Featured Product from our Wish List

As you know, we have kicked off the fundraiser, mailed out the newsletter and introduced our new tee shirts!  We sure have been busy here at DJ.  With that said, there are many things needed from our wish list.  We will be certain to share with you every few days some items from our wish list.  We hope this will encourage you to view the needed items and perhaps pass them along to your family and friends. 

Today's featured item is Little Critter Vites!  Click here if you would like to purchase!  Thank you!

Growing Gracie's Room

Gracie’s Room is Growing and we need your help!

Due to delays in government funding and construction, XinXiang is not due to move into the new orphanage until October 2012. 

Until then we would like to make the current room as bright, colourful and warm as possible - just as you would want your own child’s nursery to be. We want Gracie’s Room to be a room that stimulates the children’s senses for proper development, a room where they can lie on their bellies on a soft, clean mat, exercising and developing their muscles, a room where they are discovering sights and sounds with nursery rhymes and colourful walls, all the while having a figure encouraging, loving them and helping them to grow!

The current Gracie’s Room is in desperate need of upgrades. No improvements were put into this existing room as we were expecting to be in the new facility by October 2011. We instead focused on staffing and immediate needs of the children.

As the transition is now delayed by a full year, we need to double our fund-raising efforts to maintain the childcare and to make improvements to the existing room.

To accomplish this Dianjiang Kids International is launching our biggest fund-raising event ever:

Growing Gracie’s Room

Gracie’s Room now has a wish list on Amazon.com
Vitamins, cleft lip/cleft palate bottles, sippy cups, toys and wall decals are just some of the items listed.

Donations of baby quilts, hats, socks and mittens have already been offered!
Monetary donations will be used to replace the existing foam matts, repair broken windows and winterize the room.

Investments in growing the existing Gracie’s Room will be able to be moved over to the new building in 2012.

Please visit our link, do a little shopping and remember the children.
www.amazon.com/
Click on wishes and then type in Gracie’s Room.

Or click on:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/registry.html?ie=UTF8&type=wishlist&id=1KWZVU5KMYKQK

Monetary donations may be made through our website at
http://www.dianjiangkids.org/#!__donations

All items will be hand delivered to Gracie’s Room in March, 2012 by members of Dianjiang Kids board.

Changes for XinXiang!

Our summer may be winding down, however XinXiang’s is winding up for a huge change!

After an unexpected stop in construction, they are now gearing up to move into the new orphanage in October!

Currently we have 15 children in our Gracie’s Room Program and XinXiang has asked us to continue our work in the new building. We have been given a large bright room with two adjoining rooms, one is a bathing area and the other will act as an infirmary.

All of the rooms need to be furnished, painted and brightly decorated! This is our job! The orphanage has given us the rooms, now it is up to us to paint, decorate and furnish it!! Any interior decorators out there??? We would love to hear everyone’s suggestions!

Nine of our fifteen children are brand new arrivals to Gracie’s Room and we know they will benefit greatly from the love and care of the nannies.

We have had one adoption this year, so far, and her family says she is doing amazing and can’t imagine life with out her or her contagious smile!!

We also have two more children that will be in the arms of their forever families hopefully by the end of the new year.

Stay tuned for information on an upcoming fundraiser to help decorate Gracie’s Room!

Happy Birthday Wishes

DJ would like to wish a very happy birthday to Anna D! Anna turns 7 today and is described by her mom Lisa as a "spunky spitfire"! Anna also recently celebrated her Adoption Day with her family on June 13. She has a sister, who is adopted from Hunan, and is 19 months older.

We wish her a happy day with lots of love and CAKE!!

It's Giveaway Time!

Wow, it has been a little busy and hectic, but remember I said that we would be hosting our first giveaway?? Well, finally it's here!

In an effort to help honor our families everywhere, we wanted to offer this special Family Necklace to one lucky winner!

All you have to do is leave a comment below this post and we will pick a winner at random. If you want a chance to enter twice, become a fan on our facebook page too. Come back and post another comment letting us know you are now a fan. If you are already a fan and want a second chance, just let us know by posting a second comment as well.

One lucky random winner will receive the necklace and have it mailed to them within two weeks from the date pulled. The giveaway will be from today until June 29th. The winner will be announced on June 30th! The winner will have 24 hours to email confirmation to us. If we do not hear from the winner after 24 hours, we will pull another random name and so forth until we get a winner!

Good luck and be sure to spread the news about this giveaway to all your family and friends!

Update!!!

We have WONDERFUL news to share! Isabella, the sweet little four year old girl who has been in our Gracie's Room program since 2008, has been transferred to Bethel Orphanage last week!

Bethel is the first and only organization targeting the blind orphanage population. We are so very excited for Isabella. It has been reported that she has tolerated the transfer well and is adjusting nicely.

We appreciate your support for Isabella and will continue to take donations for her care. If you or anyone you know would like to continue to support Isabella, please visit our website and make a donation today! There is much needed for her care and we couldn't do it without you, our valued and appreciated supporters! Thanks in advance for your help! As an added bonus to our supporters, any person who makes a donation over $100, will receive a 16" stuffed panda bear in a red chinese dress as our thank you gift! And please keep checking back as we will continue to update you on Isabella's progress at Bethel.

Meet Family G!

Parents Name (s) Elise and Jeff

Name of Child : Violet AiJiang Vivienne (4 years old)

Siblings : Chloe (9) and Claire (7) both from Fuling, Chongqing

Age : 4 years old

Travel dates : August 16– 28^th, 2007

Family Day dates : August 20, 2007

What made you decide to adopt from China?

A long time ago, I read an article about adoption in China. Both my husband and I thought it would be a wonderful way to build a family. In 2000, I was reading an alumni magazine for the college I was working at and there was a spotlight on an adoption agency owned by an alum. We went to an open-house at the agency…and signed on right away! In 2002, we received our referral for daughter Chloe in Fuling. The trip was amazing and wonderful, and we adopted again, from Fuling, in 2004. In 2007, when we received Violet’s referral, we were amazed to be going back to the Chongqing region, an hour or so north of Fuling to DJ!

Is this your first child or have you previously adopted from China or a different country?

Chloe was adopted in 2002, Claire in 2004 … both from Fuling, Chongqing, China.

Please tell us about your journey:

In 2002, my husband stayed home with Chloe and I travelled to China for our second daughter, Claire. I asked a college friend, Elisabeth, to join me, knowing I’d need her support and luggage-carrying skills as I travelled. When we met Claire in 2004 in Fuling, Elisabeth was amazed at the number of babies at the SWI, in awe of the emotional events of “family day,” and in love with China as much as I was. Once home, she and her husband decided to adopt. I was more than ready for baby #3! We did all of our paperwork together, met to have our dossiers state certified, and I drove the precious papers back to the agency. We were in the same travel group! For this trip, I brought along another college pal, Brian, as Elisabeth, her husband, and I prepared for travel! The wait at the time crept close to 2 years and having each other for support meant the world to me! Finally, July 2007 was referral day! Our daughters were from DianJiang! They were beautiful! The trip was wonderful and the day we travelled to the DJ SWI was amazing. We met the babies at the SWI and briefly toured the facility. We met many nannies and had lunch with the staff. Watching Elisabeth meet her first daughter, first child, for the first time was wonderful. My daughter, Violet, was initially not happy to meet me, though I won her over with cookies and toys. On our second day together, I set her on the floor to stand….and she let go of my hand and, at 10 months old!, walked off! Yes, walking at 10 months! Her legs were strong, sporting rolls of chubby baby fat, and she smiled endlessly. All the babies adjusted well in our time in Chongqing and Guangzhou, and Violet’s sisters anxiously awaited her back home. However, a cancelled flight and 6 hour delay for the next one home brought Elisabeth and I to tears…we were lucky to have each other there. To have this special connection between Elisabeth’s daughter and mine is more meaningful and magical than I can express.

Once home, we were fortunate to live near a first rate Clinic where Violet, though a NSN adoption, required surgery for her eyes. Months later, a DJ parent sent me some photos of babies at DJ…and there was Violet, at three months old at DJ, formula dribbling from her chin and tucked in a crib with one of the other babies from our travel group, Anna. Another special bond that these girls have. I am so fortunate.

What is the BEST thing about adopting?

Creating a family. Families are created and come into being in different ways. Learning to be a family, sharing my experiences with my children, has been amazing. Right before we first adopted, I would attend events and always think, “I can’t wait to share this with my child…”

What has been your BIGGEST challenge about adopting?

The unknown medical challenges. While in China, it was clear that Violet had a wandering eye; the severity and the required surgery were surprising and challenging. Also challenging is making sure that my girls grow up with diversity, and I am fortunate to have them in a school with diversity and am lucky to work at and live near a college where diversity is celebrated.

Do you plan to adopt again?

I would love to adopt again but daddy would like to relax…we’ll see J

What do you like to do as a family together (name some activities/hobbies).

Travel, eat ethnic foods (right now, Korean Bulgogi is the favorite!), have game night, ride horses, attend events at the college, play music.