Cat Tree

Check out the cool Cat Tree that Frank and I made over the holidays!

Sometimes I Pee .... Sometimes I Poop!

ahhh, Christmas Eve at our house..for years now the kids have left out cookies and a Guiness for Santa! The kids thought that Santa could be allergic to milk (since at the time Abigail was) and thought daddy's favorite beer was a good alternative!

It's so hillarious, and it has never been questioned! This year the big girls played Santa and called the little ones to remind them to be good and to leave out the beer!

This year was no different, they grabbed a bucket of snow for the guiness (this time ice cubes - rain for x-mas for us), and cookies!

Lily and Hanlin were so excited, and Hanlin blurted out this sentence in the middle of telling us what he wasleaving out for Santa..

Abigail fell off her chair she was laughing so hard!!

Watch the video... let me know what you think!

Maybe Yes? Maybe No?

Sometimes I Pee... Sometimes I Poop

Gracie's Room Year in Review

As many of you know, I am a huge supporter of Gracie's Room First Hugs Program in XinXiang Henan, China! This program is run through Diangjiang Kids International.

All the people on the Board of Directors are volunteers and parents of children adopted from Dianjiang Social Welfare Institute.

I have been blessed to be so closely connected to this incredible organization. Not only have I been able to meet wonderful people and now have many new friends, I also have a great connection for my daughter and her beginnings in China.

I love being the Director of Gracie's Room. I love receiving the reports, seeing the babies, seeing them grow, get healthy and best of all be adopted!!!

Here is the "Year in Review for Gracie's Room"! This was sent to all of our incredible sponsors.

Don't forget.. If YOU would like to sponsor a child..please please let me know!!! Any amount helps these beautiful desevering children.

I wanted to write you this letter at the end of 2010 to update you on what has gone on this year at Gracie’s Room and what we hope to see in the future. Without you we could not run this program and these precious children would not get the care and love they need to thrive and even to survive. Together with the board of Dianjiang Kids International and the Director and the staff of XinXiang Social Welfare Institute, I wish to thank you for your support and the gift of your caring. It literally is the world to these children.

Children are chosen to go into Gracie’s Room based on their need for extra care. All of these kids have special needs and Gracie’s Room can help them thrive. In Gracie’s Room this kid get fed individually. They are held, nurtured and played with. They learn love.

When a child leaves Gracie’s Room, he goes to his forever family, to foster care or to the kindergarten room next door in the orphanage. CCAI (a US adoption agency) is encouraging and aiding the director in sending paperwork to Beijing so more children can find their families.

We currently have 15 children in Gracie’s Room. Eleven are sponsored so if you know of anyone else who would like to sponsor a child, please let us know. We use our calendar sales and other fundraisers to help fund this project.

In 2010 five children from Gracie’s Room went into foster care, one child was adopted internationally and another should meet her family in the next several months. Three children were adopted domestically. One child is blind and we are waiting for room for her at Bethel in Beijing where she will be in a school for the blind and learn to lead a productive life (See their terrific work at http://www.bethelchina.org/Default.aspx When she does go to Bethel, we will have to fundraising to pay for her to be there. This will be a long project as she is only two now!)

Sadly one child in Gracie’s Room died this year. He had a very severe heart condition and spent time in and out of the hospital before he died. We were so saddened to lose him but we know he experienced, love, comfort and care during his life. And that is so important!

Dianjiang Kids international Executive director. Moya Smith, and I visited Gracie’s Room in March 2010. We saw some great things there but we saw that there is more that we can do. Unfortunately we are a few years away from making more changes (we are thinking 24 hours care where the kids do not go back to the main orphanage after 8-10 hours, not getting the same level of care there.) The children are thriving and it was an absolute joy and honor to meet them. We know it is only through your generosity that we are able to run this program.

Director Cheng along with three other Henan orphanage directors and the vice director of Civil Affairs in Henan visited the United States in December 2010. They were able to see the children from Henan who had been adopted and how well they were doing. Moya said Director Cheng was almost unable to believe that the kids from her orphanage were so healthy and of course so very loved. We hope this means even more children’s files will be send to Beijing so they may be adopted.

The new orphanage at XinXiang is due to open in May 2011. Thankfully we have been asked to continue this program so Gracie’s Room will continue to grow and thrive.

Again, we thank you for you love and generosity. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Krista Dolan

Director Gracie's Room First Hugs Program

www.dianjiangkids.org

Sponsor a child in our Gracie's Room program

YOU can make a difference in the life of a child!!