This is me reading to the kids. My Grandma Rabel thoughtfully sent me with books to read to them: what a great idea! Books served as: a diversion (I could read to them while Christie or Rachel plucked rocks out of their scrapes or soaked a foot in stinging Epsom salts), entertainment (they loved listening and repeating every phrase I read), and as a reward (good behavior meant a child could read books and look at pictures). Another smart thing my grandma did was send books about famous black Americans and books about people with black skin. This was probably the best thing she could have done. The kids loved pointing out people that looked like them in American books!
Some days I would set my chair out on the porch and simply start reading aloud. First a few kids would come, then a few more, then some matrons, then a few more kids. Soon there would be as many as fifteen people around me. The cutest thing was that every time I would read a phrase (”the dog jumped over the chair”) all of them would repeat it and wait for the next phrase! Reading one book could take a half an hour but was it ever adorable.
Moses loved reading stories. This is the same boy I talked about before who hurt his leg. Every day he somehow had new books – that I hadn’t brought – and asked me to read to him. One was about Garfield and one was about a shipwreck and I don’t think he understood the content but he soaked it all in. He also enjoyed coloring on the books!
I’m loving the stories, Ellen. Keep them coming.
I’m so happy the books were well received.
We are leaving to pick up our children from the Dixville Home in a week. Your blog has been such a blessing to us! I hope you don’t mind that I put a link to your blog on mine and posted some of your photos. We will try to post updates about our trip.
Ellen,
I found your blog through someone else’s, and have been reading through it today. It’s such a joy to hear about how my kids are doing! (I was at the orphanage with Christie and Rachel from January to May.) Do you have Scott and Denise Covert’s email address? They’re adopting Bendu, and I know they would love to see pictures. For that matter, I’d love to see pictures–any and all of them! 🙂
God bless,
Eliza
Hello Ellen,
We were told about your site by the Gundersons and we were so excited to read about your adventure and to see pictures of Bendu. We are in the process of adopting her into our family. Her brother Melvin has already been a part of our family for almost two years now. This adoption process is happening much too slow for him! We were able to talk to Bendu on the phone once when Eliza was there.
We thank you for spending your time over there with the children and would love to hear any stories you want to share. We would love to keep in touch and will keep you posted on our progress to bring Bendu home!
Our e-mail address is coverts@pobox.com.
Denise and Scott