Sometimes, a picture really says a thousand words...

Today I thought you'd enjoy a little collection of the smiles emerging at the
cleft home. You can really tell that the babies really have come out of their
shell and feel at home--which is just what we want!

This is Jon...he tends to be a little shy at first, b
ut once you get him going he's all smiles!

Do you like our new seats? We sure do!

This is Jenna...who used to be very serious and rarely smiled.
You can tell that she has fully recovered from her pneumonia!

Can you believe this is just a few days after surgery?
The resilience of these children is awe-inspiring.

Becca is a bright-eyed one!
(This is from before her lip repair surgery...
we'll have post-pictures soon!)

Wren has outgrown her nickname!

The nannies used to call Wren “Little Tiny Bit” because she was one of the smallest babies, but she has put on so much weight that the name no longer fits her.

Wren is no longer "little bit" but "little Xue" which means "little snow"

The title of “Little Tiny Bit” was given to Jack, the newest arrival. We’re happy that Wren has outgrown this name, and we hope that Jack outgrows it soon too!

Introducing our new "little bit", Jack.

To have someone rejoice at all your firsts!

Shannon’s the star of the week…she’s very excitable and is learning new things every day. She can now sit on her own, and stand up (with some help).

In our post at the beginning of April, we said that we wanted to see some of the older babies crawling soon. Well, we reached that goal! Shannon's the first one on the move! As you can see, our head nanny, Shao Mei, is very proud of her!

Look out, world, here I come!

Thank you for your financial gifts which allow these precious children to have loving nannies who rejoice and cheer when they learn a new skill. We believe every child deserves this kind of support and encouragement. If you would like to help make this a reality for more cleft orphans, please visit our main website at www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/sponsorclefthomechild

Introducing Our Home Manager

We’d like you to meet the people responsible for the smooth running of the Anhui Cleft Healing Home. So every so often we’ll feature on of them in our blog. First and foremost is our Home Manager, Zhang Ming.

Zhang Ming is the Anhui Province Regional Director and has worn many hats over the years for LWB. Among his recent jobs he has been Manager for Mobile Medical Van, Foster Care Manager & Education Manager for Dingyuan, Luan, Fuyang, & XiaoXian programs, 2006 Cleft Trip to Hefei Manager, and Anhui Children's Hospital Liason. He has given up some of his other manager duties and is now focusing on being the Anhui Province Regional Director and the Cleft Healing Home Manager.

Caitlin, baby Jenna, Sandi and Zhang Ming

He put in many, many hour over the past few
months getting the home ready for the babies. He acted as our general contractor to remodel the home to meet the babies’ needs. He’s shopped for flooring, paint, kitchen appliances, furniture and rugs – just to list a few. He went out to pick up paint for the home in the snow storms that swept through Anhui around Chinese New Year. He coaxed workers to return early from their holidays so that the home could be ready on time. He also found all of the wonderful nannies that we now have working in our home!

When we were in China shopping for our third day in a row, I just had to ask: “Zhang Ming, do you LIKE shopping?” He was being so much more patient than my husband would have ever been! He chuckled and said shyly “Not really.” He is a little camera shy as well, and prefers to be the one behind the camera rather than in front of it. But here are a few pictures that we were able to catch him in.







Zhang Ming is married and has one son, a delightful little boy whose name was too hard for me to pronounce, so he gave himself the English name of Simba. Zhang Ming is a true asset to our program in China, and we are so grateful for hi s many hours of work helping us help the children!




Simba, with a LWB Volunteer











Zhang Ming's wife with Jon

Kyle and Becca travel to ACH for surgery

Last week, both Kyle and Becca, two of our bigger babies, traveled to Anhui Children's Hospital to receive cleft lip surgery. We know their presence is missed at the cleft home, but everyone is very excited to see their new smiles!



Don't you just love Becca's bow and both of their wide grins?



Bye for now! Next time you see us, we'll have our new smiles!

"I want to help!" and learning to eat new foods after surgery

Kyle really likes to eat! And we like that, because a fat baby is a happy baby.

Sometimes, he thinks the nannies are taking too long to feed him, and so he likes to try and help!

"Oh...just let me DO it already!"

Xiao Xiao just had surgery last week, and Shao Mei is patiently helping him learn how to eat with his new mouth.

He makes a bit of a mess, but we trust that he’ll learn how to use his new mouth very quickly.

The "bad" habits that we love!

With every week that passes, the family-like environment of the cleft home grows stronger. The babies are becoming more and more comfortable all the time, and have become selective and demanding! While this may make it harder to keep them happy, we are VERY glad to hear about their “bad” habits.

Ben now only falls asleep in the arms of his nannies—

he likes to be fed, held, and patted as

he drifts off to slumber land.

Becca also likes to be rocked to sleep, and some

nights, she will only let Nanny Zhang Ning do it!

All of the babies are learning how to attract the attention of their nannies.

John is happy and content as long as you keep speaking to him…

but as soon as you try to hold other papers, he cries hard!

SWEET NEW SMILE

Our first baby to have surgery has returned to the cleft home, while she waits for her friend to be discharged from Anhui Children’s Hospital.

Doesn’t she look tickled pink to be back?

Our home manager reports that she can lift her head while lying on her tummy on the carpet. She can hold toys with both hands. She got two teeth this week and she is still happy! She is babbling and likes you to speak to her. Her repaired lip will help to improve her language ability. Thank you to her surgical sponsors for giving her this gift!

Stay tuned for more new smiles shortly!

IT’S A BOY!

We have a new arrival at the Anhui Cleft Healing Home, a little boy who we have named “Jack” He was born the end of February and arrived at our home April 7^th. Could he be any cuter?

Jack is in need of two baby sponsors to help support him in the home as he gains weight and grows big enough for surgery. In fact, all but one of our babies still need at least one sponsor.

If you would like to help in this way, please visit http://www.lovewithoutboundaries.com/SponsorCleftHomeChild.cfm to make a difference in one little child’s life.

Baby Exercise Time

Time to get these babies up and moving! We had some Love Without Boundaries volunteers visit the cleft healing home, and while they were there they did a baby exercise class of sorts! Thank you to Arlene, Maire, Julie and Helen for demonstrating the benefits of tummy time, practice sitting up and playing with toys. As our babies all come to us from orphanages, they are developmentally behind, which is to be expected. A little side benefit (which is really NOT so little after all) of being in our foster home is that these babies will get a chance to catch up on some of their motor skills. In the few weeks that they have been with us, I can already see a difference in their strength. More babies are holding their heads steadily, reaching for toys and even holding their heads off the floor.


Come on, you can do it!



This is a different view of the world!



See he can lift his head!


Now this one is REALLY advanced!
Keep practicing guys! We want to see you crawling!



Sandi Glass
Cleft Healing Home Coordinator
Love Without Boundaries
"Every Child Counts"
www.LoveWithoutBoundaries.com

SUCCESSFUL SURGERY

I am delighted to tell you that our first baby has come through surgery with flying colors! Little Yan is still recovering at ACH but is doing fine. I can’t wait to see her new smile fully revealed! Her little friend Xiao is still being treated for asthma and has not had surgery yet.


We have another little one in the hospital who is having a hard time fully recovering from pneumonia. Jenna has been in ACH for 20 days now. Please pray that she is well enough to be released soon!



Sandi Glass
Cleft Healing Home Coordinator
Love Without Boundaries
"Every Child Counts"
www.LoveWithoutBoundaries.com