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Today is World Book Day - traditionally a day to celebrate literature and the anniversary of William Shakespeare's death. We at Children's Hope International have reason to celebrate.

She's a mom to 9 beautiful children, from 5 different countries; she's also Children's Hope International's Southeast Regional Director, known and loved by families in the 11 states she serves.

For a 2-year-old burn victim, it must be hard to understand why she has to leave her friends and family behind in China, only to experience increased physical pain from yet another surgery. Sheng Zheng Wei, nicknamed Haodi, from Shandong Province, China, is feeling the pain of an operation two weeks ago and is now receiving therapy twice a week.

April E-News During a week when 44 families were on adoption trips, Erin Inghram writes about her struggles during her long wait to adopt. “I can be still and quietly hope, but I can also passionately wait. For a while I felt guilty, thinking that I must not have enough faith if I couldn’t wait in a serene state of mind.”

On Friday April 11, KuaiKuai?s Swedish family, John and Jenny came to HCHI to see her. They are scheduled to take her with them the next day.

Even with numerous weather and flight cancelations across the country today, 25 Children?s Hope families will remember this day fondly. It is homecoming day!

By mail received today from China Center of Adoption Affairs, Children's Hope received seven China referrals for our families with a 1/6/06 log in date! Each of these referrals were for a beautiful little girl from the Jiangxi province. Six of these infants are 7 to 9.5 months, and one is 3 Ѕ years old.

Frequent Flyer miles are piling up this week for Children's Hope families. There are 44 families on adoption trips this first week of April. * A group of 25 families are with their new children in China this week. * There are 13 Russia families who are either on their first or second trip. * Two families in Ethiopia fly home with their new babies this weekend while one family came home from Colombia on Wednesday. * Two additional families arrived back home yesterday from Kazakhstan with another family now headed in that direction today. Want to follow along with a few of these families? Check out the Traveling Families blogroll:

It's coming. Last year 1300 parents and adopted children (from 26 states!) came together for Children's Hope International's Reunion Picnic. Be one of them in 2008. Mark your calendar for the annual picnic, July 12, 2008 in St. Louis, Missouri.

Happy Anniversary Ethiopia Program! On April 3, 2007, Children?s Hope International became licensed to work in Ethiopia for the purpose of adoption and humanitarian aid - upholding our mission to provide ?Homes, health and hope for children in need."

Spring is here, and for some, that means putting on their running shoes for the hope of fitness... and this year also for the hope of children worldwide.

It's a story you may not often have the chance to see - that of 'The Other Family'. When Claire became a part of Children's Hope China's Waiting Children Program. Two families fell in love with her. The second family, the Gours, will travel to make her their own in May... Although it may be that little Claire was meant to be a Gour all along.

Karen and her husband Dan Baker added three Colombian brothers to make a family of seven. From handstands to smiles to backyard romps, the boys make the family complete.

Three-year-old Acer made his local paper when the state police helped him celebrate Easter. A dozen beeping eggs were the result ? their sound leading Acer, who is visually impaired, to his hidden and hunted Easter eggs.

The 2008 Summer Olympic Torch Relay began its tour around the world this week, as an official jump start to the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic games. The torch relay began on Monday in Olympia, Greece and will soon be traveling through Almaty, Kazakhstan on April 2. From start to finish, the torch will travel 8500 miles through 20 countries on its way back to its final destination in Beijing, China.

All Children's Hope International offices will be closed on Friday, March 21 for Good Friday. Children's Hope wishes you and your family a wonderful Easter holiday!

Update: The JCICS posted an update on March 25, stating Kazakhstan Ambassador to the United States Erlan Idrissov confirmed that "the temporary suspension of dossier processing by the Embassy is lifted and dossier?s meeting all necessary criteria will be processed."

In some Indian villages, women and children walk long distances to find drinking water - and it is not always safe. With the help of our donors, in 2007 alone, Children's Hope funded wells in 26 different villages in India ? giving the gift of clean drinking water to thousands.

The Hague Treaty on Intercountry Adoption establishes international standards to protect orphans and both their birth and adoptive parents. It aims to prevent child trafficking and other abuses. It also assures adoptive families they are working with an adoption agency that meets these ethical standards. As early as November 2006, Children?s Hope submitted our application for Hague Accreditation and in May 2007 we completed our self-study. We have been diligently pursuant of this standard ever since. When the Council on Accreditation (COA) published the first batch of Hague accredited agencies, Children's Hope status was pending. On March 7, 2008, the COA reviewed Children's Hope International's Hague Accreditation case and cited on March 19 that additional evidence is needed to demonstrate our compliance with Hague standards. Our Hague accreditation status is therefore still pending. In the coming months, we will be pursuing our accreditation, working with all constituents involved in the timeliest manner possible. Additional evidence may be available as early as May 31. Children's Hope International?s mission is to find homes, health and hope for children in need. This mission is directly in line with Hague standards, and we continually aspire to the highest ethical standing in our placement of children into their forever homes. We do not seek to meet the minimum standards for such an accreditation, we seek to surpass them.

In late February, the CCAA held their second training session for the CCAA Online Information System for China adoptions, which is greatly speeding the matching of parents to children who are available for adoption and are also harder to place.