Kenscoff Babies

So today was my first official day at the Kenscoff orphanage (Above is a view from my window at the guest house, amazing right?) I finally got to meet all the children and it was a blast. There are a total of 34 children at the crèche and they are all so adorable. I first went over to the Duncans to meet with Gina, but she was not feeling well, so we had to cancel the meeting. I really hope she gets better soon, and at least stable enough for her flight to Canada tomorrow. Gina is the executive director of FEJ and she has been really ill for the past 6 months. I pray for her everyday on her road to recovery. Her and Lucien will be gone for at least two weeks, starting from tomorrow night. So I walked back to the crèche and met all the children. The children were sitting in front of the TV watching Tom and Jerry. It has been a while since I’ve seen an episode of that, but it was good times. All the children and I had a great laugh. All the kids were asking me all these questions and were so fascinated with my skin color, how I smelled, and complemented on how beautiful my hand writing was. They are so sweet. I am about 90% on the names now, still working on the remaining couple of names. The kids all showered me with kisses and hugs and that just totally made my day. I spent most of the day in the infant’s room today, because they are understaffed. We changed diapers, fed the babies, and played with them all day. It is quite a rewarding job I have I must say. Just those huge eyes starring back at ya really does it for me. I love feeding the babies, because that’s when the bonding and attachment stages begin. The babies play with my hair, my ear rings, and my fingers. I sing to them and they give me the biggest smiles ever. At Kenscoff, most of the babies use cloth diapers, so when they need to be changed, their clothing usually needs to be changed as well. Good thing there is a washer and dryer here on-site, because I don’t know how else they would be able to clean loads and loads of clothes and cloth diapers everyday.

One of the adoptive families came down to see their little girl and they have an I-600 meeting at the U.S. Embassy on Monday. I met with them and they are the sweetest family ever! They were originally going to adopt a little girl right after the earthquake, but months into the adoption process the biological aunt decided to take the little girl back. That was devastating for the adoptive family, but they took up the courage to be matched again to another little girl. It is an amazing story and they are incredible people. They have given so much to the Foundation and I really am grateful for people like them. They were bonding with their little girl today! It has been many times for the dad, but this was the very first time the mom gets to see her little girl! It was so heartwarming! I feel very honored that I get to prepare their paperwork for their child. Hopefully the little girl can get home before Christmas. How awesome of a Christmas present would that be???

So lots of babies today and lots of changing diapers and being vomited on. You know what? I love it, I absolutely love it. I love spending time with the children and knowing that I made a little bit of a difference in their lives today. There are so many adoptive parents that would love to be in my shoes. To be able to feed their child and get to see them smile and laugh at a silly move you made. Or to see their first steps and to comfort them on their first fall. It is these moments that I will write in the reports for the parents. I feel ever so privileged to be able to be in the position to keep the parents updated on how their child is doing at the orphanage. I have an important role to play and I am thankful every single second of it. I will always cherish the babbling, the coos, and the eternal smiles of the children here at Kenscoff! Tomorrow I will share with the children all the letters and photos from their adoptive parents. I can’t wait! Let the bonding time continue!