Serena Arrives!

On Friday a new girl arrived at the Forever Home. Her English name is Serena. She is 9 years old and has some vision problems. We are so happy that she has joined our family and look forward to possibly seeing if we can help improve some of her vision issues. She has had virtually no education so we will soon be working on a plan to begin some studies.

Although you wouldn't know it by these pictures, she seemed to be doing fine until we nearly arrived to our home. It was then that she began to cry. As with many of the children that first arrive at New Day, she was quite frightened and cried for a few hours. Who could blame her?! It would be overwhelming for anyone. It was a stressful morning for our whole family as she didn't seem to be comforted by anything we said or did. By afternoon, however, she'd settled in a bit and seemed to be doing alright.

Although bedtime generally proves to be a rough time as well for newcomers, we were pleasantly surprised that she had no problem going to bed. She finally decided to unpack the small bag of possessions she'd arrived with and got ready for bed. After-all, she surely had to be emotionally and physically drained by the day's events. She slept well through the night and awakened early in the morning.

Today, she seems to be adjusting well and is happily playing with the other girls. She is a sweet girl and is very obedient when I ask her to do something. We are already working on some habits our household isn't accustomed to such as spitting or throwing unwanted food or trash on the floor. Given the fact that she is willing to do whatever she is asked, I'm sure it will be no time at all before we are able to work through some of these issues. We look forward to seeing her grow and blossom in no time at all like so many of the other kids that come to live in New Day's homes!

This is a new family picture we've taken of everyone in the Forever Home except for Hannah, who is still in the hospital awaiting surgery. We look forward to her return home and we'll include a picture of all of us!