Gladney Blog

We get used to children tugging on our heartstrings. It is to be expected in the work that we do. But I am going to say, these little girls embedded themselves in my heart in the time I spent with them! They are beautiful and sweet. They have known heartache in their little lives. In Taiwan we get a lot of birth family history and these precious girls have definitely been through hard things. But their love and affection for each other was immediately obvious.

We ended our trip to Taiwan on a high note. We did not see very many children our second day at Cathwel, but we had productive conversations with staff and feel excited about our continuing partner ship there! As we were leaving we saw one of our sweet little matched kiddos out for a walk in the stroller. When we asked where she was going they said to get her passport photo taken, which just seems so full of hope and promise!

Episode 5 of reFRAMED Podcast is now available for download! There's something about our children's brain development that catches Bill Porter's attention. He and Emily Morehead have a great conversation about the hope that adoptive parents have in writing ourselves into our child's brain.

We have continued to advocate for the belief that every child deserves a loving and caring family.  Every child. Everywhere. No one can make this happen alone. It will take the larger community of committed child advocates and parents, continuing to give a voice to the often forgotten children, in order get this message to the men and women in government and in the legislature.

As you are exploring adoption as an option for your family, we are sure that you have many questions. Once a month we ask Thomas & Stephanie a question about their adoption experience.

Today we were at Cathwel, our third day seeing children and our first day at Cathwel for this trip. The children came into the room in a steady stream all day long. 

A Superkids morning in 22 seconds! No wonder we are tired by the end of the day!

Our first day of seeing children at ChungYi is in the books. It is always hard, at the end of the day, to decide what to write about in a blog post.

I am the first of our team to arrive in Taiwan. Tired and feeling a bit bedraggled I landed around 5:30 AM. By the time I got to our Airbnb apartment it was close to 7. We all love staying in the apartment, but I quickly realized I was going to need to go out pretty quickly to get some water. So after a shower, some fresh clothes, and a call home I headed out!

Episode 4 of reFRAMED Podcast is now available for download! Pediatrician, occasional children's librarian, educator, public health professional and child health advocate Dr. Dipesh Navsaria, was a wonderful guest that we could have talked to for hours.