My last trip to Haiti in June was when I met Jovanika. This was my first day there and I walked down to the creche and this beautiful little girl walked up to me and reached her arms out for me to pick her up. I did and we sat and conversed for a minute before I realized she really wanted a nice place to nap. This became our afternoon ritual.
Over the next day or so, every time I would walk down those stairs, she would see me coming and just wait for me. We would sit and look at books and sing songs. We swung and played on the slide.
Pretty soon, I noticed she was getting a little territorial about sharing me with her friends. She would use her bossy toddler voice and ramble a bunch of stuff I didn't understand and then she would make it clear to them: "MY MAMA BLANC"!!! I really felt like I should pull her aside and let her know that we needed to talk it over with Papa Blanc first before she made it sound so official. But that's kind of an awkward conversation to have with a 2 year old who doesn't speak English. Right? She continued to be so cute and loving with the other children. I just loved that if one of them was crying, she would go rub their arm or pat their back so gently. How sweet is she! Little did we both know at that moment that she would steal our hearts and forever have a place in our family!
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