Happy Birthday, Tim!

Today Tim is turning 8!  I think the most amazing birthday present we can give this little boy is to tell you all about him!  

What a smile!  That's what our Superkids team said when they met him in 2016.  At that time he was 6.5 years old and very proud of the watch he was wearing that day.  He drew his foster family members, houses, cats, and pandas.  He was cooperative and able to answer simple who/what/when were/how questions his speech was clear, but he spoke in a quiet voice. 

In our notes we described him as having a sparkling personality. He loves playing in water and enjoys showers because he gets to splash. He was eager to please and got the hugest smile on his face when he was hugged.

Tim has cerebral palsy and our Superkids physical therapist was able to identify several interventions and treatments that would help him with mobility. His future could be so bright if all possible options were open to him! 

How cool would it be if in years to come his family could share with him how they first saw his picture on his 8th birthday? Please share this great kid's post today in honor of his birthday.

For more information please contact us at superkids@gladney.org. We would love to find an adoptive family for him soon so he can celebrate his next birthday in a family of his own!

Happy birthday, Tim! May this be the best year of your life! The year you get a family of your own.

XiuXiu {FSL Project}

XuiXui (XuiXui G-255 On Rainbowkids)  is a gorgeous 10 year old girl who is waiting for a family in China. Last year the CCCWA decided to help agencies get good updates on some children who had been waiting for a while on the shared list. XuiXui is one of the girls who was assigned to Gladney and Superkids volunteers were able to meet her in October. I'd say the photographer did a pretty good job, wouldn't you?

She has a diagnosis of hydrocephalus and possible cerebral palsy. Our team also noted that she is delayed compared to other children of the same age. She walks independently and can go up steps holding a hand rail. She can kick and catch a ball and drew a person for us. She speaks in 5-6 word sentences and can answer simple questions. She also follows directions. She counts and recognizes shapes and colors.

This lovely little girl has a $4,000 grant through Gladney. She needs a family to see how amazing she really is! Please email us at superkids@gladney.org for more information.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to each of you!

As we gather with our families today and enjoy the comforts of home, as we eat the turkey and pumpkin pie, then gather to watch football with our loved ones, we would like to express our gratitude for a very special group of people today.

We have a Superkids team in China right now getting updated information for children who are a part of the Former Shared List project. These people sacrificed the comforts of home on this holiday because of their love for these children and their belief that every child deserves a family.

This team is in the Guizhou province and they are performing developmental screening and taking beautiful pictures of children, many of whom desperately need updates in their files. You can read more about this project here.

So today, as you gather with loved ones take a moment to say a prayer of gratitude for these people and for the children they are meeting.

By next year there may well be children celebrating Thanksgiving with their new families thanks to the work this team is doing today!

Former Shared List Trip Jiangxi Province

Superkids has another team in China. As we are visiting our partnership orphanages they are visiting children whose files were formerly on the shared list. Read about their 3rd day visiting children in the Jiangxi province!

Day Three was another full day.

Another day of leaving pieces of our hearts across China.

Before visiting each SWI, each "shared list" child was a name, date of birth and diagnosis on a list.  Now, well now, they are a living, breathing, PART of each of our hearts' on this team, which is exactly why CCCWA and four U.S.A. adoption agencies proposed this initiative.  We wanted to get to really know these children, so we could properly advocate for them.

How can you look into the eyes of an eleven year old girl, severely hearing impaired and unable to speak (although able to make noises), cut-off from the world because she doesn’t have access to sign language and NOT be changed.  The simple act of giving her a hair bow and access to puzzles, beads and other educational items, brightened her entire countenance.  She was SO eager to learn.  She couldn’t get enough of it and stayed with us until the last child left for the day!  

A  piece of our hearts left behind...

Or what about this little boy??  He ROCKED the place with his plaid-on-plaid shirt and pants.  

Dearly loved by his foster parents and oh SO bright!

How can you resist his smile and charm?

A piece of our hearts left behind...

And then the three year old little girl diagnosed with Downs…

I’m pretty sure she ran the show when she walked in the door.  No, let me rephrase that…she DID run the show when she walked in the door!

She kept us laughing with her little “attitude” and told us all how to do our jobs.  She was equal parts attitude and smile!  She was a “saucy” girl for sure!!

After finishing our assessment she demanded a ride on her ayi’s back and happily rode to the door of the room at which point she demanded to be put down to walk hand-in-hand with her little friend down the hall to go back to her room in the orphanage.

If you’ve ever considered a daughter diagnosed with Down’s and want a girl who knows her mind but will give you the smile of your life, this is your girl!

A piece of our hearts left behind…

Another day complete, two more of LOVING what we are doing and leaving pieces of our hearts in China.

Amazon Wish List

Items are disappearing off of our wish list of items we need for the many trips we have coming up over the next couple of months!

Please help us fill these needs by sharing our wish list  and by telling your friends why we need these items!

Our teams will be seeing around 600 kids beginning next week and continuing through the month of November! Every item purchased is a huge help! 

You can read more about our trips here. 

HERE IS OUR AMAZON WISH LIST! 

Thank you for partnering with us in this!

How YOU Can Help!

We have so many trips coming up over the next few months! As always we need donations to make these trips successful.

Our needs are larger this time because our reach is so much greater than it has ever been! We normally see around 200 children on our Superkids trips. With all of the trips coming up we will be seeing more like 600 kids! And with teams traveling at the same time it means we need multiple sets of developmental toys and things we use with the kids.

So we came up with an Amazon wish list. You can see it here.

Thank you in advance for your generous giving! Please share our wish list with family and friends! Together we can have a huge impact on the children in China!

We are Going to Taiwan! And to China! And to China Again, and Again...

It is Superkids trip time, but we have never had as many trips happening close to the same time as we have now!

Monday was the first day for a Superkids team meeting children in the Shanghai province who were formerly on the shared list and now have been assigned to Gladney. But that is just the beginning!

We have a trip to Taiwan planned for October 1-7.

From October 7-23 we have our typical Superkids trip that we do every 6 months.

At the same time, from October 7-16 we plan to have a team in the Jiangxi province as part of the Former Shared List Project.

From October 21-30 another team will be traveling to the Anhui province as part of the former shared list project.

Then November 12-19 we will have a team in the Hebei province.

And November 18-26 we will have a team in Guizhou.

We are so thankful for all of the volunteers who have responded to our requests for help with these trips! Thank you for helping us to make this a success!

*pictures are from the team in China now