Saturday, July 22, 2006
Valerie Update - July 22, 2006
While in Mexico June 6th - July 9th, I had the opportunity to continue working with Valerie and her mother Alejandra. During my stay we had multiple follow up visits with her local pediatrician. Consistant weight gain & positive lab results have indicated that Valerie is doing really well! As of yesterday Valerie now weighs a little over 24 lbs! What I have enjoyed most is watching the changes in Valerie's awareness, expression and activity! She is such a bright little girl! Although the pictures of Valerie show her physical changes...they don't show the spunky character of this little girl. I have videotape (that I hope to be able to put online...with some technical guidance!!!) that shows Valerie "expressing" to me through eye movements & facial expressions that she feels that she has returned to the United States when we are relaxing in the 50's style Johnny Rockets burger joint in Playa del Carmen. Other clips show Valerie smiling and giggling as her little sister jumps on the bed. An even more impressive clip shows Valerie exerting her personality & showing off her little legs as she "bicycles" in an effort to move up her little dress after I lowered it telling her we need to not show too much "leg"! Wow...how rewarding....words can not express the love that I have for this little girl and her mother who so bravely trusted in us all. My hope is that I will have them in my life forever.
In an effort to support the ongoing needs of Valerie and children like Valerie, I am creating a sponsorship program as part of the ongoing Valerie Project. I have begun updating the website and when plans are finalized I will send information out to all the Carrie's Heart supporters. I hope that through this project each of you will be able to feel the personal joy and love that I have felt experiencing the changes in a child as I have helped to improve their life. This is truly an example of EMBRACING THE POTENTIAL IN ALL CHILDREN!
To read the chronological posts about Valerie and her journey go to the archive index to the right of the blog page. Posts begin in March 2006 and continue to the present!
// posted by Carrie's Heart @ 8:42 PM 
