Reunion with Anne and Update on Hawa

This past month has been the longest year of our lives (yes, I  meant to write that :) )!  Yesterday, was finally our special day to be reunited with our precious Anne!  Our meeting was at 9:30 a.m., and we happened to get there a little bit early.  Anne was with a few of her fellow students and the teacher out in the hallway.  To see the expression on her face and reaction when we came through the door was priceless...a memory that will forever be ingrained in my heart!  Since she was with her teacher, she wasn't sure if she could come see us or not.  Once her teacher told her she could go, there were lots of tears and hugs as we got to hold each other!  I think she also enjoyed the surprise of chocolates, flowers and a valentine balloon.  Jaydon was so excited to see his big sister before he left to go to his babysitter.  Anne went back to her class for a bit while we met with some of the staff members.  The staff encouraged us so much in that they have all fallen in love with Anne and are so encouraged by her honesty in her struggles and hard work in school, etc.  Following that time, Anne and the host parents joined us for what was an encouraging meeting where we all worked on putting together goals to help support Anne in her healing as well as ours.  Following the meeting, we were blessed with a HUGE surprise!  We could take Anne out to lunch, go shopping or do whatever we wanted with her for a few hours.  We were so excited to be able to spend some time alone with her....much less be able to take her off campus.  Anne enjoyed her freedom from campus for a bit as well! :)  Anne is doing as well as can be expected and is starting to form bonds with the people that are there.  As with all addictions, it will take time to find freedom from the struggles.  While she is healing, she is being taught skills that will help her for the rest of her life (ie. how to handle and resolve conflict, financial management, etc).  She is taking basketball, music and sign language as some of her electives.  She is really enjoying the sign language and tried to teach me some new words. :)

This is one of the swings on campus that we sat on for a bit before we finally had to say good bye to Anne.

The building right behind where we are is the main campus building.  This is where the offices are as well as where all the girls have their classes.  All the girls have a desk and are all in the same room.  They have a teacher that is there to help them should there be any questions with their work.  Every 2 weeks, if they get their work done, they get out of school early that Friday.  Anne is doing very well with her school work and is already 1 month ahead!

Anne wanted to take this selfie.  You can't really tell it in this picture, but we each wore our part of the matching heart pieces for our necklaces! :)

Now that the 30 days are over, our contact with Anne will increase, for which we are so very thankful!  We will be allowed visits with her about every 2 weeks, and can have phone calls with her every week, starting next week.

Last week, I had talked with Anne's therapist on the phone and she said that there would be some papers for me to sign so that she could start meeting with Anne.  However, when we got there, the papers were not there.  I was curious as to how that would affect Anne being able to start her counseling.  However, by the time we were all finished up with what we were doing, the papers arrived and we were able to get those signed.  She should start seeing the therapist tomorrow.

We get to see Anne again on the 24th.  That is the big day for her and being able to get her braces off.  They said that following the appointment that we could keep Anne for a few hours to spend some time with her instead of rushing her back to school!  YAY!  We already have a shopping trip planned and we are hoping to get Adia and Jonathan out of school early so that they can finally get a chance to see Anne.  Adia is really missing her and is so ready to see her again!  I think she is looking forward to talking with Anne a bit on the phone next week. :)

An update on Hawa....we have received her moving date.  Hawa will be moving this Saturday afternoon to her new host family.  In the previous post, I mentioned that Hawa had requested to be moved to another family.  This information came from the agency.  This past week, as Hawa opened up about how she felt about moving, she shared that she does not feel the same way as the agency says she does.  Hawa feels that she was not asked nor given a choice in the matter.  I'm wondering if there was a miscommunication somewhere between the agency and Hawa.  No matter how Hawa feels, due to the policies, she would still be moved.  Hawa knows who the host family is and thinks that they are nice people.  They are an amazing family!  So Saturday will be a busy day for all of us as we transition to Hawa moving and our family getting adjusted to yet another new.  We pray for Hawa as she adjusts as well as the new host family as they adjust to having a teenager in the home again.

Thank you to all of you who continue to call, text or email to check on us and show your support!  We appreciate you and all the prayers you are sending on behalf of our family!