in a government office in Guangzhou, China, a small girl stepped out of an elevator and into our lives. Our trip to China had not gone as we expected, and we were tired and still overwhelmed by the events of the preceding week. But from the moment we saw Bethany, we knew that she was the daughter we'd been waiting for.
Bethany laughed the first time we met her and continues to be a joy to everyone who knows her. Within a few minutes she was playing with her sister and they bonded immediately in a deep and permament way that thrives despite the usual sibling rivalry and fights. Driving around town sometimes, I will hear Bethany say out of the blue "I love you, Annie," and Annie will reply "I love you too."
She is quite the performer and will dance and sing at the drop of a hat. She entertained shoppers at WalMart recently with her special, and very loud, rendition of "Jesus Loves Me."
Bethany adores her preschool and her teacher, Mrs. Rhoda. When I drop her off at school in the morning and her teacher comes to open the door, Bethany will start jumping up and down, yelling "Mrs. Rhoda, Mrs. Rhoda!!!" Sometimes it's hard to get her to leave at night. She is excited about Annie being with her this summer during the break and also about starting kindergarten at our neighborhood school next fall.
She has many good friends at school and there is usually lots of hugging when she leaves.
She has her moments, too, especially in the morning. We still have not got our sleeping arrangements working so that the girls go to sleep in their own room and on time. Bethany loves to stay up late and that makes her hard to get up in the morning. She can definitely show her tempermental side then. But she usually recovers quickly and is smiling by the time she gets to school.
Her vocabulary is quite large and although she will likely need some speech therapy once she hits kindergarten (since she has trouble with some sounds), she is a real chatterbox and loves to tell us about her day. We were very lucky to have found and kept in contact with her best friend from the orphanage, who has been adopted and is now living in Florida. They talk on the phone every few months, in an interesting mix of Chinese and English. Bethany just loves him. Today we celebrated her Forever Family day with a picnic by the lake and ice cream cones. Then the girls had a blast running in and out of their new sprinkler toy.
We have been so blessed by this little girl. She amazes us every single day and we are incredibly lucky to have her as a part of our family forever.
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