December 1, 2006:

Something sad happened tonight. Don't worry, it isn't anything terribly bad. Let me go back a few months. One day I was shopping at Walmart and saw a cute little black baby doll with a basket and bottle and other accessories. It was right before we went to Haiti for the first time. I wanted that doll for Georgia, and so I bought it. It was inexpensive and all plastic. I thought it would be a great gift for her to have in the orphanage. We ran out of room in the suitcase, and I decided to hold onto it for the next trip. Claire wanted that doll, too. For herself. She begged for it often. I told her that it was for Georgia, and put it in my closet. When we returned from Haiti the first time, I decided that I would save the doll for when Georgia came home, because I knew that her submissive personality would mean that she owned the doll for as long as it took to drive back to her orphanage. I knew it would be instantly confiscated by more aggressive children. So the next time Claire begged for the doll in my closet, I told her it was a present for Georgia for when Georgia came home. From that time on, whenever she spotted the doll, she'd say, "That's Georgia's doll when she comes home!" (in her own way, of course). Fast forward to this evening. We had a church Christmas party to attend this evening. About an hour before it started, Sahara reminded me that we needed to bring an un-opened toy to donate. I wracked my brain for any toys I might have that could qualify. I did not have time to get to the store. The kids were doing school until almost 5 pm today, and we had to rush to get ready. I remembered the inexpensive doll in my closet. Recently I had been planning that I would rather get Georgia & Talley a Bitty Baby (from American Girl), since I will be getting one for Claire for Christmas this year. So, I did not feel sad about gifting "the closet doll" in a pinch. However, when I pulled it down from my closet shelf, and set it on the changing table, Claire excitedly exclaimed, "Yeah! Georgia and Talley comin' home!!! Yeah!" My heart fell to the floor. Here we were all rushing to get ready for a party, she sees me get the doll down, and immediately believes her sisters are coming home tonight. I felt horrible. I tried to explain what was happening. She kept saying, "It's Georgia & Talley's doll." I didn't know what to do. I explained some more, and she seemed OK with it. We kept on getting ready. Then I heard her whining, and asked what was wrong. She replied, "Georgia and Talley not coming home." Oh my heart just crumbled. I comforted her and explained that they were going to come home, just not tonight. It was awful. She's three years old and feeling this way.

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