Mia

Mia, our kitty, is funny. She is becoming more and more attatched to Sarah. Like, right-in-her-face kind of attatched. Like, when Sarah naps, Mia naps with her on her bed. When Sarah eats, Mia sits right there, watching. Right there. At Sarah's face.

Yesterday Sarah was out of sorts in the afternoon. This was because I gave her a haircut. Sarah does not like haircuts. She doesn't like the feel of the cutting of her hair. So halfway through, Sarah started complaining, which means a bit of shreaking and some angry sounds.

So Mia starts. Yowling. She is a Siamese so it's quite dramatic. She's walking up and down the hall to the kitchen and bellowing her disapproval of my cutting extravaganza. This went on for quite a while because cutting Sarah's hair takes time. Lots of time. So Mia was all worked up. As was Sarah.
And so John appears in the kitchen to see what the commotion is all about. He got the jist and pretty much turned around and holed himself in his bedroom with video games. LOL.

So when it was all over, I put Sarah to bed to recuperate, which she was very happy to do. And of course Mia was right there settling in at the foot of her bed. And I took to the couch with a cinnamon bun and orange soda.

About 1/2 hour later, I glanced at Sarah's video monitor next to me and I see that Sarah is sound asleep and so is Mia, all curled up in Sarah's blankets. Taking their nap. Wiped out from the hair event. And at that moment, I actually thought Mia was rather sweet. Because most of the time she drives me crazy.

You wouldn't imagine the number of people who become patients at the rehab facility where I work because of their cats. Yes, their cats. This is because they trip over them and fall. And break something, which then requires surgery and rehabilitation. One poor guy tripped over his cat and promptly fell down a flight of stairs and hit his head at the bottom. He is still rehabbing. These are not elderly people, they are generally in their 50s and 60s.

I have nightmares about this. Hoping it is not my fate. Cause Mia is always underfoot when I am carrying Sarah.

So far, so good.

Gender determined!

Today I received an email from Compassion:

I have heard back from our staff in East India regarding verification of Ashif’s gender and learned that Ashif is a boy. I apologize for any confusion, and we are updating our records at this time to reflect this change. Thank you for your understanding.

So Habiba is actually a boy. And he is called Ashif.  Habiba is his last name. I am so glad to finally know this, considering I sent him girl themed things, lol. He is the 'baby' of my bunch, the youngest of my little group. Tonight I will write to him and apologize, and send along some 'boy' stuff.

I'm happy that he is a boy, not sure why, but it just fits.

Silver and Gold

Eros

I have been waiting patiently for Eros John's first letter to me. But finally I couldn't stand it any longer and called Compassion. They told me that they had received it on Oct 27 and I should be receiving it shortly from them. And today was the day! I am sensitive to Eros because he has had many sponsors over the years that have dropped him and had never received a letter from any of them. I imagine, on mail day, when the other kids in the center got letters, he did not. And that makes me sad. So I was overly anxious to hear from him that he had received my letter.
He was full of information! He has 2 older sisters and one younger brother, giving me all their names and ages. He wants to be a policeman when he grows up. He gave me his height and weight. He is very tiny for  a ten year old. But maybe, not for a Filipino child :) His favorite color is red, his favorite food is bangus(fish) and favorite game is sepa (a version of basketball). Here is his written message to me:

Dear Aunt Lesley,

Thankyou for choosing me as your sponsored child. I'm excited to know you more. I would like to be the friend of elder brother Jimmy, elder brother John and elder sister Sarah. Please write to me often. I'm happy to know all of you.

Love, Eros John


:: sigh ::

He drew me a picture--I'm thinking it is his house?

I adore him.