Isabella Update

Last week, I posted about helping Isabella transition to the Bethel Orphanage for the blind and I am so happy to report that we have already seen some very generous donations coming in to support Isabella!

In one weeks' time, we have had $760 donated towards our goal of $5,472!! A great BIG THANK YOU to all who have contributed to our cause thus far. We hope we can continue this awesome support and meet our goals of helping Isabella.

Keep checking back for our progress and watch the ticker at the bottom of the blog!

Happenings in DJ

Isabella is a sweet little four year old girl who has been in our Gracie’s Room Program since August 2008. Isabella will be moving in April to Bethel Orphanage, for the blind, but we need your help to make this move as smooth as possible. Bethel is the first and only dedicated organization targeting the Chinese blind and orphan population.

When Isabella first entered Gracie’s Room at 1.5 years old, she couldn’t sit up on her own, but she was able to crawl and also roll over.

5 months after entering Gracie’s Room, Isabella was now able to sit up on her own. She loved to be held in her nannies arms and when she crawled along, she would raised her head up and her nannies nicknamed “little snail”.

Isabella loves to be around people and at almost 3 years old, she started to learn how to walk. She feels safe when she hears her nannies voice, and she loves to hear music and often taps her feet and hands to the beat.

When she turned 3.5 she started to walk on her own while guided. She was now able to balance her body.

She also started making simple conversations.

Isabella is now 4 years old and is very audible, she is able to recognize nannies walking by. The nannies feel she is musically gifted and she sings along to songs.

Bethel Orphanage was founded in 2003 and takes care of only visually impaired orphans. They strive to give them a family atmosphere. It also runs a foster care program (1 caretaker to 3 children) as well as an educational program, where Isabella will not only learn oral English, French and Chinese, but also Braille, daily living skills, mobility, and even piano.

The nannies take care of their daily routines, and the teachers are responsible for their education.

Although Isabella will not be in Gracie’s Room any longer, DJ Kids would like to help Bethel with caring for her. Please help us help her!

In Gracie’s Room we have given Isabella a wonderful start, but she now needs to move on to be able to fulfill her potential! She should be able to feel the grass under her toes and a piano at her fingertips!

We have set up a special fundraiser page for Isabella on our organization's website. You will be able to easily donate to help support Isabella and to also follow along our fund raising efforts. Please take a moment to also share this important information with others you know. Every little bit helps, regardless of the amount.

Thank you once again for your generosity and continued support for the children at DJ Kids! Without you, we would never be able to offer our continued care for these amazing children!

Meet Family H!

About once or twice a month, we will spotlight our DJ families in hopes that we can all get to know one another better! I was very happy that we had several families come forward right away to participate in the spotlight interview. So, without further ado, please meet Family H!

Parents names: Todd & Kendall

Name of Child from DJ: Chloe Xueshan

Sibling Name (s): Avery SuQiu (Jiangxi) 6 years old, adopted at 10 mos. of age, June 2005

Age: Chloe will be 4 on April 14th!

Travel Dates: February 24 - March 12, 2010

Family Day Dates: March 1, 2010 Gotcha Day!!! Just celebrated our first anniversary!

How did you decide to adopt from China?

Kendall's older brother was adopted from Korea when she was 4 and he was almost 6, so growing up she had always wanted to adopt as well as have biological children. When biological children weren't in the cards for us, we decided to adopt from China because we knew there were so many girls being abandoned. We also knew the process was very streamlined and straightforward with no "surprises" financially speaking, once in China, like we'd heard could happen in other countries.

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

We adopted our 6 1/2 year old daughter, Avery SuQiu, in June 2005 from Fenyi Welfare Institute in Jiangxi, China at 10 months old.

Please tell us about your journey:

We started our second adoption in January 2007 when we learned the wait was growing so long, unlike our first adoption. During the paper chase process and over the next year, we realized the time line was only going to get worse for a "healthy" baby, so we made the decision to pursue adopting through our agency's, GWCA, Waiting Child program and to adopt an older child so the girls would be closer in age. After 7 1/2 uncomfortable months of struggling with the fact we were the ones "choosing" our child this time and agonizing over all the sweet babies and children whose conditions were just too serious for us to adopt, we found our precious Chloe, Jiang Xueshan, on our agency's list. She was 2 years old and diagnosed with repaired cleft lip, cleft palate un-repaired and a diagnosis of epilepsy at age 1, controlled by daily medication.

A year ago almost to the day, we saw that sweet, scared but stoic, little 2 year old girl come around a corner holding the hand of one of the DJ reps and we just knew immediately that she was meant to be ours and part of our forever family!

She had been in a foster family since she was a baby and you could just tell that she had been cared for and loved very much. She is one of the "huggiest" and most loving kids I've ever met. I truly hope one day we can meet and thank her foster family and let them know how wonderful she is and how great she is doing. Sophie, our guide, explained to us that Chongqing girls were "spicy" and boy can she be the epitome of that description in good ways and bad some days! Flash forward a year later and we feel like Chloe has been part of our family forever already! She is so well adjusted, so smart and such a sweet, kind and loving little soul who aabsolutely ADORES her jie jie with all her heart!

What is the BEST thing about adopting?


The best thing about adopting is that we know God had a plan all along and he blessed us with two amazing, wonderful, precious daughters that we love "to the moon and back" and cannot imagine our lives without!

What has been the biggest challenge about adopting?

The biggest challenge is the "not knowing" very much about our daughter's histories and knowing as the girls get older they will have bigger questions that we just won't be able to answer fully. Thanks to DJ Kids Int'l, we were blessed to find Chloe was one of the sponsored foster kids and have photos and updates from about 3-4 months old and up until we adopted her that are truly a treasure!!

Do you plan to adopt again?

At this point (and age!), we are not planning to adopt again, but Chloe really wants a mei mei too, (not so much Avery however...she's just fine with having one) but never say never!

What types of activities/hobbies do you like to do as a family together?

As a family we really enjoy being outdoors, playing at our neighborhood parks, traveling (especially to the beach!) going to the Atlanta Zoo, Georgia Aquarium and enjoying ice cream at Zesto's! Chloe wants me to also make sure we tell you that she really likes to ride her bike too!

Do you host your own blog that others can follow?

Our blog hasn't been updated in about 6 months, but feel free to visit to follow our journey while we were in China. Be warned, my husband has a warped sense of humor, but means well. http://averyandchloe.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_archive.html

Thank you Family H! for participating in the Family Spotlight! We enjoyed getting to know all of you a little better and wish your family continued love and happiness!