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.