Hannah

Hannah is 11 years old (the same age as Daisy) and she is just beautiful!

(I keep saying that, but really, all these children are so beautiful!  It's the love Sarah showers on them that is reflected in their eyes which makes them so beautiful, I think)

You can read about Hannah's schooling here.  Look at the quality and difficulty of work she is doing!  She looks to be quite bright, although she does have some minor learning delays.

Hannah is loving and friendly.  She loves to play with dolls and hold and love on the younger children.  She is determined and works hard.  She also likes to look pretty.

One of the wonderful things Sarah has done since bringing the kids into her care, was to get many of the girls' ears pierced.  Here is a snippet she wrote about it on her blog one time:

several of the girls have expressed the desire to have their ears pierced (it was a big part of my first conversation with Hannah when I visited her for the first time), and it's a huge deal in the culture. I don't know a single Indian girl or woman without her ears pierced, except for our SCH girls and others in the facility they came from.

 

As you see, Hannah was instrumental in making that happen! and here she is with her beautiful new earrings (along with Paula, whom you'll meet next)

Something Awesome and Very Cool!

Donations are at $4400. 

Thank you Cheri & Will.

So far I have spent $631 on teaching supplies and other things (the diapers and underwear) to bring over.

Wouldn't it be cool if donations covered the cost of the ITEMS I purchased and we still had $4000 in CASH to give to Sarah!!!?

I am very excited that she is hoping to buy educational and classroom supplies for her homes with our money!  As an educator, I am thrilled to be able to help her fit out her schoolrooms!

I have just a few more things (because there is still room in my suitcase!) I want to buy to use for our teaching.  Pipecleaners, embroidery floss, balloons.  Just some little things to have on hand for whatever we think up.  In any case, the amount I'll have spent on things to BRING will be under $700.

I am fairly certain we will cover that and I'll be able to wire Sarah the other $2000 very soon!  She has a list of Montessori teaching supplies she'd like to buy that are about $650, including large wooden puzzles, abacus(es?), shape sorters, sewing toys, stacking things, different alphabet toys, etc.

She also would like to order more child-sized tables and chairs for their schoolroom.  She sent me pictures of the ones they have.

 

 

Doesn't that look fun!!!

Four More Classmates

In addition to the 7 or 8 kids Sarah had already picked out for us to work with (not all of whom you've met yet), she is considering 4 of the new children for our group, as well.

Since they don't have profiles yet, I'll introduce all four of them to you here.

In this photo are 3 of the girls.  On the far left is Meghan, next to her in the black & white is R. and on the far right is P.  This is the only photo I have of P and I don't know anything about her.

This is a close-up of R. and I don't know anything about her, either, but isn't she a cutie?

The initials, BTW, are because Sarah doesn't use any of the children's real names on the blog.  They all have pseudonyms.  These girls don't have blog names yet.

Here is Meghan (on the left).

FYI, Shalene is on the right.  Remember her?  She was the older girl who was so undervalued by everyone who met her and looked so miserable in her photos.  Look at her now!!!

Anyway, I think Meghan is going to be a hoot!  She looks so joyful!  Here is what Sarah said about her:

Meghan is a walker and has quite a bit of communicative and cognitive potential and is so friendly. She has choreiform movements and her tongue extends fully every few seconds.

Choreiform movements are rapid, jerky, involuntary movements of the body.

Meghan is also non-verbal, but Sarah said she is very easy-going and should be happy to participate in whatever we are doing.

And here is the last little peanut, Judah.  Do you not just want to eat him UP?

 

Judah is five and quite bright.  He has fluent speech.  And that's all I know about HIM!

Still for you to meet:  Hannah, Paula and Rachel.

Here's Christopher!

Christopher is 13 and goes out to private school. He loves to sing and also sang at the contest in which Isaac sang.

(I just said to Banana Boy, as I posted this picture, "Look, here's a boy who likes to sing like you do!"  He replied, "I like him!")

He has epilepsy which is well-controlled (he hasn't had a seizure in 2 years! Please pray that his good health continues!) and mild cerebral palsy.

He is charming, mischievous and easily excited (sounds just like Sunshine!!!). He is also compassionate and very sweet with the more-challenged children.

At one time, he was mistakenly diagnosed with a very low IQ, but has since been found to be of above-average intelligence! He was expelled from 2 schools for hyperactivity, but after changing his epilepsy meds, his hyperactivity went away and he has since skipped a grade.

Doesn't Christopher sound like an amazing kid??? Want to read an even more amazing story about him? Read this post Sarah wrote about what a beautiful heart this little boy has. Read the whole post.

And here's a post with a video of him singing.

Sweet, Sweet, Sweet!!!!

Look how cute these sweaters are!!!! Seonaid (her screen name) from the Sonlight boards sent me these 5 sweet baby sweaters and 5 pair of the teeniest socks you've ever seen! We've got them sealed into a ziploc and in the suitcase. I can't wait to see them on one of the babies!

New donations. Thank you to
Theresa and Joe
Julie
Glen & Lisa

One Week To Go!

I dreamed last night that RoseBud and I got to India with our group....but it was like Big Brother (the TV show).  And we were voted off.  First.

Anyone do dream analysis???

Happy 2010!!!

and thank you to
Andrew & Rachael
Jill & Mark
Chris & Sue
Donna