Monday, May 30, 2016

Backyard Face-Painting!

This Saturday our backyard was packed full of people and fun activities for our Sponsor Party (to honor and thank our Chinese sponsors).  We have many, many photographs, and there will be a big scrapbook of pictures coming soon, but we thought it would be fun to give you a glimpse at what was happening in just one little corner of the backyard...


Abby, our preschool teacher, was doing face-painting.  The kids really enjoyed having simple pictures painted on their cheeks; although you can't see it clearly in this picture, Jack chose 'a car', and was very pleased with how it looked.


What happened next was a little unexpected...Jack decided that he wanted to try his own hand at face-painting!  Abby was such a good sport and let him loose with the yellow paint.


Adia also thought that it would be fun to paint her teacher's face.  She took the whole thing very seriously.


Adia didn't want Taylor to feel left out, so she painted her face too.


When Hudson came along, he added his own designs to Abby's creatively-painted face.


A few more carefully considered dots of paint...


...and then they both had a look in the mirror.  Hudson thought that it was awesome.


High-five, Hudson.  Here's to backyard parties, face-paints, and fun preschool teachers...


...and big, face-paint-smearing hugs!

Sunday, May 29, 2016

Welcome to Your New Home!

As we mentioned in our last blog post, we just opened up our Special Needs Care and Training Center! Today we’d like to share a little more about our very special addition to this home...meet Frank!


He has adjusted quite quickly to life in his new home...


Bathtime...


Storytime...


And tummy time...


He is so much fun to have around! He loves to laugh and smile...blow kisses and wave “bye bye”!


He also like to show off all that he can do...from rolling a ball to moving the buttons and knobs on his “cause and effect” toys!


With all this attention from so many doting adults, we’re a bit worried that Frank might get spoiled. But, that shouldn’t be an issue for long. In the next week or so, we will be bringing home a big sister for him. Sorry, Frank...you won’t be an only child for long. But we think that you will love your big sister as much as we love you!


Frank stills needs sponsors. Sponsor him here!
Friday, May 27, 2016

Introducing...Isabella, Elisabeth and Abel

The average age of our children here at New Day Foster Home has just dropped a little more; right after Cassie's arrival at the end of April, aged just 3 weeks, we had another  very little one arrived, and then two more babies this week.  So many precious tiny ones...we had better introduce them all to you!


Isabella is now our youngest; she was also about 3 weeks old when she arrived, and she's just over a month old now.  We're referring to her on our website as 'Isabella B' (for Beijing) to distinguish her from the Isabella already at New Day South.


She has all the precious brand-new-baby characteristics...



Isabella was born with orthopedic issues, and it will be our honor to provide the surgery and therapy that she needs until the day that she is adopted.  She is much-loved by her nannies already!


Then this week we had TWO new arrivals.  First, Elisabeth, who is almost 5 months old and has GI issues.  This is the moment that she first arrived, meeting our Vice Director, Grace:


Inside she met our other Grace, the Medical Director, and her new nanny.  Everyone thought she was very sweet and huggable!


Welcome, sweet Elisabeth.  Your job here is to drink plenty of milk, to grow big and strong ready for the surgery you'll need, and to soak up all the love and tender care that you're going to be getting.


We think you're going to do just great!


Finally, we have a new handsome young man in the house...


Very pleased to meet you, Abel.


Abel is nearly 6 months old, and he was born with a heart defect.  How sweet is this little face?!


Yes, he is small for his age, and very thin; the result not of neglect by his orphanage but of his heart condition.


Don't worry, little guy.  We'll take really good care of you.


Drink up and grow strong, Abel.  We can't wait to watch you grown and fill-out, and to see the miracles that love is going to do in your life.

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Wordless Wednesday: Jewel's Nature Lesson



NDNorth: Special Needs Care and Training Center Is Up and Running!

We are thrilled to announce the opening of our Special Needs Care and Training Center! We have been busy these last few weeks getting everything just right so that we can bring a few new children into their new home.




The Special Needs Care and Training Center is our own facility in the capital city of Hohhot and will be used to provide care for children with long-term special needs from locations around the province.  At the same time, the Training Center will provide training for local staff to be equipped as care-givers, coaches for care-givers, and coordinators for projects around the province.


On Thursday, May 19th, we brought our first little one to his new home! Frank is a delight to have here and his laughter can be heard throughout the whole house. Having him here has really transformed this apartment into a home! (More to come about Frank soon.)


We also hired our first nanny for the training center. Meet Lillian...She is so natural with children and very teachable. Looks like she and Frank will get along wonderfully!


We plan to bring another little one in soon. Stay tuned as we continue to bring new children and nannies into our Training Center!


Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Therapy Tuesday: Josiah in Speech Therapy

Finally, a Therapy Tuesday post!  Sorry, it's been a while...
We hope to make up for a lack of updates from the therapy rooms with a super-cute video of Josiah in the Speech Therapy room.  It's from a few weeks ago (but hey, uploading videos is not always easy around here).



Look out for the heart-melting smiles at the end!
Friday, May 20, 2016

Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About...Child Sponsorship

Continuing our series of 'everything you ever wanted to know' posts (we have already covered adopting from New Dayfoster families and the children's names), this one is all about our Child Sponsorship program.

We hear about the 'sponsors' - do you mean the people who give money to New Day Foster Home?

The words 'sponsor', 'supporter' and 'donor' do sometimes get used interchangeably, but the Child Sponsorship program is a special way of financially supporting the work that we do here.  Individuals, groups and organizations can make donations to the foster home, either on a one-off or regular basis, but the Child Sponsorship program is a way of contributing to the costs of caring for a specific child every month.


What does the money get used for?

It gets used to buy food for the children, and clothes, and medical supplies, and preschool supplies...lots of important stuff!  We are blessed to receive many donations, from local groups and from overseas, but there are always additional things that need to be purchased and paid for.  An exciting way that the money gets spent is on the medical exams needed for adoption paperwork!

What about salaries? Does the money go towards employing American staff?

Part of the money raised through the Child Sponsorship Program helps to pay the salaries of our local staff; nannies, medical staff, teachers and management staff.  Employing local workers means that our children get excellent care, and local people get a meaningful, stable job in a good environment.  You can see all our amazing staff on the website. Towards the bottom of the page you may notice a 'Foreign Staff' section; these guys do not get a salary from the Foster Home and are self-funded.  In addition to the foreign staff pictured, many others help the work of New Day Foster Home on a volunteer basis, both onsite and online.


How does it work? Do we get to pick who we sponsor?

New sponsors start by choosing a child from the sponsorship page on our website, which clearly shows the children who are not yet fully sponsored.  Here at New Day Beijing, our new arrivals Isabella B, Cassie and Amelia need sponsors, and some of the other kids do not yet have all of the sponsors required to be considered 'fully sponsored'.  Also, many of the children at New Day South and most of the children at New Day North still need sponsors.  You can choose who you think is the cutest, the one that most moves your heart, the one with the same name as your brother...the choice is yours.

So, if no-one signs up to sponsor a child, what happens?

Don't worry, a child with no sponsors will be cared for just as excellently as a child who is fully sponsored.  The Child Sponsorship Program helps to ensure that we are able to continue caring for all the children.


The big question - how much does it cost?!

Each sponsorship costs $35 per month, and donations can be made on a monthly, quarterly, semi-annual or annual basis.  You can send a check, make a bank transfer or use PayPal.  Donations are tax-deductible in the USA.  

How long do I need to commit to sponsor for?  What happens when the child I'm sponsoring gets adopted?

You can stop the sponsorship at any time, although many decide to continue until the child gets adopted.  We give sponsors the happy news when the child they were sponsoring has been adopted, and offer them the option to transfer their sponsorship to another child, if they would like.


What's in for me?! Besides the joy of knowing that I'm helping a child, of course...

When you sign up to start sponsoring a child, you will get an initial sponsor packet which includes a photograph and information.  Then, every month you'll get monthly email updates about 'your child' (written by their nanny or foster-mama and translated into English), along with a new picture of them. Just by following this blog (and our Facebook, and Instagram news) you can get glimpses of all of the kids and their little personalities, and follow their progress, but the email updates have more details and cute stories!


Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Wordless Wednesday: Our Beautiful Flower


Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Transformation Tuesday: Levi

We just heard that Levi will be leaving soon to join his forever family, so we wanted to take a last opportunity to post about this handsome little guy.



He's been with us since last September, and we've loved having him here these past 8 months.  His bio said that he's a 'sweet little guy who loves to smile.  He has big eyes and likes to suck his own toes!' - so cute!



Levi (or 'Henry', as he was originally named) settled in well to life at New Day, enjoying the toys in the playroom, making lots of friends, and winning the hearts of his nannies.


It wasn't all fun and games though.  Levi was born with GI issues; he had emergency surgery soon after he was found as a three-day-old baby, and he had surgeries in October and December last year. His nannies took excellent care of him though, and his December surgery wasn't until the very end of the month, so he was able to be here to celebrate Christmas!


In March we celebrated Levis's first birthday, having learnt the previous month that he had been matched with his forever family.


Now that he's one, Levi is taking the whole standing/walking thing pretty seriously.  Good job, sweet boy.


So, Levi, high five!  It's been a joy to know you, and we know that you have a wonderful life ahead of you with a family of your very own.