Jquery hide / show question

I have a list that looks like this:

<span id="contacts_tab_contacts_list_list"> 
                <li><span id="contact_35">John</span> 
                </li> 
                <li><span id="contact_36">Ron a</span> 
                </li> 
                <li><span id="contact_33">Ron b</span> 
                </li> 
                <li><span id="contact_34">35</span> 
                </li> 
                <li><span id="contact_39">33</span> 
                </li> 
                <li><span id="contact_37">66</span> 
                </li> 
                <li><span id="contact_38">77</span>
...
</span>

I have <input>one that I use to filter a list using jQuery. I am trying to do this using these two lines jQuery:

$("#contacts_tab_contacts_list_list").children().hide();
$("#contacts_tab_contacts_list_list:contains('" + searchValue + "')").show();

So, for example, enter Roninto the search box will make contact_36and contact_33the only visible elements in the list. part works hide(). show()does not work.

What am I doing wrong? (Assume that searchValuehas the correct value, in this case Ron)

Is there a better way to do this?

Thank!