Stubborn meets Patient

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Today when we, Zach and myself, arrived at the orphanage Samuel was all ready to head outside, so we did our schedule backwards with Anya as well. We all headed outside into the beautiful sunshine and had a good time playing. When we went back in, at Anya's request, we had a little snack and settled in to do some schoolwork. Anya was less than interested and made it clear she did not want to work. I sat next to her and read out loud to her from a "Weekly Reader" type paper. I know she didn't understand most of what I was reading, but I figured it couldn't hurt for her to hear me reading to her. After being ignored for a few pages I set to playing with Samuel. Anya, noticing the attention he was getting, decided it might be worth getting her math done if she would be able to join us. She did all her problems lickety split and was able to spend some time playing again. After lunch when it was time to do some English she was far more willing and did above and beyond what I had planned to do with her. It is amazing to watch her go from digging her heels in, to complete cooperation. We had a good day all in all. There were no tears when we left. She was happy to hear that papa would be joining us for our visit tomorrow. She has missed him these last two days.

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