Taiwan Day 2

I have been on a lot of Superkids trips and have seen many heartwarming things. I hold so many special memories in my heart. Today was one of those days I won't be forgetting and I know I will tell the story when I speak of my favorite memories.

Let me preface this story by mentioning that Nancy Dobson's husband, Joe, joined us on this trip. It quickly became apparent that he is good with children and that children are drawn to him.

Today at lunch time a few of the children we had seen this morning were still in the office building where their foster parents brought them to see us. They had their own little lunch served at one of the tables, but little Desiree was walking by and opened up her mouth for a bite. Joe did not miss a beat, he plopped some food right in that little mouth.

Of course, within minutes Desiree was on his lap eating almost anything he offered her. She ate most of his duck and started in on the rice. She really loved his squash. And he just kept feeding her, occasionally sneaking in a bite himself. She ate most of his food and some of us shared with him so that he had some food too! She very clearly let him know what she wanted and he was happy to comply.

Desiree is waiting for a family. Let us know if you want more information about her. We can assure you, she know what she wants and how to get her needs met. And that is pretty awesome for a little 4 year old girl!

Taiwan Trip {Sunday}

Just a quick post to say that we made it to Taiwan and our team is all together. Tomorrow we go to ChungYi.

We had lunch in a near-by shopping center food area. We chose noodle bowls and black volcano ice cream (sesame)!

NYC Marathon {Go Team Gladney!}

Sunday morning runners, families, and friends will gather for the 47th NYC Marathon!  Gladney is honored to have 8 runners this year in the race!  Wendy Stanley and Beth Anne Pellegrino, a Gladney mom, gathered with Gladney family and friends to kick off an exciting marathon weekend!

Joe, a runner from Fort Worth, is pictured below in his first marathon. He and 7 other runners raised almost $30,000 for Gladney this year! This is Gladney's 3rd year as a charity participant in the NYC marathon. Thanks to Colleen Christi who helped initiate Gladney's inaugural year in 2015! 

We are proud of you Team Gladney! 

GO!!!

It is go time!

Bags are packed.

Good-byes are said.

Taken on a previous Superkids trip to China.

We are on our way.

See you on the other side!

Stuart {China}

Stuart is a precious baby boy who is only 11 months old. He is described as active and happy.

He crawls on his belly and sits independently. He has some stiffness in his right hand, but he is able to hold toys with it. His file says he has cerebral hypoplasia. It seems his hand is the only thing that is obviously affected.

We just got these sweet videos. Isn't he precious!?

We also just got an update. He pulls to stand for short periods of time. He says "mama", and waves bye-bye. His development is different from his peers only in that he has stiffness in his hand. He is in a foster home.

We also got a copt of his CT scan which we can share with interested families.

Could Stuart be your son? Please contact us at superkids@gladney.org for more information.

Set...

With only 2 days to departure for our Superkids trip to Taiwan it is time to be sure everyone knows where to follow and get the best updates while we are gone.

Some of our team is already traveling and will meet up with us in Taipei, but the group leaving from the US, Mary, Erin, and Michelle, leave early Friday morning. We will arrive in Taipei on Saturday and you probably won't hear much from us until Sunday. On Sunday we will rest and get ready for the work to begin on Monday morning!

We will be meeting children at ChungYi on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday will be spent with children from Cathwel. We have a lot of new children on our lists this time so we are excited to see some new little faces as well as see the children we have met before. Friday we will be heading back to the airport for that long flight home.

We hope to post at least one update per day right here on the blog. We will also try to post throughout the day on the Gladney's Superkids Facebook page, so be sure to follow us there! You may be sleeping when we are doing our live videos, but they will be there in the morning when you wake up!

Taiwan has some strict privacy laws that we need to comply with so we cannot post full-face pictures of children in public places. The pictures you see on the blog will comply with this rule. We do have a secret Facebook group where we can post pictures and videos of the children that we can't post here. Please request to join the group here! You will need to answer a couple of questions, but then we can add you to that group.

We are also going to be posting on Instagram for the first time this trip. You can find our brandy-spanking new Instagram account at gladneysuperkids! We need followers! :)

Stay tuned for a fun packing Facebook live video this afternoon!

November is National Adoption Month and many in the adoption community are looking for ways to raise awareness for adoption this month. One super simple thing you can do is like and share our posts on Facebook and Instagram. Let's work together to make the children we meet visible. You never know when their family may be on your friends list.

Everybody set? Because it is almost time to... 

National Adoption Month {NAM}

November is National Adoption Month – I don't actually know the legacy of how this came to be - but as a national movement, it raises adoption to a new level of awareness.

Soleil is waiting for her family in China!

Like most awesome things in life, it is best when each person puts their own individual thought, reflection, effort, and pizzaz into supporting what they personally deeply believed in.

What will you be doing to raise adoption awareness this month? Here are a few things we are doing:
First, to celebrate this month, the $300 application fee for Gladney's China and Taiwan program will be waived. Contact us at superkids@gladney.org for more information about getting started!

Hosea is waiting for his family in China!

Second, I want to wish our Superkids team traveling to Taiwan on Friday a safe and successful trip to visit with children at Cathwel and Chung Yi. You can follow their journey right here on the blog!

A Superkids volunteer playing with Austin in Taiwan.

And, third, we are giving grants of $2,000 each to several special children this month! Howie, Harris, Hector,  and Hosea all have grants! With the waived application fee this is a perfect time to contact us about one of these little boys. Click on their names to read more about them.

Personally, I'll be talking more about adoption this month, sharing about amazing people -- be they parents, children, siblings, or friends.

Lionel is waiting for a family in China.

Life is part memories, part today, and part how we all choose to 'pay it forward'.  When you add adoption to a life journey, the sum of the parts become humbling.

Wendy Stanley
Director Asia Program Social Services