I asked Jennifer if she wanted to leave. Carolyn had told me that she is really good at telling you when she's had enough of something. We'd been there for hours and I thought she might be getting tired or overwhelmed. But she very firmly told me she wanted to stay. She seemed content simply to be surrounded by kids her age.

After driving home, we stopped at the grocery store because I wanted her to pick out food she liked. She settled on apples, nixed my idea of strawberries or blueberries, but loaded up on watermelon. She got cheese for sandwiches, and very politely asked if it would be too much money to buy some cans of lemonade. We closed out with a carton of vanilla ice cream, and she seemed delighted when I offered to buy the People magazine she was scouring in the check-out line.

That night, two of Maddie's girlfriends came for a sleepover. Everyone got in their pajamas and flopped on couches to watch movies. The girls' giggles rippled through the house until they went to sleep.

June 2

From Cathy

We've been excited about the possibility of Jennifer staying with our family for awhile, and finally got the chance to make it happen Friday when she joined us for a few days in Maryland. My daughter, Maddie, has lots of end-of-year school events so we invited Jennifer to be part of them.

First up was a "Family Fiesta" night at Maddie's school Friday night. Jennifer wore her blue-flowered skirt from Uganda and carried a hot-pink purse that matched the hot-pink polish on her toenails. She looked elegant with her new, braided hair extensions, but I was worried about possible reactions from some of the parents and children who hadn't met her. All was fine. Kiara and Madeline were the first to run up and hug her. They are the girls who, along with Maddie, raised money for Jennifer's fund at their triple birthday party last December. Instead of gifts, they asked for donations. Lots of other kids flocked to see her, too, though they eventually scattered to do whatever it is 8th graders do, I think Jennifer felt welcome.

June 1

For the month of June, Jennifer will be staying with Cathy Trost and her family in Chevy Chase, MD - the same town in which Dr. Dufresne has his office! I know Cathy from a journalism seminar. I told her about how I was trying to bring Jennifer over to the United States for surgery. When her daughter Maddie - who is the same age as Jennifer - learned about Jennifer, she wanted to help. Cathy and Maddie have gone to Dufresne's office when Jennifer had an appointment and came to the Ronald McDonald House in Fairfax, Va., the night before her last surgery.

It became clear that night that Jennifer and Maddie had formed a friendship. (See March 7 entry.) So it seemed natural to take Cathy up on her generous offer to host Jennifer. Maddie and Jennifer have been going to a number of activities because Maddie is graduating from her school.

May 19

Jennifer joined my family at my cousins who live in Wynnewood for Sabbath dinner. I've been wanting her to meet Rachel and Shoshana, who at 13 are only two years younger than Jennifer. As usual, she was shy at first. As I may have mentioned before, she always takes time in new situations to size up things.

My cousins have a great basement that has a ping-pong table and a foosball game. We tried ping-pong. She put down the paddle when she had to serve the ball. With only one hand, she immediately gave up on holding the paddle and launching the ball. I tried showing her how to do both with one hand, but she wasn't interested.

Foosball was an entirely different matter. She loved it. She easily mastered wielding two lines of players with one hand - and she got good at it quickly. When she scored her first goal, she ran around the room, cheering and holding her hands in the air. That set a precedent for my cousins when they scored goals.

She ate a couple of pieces of chicken at dinner. I finally got her to drink some water. I was afraid she wasn't drinking enough H20. But I asked Abitimo the next day and she said Jennifer was doing well with water. If she undergoes another round of surgery, she'll need to eat and drink well so the procedures go as smoothly as possible. I might have learned Jennifer's favorite food: She had four scoops of vanilla ice cream for dessert.

I was quite touched when Jennifer game me a mother's day gift, a small book of authors' quotes on mothers. She's a good kid.

May 12

Jennifer was in Uganda tonight. Actually, a piece of Uganda came to her - and I don't think I have seen her that happy since she has come to the United States.

She, Abitimo, I and my family went to the Children of Uganda concert tonight that was part of the Penn Presents series at the Univeristy of Pennsylvania. It is a group of children, from 6 on up, who became orphans when their parents died of AIDS. The group is supported by a Philly-based foundation that raises money from the concerts to send these kids and others to school in and around the Ugandan capital of Kampala.

Jennifer practically gasped when several of the youngsters, boys and girls, began the show by leaping onto the semi-darkened stage, dancing and drumming. There is something incredibly powerful about African drumming. It gets deep into your bones and brain. Jennifer was mesmerized by the dancing, the singing, the music-making.