Jan. 12

Jennifer had her first operation, in which Dr. Craig Dufresne and his team at Fairfax Hospital, INOVA Health Systems, in Fairfax, Va., inserted one tissue expander under her scalp, and two in her chest. Click here for a detailed description of the surgery.

Jan. 10

Davida Berger, a Jenkintown restaurant owner who has helped make arrangements for Jennifer, brought two of her chefs, Annemarie Silva and Chip Williams, over to my house today to give Jennifer a cooking class. What an amazing evening. The menu included tilapia, meatloaf and basmati rice with peppers. Dessert was cake and cookies. It was fun to see Jennifer doing so well at cooking. It made me appreciate one of the finest attributes of the United States. We are lucky to live in a country whose many opportunities can help children realize their potential.

Not only did Jennifer help, she showed a flair for cooking. She was born to drizzle sauce on a dish. Abitimo and her son, Aaron, came, as did Caren Moskowitz, who works in the development department of the Albert Einstein Healthcare Network. Einstein has generously agreed to provide, pro bono, routine health care for Jennifer.

My tiny kitchen and dining room were packed with people who were chatting, laughing and eating. Everyone had a terrific time - including Jennifer.

Jan. 2, 2006

My husband, Tim, my 4-year-old, Olivia, and I spent most of the day with Jennifer. First we went to Drexel, where my husband is a graduate student, and waited for him to finish some work. I was showing Jennifer how to use a computer. We visited Web sites on Uganda and on her. She didn't like seeing photos of herself, but she smiled broadly when she saw pictures from articles published in May in The Inquirer about the school she attends in Gulu, Uganda.

It was raining when we got to the Philadelphia Zoo, and most of the animals were not on display. We all were disappointed. Tim and I had really played up seeing elephants and giraffes, lions and tigers and zebras. The zebras were the only animals that were out, and when Jennifer saw one, she gasped and giggled in delight. Even though all of these animals roam freely in parts of her homeland, Jennifer had never seen a zebra before.

Dec. 24, 2005

Jennifer and Abitimo Odongkara arrived on a British Airways flight from northern Uganda, via London.