Alumni Spotlight: Sarah ("Janice" from Nanning)

Here is another adorable Grace & Hope for Children alumni, in her mother's words.

 

Sarah is our 4th child, and while she is itty bitty tiny, she is very mighty indeed!  Sarah was well prepared for a family, and knew all of our family names.  She was 2.5 years old at adoption, and was ahead of the developmental milestones.  She could write/draw (as we found out in the weeks after we got home and she decorated our walls, furniture, clothes, and herself).  She could pick up boiled peanuts with chopsticks.  She was very verbal.  She is also very stubborn!  She has some of the most amazing observations, and comes up with some of the most amusing things to say.  She is very creative, and loves anything to do with art or sparkly, glittery, girly things.  She has told me, "Mom, you can't make me learn how to read."  She's also told me that we can not make her learn how to swim or any other number of activities that she really does NOT want to do.  However, if she wants to do something she will do whatever it takes to succeed.  

 

 

 

Sarah still sleeps with the teddy bear we sent in a care package while we were waiting to adopt her.  Her foster family let her have it, and she came to us with that bear "well-loved" and she considers it her bear from her foster family.  

 

 

 

Since Sarah co-slept with her foster mom in China, we co-slept until she wanted to sleep in a room with her big sister.  After 2.5 years home she told us that she wanted her own room, and we've decorated her bedroom with rainbows. She loves it.

 

Sarah is a happy, witty, energetic little girl. And she remembers being loved in China.  This past April, G&H posted photos from something they did in Nanning with the foster families. Sarah was in my lap while I looked at them.  Looking at the photos on Grace and Hope Foundation's page for the Nanning foster families, Sarah said she remembered the room. She said it was loud and she covered her ears and her foster Mom took her out of it to let her eat where it was quieter. Sarah also said that they had fake watermelon there and it would poison you if you ate it. ROFL...I could totally see someone telling Sarah that to keep her from begging to eat it, or to keep her from eating too much! She also thinks she saw a photo of her foster Mom, though I don't know for sure if it was.

 

 

Sarah has photos of her foster parents in her room and she hugs them daily.  She tells me she misses her Mama and Baba.  (She calls us Mommy and Daddy and has NEVER ever called us Mama and Baba.  In fact, in China that is what we finally told the guides to tell her to call us and Sarah thought it was HILARIOUS that what she was calling her "Daddy" was so close to what she called poop.)

 

 

 

We are grateful for the gift of this precious child, and for the love her foster family in China shared with her.

 

To see children who wait for a sponsor in Sarah's SWI, please click here.

Alumni Spotlight: Meiya - Formerly from Yulin

Meet Meiya, a child Grace & Hope for Children was privileged to support in a foster home  before she joined her forever family.

 

 



 In her mother's words, here is their story:

In January 2011,  while browsing waiting advocacy sites we came across Meiya's photo. We fell in love at first site and immediately contacted the advocate and got her information. The process started very quickly after that. We got her file, filled out our LOI (Letter of Intent) and got PA very quickly. We found out that she was in Yulin SWI in Yulin, Guangxi.

 

Our process was fairly smooth and long from start to finish we were in China a year after we found her on the website. Our Gotcha day was January 14, 2012 exactly 1 year and 2 days after we first saw her precious face. The day we got Meiya was like a dream. Everything went so smoothly. She arrived at our hotel with her social worker and Yulin SWI's director. They were both very nice and loving towards her and us. The sw brought her over to us and introduced us to her all while showing her the pictures we had sent to her in a little pink photo album which we could tell was used a lot. Meiya knew who we were from this little album. We could tell her foster mama showed it to her because it was worn. Meiya did not show any fear towards any of us. She came right to me and said "Mama." I almost cried! She kept touching my face and looking into my eyes. She studied each of us curiously. She thought her jie jies were very funny and couldn't wait to get down and play with them.

 

 

They all hit it off very well right away. She was a bit leery towards her baba at first but warmed up quickly. We could tell that Meiya was shown love and taught love during her life with her foster parents. She did grieve in the evenings for her foster mama which we expected. We knew she missed her a lot. The morning that she came to us she was removed from her loving arms and placed into ours. We knew it was hard on her. We felt for her and for her wonderful foster mama. 

 

Meiya's special need is Arthrogryposis. She can not walk on her feet because her legs are deformed. She walks on her knees. We got her official diagnosis from Shriner's Hospital in Philadelphia in August and she got braces or KAFO (Knee Ankle Foot Orthotics) she was also given a walker. With the help of her braces and her walker Meiya can now walk! She is so very proud of herself and we are so very proud of her. 

 

Meiya has the sweetest personality. She is very loving and caring towards others. She is also very smart and picked up English right away. She can speak 7 word sentences. She also still speaks a little Cantonese. People who meet her are impressed with how smart she is. She is very mature for a 2 year old. Meiya is also a very funny little girl she has a silly sense of humor. She makes us laugh all the time with her cute little silliness. She loves to laugh and be silly with her sisters.  Meiya has 2 older sisters, Hannah and Hailee who adore her. They are very proud of their baby sister and love her very much. 

 

 

We are very grateful for the care Meiya received while she was in Grace & Hope's care! She had an awesome foster mama and support system. The care and love she received was the best. We feel like Grace & Hope and her foster family is a part of our family.

 

 

 

Meiya's preparation for her forever family was clearly impacted by her time in a Grace & Hope for Children Foster Home.  Can you help another child who waits for a family to call his/her own?  Click here for more information.