Greetings From Geoff Shaw, Founder and Director

The Shaw Kids, Christmas 2007

I would like to welcome you to our new blog. This may be the first time some of you may be receiving information about our Foundation so I'd like to tell you about it's inception.

My wife Heather and I adopted our daughter, Lilah, in April of 2004. Lilah made our family complete - we have 3 wonderful birth sons and our beautiful adopted daughter from China .

When we returned with Lilah to our home in Wheaton, IL my wife was often stopped by strangers and asked about our daughter. They would tell Heather that they were considering adopting a child or had a friend or family member thinking about adoption. They also said that the paperwork seemed overwhelming or that financial barriers were keeping them from moving forward with the adoption process. That is why we formed theAsianBridge. This non-profit organization provides families with information, education, and financial assistance so their adoption processes can move forward. We have a miraculous mission to build forever families for children who do not have a home or family.

In order to accomplish this we need resources to help these families complete their journey. Please consider a donation to our foundation. Donations can be made on-line on our web site, http://www.theasianbridge.org/ or sent to:

TheAsianBridge

802 Howard Street

Wheaton, IL 60187

All donations are tax deductible. You will also receive our beautiful Asian Bridge pin with a donation of any amount. (Please see our web site for a picture and history of the pin.)

Wishing you Happy Holidays,

Geoff Shaw, Founder & Director of theAsianBridge

Welcome

I'd like to welcome you to our first blog. My name is Dina Ackermann, and I am the Director of Communications for theAsianBridge.


Just a little background on me. I'm married to Tom and we have two beautiful daughters, both adopted from China. Our first daughter, Anna Lee, was born in Leping, Jiangxi. We adopted her in 2000 when she was almost 10 months old. Our second daughter, Mia, was born in Nanning, Guangxi. She was almost 4 1/2 years old when we adopted her in January of 2006.

I first learned about theAsianBridge at a Chinese New Year festival in February of this year. Since my daughters are from China, it wasn't hard for me to get excited about the vision and goals of theAsianBridge. I knew right away that I wanted to be a part of this organization that helps families adopt.

My goal as the new Director of Communications is to provide you with the latest information about Asian adoptions, adoption resources, financing your adoption, adoption related issues, and of course, the personal stories of adoptive families. Each story is it's own miracle. I hope you'll visit us often and join our adventure as we help families experience the wonderful journey of adoption.