


Leila with one of her favorite nannies. We are so thankful for each and every one of our nannies! They are such a blessing to us and our children.


We have several local volunteers that come regularly. Chris and Charlie love all the attention!


Happy New Year!
Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Wordless Wednesday: New Year Blessings






Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Austyn and the Lollipop

Pictures of a child licking a lollipop.  It doesn't sound like a big deal, all kids like lollipops, right ?

Except, when the child licking the lollipop is Austyn, it's a pretty big deal.

Austyn turned 12 just before Christmas.  He's been at New Day since August and he came here so that we could try to help treat his 'malnourishment due to severe eating difficulties'.  He has gained weight, filled out a little, become happier.

But Austyn has wanted nothing to do with real food.  A bottle is all he has known and any food that was offered to him was just pushed away or ignored.


Somehow, Amy, the foster home manager, discovered that Austyn had an interest in lollipops.  This time Austyn reached for the lollipop, and pulled it towards his mouth.


And he liked it !  The sweetness felt good on his tongue, and he didn't push it away.


With a little help from Samantha, Austyn took more licks of the lollipop.


'Boy enjoys lollipop' - it doesn't sound like big news.  For those of us who know Austyn, or have been following his story, however, it sounds like very good news indeed.  It sounds like the start of a new chapter in Austyn's story.

Monday, January 27, 2014

Cute? Of course I am!

We asked an innocent question to Hudson, "Are you cute?" He was posing and making all sorts of adorable faces, so we couldn't help but ask the rhetorical question. His reply?


"I am!"

And then he made another incredibly adorable face.


Later, after his therapy session, Hudson was being silly and chatting away with his foster mama.


She put his hat on as she bundled him up to go home, but he threatened to take it off until we reassured him that his hat suited him quite nicely.


That pleased our adorable (and maybe a bit vain?) Hudson, and so he wore his hat.


See you tomorrow, silly one!
Sunday, January 26, 2014

Advocacy: Tanner

A Children's Welfare Institute in Inner Mongolia has asked us to help advocate for eleven children in their care. We will be introducing the children one by one on the blog, and ask that you share these posts with others in order to give the children a chance to find their family. All inquiries about adoption can be sent to foster@newdaycreations.com 

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Tanner was born December 5, 2000 and diagnosed with congenital eye abnormalities including amblyopia.


Tanner is attending the local special education school and is in fourth grade. He is an excellent student and has already received many "Three Good Student" awards.

Tanner is considered to be very smart and diligent. He goes to and from school each day by himself and takes care of all of his daily needs. Tanner is also an aspiring actor! In the movie, "At Dawn" he was the principle actor.

Tanner is a handsome boy who will no longer be available for adoption on his fourteenth birthday, December 5, 2014. We hope that his forever family will find him soon!
Saturday, January 25, 2014

NDSouth: A New Look

Can you tell who is hiding behind those lenses? We will give you a clue. He just turned three years old, is a fan of preschool, trucks, and blocks and also loves to give kisses. Any ideas? 

If you guessed Fisher, then you would be right! No, Fisher does not have new glasses, he was just curious to know how he would look with them on. 


How doe he look? Absolutely adorable, is what.


Even when they are on a little crooked.


Since he is borrowing them, he is being very careful. We know the owner of the glasses appreciates that!


Doesn't he look distinguished and grown up?


You sure do, Fisher. But we don't want you to grow up too fast. It is fun to pretend though, isn't it?
Friday, January 24, 2014

Finally Growing Out

About six months ago Ella was admitted into the hospital for a GI procedure. While she was at the hospital she went into respiratory distress and it was touch-and-go but they did the procedure anyways and Ella has not had any (dangerously) close calls since! 

But, while she was at the hospital, Ella got a haircut. A shave, actually. 

This week, finally finally her hair has grown long enough for pigtails again, and we're not the only ones happy about it! 


Leah and Laura, two of Ella's nannies, were excited to do up Ella's hair, and took such care to do so.




Doesn't she look lovely? We're so proud of Ella and her fighter's spirit. She could have given up long ago, but with lots of love and care, she knows that she's special to us and so she keeps on fighting. 


We love you, Ella! 

Visiting Tessa Joy

Exciting News! Anna Rose has been matched with a forever family and will be called Tessa Joy! We're excited for our little miracle baby and hope that her family will be able to travel for her soon.

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Tessa Joy spends most of her time with her foster family in their apartment just a quick ride (via car, cart, bike...) from the New Day facility. There, she plays and learns and gets cuddled by her foster mama and baba, and affectionately terrorizes their little dog named Zhuangzhuang.

I went to visit Tessa the other day, and she shyly met me at the door.


Tessa Joy's foster mama loves her little one dearly, and, along with us all, thinks that she's positively gorgeous. So, seeing the camera, the foster mama quickly changed Tessa into a bright sweater.


Tessa isn't a big talker yet. Her voice is the loudest when calling for the dog, and otherwise she just says 'Ma' and 'Ba.' But she does have a sweet little personality and enjoys cuddles, puppy dogs and dancing.

Smiles can be hard to get, though...


...but only for someone other than her foster mama or baba! A quick peck on her cheek and a 'Smile, Tessa!' was all it took for Tessa Joy to light up in a bright smile.




After putting on her bright pink sweater, Tessa lost no time in finding her foster baba and beloved puppy. She didn't even wait for her sleeve to be rolled up.


 Ah, there he is! And what's wrong with my pesky sleeve?


Tessa's foster dad was watching some TV, and when Tessa saw that it wasn't her favorite (anything with dance-worthy music) she figured that it was cuddle-with-baba time.



Foster mama and Zhuangzhuang squeezed in for a picture too! Tessa's foster parents are going to treasure this when Tessa joins her forever family.


 After the pictures, Tessa went to the balcony to check on her goldfish.


And then her foster mama changed the channel to cartoons, but no one was singing or dancing so she just watched while waiting for her mama to finish making baozi (steamed buns, one of Tessa's favorite foods!) for lunch.


Thanks for the visit, Tessa Joy! May we come again soon?
Thursday, January 23, 2014

NDSouth: Selah

2014 has meant new children at New Day South! We have already had two new children arrive this month and on Tuesday evening, we welcomed our third, Selah. 


Selah is a brave, beautiful little girl with big brown eyes. She had a long day of travel Tuesday from her orphanage and then had to say goodbye to her caretakers. Selah has gone through many changes in the last few days, more changes than any almost 2 year old should ever have to go through. In her eyes, you can see sadness and pain, but we also see hope.



We are excited to see how love will make a difference in the life of this little lady. It will take her time to trust and love, but we know in time she will. We can't wait to see that frown turned into a smile and those eyes filled with joy and love.


Please keep this little one in your thoughts as she adjusts to her new home at New Day South. Welcome Selah, we are so happy you are here!

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Wordless Wednesday: Poppy's Bear Hat


Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Sarah Lyn Joins In

Lillian, our speech therapist, recently gave a training to all of the foster families. 


A couple of the foster mama's brought their little ones with them... can you spot Hudson in the crowd?


Sarah Lyn came as well...


...and ended up being the best student in the room!


She's a pretty chatty little girl with no problem communicating. She'll be starting preschool soon, which means that she should begin picking up some English. That, along with her new sign-language vocabulary will make her TRI-lingual! Not bad for a two-year old.