ASIA in China - Day One!

After 22 grueling hours of travel and some adventure along the way with almost missing a flight and the mystery of the missing luggage, we have all made it safe, sound (and tired). Our team visited the orphanage this morning and were able to visit with 12 adorable babies and toddlers. We did brief evaluations on all of them, but will definitely be visiting with some of them again during our stay.

Let me just say that these kids are Adorable with a capital A! Once they warmed up to us, they were sweet and personable and very photogenic:-)

We also got some great video, and the older of the kiddos loved my Ipad! It was hard to pull it away:-)

There were half the sky nannies there as well for some of the kids and all of the nannies seemed to really know the kids and seek out age appropriate interactions with them. The kids all seemed to have attachments with someone there. One little girl even called Steve "Baba!"

Our Oregon staff will be posting pictures for me, so look for those a little later. We're having technical difficulties with doing that part from China. But I will continue to update the blog on our adventures from here. Stay tuned for more tomorrow!

Well, we are off to China! Hopefully we will be able to update the blog from China on the 28th or 29th with some precious news about the orphanage and children we meet! Stay tuned....

Here at ASIA we are all busy readying ourselves for this big trip to China--assigning duties to make sure everything is covered while Fei and I are away, preparing evaluations for the children, finalizing our itinerary with the orphanage, getting our props together for the mini-camps we'll do with groups of the kids as well as the general scurry that goes on around our agency to continue to process the adoptions that are already in process for our families.

The kids below are kids whose files may be coming our way--too cute!!! If you're interested in a Non-Special Focus child and qualify, apply now and get going on your dossier so you will be eligible.

Right now we have kids from the shared waiting child list from the same orphanage who are now on our individual list. They are quite adorable as well and are mostly Special Focus children by now. If you would like to see their adorable faces, please take a look at our password-protected waiting child list. These kids are definitely not defined by their special needs, they just happen to have some. Take a look~!

New Brighter Futures Kiddos

We are getting the most adorable pictures of children from Changsha and Zhuzhou! Don't they just melt your heart? Look at that incredible drawing the handsome boy above is doing--what talent!

The girl below with the beautiful braids seems like just what so many folks describe when they request girls! We've also gotten pictures of very young girls and boys, as well as older ones. I can't wait to go meet them! And these are just a trickle of the sweet pictures that have poured into our emails. Once we get there, we will start posting much more information about these kids, but for now, take a peek at the 26 new kids we have on our waiting child list from Changsha! If you don't have the passwords, please contact Pattie: Pattiec@asiadopt.org

Changsha and Zhuzhou Are Here!!!!

We still have 3 weeks before we leave for Changsha and we already received 26 files of children from the shared list that are from our partner orphanages, Changsha #1 and Zhuzhou, both in Hunan Province! We will be working our tails off to get their information and pictures posted on our waiting child list on our password protected website. In the meantime, our China Director already visited most of the kids, and has sent us pictures and videos! So we will be gradually posting those for your viewing pleasure, and of course to help them find families! If you are part of the the Hunan or Changsha yahoo groups, please let them know about ASIA's partnership!

New Waiting Children!

ASIA received 26 new waiting children from our newest partner orphanage that were waiting on the shared list. Meanwhile they are working on registering the other children they have for adoption. If you would like to see our password-protected waiting child list, please contact me: marcisk@asiadopt.org

 We have 2 weeks until we leave to go visit! Then we will be posting pictures, video and stories from Changsha about the kiddos we meet there, so stay tuned!!!

Oh, Those Cute Little Faces!

Our China Director is currently visiting Changsha #1 Social Welfare Institute, where we are starting our newest partnership program with the orphanage. She has been sending us the cutest pictures of the children there! Those of you who have just applied or are applying to ASIA are in for a treat once we get those files! Time to get those dossiers done to be eligible for these cuties.

We are still hoping that an Occupational Therapist or someone with expertise in developmental psychology will materialize and want to join us on our trip:-) So if you're interested, please contact me: marcisk@asiadopt.org
We do have a pretty great team going already, but that would really make it special!

Now Recruiting Families for Changsha #1

Extra! Extra! Calling All Families! ASIA is now recruiting families to get started now with ASIA to be eligible for our next Brighter Futures program with Changsha #1 Social Welfare Institute in Hunan Province! If you wish to be eligible for the Non-Special Focus children we will have available, you will need to start your dossier process now! If you take a look at our current Brighter Futures Program waiting children (most are only posted on our password-protected website), a great number of those kids are Non-Special Focus, which means they are only available to families who have dossiers logged in with China. So if you're hoping for a young child with minor special needs or an older or Special Focus child, I would encourage you to get started on your process with ASIA now. You can find the application on our website here: ASIA Application

Can You See The Children?

When we post pictures and short summaries of children in a waiting child list format, it is sometimes hard to see the child beyond the special need. But when I have gone to visit these children in person, I don't see their special needs so much. I just see their adorable faces and unique personalities that could just blossom in a family. I see their potential, not their limitations. Sometimes I think that rather than posting what the special need is, we should post their strengths. Most of these kids are amazing survivors, determined little rascals with so much potential and so much character. A good example of this is Shane. In the full pictures, if you haven't met him, it may be hard to miss his special need. However, in person Shane's strength, determination and his captivating personality shine through past any physical need. His special need doesn't seem to limit him much and he is such a tease and the word sprite or imp seems to embody his personality perfectly. He burned an image and a place in my mind and heart that I will not forget. Yet few people have chosen to even have a look at his file. Why?

Calling Volunteers for Our Next Program!

We have exciting news to share! We will be launching our next program in the next couple of months! It will take place at Changsha #1 Social Welfare Institute in Hunan Province--the spicy kids:-) We think we will have around 35 kids to visit and we hope to do a short program with them, and then go around and visit them each individually to get a better idea of who they are and what their special needs may be. We will be taking LOTS of pictures and videos this time and we can't wait to share more information about the program when we have it!

We will be visiting at the end of May for a couple of weeks and we are looking for a volunteer that may be an OT or PT, or perhaps a Developmental Psychologist, willing to share their skills and join us on the trip for all or part of the time. Last time we had a wonderful Occupational Therapist that joined us --thank you to her! We are currently building our team, so if you have skills you think would be helpful to us and you wish to go or you would like more details, please email Marci: marcisk@asiadopt.org

Happy News, Sad News and the like

It has been a while since I have reported happy news for kiddos as well as reporting on who is still waiting. My happiest news to report is that Jason will be coming home to his family next month! He needs lots of folks to keep him in your thoughts and/or prayers so that he makes the trip safely and smoothly. The ASIA staff is very confident that Jason is and will be in good hands.

For more happy news, following are all of the kiddos that have families pursuing them: Tacy, Shaylee, Josh, Jasmyn, Penny, Jeb and Jocelyn! We are thrilled for those children and their future families!

 See what I can do?

 I'm not trying to escape, really!

 Where is my family?

 Here, I'll share this with you if you'll be mine:

 Yummy...I like you!

 There's more to me than meets the eyes.

 Is my family out there?

 I can learn to use the phone!

 I may be an older boy, but I still have dimples!

Surely a family out there wants my pinchable cheeks!

Now for the not so happy news...the news that I hope you will help me to change. Following are the children who still wait: Joyous Jaci, Sneaky Shane, Earnest Evan, Hilarious Hogan, Smiley Sherman, Shy Simon, Silly Seely, Cute Caroline, Brave Balin, Rowdy Rayna, Leader Lewis, Yearning Yuna as well as the new little babies Landon, Zoe, Lorelai, Faith, Hardy, Jessie, Ricky, Bryan, BJ and Dylan. Some of these kiddos I believe will find families once some of our families finish their dossiers. However, for the rest of these kiddos, they need some help. Please share this post with others and help these kids to connect their red thread to the family that is meant to be theirs.

Shane Again

We put a video of adorable little Shane up on our password-protected website. Shane is a 1 1/2 year old little boy with a limb difference. Take a look at his video and let me know if you would be interested in his file. He's a cute little dude with a captivating personality that doesn't let his special need slow him down!

Reminiscent of the Olden Days

Ah to think of the Olden Days, back when adoptive families just completed dossiers with an agency who submitted the dossier to China for them, and then were assigned a child........sigh. The wait was short and the children were young.....

  Things have gotten much more complicated since then! Now the children are older, with more special needs and most families try to choose a child before beginning the process. The downside to this, I have to say as a child advocate, is that the children are waiting longer to be adopted. They are waiting for their adoptive parents to finish paperwork, and for our government to process the many steps they require to adopt internationally. Of course it's still an option to complete dossiers first and then identify a child, and some families do it that way still. Those families, generally, don't wait long after the dossier process to find their child, at least with ASIA. Now, here ASIA sits with a bunch of gorgeous, young boys who have minor special needs and we need some folks with dossiers completed who will consider a boy! Consider Hardy, who earned the nickname of Captain:-) Or BJ with his adorable chubby cheeks! Boys are lovable, too. If you ask anyone who has adopted or parented a boy, they will tell you that. So take a look at our waiting child list and consider one of those lovable boys! At least take a look and see where your heart leads you....

Just a Kid Who Needs a Family

We got updated photos of Jaci and they are quite cute! I got a wonderful email from one of our families who adopted a child with similar needs to Jaci's. She said: "It's funny how adoption changes you.  With each adoption, I feel more comfortable with more serious special needs.  I guess I've learned that no matter what the special need, once they are home they are just our kids.  The need is secondary.  I look at Jaci and I see [my daughter].  I see the little one that we took a chance on that is such an important part of our family now.  I am so glad that we stepped out of our comfort zone to bring her home.  I keep praying that someone will do that for Jaci." 

New Waiting Children!!

ASIA received 12 new adorable, young waiting children from our partner orphanage! They are all Non-Special Focus kiddos, meaning that they are only available to families with completed dossiers already. Because of their status as Non-Special Focus, their pictures cannot be posted here. However, if you are a family with a completed dossier, please feel free to contact me. Families have to complete adoptions of these kiddos through ASIA. We have both girls and boys with minor special needs and are excited to find these gorgeous kiddos their families!

Exciting News Coming!

Exciting News Coming Monday............stay tuned!!!!

Beautiful, Thriving Jaci

Little 20 month old Jaci is still waiting for a family to come forward for her. All reports from her orphanage say that her condition is mild. She had a repair already and it was successful. Lots of folks have reviewed her file, but they have all said no. There must be someone out there meant to be Jaci's family! There must be a family for this adorable little pudgeball:-) Just imagine some cute little pigtails on this toddler--irresistable! You don't have to have a completed dossier for this one, just contact me if you could imagine this child as yours. I've known children with similar conditions to hers and they are thriving, smart athletes. Take the leap of faith and come forward to at least consider Jaci! She has waited too long already!

Baotou Kiddos

Our Baotou Kiddos need you! Let's all put our hands and our minds together and figure out how to find these kids families!

Rayna, Sherman, Evan, Simon, Seely, Caroline, Balin, Jeb, Lewis, Jaci, Hogan, Yuna and Shane all need our help. It has been proven over and over again that kids need families. While orphanages can be good, they are no substitute for a family. The one on one attention, the love and affection, the resources that a family can put towards one individual child, all help that child to blossom in the care of a family. Don't be deterred by how these kids look now. Give them some time and they will blossom! If you know someone looking for a child, please consider one of these kiddos!

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day! Let's all take a lesson from the kids at Baotou and give your loved ones a hug and share some sweets:-)

New Passwords

Due to new security measures, ASIA had to change the password to our waiting child list on our password-protected website. If you have not received an email with the new password and you wish to view our waiting child list, please email me and I will be happy to pre-qualify you and provide you with the password: marcisk@asiadopt.org

Happy News for Penny!

I have some happy news to share for a change--Penny has a family pursuing her!!! Congratulations to Penny and her family! Unlike many of the other children, Penny has had a lot of interest.

I'm actually surprised that Caroline, Shane and Seely haven't had more interest. Poor Evan hasn't had even 1 person consider him yet. I can't begin to fathom why that would be! It baffles me. But for now we can rejoice in the good news for Penny!

Heartbroken

I'm feeling rather heartbroken that so many of our cute, adorable, loveable, sweet, cheery, bright and funny boys are still waiting....and waiting........and waiting...with little interest. Yes, some of these boys have special needs, but as anyone who has adopted a special needs child will tell you, they do not let their special need slow them down or define them. If you met these boys in person, they would capture your heart in a second! I wish I could convey what precious family members they would become.. If you have any interest in Shane, Jeb, Balin, Seely, Sherman, or Evan please contact me!!!! Or contact everyone you know and tell them about these precious boys! Boys are wonderful, too!  marcisk@asiadopt.org