April 1, 2005

Click on pictures to see the full size!
 

OPERATION HOPE RETURNS TO TENNESSEE!!

Operation Hope comes to Nashville, TN in mid-June 2005! 

A group of eight to 10 school-age orphans from Russia will arrive here to spend three weeks of their summer vacations with host families who are seriously interested in adopting them. We hope to bring nine wonderful school-age children from Russia to their American host families. We have received information on these great kids and are now looking for families for four 9 - 11 year-old boys. Our goal is to help these beautiful and smart kids find their forever families.

It is still not too late to sign up to participate in this wonderful program to host and then adopt an older child. Or, if you do not plan to adopt but would like to help us bring the children to the US to find their forever families, you can make a donation to Children's Hope Foundation. Since 2000, CHI hosted 140 older children through Operation Hope and 133 have been adopted as a result of this program. For more information please e-mail Tanya@childrenshopeint.org.

THE MILLWOOD FAMILY, TN (China)

THE McHALE FAMILY, TX (Russia)

"Some Enchanted Evening..."  Olivia Millwood (Gotcha Day 10-22-02) enjoys a Valentine's Day date with dad.

We are all now well rested and better and Zachary is doing very well.   He seems to be adjusting very well.  He is eating and sleeping well and adjusted to the new time.  Last night he slept 9 hours.

THE MAST FAMILY, TN (China)

THE BURNS FAMILY, TN (China)

I thought you might like to see these. She is soooo sweet; we are in Heaven!!!!

Check out the hair on this girl.  Much more than she had 3 months ago.  She has also gained 3 pounds and 9 more teeth.  Lindsay is walking and running everywhere now! 

THE KRIGEL FAMILY, TN (Russia)

I wish you could the smiles on our faces and our tears of joy as I write this note to you and the staff at CHI.

We have just returned from Vladivostok Russia where we met our two beautiful little boys. I can not put into words the emotions that we felt seeing Alex and Anatoliy for the first time. We cannot begin to tell you how beautiful and wonderful they are.  All of the fears that we had up to that point regarding the boys’ health, and the fear of rejection on the part of the kids melted away right before our eyes.

We got to see Alex first. He is the 2 year old. As he walked into the room with his care taker he started to cry when he saw us there. My heart stood still for a second and then remembered that this is a good sign. Within the next ten minuets he would start to interact with us. Then came little Anatoliy being carried in by his caretaker. "Tolik" as he is called also cried at first, but when given into Belinda's arms he seemed to snuggle right in.

Over the next two hours or so (it felt more like five minutes) the kids became very playful with us. Alex, or "Losha" as he is known loved the bubbles that we brought. In fact his first English word was "bubbles"!!! I showed him how to blow bubbles and after a few minutes it looked more like the Lawrence Welk Show. He loved trying to catch them and pop them. His little brother Tolik was on mom’s lap watching both her and the bubbles. While sitting on mom’s lap he started to play with anything he could reach for...another excellent sign of positive development. We were ecstatic at this point. He was laughing and playing with us, and Losha was having so much fun. We put away the bubbles and started rolling the ball. This brings us to his second English word..."ball"!!  We would roll the ball to each other and Losha would repeat everything that I did. If I bounced the ball, he did the same thing. If I pushed the ball, he would push it. We both had a great time. After that I took Tolik and Belinda played with Losha. Before the end of the first visit we were already mama and papa!

I could go on and on, but I will just tell you that our visits with the boys was a beautiful experience....one that I could never have dreamed of. Seeing them do normal children's stuff, both walking and playing was so comforting to us.  They are very small - but they just want to be loved so they can grow.  These children are meant to be ours.  We cannot wait to bring them home.

I can not tell you how happy we are that we choose CHI. Every day we hear stories from people that used some others and are not happy.

Both Belinda and I are so grateful for everything that CHI did for our family. Our fears of what happens next were unfounded as CHI was there each step of the way to take care of things for us so all we had to do was to enjoy being with our kids! 

As I look back now at the entire process I smile and ask myself  "is that all there is to it?"

What seemed like such a long process now seems like such a small price to pay for such joy. Thank you again for being part of that process and for all of the help that you gave us in making it a dream come true. 

THE MCGARY FAMILY, GA (China)

Life is great with Ali Zhen!  She is growing and starting to really pick up English.  I have to tell you that everyone that meets her just falls in love with her.  I brought her to my school where I work several times and the teachers and students go crazy!  She is always smiling and giggling and seems to be loving life.  She is as her name implies - precious! She has had one cleft palate surgery and another surgery to pull 9 teeth and put 8 caps on.  She has really been a trooper!  I hope you can meet her one day!

THE BUTLER FAMILY, TN (Russia)

Once again you have made a family's dreams come true.  My husband and I have an 8 year old daughter but we have always wanted more than one child.  Our daughter, Hallie, has also had a strong desire for a brother or sister.  When we decided to adopt internationally choosing an agency was a big decision and we are so grateful our social worker recommended you to us.  From our first e-mails from Brenda Barker in the Tennessee office, to Natalia's excellent help with our dossier, to all the ones in the St. Louis office who have helped us through this process you have been wonderful.  We tell everyone what a great agency we have had and we would recommend you to anyone starting this process.  We felt a strong sense of God's peace and presence as we met Michael in the Kaliningrad region of Russia and decided to adopt him. He has made the transition and initial adjustments beautifully. Thank you so much for everything.

THE GRENKOSKI FAMILY, TN (China)

I wanted to share some pictures of Ella with you. She is doing great and is just amazing. She adores her brothers and they her but she has already learned to stand her ground with them. I have heard, "Mom, Ella pinched me," a few times. Bonding and adjustments have been much easier than we imagined. Ella is a low maintenance girl. She sleeps through the night and has since the second night home. She sleeps 10 to 12 hours before starting her day and then wakes up and plays in her crib until you get her. I know she sounds like the dream baby and she is. 

Ella now weighs 18 pounds and 1 ounce. That is an almost two pound weight gain since coming home. All her blood work and medical exams have been excellent. She is at or above average developmentally. She is on target with her language skills as well. Have I mentioned how bright she is? 

She is beautiful as well and loves to have her picture taken. I cannot thank you enough for your help in bringing our daughter home. The CHI China team was great and the CHI staff and coordinators in China were amazing. I knew that CHI was the agency for us from the start but I had no idea how much I should really appreciate them until we were in China. After hearing other adoptive families not using CHI experiences in China I realized how lucky we were to have CHI. We did not have to think for ourselves while in China. The trip was amazing and we did not have to sweat any of the small stuff. We were left to focus on the important part of the trip.....Ella. 

Please extend my appreciation to the Southeast Staff for all their help and dedication in bring Ella home.

THE DUNAVANT FAMILY, TN (Russia)

This is one of our boys many musical performances...Alex on keyboard and Nikolas on electric guitar.  They have so much fun...

HUMANITARIAN AID

CHI Southeast invites you to Trivia Night 2005, Saturday, April 23, 6-9 p.m. at the Cool Springs YMCA.  Trivia night is a fun fundraiser to support Project Brighter Tomorrow, a program to help children who are orphaned by AIDS.  We'll compete on teams of 8 answering trivia questions, bid on items in the Silent Auction, and enjoy hors d'ouvres and great company! Admission is $20 per person, with all proceeds going directly to support Project Brighter Tomorrow.  You can help by donating items or services for the Silent Auction, inviting 7 friends to join you on a Trivia team, saying Yes! when you're invited to participate on a team, and coming to have fun and support a great cause.  Please contact Vonda Hunter at CHI to ask questions, RSVP, or donate an item or service:  Vonda@childrenshopeint.org or 615.309.8109.

RUSSIA UPDATE

There are lots of things going on with the Russia program and it is changing by the minute!  Please see our website www.childrenshope.com under Latest News.  Then you can click on the link at the top or go to the Russia section and it will take you to the same update. 
 

CHI ST. LOUIS NEW HOME

The St. Louis staff will be packing boxes for the move that will start on April 1^st. The plan is to be open for business on Tuesday April 5^th.
 

CHI REUNION PICNIC

Mark your calendar for the CHI Reunion Picnic 2005. July 23^rd :10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Again this year we will gather at Queeny Park in St. Louis for a one day event, for families to share or relive adoption experiences. Over 1000 people joined in the fun last year.  

Go to www.childrenshope.com/ReunionPicnic2005.htm for details on Hotels, Location, Photos from 2004 and an application form. 

UPCOMING INFORMATION MEETINGS

UPCOMING EVENTS

April 15 

6:00-8:00 PM

April 18         

April 22    

April 23  

6:30- ? PM

Franklin YMCA

April 29    

A MESSAGE FROM BRENDA BARKER

April will be a busy month for us with lots of children finding their forever homes! Why not join in the fun? Send in your application today and join the many happy families who love sharing their stories with us!

We don't want to burden you with a lot of information, but we do want to help you if you are looking for a way to adopt. If not, please let us know and we will regretfully remove your name from our newsletter.   E-mail me at my address below with any question you have.  I would love to hear from you. 

Brenda

 Southeastern U.S.
 Brenda Barker, Director
 7003 Chadwick Dr. Suite 350
 Brentwood, TN  37027
 615-309-8109   Fax: 615-309-8483
 Brenda@ChildrensHope.com
 Also serving the following states: TN, KY, GA, AL, AR, MS, TX and LA