lil chicken

if you read this post, you'll get a timeline of when i first met Dieunika back in april 2008. i remember cindy talking about working on a baby's paperwork coming for surgery. i intially thought she was going to be much younger. i had offered before dieunika came to be her host family but cindy said she'd do it, being a nurse and all. i joked-fine then just hog the baby!!! lol

i remember her sitting in the port-a-crib in the eagle room at the CSA center as she looked out at the boys and i while we tried to talk to her. for sure she thought as she peeked out through the mesh we were odd ducks! she spoke only creole and mostly baby talk. she was a cutie pie even though all she kept saying was ban mwen (give me that)! if i recall it was a sticker or paper of some sort. we didn't know but two or three creole words. although cindy is fluent. my youngest was so sweet, he sat and played with her for awhile. she had came with what was only the clothes on her back. she also hadn't any toys in the office yet. then we all didn't know much about her parents and even her. her medical history was unsure of too. all we knew was that she had an colostomy and needed life saving surgery.

she arrived just barely a few months before her 3rd birthday. she was tiny for her age, malnurished. i believe her weight then was around 21 lbs. at that time she was pretty quiet and she wouldn't ask to eat. cindy would have to ask her if she was hungry. she was pretty polite asking before she did anything. it was sweet, and yet i wonder what went through her mind. she was brought to the US by a stranger and then handed off to another. she never asked for her mom or dad. i didn't get to spend but small amount of time with her then. the hurstons were busy getting her ready for surgery and bringing awareness of her story. i remember she followed cindy all around the office, they spent alot of time there. she then came to be known as her 'lil chicken'.