Well, it's been quite a week! Everything is going well, the kids are thriving and happy, I'm just worn out. Today is the sixth birthday of our beautiful little mama, Pendo. As you may remember from our post, "Meet Pendo," she has had a rough time of it in the past - a probable history of abuse, moving from her parents to her grandmother to the orphanage, etc. That said, this girl is unbelievable. She is SO smart and talented, and has just blossomed in the past year. We made a choice to keep her back at the orphanage for an extra year rather than sending her to school last year, even though she was old enough, to allow her to settle in better - she had only been with us for eight months last January when the others headed off to USA River Academy. The past year has proven that to be the right decision - the shy, quiet, overwhelmed little girl has turned into one of the most smart, motivated, helpful, and loving kids you can imagine.
We're also thrilled to be able to say that Pendo is all ready to start school in January, since she is fully sponsored! All of our gratitude goes out to Emma Shaw, Millie Pike, Anna Black, and Anna's parents for her year-to-year sponsorship, and to Claire Wyatt for raising her first year's tuition towards her up-front costs. We are so very proud of her and excited to see what she does next! Here are some of my favorite pictures of this amazing girl.
The first day I met Pendo - outside her grandmother's
hut with her grandmother, great uncle, and Mama Pendo
holding Zawadi
The sisters - Zawadi and Pendo on her first day at the orphanage
Beautiful girl Pendo (left) with Farajah and David, as she
settled in during her first months with us
Pendo cuddling Miriam
Beautiful smile
Rocking an LSE sweater
Cuddling with Claire
Tumaini and Pendo singing
I'm also thrilled to officially announce that three of our four kids starting school next year are fully sponsored for their year-to-year costs! Huge thanks to My African Child for sponsoring Andrea and Kristina Alexander, Wayne and Sandra Leland, and Emma Shaw for sponsoring David. Now we just need to find a sponsor for our wonderful special-needs boy, Abdulli, and to finish raising the two years up-front tuition required for each kid. Check out all the details here. Thanks also to Rob Wyatt, Claire's father, for his generous recent donation!
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