Berline's June Update 2012

Happy Summer from GLA, Andrew and Christy!

This past month has been very busy and adventure filled here at God’s Littlest Angels.  We started off the month by taking in 23 kids from an orphanage that was shut down up the mountain from us in Kenscoff.  If you check with our blogs you can read about how they came to be with us and how the adjustment has gone.  Most of them were older then 3 years old so they are staying at the Toddler House.  Despite space issues we have been making it work for them to sleep in one of our classrooms since May 31st.  We are praying that their parents will be located soon so we can determine a permanent solution for each of them, whether that will be with us and a forever family or with their biological family.  Besides that we have gotten more volunteers and teams in the last few weeks.  We are grateful for each person who comes to stay with us and give of their time and gifts to assist the kids in their growth and development until they can be home with you.

You may be surprised that this update has come a little early this month.  This is because I will be going home to Wisconsin for a couple of months leaving on June 21^st and returning on August 22nd.  The Toddler House director, Molly Little, will be writing and sending your updates to you for July and August.  They will continue to come from this email address but they may look a little different then you are used to.

This month the theme of the photos at the Toddler House was “Imagination”.  The idea behind it is that each of the kids got to dress up how they would like to and use their imagination in how their photos would look.  I set up 2 backgrounds and the older kids had the chance to choose the background that they liked best.  One was colorful and the other was shimmery.  For their outfits the girls got to choose a princess dress or some regular clothes. The boys got to choose what clothes they would like.  Then they were allowed to choose from some funny shoes or no shoes and finally they were able to choose to wear some other things like hats, glasses, and other random props.  We had a lot of fun with it and each kid enjoyed choosing their outfit and using their imagination.

Berline has had a great month.  She absolutely loved having options of what to wear for her photos this month.  She chose to wear the sparkliest dress available and then chose the background with shimmer as well.  She beamed when she saw the fairy wand that she could hold onto.  Her friend Judith helped her choose the purple star headband for her head and she really wanted to wear the pink sunglasses for a few photos.  It seems to me that you have a girlie girl on you hands.

There has been a fair amount of change and adjustment happening at the Toddler House but it has been a joy to watch the current children welcome all the new faces with open arms.  They have been great about sharing their toys and helping the new kids to feel welcome.  Berline was very willing to spend time with the new kids and show them all that the Toddler House had to offer.  She really was one of the most welcoming and inviting kids at the Toddler House.

There was another cinema night this month and it was fun to see all the new kids enjoy this event with all the kids. They watched the movie “Hop”. Because there is now 85 kids at the Toddler House the little ones became a little more restless faster then usual. Berline sat very well in the back of all the chaos the little kids were causing.  She did her best to pay attention to the movie and what was happening on the big screen.

Berline is healthy and growing:
Height: 125.5 cm
Weight: 53.5 lb