Dear Friends,
We want to wish you well in the coming year. We hope that 2010 brings you much joy and happiness. For us, 2010 will be a time to watch so many of “our” Journey of Hope children from China join their families—and what a thrill that will be. But as happy as we are for the children and families that have found one another, we are concerned about those who are left behind. We remain steadfast in our mission to find families for the rest. And so once again we appeal to you, the most ch…
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Added by Renee Lubowich on January 4, 2010 at 1:56pm —
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I hope each of you will take a moment to look at these children. They are SO great. We think their personalities practically jump right off the computer screen. We are deeply grateful to Bonnie Elbaum, our incredible webmaster, for helping us get these children online...
You can go to the Alliance For Children website: www.allforchildren.org and click on the Journey of Hope or you can go directly to the page with the children on it: http://www.allforchildren.org/minisite-china/children.html
As…
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Added by Renee Lubowich on September 3, 2009 at 7:33pm —
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Hi, my name is Alisa and I just graduated from Cal State Northridge,I got my degree in Sociology when i fell in love with the idea of connecting children in need with amazing people. I am looking to start working in the Social Work field that involves dealing with adoption. I am highly interested in becoming an Adoption Coordinator. Does anyone know of any position openingsin CA? Thank you so much!
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Added by Alisa Volobuyeva on August 28, 2009 at 1:37pm —
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August 22, 2009
Many of you found your way to our blog because of your connection to Alliance For Children. That means you probably already received this letter in your inbox a few days ago. But some of you found your way here on your own or through some other means. I decided to post this for all to see. If you have any ideas or would like to talk further, please contact LinJing, Vivian, Bonnie or me via telephone at: 781-444-7148 or via email at:
ljing@allforchildren.org
vivian@alforchildren.…
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Added by Renee Lubowich on August 22, 2009 at 7:20am —
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August 9, 2009
I wish you could all hear Vivian, LinJing and I when we see each other. We can't get the words out fast enough..."Did you hear? We have a family for the Deaf boy's friend!" "A family called today about the girl in the blue dress!" "A family is considering the boy with the cleft lip and palate!" "Someone has asked about The Little Man!" "Another family said 'yes' today!" As of last week we had AT LEAST TEN children being considered. It is like music to our ears. And not only for w…
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Added by Renee Lubowich on August 9, 2009 at 8:36pm —
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Sunday, July 26, 2009
It's hard to believe that it's been two weeks since we've returned from China. I have struggled in these past two weeks with how to articulate our experience there, and even more than that, how to craft my words so that people will feel what LinJing and Vivian and I feel—which is to say completely in love with the children we met and deeply committed to finding families for them.
In fact, our first "nibble" was such an inspiration for us. While I was in China I emailed so…
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Added by Bonnie on July 29, 2009 at 8:18pm —
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My spouse and I are looking into international adoption of a baby girl preferrably or just another daughter. We are a family of 6. We have 3 boys and 1 girl. I guess Mother Nature has taken its toll and we have been unsuccessful with fertility and just the natural way to get pregnant for the past 4 years. I have always wanted to adopt after having my own natural children and now is the right time. Any advice would be great and where do we begin.
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Added by Camille Tyler on July 29, 2009 at 6:32pm —
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Wednesday July 8
If you have been following our blog you know that I skipped writing for the first time yesterday. I had many things to do to get ready to leave China and I didn’t feel I had sufficient words for a final entry—at least a final entry on this side of the ocean.
That is still true this morning, but since I am packed and ready to go I thought I’d write just a little before leaving for the Shanghai airport. Yesterday’s camp went as well as it had the day before. The carnival games a…
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Added by Bonnie on July 7, 2009 at 6:55pm —
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Monday July 6
I’ve been sitting here for a while now, trying to figure out how to describe the day. But there is no way I can do that. Maybe some time and perspective will help. For now I will do what I can, but know that my ability to share this experience with words is inadequate and limited at best.
Vivian and I met for breakfast at 7 and arrived in the ballroom promptly at 8. The room was decorated with the CCAA banner that had been installed and the decorations we brought—streamers, ballo…
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Added by Bonnie on July 6, 2009 at 6:07pm —
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Sunday, July 6
I am taking a break from making newspaper flowers to write about the day’s events. We will meet the Shanghai Social Welfare Institute staff organizers in the third floor ballroom ready to begin at 8am. The children and their caretakers arrive at 8:20. In addition to all the concrete tasks that need to be finished, the need for mental preparation has been occupying my thoughts. I am hard pressed to adequately describe it. I am sure it is some combination of anticipation, anxiety,…
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Added by Bonnie on July 5, 2009 at 4:49pm —
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Saturday, July 4
It is a little strange to be here in China on the 4th of July. There is no flag waving, no parades, no cookouts, and no fireworks for us this year. But we are thinking of friends and family back home, wishing you a very happy holiday.
In the morning LinJing, Guoliang, and I went out. Vivian opted to stay at the hotel to get caught up on a few things. We had heard about Yu Yuan Gardens, although none of the three of us had ever been there. Knowing that we had limited time for s…
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Added by Bonnie on July 4, 2009 at 5:12pm —
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Friday, July 3, 2009
We spent the morning working on the camp. Right after breakfast we walked across the street to a stationery store that LinJing found—and what a find that was. They had so many Disney items…pencil boxes, pencils, diaries, stickers, all at a great value (I need to give LinJing credit for that); she bargained for a great price, which was accepted because we wanted a number of items and would be ordering 29 of each item. Her success in this endeavor should make even Ruthie, our…
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Added by Bonnie on July 3, 2009 at 1:42pm —
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Thursday July 2, 2009
In the morning we worked on various parts of the camp. LinJing continued to labor over translating documents for each child, Vivian worked on the children’s Magic Kingdom passports (we are calling them Passport to Fun) we are making and I worked on a photographic mural—thanks to the Collins family, we have wonderful photos of their many trips to Disney World—that will become one of our wall decorations. We are reminded, in all we do, that we have three quite different audi…
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Added by Bonnie on July 3, 2009 at 1:38pm —
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Wednesday, July 1
We went out for breakfast this morning—while wonton soup might be an unusual breakfast back in Boston, it is a perfectly reasonable breakfast here. Afterwards LinJing went back to her translation work, and I went to Vivian’s room so she and I could sort out the mess made by our second move. This time we were able to organize things even more than the first time. Vivian was on gluing and sticker duty while I looked over the materials and supplies we brought to see if we had wha…
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Added by Bonnie on July 3, 2009 at 9:49am —
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Tuesday, June 30
We awoke to our first full day in China. It is a strange feeling to be here, thinking about children we have never met and families back home who are anxious to learn more about them. Vivian, LinJing and I are very mindful of all the people who are counting on us to do our jobs well, and of the life-altering consequences of our mission here in Shanghai.
We began our day with breakfast, Vivian and I in the hotel’s dining room and LinJing while out running errands. We are still…
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Added by Bonnie on July 3, 2009 at 9:48am —
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Monday, June 29th
There is no way to describe a 13.5-hour flight besides l-o-n-g, and this flight was no exception. We managed as best we could, filling the hours by reading, sleeping, doing puzzles, and thinking about things small and large that we rarely have time to contemplate in our day-to-day lives. Now time is plentiful, and we are grateful for anything we can do to help the hours slip by.
Although most of the plane ride was non-descript, we were all very mindful of what would take plac…
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Added by Bonnie on July 3, 2009 at 9:48am —
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Sunday, June 28th
I was the first to arrive at Logan airport. It was 5 am. Although the lack of traffic and the speed with which I arrived at Logan pointed to an hour when most of Boston was still asleep, the airport was buzzing with activity. There were long lines of people waiting to check in and the Terminal C drop-off lane was jammed with cars. It was a relief to see LinJing arrive, accompanied by Weihang and Xiaozeng, at 5:30, followed by Vivian at 5:45. Together we rolled, carried, and co…
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Added by Bonnie on July 3, 2009 at 9:47am —
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Chuan, Hong, Nian, Pei, and Tie need our help...
Looking to join an Adoption Agency
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