So today I got to hang out with a very sweet little cutie pie. Her name is Liga (pronounced Lee-GUH) and she is 4 years old. She is from Latvia here on an orphan hosting program (see sidebar for link). Liga's host parents and I are in the same small group at church, and they are totally cool with me getting some of Liga's awesome hugs and kisses. Liga is not 'just' an orphan, she is a special needs orphan, making her situation even worse.
I'm not sure what all is 'wrong' with her....she can walk and talk and is working on potty training. She sang to herself and loved the My Little Pony collection my girls brought out and loved to build with the blocks. Seemed pretty typical. She knew enough to be sneaky and she played many of the same little 'games' with me that my own girls have played with me. Things like crawling in my lap and pretending to be a baby, complete with fake crying, or pretending the pony was a hat or scratching her finger and then letting 'momma' kiss it better. Yup, that works not matter what language you speak!
Know what else is funny no matter where you're from? Passing gas. Yes. And today I learned the Russian word for it: pook-ee-ED (or something along those lines). She is clever enough at some point to remember I had made a sort of big deal about her toots and the announcements of them, come up behind me and make a fake 'toot' with her lips and then crack up laughing saying, "Pook-ee-ed!"
I don't know what her story is, or how long she has been at her orphanage. I watched her wolf down her yogurt and felt a little pang in my heart. Okay, a big pang. Not only for Liga and her plight, but also for her mother who is missing out on these things. Where is she? Does she have any idea what she's missing?
I can't imagine missing all the things Liga's birth mother isn't able to be a part of. And as for Liga, I will start praying in earnest that God will send her a mom and dad to scoop her up, laugh at her toots, and kiss her tiny cheeks.
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