"Jia: Portrait of Hope"

Jia had heart surgery in the U.S. on September 4th. We are so happy to report that, although it was a very complicated surgery, it was a complete success! The doctor said he expects Jia to lead a normal, healthy life. She does not even need a pacemaker.

We are so touched by Jia’s amazing spirit. Everyone who met her on this trip has fallen in love with her. She blew kisses to everyone at the hospital and continued to smile even after her surgery. We couldn’t be happier for this sweet, brave little girl.

What an incredible story of HOPE!

Love Without Boundaries is offering giclees of this incredible painting in two sizes: 16" x 20" on canvas, and 14" x 18" on archival quality paper. Click here to purchase the 16 x 20 giclee, or click here to purchase the 14 x 18 giclee.

Jia's story has been one of many emotions: love, sadness, courage, perseverance, disappointment, and acceptance. One other emotion, however, has always been right there at the very "heart" of her story: HOPE. Today...right now...her story of hope is playing out in the most amazing way, and it is our great privilege to be able to share that story with you.

Tiny Jia came to the orphanage with an extremely serious and complex heart condition. In November of 2006, LWB was contacted about helping her, and we were able to arrange Jia's first-stage surgery within three weeks. The surgery was a success, but Jia remained in very fragile condition afterwards. We moved her into our Heartbridge Pediatric Healing Unit in Beijing, where New Hope Foundation's Dr. Joyce Hill could give her excellent care and constant supervision. In spite of everyone's efforts, Jia was moved back into hospital care several weeks later, and the doctors were not hopeful...her little heart was so weak! By some miracle, a week later we saw Jia's fighting spirit...she rallied and began to show some improvement, and by the end of the month she was proclaimed to be "weak but hanging on." Jia was returned to Heartbridge and slowly began to gain weight, increase her activity, and become rather demanding of her nannies. We love it when our Heartbridge babies feel good enough to start giving the nannies a hard time!

In the meantime, LWB had begun to search for an artist who might consider painting a custom portrait of one of our very own "LWB babies" for our annual art auction fundraiser. We loved the children's portraits of artist Leila Ashton and approached her about the possibility of creating a portrait. Much to our delight, Ms. Ashton loved the idea and agreed to donate a custom painting. Now we just needed to find the perfect little model for our project.

One of our volunteers in China is a wonderful photographer, and so we sent him to a number of orphanages where we have foster care programs. He sent back photos of some absolutely adorable toddlers, but none of them "felt" like just the right child. From our auction coordinator: "And then he visited Heartbridge...I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before, but how appropriate to highlight one of our heart babies in the 'Born in my Heart' Art Auction. As soon as I opened that last email and saw Jia's eyes gazing back at me, I knew we had found our girl."

So we arranged a second photo shoot and took pictures of Jia from every angle. Our volunteer also took some lovely landscape photos from the Kaifeng orphanage in Henan and sent everything on to Leila. The painting was begun, but, even as Leila started her work, Jia was diagnosed with irreversible pulmonary hypertension. There was nothing else we could do to help her. So in October, Jia was placed into palliative (end of life) care with an amazing family in our Shunyi foster care program. They have given her such loving and wonderful care, and you can see from Jia's most recent photo that she is doing as well as could possibly be expected. The gifts of a family and love can do wonderful things for a child.

Just one week before our auction, Jia's portrait was completed, and we are all sure you will agree that Leila did an incredible job of capturing the spirit of this child. It is simply breath-taking. In her face you can see sweetness and innocence. In her eyes there is strength and hope. This is a beautiful and gentle little soul, determined to live life to its fullest, and to share her gifts of joy and love with everyone she meets. This is truly a painting to touch your heart.

But back to our story...Hope has returned! Jia will soon be travelling to a hospital in the US for surgery. She has an angel in her corner who managed to arrange for surgery in the US. Her passport has arrived, her visa is being processed, and she should be traveling soon with her foster momma. It is a risky operation, but Jia is going to have one last chance at healing. We know many of you will join us in praying for this little girl and in giving thanks for her foster family, the wonderful nannies at Heartbridge, all of her doctors and caregivers, and Jia's special angel.

All proceeds will be used to help orphans in China. This is your chance to become a part of Jia's...and many other children's...story of HOPE.