Children's Hope International

No Longer a Waiting Child...

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 13:58:00 +0000

We received this note from Scott and Winn Castagno along with before and after photos of the darling Lottie Lee C.

Hi Mary & Tina,
Here's a before and after of our sweet little Lottie she has been home almost 6 months! We are amazed by her growth & transformation! She is truly a gift! Thank you for all you do! We will definitely be adopting again!

Scott & Winn

On TV Tonite!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Tue, 13 Aug 2013 20:06:00 +0000

The little couple plus their son, Will, return to TV tonight (Tuesday, August 13) on TLC.

Check local listing for time and channel.

Will came home through CHI.

Analise and Grace-Anna...

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 20:43:00 +0000

CHI has helped us bring our family together from around the world. Analise (born in Ethiopia) is now 4 and Grace-Anna (from China) is 3. Both girls are doing fantastic. Analise is the smartest little thing I've ever seen. And if left to her own devices, will rule the world by 5. She is the best big sister we could have ever prayed for. Grace-Anna is working through her blindness. She goes to physical therapy 2x a week and has had 3 surgeries on her eyes and another coming up next week. She is the toughest, yet sweetest little thing. She has been through more than we could ever imagine in her young life. God has BIG plans for these little ones. We, as a family, are the most blessed to have been chosen to take this journey with them. Praise God for his mercy and grace!

I just wanted to communicate with CHI and let you all know how we are doing and to say "Thank you" always for what you do for the fatherless. God bless you!!

Love,

Jenny Sullivan

Bright Hope Kitchen - Almost finished.

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Mon, 05 Aug 2013 15:20:00 +0000

Here's the original "kitchen."
We've come a log way from this point.

"The ceiling work for the dining hall will be expected to be finished this week. And we plan to put the iron sheet for the kitchen. There will be another layer on the floor before finalizing the work. Please enjoy the pictures. "

Mahlet Girma

Keep Hope Alive, Ethiopia

The kitchen is enclosed now and supplies are
protected from outside elements.

The kitchen is enclosed and work is in progress to
finish the ceiling and floor.

Mahlet Girma

Keep Hope Alive, Ethiopia

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 15:02:00 +0000

Ana , Melody and Maria with Lele, Jinhua and Beibei at Alenah's Home, our CHI foster home. Ana said she came to China as a result of the email and a talk CHI did at the reunion 2012. We are really ready for our adopted children to come to volunteer at our home! Welcome Email mary.house@chidrenshope.net to learn how you can visit Alenah's Home.

Meet Mimi...

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Mon, 29 Jul 2013 19:40:00 +0000

Mimi is six years old. She is a lovely girl and likes to smile. She likes to play with various toys, and especially likes to play house, where she can feed a baby doll. She likes to communicate with other children during activities. Sometimes she can not express her ideas, but she likes to interact with her teacher.

Mimi's cleft lip and palate have been surgically repaired. She likes all kinds of activities,especially singing. She is somewhat behind other kids her age, but she is catching up the best she can. Mimi can be adopted by married couples or single moms.

Email mary.house@childrenshope.net for more information.

Watch Mimi's video now and hear her little song.

_____________________________________________________________________________

THANK YOU from India...

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Wed, 24 Jul 2013 18:20:00 +0000

One of our kind-hearted Partners in Hope received this message, along with the photo, from Pastor Paparao in India:

Greetings from CHIF-India Branch. I take this opportunity to thank you so much for your donation. Your donation was used today to provide food to 135 school children. All the children were so very happy for the food they received. All the children prayed for you by your name. Thank you so much fro your compassionate donation which is a great blessing to the children here in our rural area school.

We have started and running free schools where the children are receiving free education. Presently, in all our schools, more than 6000 children are receiving free education. As and when we receive donation from the kind people like you, we are conducting food programs in our free schools. All these children are from low income groups, backward class families, Homeless families, untouchable families and their parents are not able to provide sufficient food for these children. This is due to their deep poverty. Thank you for your kindness.
Please find that I am enclosing some photographs of this food program.

Kind regards to you,

Pastor. Paparao
CHIF - India Branch

not just talk...

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Wed, 03 Jul 2013 18:14:00 +0000

Bonita Lim

CHI adoptive mom Bonita Lim lives in Shanghai with her husband and two adopted special needs sons. Bonita is the founder of Brown Rice Designs, a fashion design company Bonita explains that "Some families in Shanghai do not have incomes enough for basic needs like housing, food, education, medical expenses and heating. Brown Rice's main purpose is to provide opportunity, independence and hope to those families that need it most.Brown Rice provides employment, microfinancing, equipment, training and support to people whose personal circumstances make it near impossible to otherwise work. Our Livelihood Program aims to enable individuals to become self sufficient businesses within two years.

Zhang Yali

"When Bonita learned of Zhang Yali, a 13 year old girl whose destitute parents brought her to Beijing from their hometown in rural Hebei Province, she took action via Brown Rice. Yali suffers from leukemia, and the family didn’t have the money for medical care. Her case is not unusual in China, where funds for care of children suffering from birth defects and disease fall far short of the need. What is unusual is the story of how a good Samaritan who is a Shanghai businesswoman gave Zhang a new lease on life.

Yali has finished the third of the eleven chemotherapy treatments required to enable her survival without a bone marrow transplant. “All talk, no action,” Bonita said, describing the numbers of people who say they want to help such charity works but never do anything. “I am always told that one person single-handedly can’t ameliorate the need. But if everyone took that view, the world would never get better.”

You're invited! Video Visit to Alenah's Home

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 16:44:00 +0000

Our staff at Alenah's Home, our CHI Foster home, want to invite everyone to visit and work with the children receiving love and physical therapy there.
Watch the video to see what awaits!

Email Mary.House@childrenshope.net
to plan your visit!

Helping at Alenah's...

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 15:25:00 +0000

Alenah's Home is our CHI foster home where orphans receive physical therapy and, equally important, individualized attentio and the loving care needed to grow and thrive.

Right now there are about 4 mothers and daughters from the U.S., volunteering for about two weeks at our Alenah’s Home in Beijing. It happens frequently and we would welcome a chance to tell you more about it.

Email mary.house@childrenshope.net to learn more..

Alenah's Home on FaceBook!

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 17:17:00 +0000

Click on the photo to see what's happening at Alenah's Home in China.

Facebook is back in China and Alenah's Home, our own CHI foster home, has its own page!

You may not be able to read all the text but the pictures are definitely worth a thousand words (at least!)

Click on the photo to take a look.

UPDATE ON OUR WENDY FAITH ...

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:57:00 +0000

Wendy Faith has learned to make delicious dumplings from

her foster mom.

So many people were intrigued by Wendy, our little girl who celebrated her 6th birthday this week. Wendy is currently with a foster family under the supervision of Love without Boundaries. Her foster mom calls her Sunshine in a Body!

Click on the logo to see
Wendy Faith's Birthday Blog

Love Without Boundaries posted a wonderful Birthday Blog for Wendy (whom they call Faith). They have known this child for quite a while and are eager to help her find a family.

Click the video button to see the wonderful Wendy Faith in action. That girl can dance!

Check it all out and email Mary.House@childrenshope.net to learn how single moms or married couples can adopt this little sunbeam.

more surgery for Haodi...

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:50:00 +0000

Haodi is growing in body and spirit as she continues to

travel from China to Shriners' Burn Hospital in Boston for

reconstructive surgery

Sheng Zheng Wei, nicknamed Haodi, from Shandong Province, China, and ‘adopted’ by many in America returned to China from Shriners' Hopital Burn Unit in Boston...once again.

Her first trip to Boston in 2007 saved her life. This current visit to Shriners Burn Hospital continued the surgery needed to make necessary changes for Haodi’s life and looks. Haodi was less than 1-year-old when a tipped pot of boiled noodles poured down her face in 2006. The burns were so severe, that her neck and chest fused together making it extremely difficult to breath and eat. There was a national outcry for help in the media and on the internet in China.

With the support of donors, Children’s Hope was able to fly Haodi and her mom to Boston on the last day of 2006. It took expert surgery at Shriner’s Hospital to keep Haodi alive. After nine months of operations and therapy, Haodi and her mom were able to go home to family in China. The family knew however, Haodi would have to return to continue for several rounds of reconstructive surgery. In March (2008), Children’s Hope flew Haodi and her mom to Boston for a second trip, as well as finding volunteer families to assist with transportation and housing. The former visits were a success in literally saving Haodi’s life and working toward restoration of her face.

The care at Shriners is free, but there are transportation and everyday expenses for Haodi and her mom while in Boston.

To help cover those costs fro Haodi and other suffering children, please click here.

Rescue in Ethiopia...

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:50:00 +0000

Our staff in Ethiopia learned of an orphanage where funds had been misappropriated and the children were left pretty much on their own.

Two CHI workers traveled over 6 hours on rocky roads to bring supplies. Our workers bought milk, food and diapers and stayed until all the children had been bathed, had diaper and clothes changes, food to eat and milk to drink. They were allowed to take Tamrat, an exceedingly weak baby, back to the CHI House of Hope. “We left the city with Tamrat at 8pm in the evening as there is no hotel around to stay at. We have been praying all the way as the road is very rough and there was no light on the streets. Besides, Tamrat was very weak and has been suffering from stomach ache. After three hours, we have arrived at Hosana city, which has a hotel. We spent the night at the hotel but Tamrat didn’t sleep all night…. The Lord applied His mercy over us and Tamrat became better and better after 3pm. We started our trip again 7am in the morning and arrived in Addis around 11:30 am. When we arrived at House of Hope, all the nannies and staff welcomed Tamrat with love. We are writing this all as we feel very happy to be part of this blessing.”

We can all be part of this blessing . Get started now.

Click the button to help in Ethiopia

Our birthday girl!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 16:13:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7mIYlX4rM0&feature=youtu.be

Today is Wendy's birthday.

The best gift she can wish for is a family of her own. Could you give her that birthday gift? Please share this message. You can see Wendy's birthday dance at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7mIYlX4rM0&feature=youtu.be

Wendy can be adopted by single moms or married couples.

Email Mary.House@childrenshopeint.org to learn more.

Another 2013 graduate...

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 14:22:00 +0000

Proud parents Paul and Sally Peterson of Bourne, Texas want to share their happiness and pride in daughter Emily Clay Peterson's graduation from Bourne High School. Emily was adopted in 1995.

Yay, Emily!!!!

Chocolate sales for YES School in India...

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 17:12:00 +0000

My wife Alice and I adopted our son Prasad from Paparao about 15 years ago at age 4. He is now turning 19 and is graduating from high school. The time has gone so fast!

The sign at the top says FREE EDUCATION. The sign at the
bottom says Thanks to donors who support the YES school.

For the past 7 years, we have raised most of the money we've sent to support the YES school by having a chocolate stand at different locations in our current hometown of Fairfield, Iowa. The people in this town have been extraordinarily supportive of YES! by buying chocolate but also by sponsoring one or more children for $25 a year. Prasad wants to go to college in Oregon so we are moving back to our house in the Portland area at the end of June. I plan to continue to raise money to support YES in our town of West Linn, Oregon.

It addition, it is a VERY fortunate thing for the YES school that Ella Craig and her mother, Joy (with support from dad, Jim and brother Henry), want to continue the chocolate sales here in Fairfield at the farmer's market where they sell flowers etc. from their farm each week. Ella is a wonderful young lady who has helped me sell chocolate many times through the years and, actually, is better at it then I am! Her mother Joy has indicated that she will support Ella by helping with the ordering of the chocolate, sending 'thank you' emails, helping Ella send the monthly donation and fundraising check(s) to CHI Partners in Hope.

Ed, Alice and Prasad Monk

Fairfield, Iowa

an update from Alenah's House...

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 15:54:00 +0000

Alenah's House is our CHI foster home where children receive physical therapy and, equally important, a sense of family love. Here's the latest from one of the volunteers:

Hi Everyone,

Annu and I went to Alenah's today and were lucky enough to find all the children playing out the back. It is a little late tonight, so I shall just pass on some quick notes.

We're hoping to get some paper to do activities with the kids. I looked for some at home tonight to pass to you to take but couldn't find any. I will try to pick some up this week and get it to her but if any of you have any at home it may be handy to take it in.

Little HuiHui with one of the Ayis at Alenah' House

Hui Hui was wearing the large braces on both of her arms today but Annu removed them and kept Hui Hui happy and distracted with her big box of bricks and she never scratched herself.

While Annu was giving XiXi lunch today she had an epileptic fit. Neither of us knew she had epilepsy and thought it was important to pass on to the rest of you. It did not last for many minutes but was a little worrying as Annu had just put some food in her mouth and there was the risk she might choke. We got her out of her chair quickly so her head and neck were in a better position in case she had food still in her throat. We then called in an Ayi who came and held Xi Xi on her lap until the seizure was over. Annu is hoping to learn if Xi Xi has any medicine she should take when she has a seizure or is it not available to her? We keep hoping for progress on getting Ru Huan a wheelchair. I know many emails have expressed how much we would like to see her have this equipment.

More later.....

Running for Bright Hope School

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Mon, 03 Jun 2013 18:30:00 +0000

My company Reed Elsevier created a fitness challenge about 5 years ago, designed to encourage its employees to get active around the first of the year. In this competition, teams of 5 are formed. Those teams can choose to log miles running, swimming, biking, or walking. Around 80 or so teams competed for three months (Feb 1 - April 30). During this time, each team logged their respective miles, the winning team in each respective category as of April 30 was awarded $1000 donated to their favorite charity.

Kate Townley got me involved in the Ethiopia Bright Hope School initiative about 4 years ago. I have been passionate about the effort at the school ever since. I enjoy running so it was a natural fit for me to join this competition and rally our team towards the cause at Bright Hope School. Over the course of the three months, we set a goal of running 2500 miles, about 39 miles per person each week. However, we faced some pretty stiff competition and had to reset our goals to stay with the competition. At the end of April, we ran just shy of 2800 miles, averaging a little more than 42 miles per person each week. Towards the end of the competition, we were all very tired, many of us hurting and aching in some way. The vision of sending money to a community that was very much less fortunate than us drove us to push the extra mile to win this thing. We even had a couple of guys who essentially ran a marathon (26 miles) the last 24 hours to ensure that we would win.

It was an enjoyable and tiring competition, but one that we are glad to have done in an effort to do for one community what we wish we could do for the whole country.

- Brad Dolesh
Bozeman, Montana

a day at Alenah's House...

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Thu, 30 May 2013 18:05:00 +0000

Alenah's House is our CHI foster home where staff and
volunteers provide children with physical therapy and a
loving sense of family.

A volunteer at Alenah's House reports:
This morning we volunteers were invited to join the ayis taking the younger children for a walk. It was lovely to see all the children and ayis enjoying the walk. We walked past the Green Tea House and stopped on a quiet side street where the children got a chance to sit down on a blanket for a rest and later on have a drink and snack. We then took turns walking some of the other children in the push chairs .We walked back in time for lunch, it was getting very hot outside at this point too.

Little John waited eight years to find his forever family.

Back at Alenah’s the children had lunch and I started feeding the little frail boy with muscle cramps, but it was very difficult. I asked an ayi if I was doing the right thing. It was really painful to watch him eat and being fed but he does really enjoy his food. We were surprised that he ate a full bowl of noodles!! I hope he carries on and manage to put a bit of weight on!!

We had some very good news today about John and Li Tao. They have been adopted and we got to see photos and letter of their families. It had us in tears seeing the letters written to John on his 9 th birthday from his family. We are so pleased for John who has been waiting so long for his forever family!!

graduation news!

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Tue, 28 May 2013 20:13:00 +0000

From Lisa and Patrick Ercolano, Baltimore MD:

We adopted this beautiful girl from Changshu SWI (Jiangsu) in December, 1994 with the help of Dwyatt and Melody.

Juliet is now 18 and graduating from high school. She is truly a gift from God and a blessing to all she comes in contact with. Thank you for bringing her into our lives.

more graduation news...

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Thu, 23 May 2013 14:30:00 +0000

Elise and Richard Sivcovich of Ballwin, Missouri want everyone to know how proud they are of their daughter Caroline who graduated high school this year. Caroline was adopted from China in 1996. She plans to continue her education, majoring in biology with a concentration in genetic research.

Congratulations to Caroline. We wish you God's continued blessings!

Orphanage Reunion Planned

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:24:00 +0000

Winn Castagno wants to share her happiness AND get in touch with all the families who have adopted from Weinan Orphanage-

"Lottie has been home for 2.5 months! She is AMAZING!! we just adore her & love her so very much! Are there more Weinan families? We are planning a Weinan reunion next June (our group is already making plans) and I wanted to make sure we include everyone!"

If you have adopted from Weinan, please email Mary.House@ChildrensHope.net and we'll make the connection.

Forward to the future...with the FBI

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:37:00 +0000

Cindy and Roger Bouwkamp want to tell all our CHI friends and family how proud they are of their daughter Brie who graduated high school this month.

" We adopted our daughter Brie WuYun in 1996 from Kunming when Children's Hope was China's Children.She is a funny, smart and beautiful girl.We wanted to share her photos and what a testimony that cleft lips can be very minor special needs.We have adopted 5...3 from China and 2 from Haiti. Brie was our first and is an inspiration. She is starting college to eventually become an FBI agent."

Helping Ethiopian Students

noreply@blogger.com (Children's Hope International) — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:24:00 +0000

Good news for the poor students at Bright Hope School in Addis. The new kitchen underway which will allow about 500 of the poorer children of the district around the Leper Hospital to receive one free meal a day. It had been stopped for lack of funds but, thanks to PARTNERS(!) we can now complete the building. But don’t be disappointed that you didn’t get to help on such a great project! We are still in need of funds for stoves, tables, cabinets and chairs. You can help with the equipment and help transform a community!