Travis picked us up at the guest house and we headed across town to the Gladney foster care centers. Once Gladney feels that they will be able to find a family for a child, they move them to their centers. They have one for 0-6 months, two for 6months to 3 years and one for the older kids. We got to pick up some of the Gladney adoptive families from this week. This is the day that they bring their kids back to the care centers to say goodbye to the nannies. Each child has a special " Mama" or "Papa who has really bonded with the child and
they buy them a special traditional outfit and they dress them to sort of present them to their new families. The families that we met were great and varied from adopting babies, to twin toddlers, to an older sibling group to one young lady who I am guessing is close to 17!! The ratio of caregivers to babies is amazing . When we went into the baby room, a nanny handed me a baby to hold. They were really beautiful and happy babies. Then the kids in their adorable outfits had to say goodbye to their caregivers, who were crying. One special "Papa" was very attached to the little boy twin. They brewed coffee and made popcorn and the families got to talk and then we went to lunch with them. It was a very happy day!!!
Making Suns and Singing at the CDC
At the CDC on Thursday, the kids had clearly been practicing with Girma, the nurse-- You are my sunshine and did a great job. Then we had the big kids make suns and the little kids make hearts, faces and clouds. I hope they use it for their family day. Then they sang all kinds of songs they know including Make Bananas which is this funny song all of AHOPE knows. Girma the nurse is great!!! I spent time talking with the oldest girl there, she is simply beautiful and wants to be a doctor.
Sodere- the Hot Springs
After our trip to Vera's, Jen decided that she wanted to sponsor a field trip so we took the Big AHOPE kids to Sodere, the hot springs resort on Monday. It is about 2 1/2 hours away and we rented a big bus so we all fit well. To keep the kids occupied, we brought material for
friendship bracelets, and Carly taught them finger knitting. We stopped for snack right before we got there in front of a World Vision site and ate the most delicious bread that is baked in some leaf. Sodere has an olympic sized heated swimming pool. Most of our kids
changed into suits and jumped in the shallow end. I was the only volunteer who would go in the water and it was so much fun. Sassy loved that I could swim with her skinny little body attached to my neck. I tried to help some of the older girls to float and kick their
feet. They were so very impressed that I could swim from one end to
the other. There are also all these little monkeys all over Sodere, just hanging out, stealing your things. After swimming, all us girls headed to the hot showers, oh my, I lasted like minutes. Then we ate a great big lunch and ice cream.
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