Our Last Night Together

Fatima leaves tomorrow on a flight to Afghanistan.  I am sad to say goodbye, but my heart is filled with joy for what we have experienced this past 6 weeks.  Today was spent with a final dental visit, playing around the house, tennis and swimming.  We took her for a farewell dinner at Al's for her favorite meal of pizza.  She ate 3 pieces!  Right now I am listening to the happy sounds of all 4 of my children playing the Wii together.  When we got home tonight there was a balloon bouquet waiting on the porch for Fatima.  She was so surprised that someone brought these for her.  They were from a very kind-hearted friend.

I think it is finally sinking in that she is leaving us tomorrow.  She keeps hugging me and telling me that she loves me.  She even hugged our dog and said " I miss you, Bubba".  She requested to see the girls' best friend, Colby who happens to be out of town.  I tried to explain that she was not here, so we talked to her on the phone instead.  She told Colby that she loved her.

I am actually feeling peace right now.  The past few days were tearful, but I have been strong today.  Tomorrow at noon we will leave for the airport.  I have kept happy spirits whenever I talk to her about her departure.  We try to ask her who she will sit with on the airplane and about how happy her friends and family will be to see her.  I wrote her a letter that the interpreter can read to her after she is gone.  She also has her photo book that she can look at over and over again as she already does.

Thank you again for all of the support I have received.  Thank you for reading my blog and giving me encouragement.  Thank you for your generous donations.  Fatima is going home with two suitcases filled to the brim with items for her and her community.  She came with what she was wearing and one other outfit.   She is going home with memories of the time she spent with our family and the love that she felt while in the presence of our community.

I hope to write one last post after her departure tomorrow.  Until then....

Family Time

Almost Time to Say Goodbye

I can't believe a week has gone by since my last post.  We have done a lot in a week!  On the 4th we let the kids light sparklers and smoke bombs which they loved.  Fatima had no fears of fire or loud noises!

Cole was helping to light the fireworks.

Fire breathing tricks!

In fact, she was a little too comfortable with the fire and we had to tone her down a bit!  Put her and Cole together with fire and you've got trouble! LOL!  Unfortunately it took all six weeks for Cole to finally warm up to Fatima.  But now they are so funny together.  She "pretend" beats him up!







After our own little fireworks display, we walked down to the river and watched the city's fireworks. I think she enjoyed the action.








On Tuesday, Hikmat, an Afghan friend, came over for a play date.  I took the girls to get their nails painted, flower design and all!  They turned out beautiful!

The next day we went to a Solace event at Doing Dishes Pottery.  All of the kids got to paint a tile.  Fatima colored hers with three different colored stripes and labeled them M,D and F for Mom, Dad and Fatima.

In between outings this week, Fatima has been trying to learn how to ride a bike, thanks to Dad!  Poor Greg runs up and down the street beside her, sweating and catching her when she almost falls.  She almost has it!  I am hoping she can master this before she leaves so she can go home and tell all her friends that she learned how to ride a bike!  She loves it!  She gets so excited when we mention the bike.

Yesterday Fatima had the last of her dental work and everything went great.  She had no pain after...thank you, Dr. Mullens!  She had her retainer adjusted by Dr. Liz and she is set to go with that.  She says if she can wear it for 3 months then it will have done its job of trying to correct her cross bite.  On Monday she will go back to Dr. Mullens office briefly so that they can clean her teeth and go over oral hygiene with her.  Talk about down to the last minute!

So, she goes home on Tuesday.  Yes, I have been crying already.  We got her a large duffel for all of the things that we want to send home with her.  This bag will contain her clothes that she wore when she was here, as well as a lot of winter clothes.  We packed them into a space bag and sucked them down to a little brick!  We are using a duffel because we don't want a lot of weight.  Her suitcase can weigh no more that 42 pounds.  The duffel that we are packing tomorrow at church will be filled with all of the humanitarian items that have been so graciously donated by our community.  Thank you to all of my friends who have been so generous!

We will have a farewell Solace church service tomorrow at our church, South Jacksonville Presbyterian Church.  It is at 10am if you want to come!  All of the Solace families and kids will be there, and there will be testimonies given by Dr. Rick Mullens and a couple of host families.

I hope to update you again before Fatima leaves.  

Beach Day

Yesterday we all went to Vilano Beach for the day.  We parked, pitched the easy-up and relaxed.  The girls love to boogie board so they took off to the ocean.  I was worried about Fatima in the ocean even though she has to wear a life vest, but she followed right along and tried to do what they did!  Greg soon joined them and showed her how to catch the waves.  She loved it!  She was doing it on her own in no time.  This little girl is adventurous and has no fear!  She even took a turn being launched into the water by Dad.  As I watched her play, I could tell she was trying to take it all in and do as much as she could while she was here, knowing that back home, she will never see an ocean.  When on the beach, she would cover herself in sand and roll around, do somersaults and headstands!  She even covered her face in the sand!  We stayed at the beach the entire day and rode home eating snow cones.  I hope this was a fun memory she won't forget!

This is the beginning of our last full week together and I am felling a little sad thinking about her departure.  I showed her the calendar and counted the days to let her know when she would see her family again.  She looked happy and that makes me happy.  I have to keep reminding myself that she is going home to a loving family who misses her, and to a school full of friends that she will probably show her photo album to and tell them all about her adventures in America.  I have made sure to take plenty of pictures to document everything she has done....even dental visits!

Fatima will continue her dental treatments this week ending with a cleaning.  She has been wearing her retainer even though I know she hates it and can't talk very well with it in.  Tomorrow we are having one of her friends come over and spend the night, so I know she will enjoy having someone to talk to in her language.

Our cat, Gigi, has decided that she loves Fatima too and has been sleeping with her every night!  I need to get a picture of her with the dogs!  She has grown to love them as well, even though Bubba chewed the arm off of her new Barbie!

Continue to keep Fatima in your prayers!  If you are collecting items for her suitcase, please send me a message and I can make arrangements to get them!  Thank you!

Our Little Night Owl

Did I ever mention how Fatima is so hard to wake up in the morning?  She is always the last one to get out of bed.  The girls and I both have to keep calling her name and making threats about being late (although she does not know what we are saying!).  Well, I have figured out her schedule.  She prefers to sleep late but can't on most days, so she takes little afternoon naps and then is up and partying late at night.  This week has been our church's VBS and she has really enjoyed the music and dancing.  We have one of the CD's at home and last night the girls were blasting it on their Hello Kitty boom box, singing along at the top of their lungs!  When it was shower time, Fatima wanted to listen in the shower so Grace hooked the boom box up in the bathroom for her.  

We had our family portrait done by Danita Brooks yesterday.  We met her in a park and she photographed all of us together and a few shots of just the girls and a few of just Fatima.  She will make prints for Fatima to take home to her family and we will get the CD with the rest of the photos for us to keep.  I am so excited and can't wait to see how they came out.  I know she does great work!  Fatima loves photos.  I have been building her an album of all of the photos I have taken since she has been here.  She loves looking at them.  I know she will have a great time sharing them with her family and friends back home.

This morning Fatima had a dental appointment with Dr. Mullens.  He worked on the very decayed tooth, cleaning it up and getting it ready for the crown.  He called me back to show me the special equipment he has that actually takes a picture of her tooth and electronically forms the shape of the crown and a machine produces the crown right there in his office.  No need for a temporary!  Sorry, Dr. Mullens , if I explained this incorrectly.  But you get the idea...it is very high tech!  Two hours later she walked out with a brand new tooth!  Dr. Liz was there too to fit Fatima with her retainer.  This is to hold the space where her teeth were pulled so that the back molars have a chance to come forward and fill the gaps.  She hates it!  She can't talk with it and she acts like she can't swallow her saliva so she lets it build up in her mouth!  She keeps taking it out.  We'll have to work on this one.  I think she will get used to it with time.

I can't believe that she will be leaving us in less than two weeks!  The group departs on July 12th.  It is bitter sweet for me.  I will miss her dearly, but she is going home a happy, healthy girl, and  to a loving family who I know misses her.  We have begun preparations for her departure.  I have been collecting winter clothing items for her and she seems to like them all!  The winters in Afghanistan are very cold and I want to make sure she stays warm.  I will also send home with her any of the clothing that she used here that is appropriate for her to wear back home, which is most everything but her capris.  Of course she will be taking Jessica and Hannah, her two dolls as well as all of the things she has collected during her stay with us.

All of the children are taking home a second suitcase which will be filled with items for her family and community.  I need help filling this suitcase.  These are the items that are needed: toiletries, over-the-counter medications, vitamins, school supplies, winter accessories (gloves, hats, scarves, etc.) and flashlights with extra batteries.  If you are able to help collect these items for us I would greatly appreciate it!  All items need to be to me by next Saturday, July 9th.  I can also pick them up from you.

Thanks for reading my blog.  I enjoy writing it and helps me to realize how lucky we are to have had this opportunity to host our sweet Fatima.  She is really a joy!