Happiness and Sadness
We got to meet Maria yesterday! It was a wonderful, exciting day, and she is the sweetest, loveliest little girl. We went to the family welfare office here in Bucaramanga (what a fun name to say. Don’t take my word for it, say it yourself!) and met with her caregivers. They were a lovely group of ladies, and they helped us to get to know Maria a little better. After they talked and we got to ask questions, it was time to meet our little girl.
They brought her in, and we had a couple of gifts for her: a small stuffed Minnie Mouse, and a bottle of bubbles. She wasn’t super keen on interacting with us, until the bubbles came out. Then it was game on! We played with the bubbles, then some dancing, and finally a game of pass-the-Minnie. When it came time to leave, she had no problem walking out with Anna.
She is so sweet! She knows how to put on her shoes, how to sit in a shopping cart, and how to brush her teeth. She loves wearing the backpack her foster mom sent along with her, and she likes to walk herself. We walked to a park and back that’s about a kilometer (0.6 miles for you imperialists) away, and she walked a good bit of it herself.
There are some remaining health concerns, but none of them urgent. Besides the missing left eye, she has a cleft palette and may be deaf on her left side. We were aware of these issues, so there were no big surprises, for which we are grateful.
If I had written this post about two hours ago, I could have ended on that happy note. But right around then she suddenly got very sad, and then put her shoes on and packed her backpack. I can’t be certain, but it looked like she was saying “This has been fun, but I wanna go back home now.”
When we asked her to take off the shoes, we triggered a massive crying session. We were able to soothe it for a while by letting her look through the photo book the foster mom sent along (it’s beautifully crafted and contains pictures of Maria over the last 3 years), but when she was done with the book the crying kicked back off. For about twenty minutes, we just sat on the bed crying, all three of us. This poor little girl has no idea why she can’t go back to the things she knows and the people she loves.
When she stopped crying herself, she looked at us crying, and used the tissue she was holding to wipe our tears. Then she got off the bed, and gave Anna her glasses that were on the nightstand. We were able to get her to brush her teeth, and went and laid on her bed for a while with her. Anna is still there, comforting and soothing this sweet little angel.
Please be praying for this pain. We know it will pass, but the distress this poor girl is feeling must be immense. Thanks for all the love and support!
