Victoria

Saying good bye at New Day Creations was especially difficult for us. There, Jose and I fell in love with a little girl name Victoria.

We met her on our first day at New Day. While we were playing with the toddlers/pre-schoolers in the playroom, Victoria came out from nowhere and played with us. We noticed that she looked like Anita (our older daughter) and felt a special connection with her almost immediately. Victoria spoke English and was able to communicate with us at ease.

The next day, we played with her again in between our breaks from clinic. Her eyes would twinkle whenever we spoke with our broken Mandarin. She would smile and answer us back in Mandarin. The following morning, I was assigned to assist the teacher at the school and got to interact with her on a one to one basis. We must have read ten or more books together in English and Chinese but enjoyed every moment of it. We were both sad when it was time for lunch. Because of Elissa’s workshop, I got to cover the English teacher in the afternoon and taught Victoria and Claire – another 6 years little girl who was born with a deformity of the right lobe of her lung and a tracheoesophageal fistula. Claire could only say simple words but is a happy little girl. We had 2.5 hours together so we made every minute count. We reviewed the alphabet, numbers, shapes, colors, seasons, animals, weather, sung silly songs, read, drew, laughed and played. We had fifteen more minutes to go so Victoria decided to cook for me. She invited me to her little kitchen and cooked up a storm. She was such a big sister to Claire. As she was cooking, she was teaching her what to do and reminded her to only pretend to eat the play food. Victoria cooked me noodles (Lai-mien) and asked what level of spice I would prefer (la or ma la.) While she was cooking, she was singing this melody – “Skip, skip, skip to my Lou, Skip, skip, skip to my Lou, Skip, skip, skip to my Lou, Skip to my Lou, my darlin'…” After she was done cooking, she served the noodles in a fancy bowl and poured me some make-believe juice in a cup. She asked me if I liked her food and with tears in my eyes, I told her that it was the best food I ever tasted (I really meant it!) She smiled and gave me more noodles then refilled my juice.

Later that night, we asked a New Day staff about Victoria’s status and she told us that she has been matched with a family and would be leaving soon. Our hearts were broken but knowing that somewhere out there, there's a loving family waiting for Victoria gave us peace and comfort. We know that she’ll do well because she is such a beautiful bright little girl. We also learned that she was abandoned at age three at the local children's hospital in her home city in April of 2007. She arrived at the foster home in October of 2007, very weak from her serious congenital heart disease. Victoria had surgery for her heart condition in November of 2007 and the doctors installed a pacemaker, and now she has recuperated.

We found ourselves looking for a glimpse of Victoria whenever we visited the foster home. It made us really happy when we saw her. Each time, Victoria was an extremely busy big sister; she was comforting a crying child, telling the Aiyi to change someone’s pants, directing traffic or helping with household chores.

On our last day at New Day, I carried her in my arms and did not want to let go. When I kissed her goodbye, my heart skipped a beat. Knowing that I will probably never see her again made my heart ache. We could see the same sadness in her little eyes. When she asked when we would visit again, I did not know how to answer her. As we were leaving, a New Day staff gave us each calendar as a souvenir. On the front cover, there was a picture of Victoria. I held my tears but cried like a baby when we boarded the plane. I could not comprehend why I was experiencing such emotions. Why do I feel like I’ve left something valuable behind?

Victoria – You have captured our hearts. Our thoughts and prayers will always be with you. We pray that you will live a happy life and that our path will cross again one day. May God bless you and hold you close.

~Mary