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.

Outdoors Card

Outdoors Card; yes currently in Ontario anyone wanting to fish or hunt must obtain an Outdoors Card. Why restrict it to just people who hunt and fish? Why not include anyone who utilizes the resource; ATV users, boat users, sea doo users, hikers, campers, and the list goes on. Now don't get too excited yet.......the thought is this; Our Natural Resources are being managed, well ok, thats a topic for further discussion. We all hear it, our funding has been cut, we don't have the staff, our club can't get the funding we used to receive in the past, our members can only volunteer so much. Let me continue; if all users were required to carry a valid "Outdoors Card" and an additional $5 was added to the cost of issuing the card. The total amount collected from the additional $5 from all cards issued in a given year would be made available to Registered Clubs/Organizations, Municipalities, Conservation Authorities in the following year. These organizations would have to apply for projects/money, under a well structured process; yet not too "bogged down in administration". Allocations would be divided based on the impact/net improvement to the resource. Let's face it if these clubs/organizations/municipalities/Conservation Authorities had this money available to them, it would make a dramatic improvement in their ability to maintain "Our Natural Resources" within their local area. Let's face it if "We"as users of the resource don't start to stand up and be counted and come up with a way to get the work done, the government isn't going to do it. The number of technicians out in the field today is a fraction of what it was prior to the massive cuts to the Ministry of Natural Resources in the 80's and 90's. In doing it in this way the total amount available would be known; no possibiltiy of over/under budgeting and "We", "All Users", of "The Resource" ........Will Get The Job Done!

Want your Ontario Outdoor video featured on our website?

If you have a video showing you, your family or friends enjoying the Outdoors in Ontario, submit an email to us at outdoorsontario@gmail.com please only include a link to your Utube video; we will review it and if the content is suitable for all viewers we may feature it on our site. We thank all of you who submit videos and can't promise we will link to your video. There are thousands of home videos on Utube featuring people fishing, hiking, hunting, boating and in general enjoying the Outdoors in Ontario and it's impossible for us to feature each and every one. So we thank all of you who send us your links.

Have a suggestion?

Post your comments here and we'll see if we can accomodate your request.

Garmin GPS 60CSX

This to me is the best GPS on the market for the outdoor enthusiast. I had used numerous GPS units in the past, but this one is the best. It has the latest in technology, tracks under a canopy, locks into satellites quickly and accuracy is the best i have found, it also has a barometer, altimeter, and fish & game tables. I shopped around and found the best price was from GPS City out of Calgary, they had the best price and the unit came with a 1gb card along with the 64 mb card that comes in the unit this allows you to save maps. I ordered the unit and had it shipped to me, had it in my hands and using it within three days of ordering. They provided excellent service and nobody could match there prices. The unit total cost including shipping was$434.09 and came with a mail in rebate for $50.00. Walmart nor Canadian tire or anywhere else could match the price plus I got the 1gb card. Fantastic unit!!!!!!!

Have a great Fishing experience?

Tell us all about it.....when, where, how big, who.......

Have a great hunting story.....

This ten point fell to the co-ordination of two cross bow bolts fired at the same time. Grandfather and grandson on 3.....1,2,3...........perfect shots! Way to go, memories that last a life time, I can think of no better way to share a hunting experience.