Boys Rock!

This month to highlight waiting boys, we are bringing awareness to adopting Boys.  We want all children to be adopted.  Adoption, Girls and Boys Rock!  So I thought I would share some pics of beautiful boys we met on our Superkids trip this Summer.  Keeping the words to a minimum.  I am going to add a few each day over the weekend so stop back and see our inspiring boys.

 

Remember,  Boys Rock! 

I Have Found My Family

I really don't know what to say.  Sometimes the enormous heart shown by families is just amazing.   When I see this little boy, I see such strength and beauty.  Erin Martin and I call him the boy with the beautiful eyes. To know that a family sees how handsome, special and wonderful he is just melts my heart and brings me to tears.

Just so you know, Erin and I are head cheerleaders for a wonderful team.( and only because we talk more often than the rest of the team). When ever someone is matched I ring a pretend bell to celebrate.  Celebrate the uniting of amazing kids with a family who will be forever.  So,  Ding, Ding, Ding!

Alex has a family.  

A Special Boy who we were Surprised to Meet

Today I am advocating for Brandon.  He is a real cutie pie.  His file came in but he was not with the kids we had met at his orphanage.  When the team got to talking about him we were surprised to find out he is in Butterfly house which is a special program in his orphanage.  It is a program that helps children with end of life care.  A pediatric hospice.  If these children did not know love before, they certainly do in this end of life facility.

Brandon is not there like the other children for end of life care.   Brandon had a congenital heart defect and he already had his surgery when he was sent to Butterfly house.  We think he was sent there because he was loved.  He is doing amazingly well.  He is thriving and now they are working towards adoption for him.  They are thrilled with his progress.  We are thrilled too.  You see when we went through Butterfly house we met Brandon.  We just did not know it was him at the time.

Erin and I remember him as a little kiddo who followed us room to room. He grabbed our attention any time he could.  He was confident, self assured and he stole the show!   He was so cute and clearly was being given love.  He was just blossoming.  Doing well enough to go between room and try to do things he should not. We all fell in love with him.  Even back then before we knew who he was.

So, what does he need? A Mom and Dad who will love him forever is what he needs.  Could he be your son?  To learn more about Brandon, contact me at  Patriciamarcuspt@gmail.com

Remember, Boys Rock!

 

Family Fridays

   November is Boys rock month.  A wonderful family shared their story of adopting an older boy and I want to share it here.  Juliette wrote this for me and she has been a great source of support for Superkids.  We met her son and had many conversations about what kind of boy he is and how he would fit into their family.  He is one of the sweetest boys I have ever met.  He has really done well and is a wonderful addition to their family.  Read about their adoption here and remember, 

Boys ROCK!!!

   

Almost two years ago, my husband Tom and I decided we wanted to adopt again. We were not sure if we wanted another son or another daughter. We were sure that we were getting a little older and a baby was out of the picture. That was when we saw Pin Pin. He had just turned seven and had been in foster care his entire life (save the first 6 months or so). We were both nervous and excited at the prospect of adopting an older child. How would he adjust to being taken away from everything he has every known? How would he adjust coming into a family and being the baby? What had his life been like in foster care? How would we handle the language barrier? There were so many “what-ifs”….Surely, the questions would not be answered until he was actually a part of our family and could tell us, so we put them in the back of our minds and contacted Pat Marcus, who had just returned from meeting Henry and several other children residing in foster care or at the Shanghai Orphanage. What happened next was pretty amazing. Pat called us back right away and gave us information on Henry regarding his special need, her assessment of his gross/fine motor skills and where he was socially. She even had a little video of him playing soccer with a friend. So while the questions we had initially were not to be answered yet, so much more was. He was healthy. He was developing normally. He had a strong spirit. That was enough. We knew he would be our son! Nine months passed rather quickly, and before we knew it, were on our way to Shanghai to meet our son. We brought two of our children with us, Noah (9) and Leah (9) to help ease the transition with Henry and so they could experience China and its wonderful culture. We all waited nervously with other families as the children were being brought in one by one. Most of the kids were three or younger and in a bit of shock as they came in and were handed over to the loving arms of the moms and dads who had waited so long for this precise moment. In a matter of seconds, families were changed forever- this moment- such a defining one in ALL our lives’- was so monumental we were speechless and everyone in the room broke out in tears of joy, happiness, wonderment and relief. I was getting more nervous, as I knew that I would not get to scoop Henry out of the arms of a nanny and carry him around. He already had a history; almost eight years living with foster grandparents and their extended family. He had friends. School. His being had begun to take shape and he was already independent in so many ways. He had a voice. He had likes and dislikes and a personality. I knew we would take our cues from him when we met for the first time. Then he walked in. He was sweating and nervous. We could see his heart pounding through his shirt as he nervously walked over to us and handed us gifts. He immediately attached to Noah and Leah, relieved to see others he could identify with on some level. We signed papers and left to get settled in at the hotel and eat and get to know each other. The rest of our time in China was filled with paperwork, adventure and bonding. By the second day, when we had to go and tell the government that, “YES, we want to continue with the adoption,” Henry was bounding up the stairs telling everyone he could that we were his “mama and baba” and that we had finally come for him…we finally found him. Now, we have been a family for a year. Tom and I look at each other everyday amazed at Henry’s progress and how he has just fit right in as if he had always been here. Henry talks each and every day about his life in China and even wants to go back to visit someday. He has told us funny stories, sad stories, and heartwarming stories. One of the things we love best is that he has a very clear memory of his past, an unexpected gift when adopting an older child. Henry has brought us so much joy and has completed our family. There are so many older boys and girls who are up for adoption. They NEED homes. They WANT a forever family. They DESERVE a chance. They deserve for their mamas and babas to finally find them.    -  Juliette Howard

 October 15th, 2012- Gotcha day

 Two Months Home 

 Six months home and sharing a recipe foster grandma used to make for him: 

One Year Home

Remember......  BOYS ROCK!

New Superkids volunteer

I would like to introduce you to our newest volunteer!  Her name is Amy and this year for her birthday she asked for a special gift.  Instead of presents, she wanted her friends to each donate a toy for Children in orphanages in China.  They contacted me and we narrowed down the focus to toys for young children from the JiangXi province.  Yesterday I got to meet Amy.   She has a special spirit, a heart for doing something for children she does not even know.  When Amy and I met, we discussed what the orphanages were like in the JiangXi province.  We looked at pictures of some of the children from JiangXi.  She asked questions and really got the idea that what she was doing would mean so much to the young children who wait.   Gongzhan of course was there and helped convey our great appreciation to Amy. Amy got to put her Chinese lessons to use speaking with Gongzhan. It was a great event.

Amy

 Amy and Lynne

Gongzhan, Amy and Pat

Amy has a special spirit, a heart for doing something for children she does not even know.

You know what was most important about this project.  We are seeing and building a heart for waiting children. Amy's mom, Lynne, and her friend Lisa asked me to speak with Amy's Kids club a year ago. They were part of the CCCWA quilt project. We had a great time talking about waiting children and then they tried out all my sensory toys.  Amy has a special heart.  Meeting with her, and her friends, only supports and begins to nurture the spirit of giving back.  I am so happy to be passing this spirit and love for waiting children on to a new generation.

Thank you to Amy for her special heart and wanting to improve the quality of life for these waiting children. Amy-you are awesome!    

Boys Rock!

Of course boys rock!  So do girls, and so does adoption.  Boys are at a disadvantage however and we are trying to level the field. I see time and time again, girls with the same needs as boys get picked first and the boys wait.  And wait, and wait.  I tried to find some numbers on this but could not get any stats.  From past shared lists,  I have seen lists that are mostly boys.  There are more and more boys in the orphanages.  I observe this in the orphanages I visit. 

So this is adoption awareness month, we want to highlight this situation.  We are going to highlight 30 boys for the 30 days of this month.  You can read the daily post here.  So remember, Boys Rock!Here are some cutie pies from the first four days of the month. 

I do want to say,  we love our girls so much too.  We want every child to find a home, a family and all the love they deserve.  The boys are just at a disadvantage.  So, adoption, girls and boys rock!

If you want anymore information on these cute boys, contact me at patriciamarcuspt@gmail.com

 

They Are All Perfect

Today is Orphan Sunday and November is national adoption awareness month. I would like to take some time to discuss changes I have seen since 2007 when I first started going to China.  In 2007 we saw many, many babies.  There were considerably less older children and the numbers seemed large but there was a lot of movement.  Changes in children, comings and goings in great numbers.  Special needs adoption was so much less frequent.  On one trip to China, two china caseworkers accompanied the Superkids team.  They talked a lot about the babies,  the little girls who would be adopted as healthy infants.  Even then, boys and girls in the orphanages seemed to me to be in roughly equal numbers. I remember being surprised what was considered a special need.  Such minor things, a missing finger or arm, a missing ear, heart issues, were all special needs.  I cried almost every night on that trip.  If everyone was only talking about infant adoption, how would all my kids ever be adopted.  Right away I knew who my kids were.  Kids with needs who were maybe not perfect in the world's definition but certainly perfect in mine.  I waited patiently for them to become someones sons and daughters. Sadly many of them did not find forever families.

Fast forward now to 2013.  On our trip this summer we saw 130 children.  I know that is a large number. for the first time since 2008, I saw two healthy infants.  One boy and one girl.  Most of the children we saw had a mild correctable needs or a need that could be improved with rehabilitation.  We did see a few children who will have lifelong needs, like children who were deaf mute or children who were born with Downs syndrome.  Most of the children were in pretty good shape.  We saw an age range of children from three months old to 13 years old.  In many ways there has been positive movement here.  These children are no longer in orphanages just waiting.  I am no longer patiently waiting.  I am shouting from the rooftops about all the wonderful children we have met.  The entire Superkids team is shouting right along with me.  And some of this shouting is getting attention because these children are being adopted.  We are all working HARD to show everyone how beautiful, special, and yes, perfect they are. Because they are!  They deserve our attention, our love and our consideration. Also there are more boys than girls who wait.  you can look at the shared list and see this easily.    

I would like to share this thought with you.  A very special smart adoptive mom once told me, if I would not reject my biological child with a special need, why would I not adopt a child with a special need if i feel they could be my child.  Special need or not they will be my child.  So in many ways there is cause to rejoice and cause to work harder. Attitudes are changing.  Our world is changing.  Children who were sitting in orphanages in 2007 are coming home. They will fit into families and lead full active lives.  They will love and be loved. We will never stop shouting from the rooftops about these wonderful children who have found their families and about all those who still wait.

So consider this on Orphan Sunday.  Could you parent a child who is waiting? Lets help every child find their forever family.

Peace,
Pat

You can contact me at Patriciamarcuspt@gmail.com.  Visit our "Boys Rock" post on the Asia Waiting Child blog by clicking here   30 boys in 30 days because being a boy should not be a special need.

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