Sean

This week we feel compelled to tell you about Sean. It’s hard to describe Sean in just a few words! His has the best personality and we all believe that he will do great things as an adult. He is a bright 11 year old, in 4th grade and his favorite subject is computer. He enjoys reading about science and technology and his favorite sport is soccer. Sean’s personality fills a room! He is great with the younger kids and was nicknamed the “Little Director” because he was keeping them all in line for their program. Sean was disappointed last year when he participated in another Journey of Hope program but did not find a family. He wants to live in America because everyone has a house! He has been in a foster family for 4 years but desperately wants a forever family - maybe with an older brother and sister. Sean was born with cleft lip and palate and has had surgery for both. He may need some reconstruction and some dental work; however, his speech is excellent and he liked practicing his English on us! Part of our interview with Sean can be seen at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MT-hJiasqe4&feature=channel.

Sean and Natalie (featured last week) are great friends and we hope that they will both find families that will let them stay in contact. Sean was often found “coaching” Natalie while we were interviewing her!

Natalie

This week, we’d like to tell you more about the girl we nicknamed as “Natalie.” Natalie is a beautiful 11 year old girl, who just doesn’t realize how beautiful she truly is. Natalie was born with a cleft lip and palate. She had palate surgery done at the age of 5 and 7, so didn’t learn to speak clearly. Because of this, Natalie is not comfortable speaking and is very shy. Natalie seemed very curious about us though as I noticed her most of the time we were there – just barely on the outskirts of most activities. Natalie does very well in school and is currently in 6th grade. She has taken some English but is not confident enough to try to speak it. She has been with a foster family for 10 years and they report that she is very helpful with housework and has a gentle and clever personality.
Natalie says that reading makes her happy as well as playing ping pong. She also said she would like to have some siblings! Once home, Natalie will probably need some cosmetic work on her lip as well as some dental work. You can see Natalie at the beginning of this Video
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg8rJJ-_dUM&feature=channel). To learn more about Natalie or the process for the Journey of Hope files, please go to the Journey of Hope page on our website.

Article on Journey of Hope

Please be sure to read the Journey of Hope article in our current FTIA Newsletter by going to:

http://www.ftia.org/newsletter/index.asp?set=453&all=37&step=no

Towards the bottom of the page, there is also a link to a pdf poster that you can print out and post at your local church, library, place of business, or anywhere you can think of that would help get the word out.

Thanks for your support!