| New Web Site - Children's Information |
| We are starting a new web site called Bringing Hope to Children. On this site we will have information about our foster care centers, the children in them and special projects. You can go to the site by clicking on Bringing Hope to Children or you can paste http://bringinghopetochildren.org in your browser. All of the children are not listed yet but we should be able to have them all on the site by the end of next week.
Those of you who have committed to provide monthly support of a child can go there, click on your sponsored child's name and then click the "donate" button to set up your monthly support. If you have not committed to the monthly support of a child and would like to do so, you can go to the site and choose the child you would like to support. We are asking for a commitment of $28 per month to provide a child with needed food and medical care. As we have said before, it costs about $320 to support one child for one month so we need 12 people to support one child. This $320 per child covers the expense of the rent, utilities, staff, food, diapers, clothing, medical supplies, etc. With a combined capacity at the two centers of 24 children we need about 275 people to commit to support these children monthly. So far we have only 34 people who have made this commitment so you can see we have a long way to go.
We hope to expand our foster care program in China but cannot do so without your help. The need is great as is demonstrated by children such as Tian Tian and Zhang Qi. If the local orphanages did not have our centers to turn to, children such as Zhang Qi would die. Your support to insure that these centers continue will ensure that more children like Zhang Qi and Tian Tian will have a chance. We may not be able to save them all but we can do as the story of the starfish says.
Once a man was walking along a beach. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. Off in the distance he could see a person going back and forth between the surf's edge and and the beach. Back and forth this person went. As the man approached he could see that there were hundreds of starfish stranded on the sand as the result of the natural action of the tide.
The man was stuck by the the apparent futility of the task. There were far too many starfish. Many of them were sure to perish. As he approached the person continued the task of picking up starfish one by one and throwing them into the surf.
As he came up to the person he said, "You must be crazy. There are thousands of miles of beach covered with starfish. You can't possibly make a difference." The person looked at the man. He then stooped down and pick up one more starfish and threw it back into the ocean. He turned back to the man and said, "It sure made a difference to that one!"
We can all make a difference!
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| Christmas Ornaments and Painting Raffle |
Melissa Carter and her husband Duane adopted a sweet little guy from our waiting child program in China. They have a large and happy family that is still growing! Melissa somehow finds the time to enjoy a wonderful artistic talent with which she was blessed. When she read our newsletter about TianTian and Zhang Qi's needs, she offered to help raise additional funds for their care by holding a raffle for one of her beautiful paintings, and also from the sale of some of her adorable Christmas ornaments! You can see these and visit her website for more information by clicking on one of the links below:
Below is a photo of the painting.
We are so grateful to Melissa for this special gift of her time, talent, and the funds they will generate to help TianTian and Zhang Qi.
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TianTian has recovered from her URI (upper respiratory infection) but the doctors are keeping her on an antibiotic until she has her surgery to prevent any further complications. The MRI showed more significant enlargement of the arachnoid cyst than they had expected. It must be taken care of as soon as possible. The doctors in 
