Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Anna's foster home

Our most recent photo of her
Anna with two of the local "grandmas" 

One of the things that helps me get through the wait to bring Anna home is knowing that she is in a wonderful  foster home.  Swallow's Nest is a non-profit foster home run by a Christian family.  Anna has been in this home for her entire life and has been loved on and cared for by amazing nannies, several local grandmas, volunteers from all over the world, and the directors of Swallow's Nest Clay and Pam Williams.  A few weeks after we received pre-approval to adopt Anna I decided to do a little online research to see if I could find out anything about her foster home.  I typed in Swallow's Nest Zhengzhou and to my surprise there was an entire website telling me all about her home, the nannies, the directors, and the special needs children Swallow's Nest cares for.  I loved seeing several photos of her in the website's newsletter.  Of course I immediately e-mailed Pam to tell her we were adopting Yinhuan.  She was so excited for us, and since she is currently in the states she offered to take some gifts to her when she returns to China in June.  It was a wonderful and emotional day for me as I read every newsletter and watched a smilebox video of several of the children that have been adopted from the Swallow's Nest foster homes. It was incredible to see the change in the childrens' appearances after they have been with their adoptive families for only a few months.  They all look so healthy and happy despite the fact that they all have special needs.  It is so amazing to see the difference the care of a loving family makes in these kids.  Here is the link so you can see it for yourself, but be forwarned "It's a tearjerker!"


Anna, last October with one of the Nannies

To learn more about Swallow's Nest you can visit their website at www.swallowsnestzz.org.  Not only do they provide care for orphaned special needs children, but they also work to prevent child abandonment by helping local families pay for the medical care of their children.  Swallows Nest relies on donations to continue the work they do.  If you would like to help with a financial gift they have a PayPal link on their website.  We feel so blessed by all of the amazing people who are caring for our daughter until we can bring her home with us.  We are thankful for Pam and Clay and their devotion to special needs orphans in China, and we are looking forward to being able to sponsor nannies who will care for these beautiful children until they are united with their forever families.