Won't You Help Us?!!

Serena has been with us here at the Forever Home since May 14, 2010. We brought her here for several reasons. One, we'd hoped to get her some help with the vision problems she has. Another reason was that she was not receiving any education due to her vision issues and every child needs a basic education. We also knew that her paperwork had been submitted quite some time back (possibly a few years ago even) and no one had yet chosen her as a waiting child. We felt that by bringing her to New Day, it may help her get a little more exposure and thereby making her chances of getting adopted before she aged out, much higher. Recently Lifeline contacted our office and asked if we needed help with any of our children. Since we knew very little about Serena's paperwork, we said yes. We'd like to know if they could find out if Serena was on the shared list and/or if she was listed with a specific agency. They were happy to help and responded back within just about a day saying they'd located her papers and was willing to take her case on and help her find a home. We were thrilled! We'd love to spread the word about her being available so if any of you bloggers could help by posting her on your site, that would be great. We'd like to give her as much exposure as possible. I've received permission to have anyone interested (and you can include that information on your posts) contact Lily at Lifeline Adoption Agency. Here is her email address: lilyqiuchina@gmail.com

Now, a little about her. Serena was born on August 1, 2000 and will soon be 10 years old. She was abandoned the same month and placed in a foster family shortly thereafter. When she was one year old, the orphanage staff noticed something was wrong with her eyes. She received a surgery on her left eye in November 2004, and her eyesight improved some. She was diagnosed with amblyopia in both eyes and anorthopia in her left eye. She has difficulty focusing and doesn't see well at a distance. We plan to soon have her in to see a specialist in Beijing so she can be reevaluated to see if there is anything further we can do to help regarding her vision. She has no other health issues that we know of.

Serena is generally a happy girl, but does struggle with low self-esteem at times. We've been working on improving that, which takes some time. Serena is a very sweet girl and has such a great personality! She has a beautiful smile and you will often see her smiling when you meet or greet her throughout the day. She is also very affectionate and often comes up to give us a hug and/or kiss. The other day when I was picking her up from school, I was watching from a distance as she came out with my older daughter. She spotted someone from a distance, and thinking it was her foster dad,quickly ran up to him giving him a great big hug! I was rather surprised by that as I hadn't seen her do that to a total stranger before! She then told me, slightly embarrassed, she thought it was dad and found out that it wasn't after she gave him a big ol' bear hug! We both had a good laugh about that! She is friendly to other people, but isn't in the habit of being that affectionate with a complete stranger.

She absolutely loves to sing and you will often hear her singing throughout the day! She can sing many Chinese songs and has already learned several English nursery rhymes she's picked up at New Day. She has begun some basic education with a tutor and is doing well. Everything is so new to her as she has not previously had much nor had opportunity to see and experience many things. She will often remark "Wow!" when she see's or experiences something new, which was often when she first arrived. We often heard her going around the house saying "Wow!" at such things like a microwave or washing machine.

She enjoys doing many things like learning to ride a bicycle, roller blades, coloring, play dough, painting, cooking, swimming, dancing, or puzzles. She is like a parrot and will often repeat what we say, quite accurately I might add, even if she doesn't understand what it is we are saying. I have to say, she is quite perceptive and has already picked up on several English words or phrases that she can say and now uses appropriately. This fall I plan to begin some basic English phonics and math program with her. I'm quite sure she will pick it up pretty easily and the English she is now learning will help prepare her for her transition into a forever family, unless she happens to be adopted into a family who speaks another language! In which case, she'll be learning that language too! It certainly never hurts to know more than one language!

Although we thoroughly enjoy having Serena as a member of the Forever Home, we know it would be best for her to be adopted and have her own forever family. Would you consider adopting this wonderful girl?! Perhaps your family is complete but could instead help find her a good, loving home by spreading the word about her in telling everyone you know or posting it on your blog or small group site. You will find her profile on New Day's website and I am happy to answer any questions prospective parents may have. You can also get to know her by some of the posts I've done on this Forever Home blog. You may contact me through the Forever Home website. Together we can find this girl a home and make a family complete!