Have I said on here that I love the Internet?

Well, I LOVE the Internet! I love being able to find out about things instantly. Google and Wikipedia are tools I can't imagine living without anymore. Not only do I like finding things on the internet, I like being found as well! Keeping this little blog running has connected us with so many people. Here is another amazing example:

Just about a month ago Hui-Hui got an email message from a woman named Tanya who lives just an hour away from us, in the same town as my mother and my sister's family. Tanya told us that she and her husband Chris are in the process of "paper-chasing" to adopt a little boy from the SWI in Baoding! She sent us photos of their son, but asked that I not post them until they had received PA (Prior Approval to adopt from China). Well finally they got their PA! So here are some pictures of Fu Li, soon to be known as Brandon. He's about 2 years younger than Hui-Hui and like Hui-Hui, has a limb difference. For those of you counting, Fu Li is Baoding Boy #5!

Chris and Tanya hope to be DTC by the end of June, so if the process for SN continues like it is right now they should have Brandon home before the end of summer!

We received a great email message on Friday from Helen and Paul in Minnesota. They were Google searching for information about the S.W.I. in Baoding and found our blog! Now the reason they were looking for information about the S.W.I. is because they are in the early stages of paper-chasing one of Hui-Hui's little friends!
They sent us these great pictures:


Hui-Hui really seemed to recognize him and agreed with us that his name is "Mo-Mo"!
This is the third boy from the Baoding S.W.I. whose family we have connected with. They told us that they also know of another family adopting a boy from Baoding as well. Counting Hui-Hui, that will be the Fifth Boy From Baoding!
We feel very lucky being able to make these connections for Hui-Hui. I think it will be comforting to him as he grows up to know of other children with whom he shares a common past.
We hope Helen and Paul are able to travel as soon as possible to bring home their son, and that someday he and Hui-Hui will see each other again!

The internet is such an amazing tool for connecting people. Our first glimpse of Hui-Hui was through our adoption agency's website, and now he is our son! Because we knew the Wickstrom family through the internet we were able to recognize their son when we were in China and bring back video and pictures for them. And now because we shared our story with Jackie Chan we have met another family who have adopted a son from the Baoding S.W.I.

Katharine, the webmaster for the Jackie Chan site, sent the following email to Hui-Hui:

Dear Hui-Hui,
I am forwarding a message and photo to you from a family in Tennessee. They read your story on the Jackie Chan website and would like to correspond with you.  Here it is: 
----- Original Message -----
From: hilary & Kurt hales
To: webmaster
Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2006 12:50 AM
Subject: Re: contact e-mail
As we were browsing through the Jackie Chan website, we came across the story about Hui-Hui being adopted from the Boading City Social Welfare Institiute.
We were very interested, because we got our son about 6 weeks ago from the very same place. We were also very impressed with Jackie's generosity and caring.
We were able to tour the new building that he had donated and saw the blessing it will be to all the children. We showed Hui-Hui (Andrew's) photo to Yang-Yang (Nathaniel),
and he was very excited to see him and it appeared he recongnized him. We wondered where you all lived and if we could contact you.
Please let us know if you are interested in getting together/corresponding. Attached is a picture of Nathaniel to show Andrew.
Kurt and Hilary Hales
----- -----
This was really exciting for us because we instantly recognized Nathanial from the pictures we received from the S.W.I. last summer. You can see those pictures by clicking HERE. Nate is with Kai in a number of them. In the pictures of them eating the two of them are sitting next to one another. Nate is about 6 weeks younger than Hui-Hui so I would guess they would have been together pretty much all the time at the S.W.I.
This is especially exciting to us because most of the children adopted from China are girls. I think it will be really nice for Hui-Hui to know other boys from the same S.W.I. While neither of these boys' families live close to us, we still will be able to have contact with them through the internet, and we hope to be able to arrange visits from time to time as they grow up.

The Wickstroms are in Beijing and are on their way to get Liam!
You Can follow them on their adventure by reading their blog. Here is the link:
Bringing Liam Home

Liam is the little boy we met at the Social Welfare Institute in Baoding where Kai lived. The Wickstroms are adopting Liam through Children's House International, the agency we worked with to adopt Kai. We feel very fortunate that Kai and Liam will be able have a connection to one another as they grow up.

I have written about Liam on the blog several times. He is the other little boy at Hui-Hui's S.W.I. in Baoding who is being adopted by another family with our agency, Children's House International. Tina had the presence of mind while we were at the S.W.I. to ask to see him. We took pictures of him for his parents, Tim and Carol Wickstrom, in California.

Liam is 5, and I think it was a good thing for him to meet us and see this process happen with Hui-Hui. The S.W.I. staff had Liam accompany us as we toured the facility.

I finally was able to put together a video of him for his family. They are leaving in about a week to get him, and we are so excited for them!

They let me put the video I made for them on the video page so you can watch it if you like. I think you will agree that Liam is a very sweet little boy and his new family is very lucky to get him!
CLICK HERE to see the video.

I have always liked Jackie Chan. I originally knew of him through his Hollywood movies like Rush Hour. I found his martial arts skills amazing, and was very impressed by the physical stunts he would perform himself in his films. But other than that I didn't know too much about him.

Then on one of the most amazing days of my family's life, we were touched by the influence of Mr. Chan...

That day was September 18th, 2005: the Chinese Moon Festival, and Kai's "Gotcha-Day"! On that day Tina and I, and our first two sons, Cam and Ben, all drove from Beijing to Baoding where we recieved Hui-Hui into our family. We first met him at the Baoding Social Welfare Institute. While this is a large S.W.I. it's primarily a nursing home for senior citizens. In all it cares for around 70 to 80 orphans. The building where the children lived was showing it's age, and was beginning to be overcrowded.

One of the first things the orphanage directors told us as they gave us a tour of the facility, was how excited they were about a new building for the children which was nearly completed. This new building had been paid for by Jackie Chan. We could tell they were very proud of this, and we were very impressed. It was a large beautiful building.

After we returned home I began to wonder about this gift to the S.W.I. from Jackie Chan. I was curious what his connection to Baoding was. I started trying to Google-search his name and Baoding but didn't really find anything. So then I went to the official Jackie Chan website and I discovered that the beautiful gift of this building was just a small piece of the amazing charitable works of Mr. Chan. I was very impressed by the scope of work his foundation does.

I wanted to thank Mr. Chan for his gift to the S.W.I. Having been able to visit this facility and see the children whose lives will be affected by this gift I felt very moved. These are children who had been Hui-Hui's friends. It is comforting to know that the quality of their lives is being improved.

I looked for a way to email Jackie through his website. In the section for children I found a form children who would like to be profiled on the site could use to tell why they liked Jackie Chan. I filled it out as best I could for Hui-Hui. Here are the questions and the answers I wrote...

What is your name?
 Kai-Hui Ocheltree
 
What is your email address (required)?
 hui_hui@mac.com
 
How old are you?
 2 (I'll be 3 in December)
 
 What country are you from?
 U.S.A (formerly from China)
 
How long have you been a Jackie Chan fan?
 Since my new parents adopted me in Bao Ding last month and found out that Mr. Chan had donated the money for the new building at the orphanage where I used to live.
 
How did you discover Jackie?
 My parents have shown his pictures to me.
 
What is your favorite Jackie Chan movie?
 I am not old enough to watch Mr. Chan's movies yet, but my parents and older brothers really like Rush Hour.
 
Why is this movie your favorite? Talk about your favorite parts.
 Mr. Chan is very funny in this movie, and we like that he helps a child in this movie.
 
What do you like best about Jackie? Be specific!
 Jackie's charity work. Especially the things he has done for children in China.
 
How has Jackie influenced your life or made you a better person?
 The new building, made possible by Mr. Chan, at the Baoding Social Welfare Institute will make life much better for my many friends I left behind in China. 
 
 If you could tell Jackie one important thing about yourself, what would it be?
 My family is very grateful to the people of the Baoding Social Welfare Institute for all they have done for me. Mr. Chan's gift will make it possible for them to serve other children even better.
 
If you could ask Jackie a question, what would you ask him?
How did you find out about our Social Welfare Institute in Baoding, and that we needed a new building for the babies?

The very next day Hui-Hui received this email...

Dear Kai-Hui,

I know that you are only almost-3-years-old and probably can't read this, but maybe your parents can help out with that.

I want to tell you how touched I was to read your story. It is so good to hear that you have been adopted and are now living in the US with your loving parents. We are very happy that your friends can have a better life in Bao Ding after Jackie's contribution.

Today I showed Jackie your photo and told him your story and he was so happy. You made him smile. He wants me to tell your story on our website.

So Kai-Hui, will you ask your parents if we can tell your story on the website at jackiechan.com? We promise not to use your last name or even say what state you are from. But it's such a wonderful story and we want to share it.
Please email me back and let me know what their answer is. We hope it will be "yes."

Love,
Katharine
Webmaster

I was very impressed that we heard back so quickly, and told them that we would be happy to have Hui-Hui on the website. If you would like to see the story they put on the site you can go to www.jackiechan.com and click on "scrapbook", or JUST CLICK HERE.