Wordless Wednesday: Best Friends Forever

Pretty Pouts and Giggly Smiles

Every time Abby and Mary come for a visit with their foster mama or baba, it is such a pleasure.

The other day, we were all excited to see the twin girls come in to check out the bouncy house. At first, they weren't that pleased. There was a lot of commotion and they found that bouncing wasn't their thing. The pouty lips were stuck out.

 

Only a little bit later though, the laughter came! Mary and Abby have such beautiful smiles and sweet giggles. These two girls have grown so much in little time, and are both walking now. It's wonderful to see how well they are doing in a foster family. Foster families are amazing. It is such a blessing to have these wonderful people welcome these orphans into their homes and hearts and love on them until these children go to forever families.

Abigail and Mary are two of the most adorable girls, and we look forward to the day when they can join their forever mama and baba!

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Written by Page

The Forever Home: See My Crown!

Camilla always knew she was a princess, if you have any doubts, just ask her!  You surely are a princess in our eyes Camilla!

The Bean-Bag Toss

Hudson has been working so hard in therapy. Because he seems unable to put lots of weight onto his legs, he's not able to stand or take his first steps. So we're coming up with other options for him. The scooter is one of his favorites!

...and then we came up with a game to help encourage him to scoot around. The bean-bag toss!

 

Hudson scoots around on his little scooter, picking up bean-bags that are set about the room.  

 Hudson preferred to collect a little pile of bags on his scooter, and then strategically toss them off when he got tired of carrying them around. A simple game, but one that this serious little boy seemed to enjoy.

Not far into his session, who should pop in but Stella! Hudson scooted quickly up to her. She didn't know quite what to say.

Then Hudson actually reached out to take Stella's hand! Such a gentleman.

Hudson has come along way since he arrived. While we hope that he will one day be able to walk on his own, we also look forward to watching him gain strength in the rest of his body. Philip taught us that you don't have to walk to be mobile, and through Samuel we learned that the you don't need two working feet to be unstoppable!

You're Not My Dog!

Seth's foster family has a dog called "Daidai," and although Seth doesn't always enjoy Daidai's attention, he feels very protective and possessive of his dog. When Seth came by the other day, Tom, the foster home's dog, caught his eye.

"Daidai!" Seth called, and then he walked after Tom.

Tom didn't pay Seth any attention, and was busy sniffing bikes. Seth kept after him, "Daidai!"

He called louder, "Daidai!"

But Tom continued to ignore poor little Seth. And so Seth, rather frustrated at his unsuccessful attempts to play with the dog he thought must be the same as his own, turned on his heel and left.

You can just see his reaction in his face, "That's not my dog!"

The next time that Seth comes in, he'll have to bring Daidai along with him! It doesn't get much better than a boy and his dog!

Sunday Snapshot: Julia Grace and Tom

When Tom ran up to Julia Grace in her stroller, we were a little nervous. Would she get upset? Quickly our fears were relieved when she reached down to pet his head.

And then Tom gave Julia Grace a gentle kiss.

She eyed him down...

 ...and then returned the kiss in typical baby fashion (aka, with lots of drool!).

Tom has been making friends wherever he goes, these days. Now all he has to do is win Isaac, Alea, Cara and Jonathan over and all of the toddlers will be his friends!

Keeping Clean

With a house full of kids, germ-control is very, very important. The nannies and staff have gotten very good at washing their hands before feedings, after diaper changes and at all other important times, and so now it's time to help the kids learn!

Melinda goes to speech therapy with Lillian every day, and one day she had to use the bathroom during her therapy session. Afterwards, Lillian made sure that Melinda did a thorough job of washing her hands. 

Who doesn't love working up a soapy lather on their hands?

Good job, Melinda! Keep those hands nice and clean and you'll stay healthy and strong.