November 18, 2018 Beyond Adoption, child sponsorship, family preservation, International China Concern, NGOs, orphan ministry, other ways to care for the orphan 2 Comments

Precocious Bobby grinned ear-to-ear as he crunched the delicious corn his chubby fingers had threaded onto skewers not long before. Through his special education class at International China Concern (ICC), he learned about… • Planting and harvesting from ICC’s on-site garden. • Washing and preparing food together as family. • Temperature and cooking in the …Read More

March 22, 2018 Children Who Wait, LWB 1 Comments

In September of 2015, while on an advocacy trip to China, I met a tiny baby boy with Down syndrome. I had seen children on tv who looked like this child, but I had really never seen or held a child who was literally on death’s doorstep. His situation was very grave due to a …Read More

February 14, 2018 complex heart defect, February 2018 Feature - Heart, Heart System, heterotaxy, major aorto-pulmonary collateral arteries, medical needs checklist, Morning Star Foster Home, pulmonary hypertension, referral, single atrium heart disease, single ventricle heart disease 1 Comments

Dear Could-Be Heart Mama, thinking of bringing home your own little Broken-Hearted Brave, It’s the morning here, on this Celebration of Hearts, and I wake up to a house full of little hearts — brave and broken ones, that is. We like to call ourselves this “Little House of Brave” — like a warrior rally …Read More

April 30, 2017 April 2017 Feature - Love Stories, Beyond Adoption, foster care, Harmony House, NGOs, orphan ministry 1 Comments

We are so quick to fill in the blanks, aren’t we? We get one part of a story, and we use our imagination to complete the rest. But it’s too simplistic to do that with the care of orphaned children halfway around the world… to see an image and create a tragic narrative, hear a …Read More

April 21, 2017 April 2017 Feature - Love Stories, foster care, International China Concern, NGOs 0 Comments

We are so quick to fill in the blanks, aren’t we? We get one part of a story, and we use our imagination to complete the rest. But it’s too simplistic to do that with the care of orphaned children halfway around the world… to see an image and create a tragic narrative, hear a …Read More

April 7, 2017 April 2017 Feature - Love Stories, foster care, Little Flower, NGOs, orphanage realities 1 Comments

We are so quick to fill in the blanks, aren’t we? We get one part of a story, and we use our imagination to complete the rest. But it’s too simplistic to do that with the care of orphaned children halfway around the world… to see an image and create a tragic narrative, hear a …Read More

February 27, 2017 advanced heart failure, Andrea O., complex heart defect, February 2017 Feature - Preparing Your Child for Medical Interventions, heart transplant, hospital stays, Little Hearts Medical, Medical Momma, surgery 0 Comments

When we arrived home with our youngest daughter and fourth CHD child, Rini, in August of 2013, my definition of a long hospital stay was three weeks. When my husband dropped us off at the entrance of the children’s hospital’s Emergency Department straight from the airport, little did I know that my definition of an …Read More

February 14, 2017 adopting a boy, adopting as first time parents, complex heart defect, Family Stories, February 2017 Feature - Heart, first year home, Heart System, heterotaxy, medical needs checklist, Morning Star Foster Home, pulmonary atresia, should we adopt?, surgery, waiting for referral 0 Comments

Prologue: In our son’s room, we have a picture that reads: “Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9) We chose this verse for him, but in reality it applies more to us. My husband, Derek, and …Read More

December 31, 2016 Beyond Adoption, child sponsorship, LWB, NGOs, other ways to care for the orphan, Stefanie 0 Comments

We recently had an opportunity to talk with Amy Eldridge, founder and director of Love Without Boundaries. LWB began in 2003, in an effort to help save the life of one tiny boy in China, and now operates ongoing programs – education, foster care, healing homes, medical and unity initiative, and nutrition – to care …Read More

December 22, 2016 Beyond Adoption, Contributor Q and A, Half the Sky, International China Concern, Little Hearts Medical, LWB, Morning Star Foster Home, New Day Foster Home, NGOs, other ways to care for the orphan, Show Hope, Stefanie 0 Comments

We are pretty passionate about orphan care around here. And we love to help others find avenues for their similarly burdened hearts to care for the fatherless as well as encourage family preservation. Recently, our team was discussing our favorite orphan-and-adoption-related charities. And then we thought of you, our readers, and how good it would …Read More

November 23, 2016 books, LWB, NGOs, other ways to care for the orphan, Rebecca 0 Comments

“Walking into my daughter’s orphanage for the first time changed everything
 I thought I knew about my life.” 
- Amy Eldridge Do you have anybody you’d like to sit across a table from? I’m guessing you have a list of folks. As for me, I’d designate one of my chairs to Amy Eldridge, founder of …Read More

October 11, 2016 adopting a boy, Developmental System, Down syndrome, Family Stories, Morning Star Foster Home, October 2016 Feature - Developmental 5 Comments

I was sixteen weeks pregnant with our second child sitting outside Panera sipping my tomato basil soup when an elementary aged boy walked by smiling and holding his mother’s hand. The boy had Down syndrome. As they walked past a question entered my mind I had never thought in my life, “What if my child …Read More

October 1, 2016 Beyond Adoption, Chris, New Day Foster Home, NGOs, other ways to care for the orphan 2 Comments

Here at No Hands But Ours, we are passionate about the Fatherless; the orphaned, the child who so desperately needs a family. And so we advocate, we encourage, we inform, we love. We also know that many of our readers are as passionate and want to support and love on children who need families… some …Read More

August 6, 2016 Advocacy, CCAI, Gladney, Holt, Lifeline, RainbowKids, referral, shared list, special focus, Stefanie 0 Comments

We recently had an opportunity to talk with Martha Osborne, founder of RainbowKids, and ask her some questions about RainbowKids, the recent changes in the Shared List and the impact of those changes on China’s special needs program. ……… Q: Can you tell us more about Rainbow Kids – how did it get started? Our …Read More

August 2, 2016 ASL, August 2016 Feature - SIgn Language and Adoption, New Day Foster Home, NGOs, sign language, Stefanie 1 Comments

You might think that sign language is only for children who are deaf or hard of hearing. We’d like to encourage you to reconsider. Signing is an incredibly valuable tool in ANY adoptive parent’s tool belt. It makes communicating with your newly adopted child exponentially easier – no matter their age or special need. And …Read More

July 28, 2016 adopting a boy, adopting again, Andrea O., heart transplant, July 2016 Feature - Dear Younger Me, Little Hearts Medical, surgery 6 Comments

Hey there, shadow of myself. Yes, I’m talking to you, the woman who is spending countless hours picking out the perfect color for the walls of the nursery where, in a few months, you will rock your “healthy, as young as possible” baby girl from China. I’m smiling right now, thinking of the woman I …Read More

February 1, 2016 February 2016 Feature - Heart, Heart System, Little Hearts Medical, other ways to care for the orphan, referral, waiting for referral 0 Comments

It’s February 1. Happy American Heart Month! To start off heart month here at NHBO, I asked Andrea to share. Andrea has shared here before, as mom to four children with complex (some with very complex) heart needs. But today Andrea is sharing as the Executive Director of Little Hearts Medical. One of her roles …Read More

December 28, 2015 Beyond Adoption, December 2015 Feature - Beyond Adoption, Morning Star Foster Home, orphan prevention, other ways to care for the orphan 3 Comments

In the bed next to my sweet little one in that Chinese ICU, a little six day old baby lay. I didn’t take much notice of him at first, another baby on a ventilator among the rows. Not until I overheard one quiet doctor’s words to another – “The surgery? It’s too expensive. I don’t …Read More

December 18, 2015 Beyond Adoption, December 2015 Feature - Beyond Adoption, Half the Sky, orphan prevention, other ways to care for the orphan 0 Comments

Today, as part of our Beyond Adoption series, we are highlighting OneSky for all children. OneSky, formerly Half the Sky Foundation, is a global NGO that over the last 18 years has trained more than 13,000 caregivers and impacted the lives of more than 130,000 of China’s most vulnerable children and its work is only …Read More

December 7, 2015 Beyond Adoption, December 2015 Feature - Beyond Adoption, other ways to care for the orphan, Show Hope 0 Comments

Adoption has forever changed so many of us, hasn’t it? It’s moved our hearts and expanded our thinking. We stood in orphanages and felt the sting of tears, knowing that while we were receiving the gift of sons and daughters, we were also leaving behind a staggering number of fatherless children. It is easy to …Read More

November 13, 2015 Christmas, Hannah, LWB, New Day Foster Home, other ways to care for the orphan 0 Comments

One of my most vivid memories from childhood Christmases was the year my parents took us kiddos to the store to buy clothes and toiletries to donate to a local homeless shelter. We shopped as a family, gave as a family, and in the course of a few hours one Saturday afternoon, my brothers and …Read More

April 16, 2015 Down syndrome, Family Found, International China Concern, Stefanie 0 Comments

I first learned about this precious girl on the Down Syndrome Adoption FB group and was immediately smitten. And when you see her picture, I’m sure you’ll agree. Those chubby legs. That black hair. Those pink cheeks. Oh my. Now that we are home with our Clementine, who also has Down syndrome, I have such a huge soft …Read More

March 26, 2015 adoption realities, disruption, guest post, LWB, March 2015 Feature - Disruption, orphanage realities 4 Comments

Today we finish out our month-long series on disruption with a post by Amy Eldridge of Love Without Boundaries Foundation. We are so grateful to include her voice of experience here, as she has spent years working on behalf of orphans in China and has witnessed the wake of disruption on families and children – …Read More

September 19, 2014 International China Concern 0 Comments

In 1993, a newborn baby girl was brought to a Chinese orphanage. She lived less than 24 hours. She died without a name. Without a family. But her short life touched one man, and he started International China Concern (ICC). That man, David Gotts, thought there had to be another way, a better way, for …Read More

August 5, 2010 LWB 1 Comments

August 22, 2009 Half the Sky, Stefanie 3 Comments

July 24, 2009 LWB, Stefanie, video 0 Comments