After about 15 minutes or so, Severina showed up with her foster parents. She is an adorable little doll! She came in all bundled up in a heavy brown fur coat with fur fringed hood, a pink Minnie Mouse stocking cap underneath, pink gloves, and a big pink scarf wrapped across her face (It was about 10 degrees outside). The only thing you could see were her eyes. She was being ushered into a small office with 6 adults already there and two more that came with her, so she was understandably a little shy to start off. She quickly warmed up to the situation, however, and proceeded to entertain all of us for the next 90 minutes. She is very imaginative and readily makes up her own games and songs. She entertained herself for a very long time with just a small plastic dog and tiger. At one point, she decided to put on some earrings. She pantomimed the entire process, picking up an imaginary earring from the palm of her hand and pinning it to her ear, then picking up another one and putting it on her other ear. The social worker held up her hands like a mirror, and Severina (they call her Cici) inspected her earrings in the mirror. At another point she picked up a cap from a magic marker, walked to the door of the room, and using it as a mirror applied lipstick, even going so far as to rub her lips together to smooth the lipstick.
She is cheerful and happy, and spent a good deal of time singing, both common children's songs and her own made-up songs. She is artistic and loves to draw, which makes Carolyn's heart sing. She is also very warm and affectionate. I took a few pictures of her with my iPhone then called her over to look at them. She was perfectly content to allow me to pick her up and put her on my lap. We looked at her pictures, then watched a couple videos of Emily from last week, and finally looked at some pictures of Caroline and Elizabeth from Elizabeth's birthday. She recognized the birthday cake and said something about it, so everybody started singing Happy Birthday. The second time through I filmed her and she enjoyed watching herself sing. A little later on, she was playing with a big plastic teddy bear that looks like it was probably once a package for candy or gummi bears or something. She brought it to me and I made the bear give her a kiss on the cheek. She took it back and gave it a big hug, then moved a little closer to me, so I hugged her the same way she hugged the bear. When I turned her loose, she moved even closer, wanting another hug. I gave her a big one and kissed her cheek. She returned the kiss very willingly. She then moved over and got a hug and kiss from Carolyn.
She really enjoyed putting on Carolyn's earmuffs and scarf. The earmuffs are soft black fur, and the scarf has fur pom pom tassels on it, and she loved the feel of them. Once she got Carolyn's scarf on, she took her own scarf and put it on Carolyn. She is very polite, has been taught please and thank you, and loves to help her foster mother and keep things neat and tidy. She has been very well raised and cared for since she was moved to the foster home last year.
Cici's foster parents are absolutely wonderful. They are an older couple who have a 30-something daughter of their own. They felt called late in life to get involved in the foster care system to make a difference in the lives of needy children. They love her dearly, and there is a very special bond between her and her foster father. Today was very emotional for him, and I really felt for him. I know how difficult I would find it being in his situation. On the one hand, Cici is being given a great opportunity through this adoption, one they have worked hard over the last year preparing her for, and he is not really in a position to raise her to adulthood himself, but on the other hand this is the first step in a process that leads to him losing his little girl. He was very proud of her, and talked a lot about her progress. They have done a great work with her over the last year providing her with love and affection, proper nutrition, and focused education and training. They turned a small and undernourished two year old out of an institution and turned her into a bright eyed, healthy bundle of energy in a year. The foster mom speaks pretty good English and has been teaching her some words in English since they found out she had been referred to an American family. They have taught her manners and graces as well. She is thriving under their care. I am so grateful to God that He provided such wonderful environments for both of these precious girls.
Wanting to ease the strain on Cici of getting out in the bitter cold weather, her foster parents have opened their home up to us as a place to meet all week. It has the added benefit of keeping Cici in a comfortable environment with access to all of her own toys and dolls. It will make our time with her much more enjoyable. They hosted the meeting this afternoon, and it was a great time. It is going to be nice to get to know them over the course of the week, and hopefully getting to know us will make the transition for them next summer much less painful. They are already planning to request another child when Cici leaves, and will be able to continue to make a difference in the lives of some very special children in this community.
She is a bundle of energy from the word go. She started off the afternoon by setting and serving at a tea party using her toy tea set. She did lots of singing and dancing, played with her dolls, and pulled out her toy doctors kit and examined and medicated all of us. I eventually got her into a game of tickle, and we had a great time with that. Meanwhile, Carolyn had a great conversation with her foster mom about daily routine, likes and dislikes, and other pertinent mommy info. To settle her down a little, I pulled out an app we found yesterday for toddler flash cards. It has, among other things pictures of various animals, and each time you change the picture or touch the screen, it says the animal name and then plays the sound the animal makes. It entertained her for quite a while as the other adults talked about her. Afterwards, Carolyn read one of her books to her and played dolls with her. Her foster mom then got out her computer to show us some of the videos she likes to watch. Cici spent the last 15 minutes or so of the evening dancing and singing along with some of her favorite songs that were playing on the computer.
In all, it was a wonderful meeting with some very warm-hearted people. Cici is an absolute delight. I think we both had a great time and are looking forward to a great time this week.
She looks absolutely adorable! Dang it, Billy, you're gonna get ME wanting to adopt one of my own.
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