This was my first day and I was already totally atached to Gracie. Her mother died about a week prior to this and has no other family alive. Apparantly the death was very tramatic to Gracie who went into a long state of shock they think. She seemed to be in such a state of depression and her eyes had so much emptiness that it broke my heart. When I tried to put her down she would cling to me and cry a silent but powerful cry. Very hard... When you could get her to come out of her state for a bit and smile, she was so beautiful and I cherished those moments when we could get her to smile. She is doing much better today and I noticed hige changes two weeks or so later when we returned. She was speaking and repeating things and they say now she is singing and trying to say her alphabet. Forever Angels was absolutely a haven for these children. After we saw the options for orphans in Africa, we were so impressed with what Amy and Ben Hathaway were doing with their life. They have devoted their savings, their life, thier future to this place. They have already adopted two of the children and in the process of adopting the third. They train and support a large staff who are wonderful with children. In return the staff work under amazing working conditions. A life that they are not likely to have without Amy and Ben. Michael and I now sponsor Gracie and I encourage any of you if you have ever thought of doing this, to please follow your heart and do it. It helps so much. Just look at what it is doing.
