June update for our gorgeous little china doll Hannah

Name: Hannah Gender: F

Birthday: January, 2010

Special Need: Heart Defect, Pierre Robin Syndrome, Malnutrition

Admission Date: 5/14/2010

Admission Weight: 4.3 kg Current Weight: 5.4 kg

Report: At her mid-month visit in June, Heartbridge Manager Cindy found that

Hannah had gained weight since her last visit. “I can see her cheeks are more filled up

now.” I am really anxious to get our month-end update from Mona so I can see just how

much weight Hannah has gained…I am amazed by how much better she looks!

(At the end of the month I found out that she had gained a pound and three-quarters!)

After a bath and some formula, Hannah could barely stay awake to finish her bottle.

Cindy says that Hannah has to suck so hard, her lower lip almost completely disappears

when she takes a bottle.

Backing up just a tiny bit, there is a small “bonus” to our June updates:

Executive Director Amy Eldridge, Director of Operations Paige Mills-Haag, and

Administration Director Sheri Russon all visited Heartbridge on June 8th. Amy noted that

Hannah is “SOOOOO tiny” and also how her eyes followed them all around the room. It

was wonderful to hear once again how well all the children are doing!

At the end of the month, nurse Mona reported that Hannah had a great month. She gets

an adequate amount of sleep, and everyone was happy to see she gained nearly a full

kilo. It is quite a job, but Hannah’s nanny manages to get it about 200 ml (or 6-3/4

ounces) of formula at each feeding. Mona also tells us that Hannah had her Hepatitis B

vaccination this month.

From Mona: “At five months, Hannah smiles, grabs objects and plays with her hands. She

can roll over and creep but cannot return to the supine position. She doesn’t like to lie on

the mat, but she does enjoy lying on the rocker as shown on the photo. She rocks herself by raising her right leg up and down. Hannah is lovely and she’s very easy to care for.”

We would still like to see Hannah become a little stronger before having her heart

surgery, but she has truly made amazing progress since her arrival on May 14th. It

shouldn’t be too much longer, and then after she has healed from surgery, we can

have her lip repaired as well.

Thank you so much to everyone that donated, for giving Hannah this chance for health and happiness. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for this precious little girl!

I hope it is not too long into the future that we get an update that says Hannah has found a loving home!

xx

A view of where Three little Trees are made

Myself, Our manufacturer Herbert and Kate

Kate and I had a fantastic time in China and Hong Kong, it really opened our eyes to a very different but very polite and friendly culture! We could not get over how welcoming EVERYONE was over there; everywhere we walked people were calling out "hello...welcome to China!". We were like celebrities, I guess because we were in a very business orientated district, it was quite rare for them to see 3 Aussie females in sun dresses! he he. Even walking down the street in front of our hotel, we would see people walking out of their shop to see us!

Most of all though, It was great being able to meet all of the wonderful people behind our Three Little Trees Production! Our factory was full of happy, smiling faces and it was so interesting seeing how our designs evolve into garments! Take a look!

Our Manufacturer Herbert and My Mum. He showed us such great hospitality and all the sights of "Real China"
Happy faces in our factory
Another happy face sewing another label
One of the pattern makers
Head of Production

We are back!!

Hi everyone!!

Well its taken a few days to get back into reality! We had a fantastic experience in Hong Kong and china and got to see things that you could not imagine still exist! The orphanage of course was the high light of our trip, so I thought today I would blog about that...

We were both feeling a lot of emotions leading up to the day... excitement, joy, sadness, anxiousness and nervousness all at the same time! Approaching the orphanage, I was really surprised how pleasant it looked. We were met at the gates by the manager of the orphanage. It was great that we had our friend and manufacturer, Herbert there with us, as no body spoke a word of english! We had two HUGE bags full of toys, clothes and blankets thanks to you all!

unfortunately we were not able to personally give the gifts to the children, which we thought was understandable, as they would most likely have to go through them all first to check that they were clean and no hazards.

We could tell however that they were EXTREMELY GRATEFUL! We walked through the corridors and viewed each room. There was a physio room, which we thought was a wonderful resource given that the majority of the children have some sort of disability.

We then walked past the little pre-school room where they were all eating their lunch and looked really happy!

It was very nice to see. The tears had already started welling in my eyes.

We turned the corner and were greeted at the end of the corridor by a very special little man that had a very old soul. His eyes looked straight into mine; I knelt down and opened my arms and he walked in for a cuddle!

The next room, was just so heart breaking and heart warming at the same time! These babies were just beautiful!

Most of them were born with some sort of problem. We were talking to our chinese manufacturer and he said that in the city they can only have one baby each and in the country they are allowed 2 as long as the first baby is a girl, then they are allowed to try for a boy. So pretty much, when a baby is born that is not quite perfect they are very unwanted by most chinese parents. Most could not afford the medical needs of these children and others would much rather try again for perfection. These babies are left on the side of the road to be picked up by the police and taken to the orphanage.

Its horrible, but it is the reality that these poor babies face. this orphanage has around 130 orphans from all over Quanzhou and the money that all of you helped us raise will go towards sponsoring a beautiful little girl "Hannah" that was born with heart problems, cleft pallet and a few other health issues. We have also asked to provide the babies with some soft mattresses. This was a bit distressing to us, they used towels that were tied around their waist with rope as some padding on the hard wooden base of the cots.

We should not have favorites, but we each fell in love with a baby and cannot get them out of our head! I have even looked into adopting a Chinese baby, because I was so touched by my experience. Unfortunately, it looks like the Australian government just makes it extremely hard and costly to adopt an international baby. There is no way around it except living in another country for more than one year, then adopting through their countries government only, then applying for a visa once you are ready to return to Australia! I can't believe that Australia has so many resources and so many parents that need a baby and these babies are sitting waiting in orphanages for a home and our government cannot simplify the process. I was shocked to hear that Parents usually wait around five years before successfully adopting an international baby. Kate's little guy that really touched her heart was 4 months old and was in desperate need for surgery on his cleft pallet. He was beautiful and so alert for his age!

The little girl I cannot stop thinking about was on her way to the USA the next day to join a family. She had so much personality and was my snuggley Koala bear!

There was a gorgeous little boy there too, that was so positive and happy but will and has come up against so many challenges in his short little life that it deeply saddened all of us. He was born albino, blind, cleft pallet and a heart condition........WHY?

Lets hope someone can find it in their heart to choose him!

"Love without boundaries" is doing a fabulous job supporting the orphanages in China. They help provide bedding, clothes, toys and much needed medical assistance. It has really inspired Kate and I to go further with this and assist in Balinese orphanages next year. These children will never be forgotten by Three Little Trees! xx

OFF TO CHINA!!!

Well the day has finally come and Kate and I are all packed up and off to China! Its been a hectic week again getting ready! I always get nervous going overseas, because I am so scared that I have forgotten something! he he.

My ride is just about here to go the airport, so have a great day and we will blog about our adventure when we return next week!

Jac and Kate xxxxxx

Home alone!

Hi guys!

Sorry there hasnt been much blogging this week, it has been hectic! Poor little Xaviah, Kates son has been in hospital sick and we have both been very busy getting ready to go to China on Wednesday! Xaviah is out of hospital now and all better thank goodness!

I am sitting at home alone tonight....my 2 beautiful kids and husband have flown down south of Sydney to stay with Nanny and Poppy while I go overseas. Its funny because I should be loving it tonight, no kids, no washing and sleep ins? BUT I really miss them already! I really dont know what to do with myself! I am always so busy running around after them, that you forget what to do when you take them out of the picture?

I did go for a nice walk this morning, It was so fresh and gorgeous! I love people watching and just thinking... my thoughts just roll when I am walking. I always think about funny little things the kids do and say, I also kept thinking about meeting the little orphans in China and hoping that my heart will be strong enough to get through it. I am so grateful to all our Three Little Trees fans out there that have been so generous, we have got teddy bears, blankets, plenty of clothes and over $1300! Its just fantastic!

There is so much to organise before going overseas, I get nervous that I am goingto forget something! At least with the kids gone over the next few days, I can start laying things out and packing without getting peanut butter fingers over everything.

Ooooh I almost forgot to Congratulate our last month blog follower winner who won a $50 gift voucher "Ms B Andrews". Yey, the next winner will be announced on the 30th June!

Have a great weekend. xx

Brisbane & Birds...

On friday I went up to Semi Permenant Conference in Brisbane with our Graphic artist Krystal which was so great! Its so cool to hear other designers stories and where they get their inspirations from. After SP we went to the Banksy movie - Exit through the gift shop. At the Tribal Theatre. It is the coolest theatre that still has heaps of it's old character! As for the banksy movie - FUNNY, it was a crack up!

Anyway, on the way home we went past the Nerang Pet Barn....if I get something in my head I generally don't rest until I get it or do it. So off we went back to the pet barn first thing in the morning to get some hermit crabs (I didn't want anything too full on as we are moving to Bali soon).....It's a great pet store. I don't usually like going to them because of the fact that animals are kept behind glass etc but I dont "really" get that feeling at this one. They seem really well cared for and clean.

We had a cool time looking at all of the different pets. We quickly decided against Hermit Crabs and started looking for something more exciting. Kittens and puppies - no, too hard to re home when we leave. Xaviah had his heart set on a scorpion but I wasn't too keen on that idea. Then he wanted a snake, but we had an 8 ft python when he was a baby so I didn't want to go there again, I wanted something we hadn't had before.

My sisters boyfriend is finch obsessed and is the most lovely father to his finches so we decided on finches so that we can easily re-home them when we leave. I usually wouldn't ever get a pet that has to be caged, I cant even keep fish because I feel bad for them in their tank - we often buy fish but always end up giving them to my dad who has a big outdoor pond when my guilt kicks in. So what i'm thinking is that these birds are bred in cages, if they were let out in the wild they would die and i figure they are better off in our home rather than a cramped pet store cage, so i'm ok with it........for now.

We are letting them out of their cage (with mirrors covered, doors closed and our kitty outside) for daily excersice so I think they will be happy little critters.

So now we have 2 little finches....."Lightening Bolt" (above) and "Rosie".

Kate..xx

UFO Sighting!!

Most of you probably saw on the news yesterday that there were several sightings of a bright spiraling light early yesterday morning around 6am that could be seen all the way from Canberra up to the Sunshine Coast? Unexpectedly, I got to see it too while boarding a flight to Sydney at Coolangatta Airport! It was amazing, like nothing I have ever seen before..... I could see the light trailing around it like a little galaxy. It was not going fast enough to be a shooting star and not at all like a plane or helicopter? It looked like it was floating across the sky as it was spinning. I quickly got my phone out so I could take pictures to show you all!

There was an article written with the ABC yesterday that said it was most likely some space junk or a part of an asteroid or a rocket? I think it was still pretty amazing though!

A NICE DAY FOR A WALK

It was a beautiful day yesterday, which was just strange, as we only live about 5o minutes from the devastated "Lennox Head" area... I still cant believe that the tornado hit! After hours of entering orders into MYOB yesterday morning, Kai and I decided to go for a nice walk with our dog Boston. It was so peaceful and quiet! I haven't been for a walk in a long time and forgot how nice it is to collect your thoughts and just refresh. Kai and Boston really enjoyed it to, I think its really important to get your kids out of the house and keep them active!

xx

Grandparents Day

Today was grandparents day at Kai and Xaviahs school and their kindergarten class put on an afternoon tea for all the grandparents. The aim of today was to teach the young children how to serve! As harsh as this sounds, I thought the idea behind it was great. Kids are so spoilt these days and often lose a lot of respect for their elders. The children had to ensure all of their guests were comfortable and were enjoying themselves and were offering plates of food. My poor little boy Kai didnt quite get the concept and the temptation of chocolate muffins and chips really got to him! The children were not allowed to eat any of the treats them selves, they were only for the guests. Every time the teacher turned her back Kai was at the food table eying of the goodies.

They sung a beautiful song, "Never smile at a crocodile" and showed us all what they have been doing in class.

We took Nanna Lillie from across the road, because Kai's true grandparents live a long way away, Lillie loved it and was very touched by the invite. I think its great to involve family and friends in their school activities.

Xaviah had his Nanny and Papa there and really enjoyed showing off his great work and did a fantastic job of being a host.