Friday, April 29, 2016

Scooters and 'Snow'

These three-wheel-scooters are quite 'the thing' here at New Day.  There are a number of children of staff and volunteers here on campus during the weekdays, and they all have them.  Hudson and Enya are here with their foster-mama all day, so they have had plenty of chance to try them out, and did so well with them that they got their own.


Last week, when the children were waiting for the shadow puppet show to begin, some of the other kids decided to join in the scooter-craze.  Adia knew exactly what to do...


Hey, Adia...come back!


Where did you learn to scoot so fast?


Josiah watched carefully how everyone else was doing this 'scooting thing'...he was especially in awe of how well Hudson was getting around.


Soon he was able to scoot confidently himself.  Good job, Josiah!


Did you notice the white stuff on the grass?  This is what we 'affectionately' call 'Bejing snow' and it's actually the cotton-like seeds of the poplar trees all around the campus.  There is even more of it now than when these pictures were taken.  'Snow' in April!
Wednesday, April 27, 2016

In Memory of Tristan


Monday, April 25, 2016

Introducing...Amelia

Proudly introducing our newest arrival, eight-month-old Amelia...


Amelia arrived on April 19, and immediately set about winning everyone's hearts.


She was warmly welcomed by our volunteers, and her new friend Ronan.


During Evelynn's memorial service, Karen announced that we would be bringing in another child with the same GI disease, from the same organization that Evelynn came to us from.  Amelia is this child, and her name is already on the list for a liver transplant.  Yes, it's scary, to take the risk of loving another child with this serious disease.  


We committed to 'hold onto hope', and that is what we are doing for Amelia.  We are totally committed to loving her and caring for her and hoping for her.  We aren't giving up in the face of discouragement, and Amelia is a demonstration of this determination.  


Amelia is actually the tenth child that we have cared for that has this particular GI disease.  Out of the nine other children, four of them are now home with their forever families, four of them are home with their heavenly Father, and number eight is Marcus, who is here in our CCU, recovering well from his recent liver transplant.


We are so glad to be able to introduce Amelia to you, and we hope that you'll follow her story as it unfolds.

Sunday, April 24, 2016

NDNorth: Pure Cuteness

Clara is a small bundle of pure cuteness. Really, we’re not sure if one can get much cuter!


Isn’t that right, Clara?


Wait, you say you can make yourself even cuter?


You’ll just have to show us!


What’s so funny?


Okay, you got us. You are cute, Clara!


Now, that everyone is in love with you, what would you like to tell your fan club? Oh, you just want to blow us a kiss and sign your autograph? You are too much, Clara!



Friday, April 22, 2016

Tristan the Unstoppable

Tristan has been with us since October last year, and he is awesome.


Despite being in hospital with lung issues quite recently, he is incredibly active and has just learnt to walk.  This boy is an unstoppable bundle of energy!


After he came back from the hospital, it was decided that he should move back upstairs to a more 'calm' environment with the babies, to give him chance to rest and gain strength.  As you can see, Tristan still manages to keep pretty busy.


Tristan does find time for some sweet silliness with his nanny though...




...and to show some tender affection for his 'little sister' Celeste.


Tristan loves to go places, and whenever visitors come by the baby room, he tries to persuade them to take him somewhere!  Now that the weather is warmer, he's able to get out into the backyard more, and he has even mastered walking outdoors.  Do you want to see a video?


We're pretty sure that Tristan is never going to let anything stand in his way.  Hooray for Tristan the Unstoppable!
Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Wordless Wednesday: Hello Ronan


Monday, April 18, 2016

Beautiful Love


The love in these photographs speaks so loudly that this could easily be a 'Wordless Wednesday' post. It was too difficult to pick just one picture though, and it seemed like something so precious should be honored with a few words...


Anna worked here as a cleaner from 2000 until 2009, and when she retired, she and her husband became foster parents.  They've already fostered eight children who are now with their forever families, and currently foster Isaac and Josiah.


Isaac has been with them for five months now.  Anna doesn't know how long she will be his mama for, but for as long as he's with her, this is how much she is loving him.  It's a beautiful thing.

Sunday, April 17, 2016

NDNorth: A Forever Family for Timothy

It was a very special week for a very special boy…this week Timothy (now Timmy!) was adopted by his forever family! We couldn’t be more overjoyed! This is New Day North’s third adoption and we are celebrating that there is one less orphan in the world.

Timothy was one of the first children to join our program in 2014. He was a tiny little thing, and he won our hearts from the very beginning.



Since then, he has grown so much, thanks to all the love he has received from his nannies.


Timothy has a way of bringing joy wherever he goes!



Must be his contagious smile!

And his little quirks…Like his love of balls...



And the way that we can’t keep any socks on him for more than a minute or two...


The way he scoots around is also a big crowd pleaser!




We really will miss you Timothy! But we are overjoyed that you now have a family to love you and cherish you, because that’s what you deserve!


Friday, April 15, 2016

Remembering Evelynn...

On Tuesday afternoon, during the children's nap-time, we held a short memorial for sweet Evelynn, who passed away in the early hours of Sunday morning.  She had only been in our care for a month, and in ICU in the hospital for her final week, so we hadn't had too much chance to get to know her, but the loss of a child is always hard.



A slideshow of pictures of Evelynn played as we listened to Grace read out her memorial card in Chinese.  The memorial ends with the declaration that "still we choose to hold onto hope" and Karen announced that we have another opportunity to do just that; one of the other children being cared for by the organization that Evelynn came to us from will be arriving at New Day very soon.  Another miracle and/or liver transplant to believe and wait and hope for!  By beautiful 'coincidence', the flowers that were purchased for this memorial have a name that means in Chinese...'long life'.  That is what we are choosing, once-again, to hope for.


There is no greater encouragement to the staff here than to be reminded of why we do what we do.  We brought out the beautiful scrapbook that Sarah has been working on, showing old and recent pictures of New Day children that have been adopted.  Without the hope that was given to them through the surgery and care that they received here, many of the children in this scrapbook would not be thriving in their families today.  The work comes with the risk of pain and heart-ache, but it is so worth it!


We finished up with a group creative activity, which was a wonderfully practical way to remember Evelynn and celebrate her life.  Sarah demonstrated how to fold, cut and curl colored paper to make beautiful hyacinth-like flowers.


Unsurprisingly, Karen's flower was the most impressive, and even coordinated with her sweater.


We wrote our own messages and blessings on the paper before we curled it and stuck it to the stem.


A collection of finished flowers...


A sweet little memorial display outside the baby room.  Evelynn's short life will not be forgotten.

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Wordless Wednesday: Spring Fling!