A little girl from China brings joy to her new family in America and those who she meets.
She is a little thing, barely reaches up to my hip; yet she has more gumption, more love in that little body than most kids her age.
Abigail Guan Michaela is four years old. She clearly doesn't look like us, not with her slanting, almond shaped eyes, straight, shiny black hair done up in pigtails, round, moon face, and her slight build. Yet she is as much our daughter as are the other children we have, her brothers Eric (six), Hamish (seven), and Heath (eight), and her sisters Bonita (nine) and Gisela (thirteen).
We adopted Abbi when she was just a baby. Hard to believe that she's now been with us for nearly four years. It's gotten to the point to where we can't imagine our family unit without her; she's imprinted herself onto our hearts, and we've fallen head-over-heels in love with her.
Abigail is perfectly healthy; yet she is starting to notice that she looks "different" from us. She questions us about her eyes, why we don't look like her, hard stuff like that. We tell her that her mommy and daddy couldn't take care of her, so she was flown to America to be chosen by another family. We were that family, and we were glad, very glad, to have her come into our lives. That usually satisfies her--for the time being.
That is, until the next time she asks. Then the questions, the tears, the answers, start all over again.
We have gotten some books about adoption to share with Abbi. We tell her about her Adoption Story, why she came to us, and that she is very much loved by us, her family here in America. She really doesn't remember her days in China, but we do have pictures; we share them with her; she asks about the ladies at the orphanage, the other kids, who they are, why they were there. She feels sad that there are kids who don't have families; every night she says a prayer to God to "watch over the sad little kids in China" and that she hopes that they will soon have mommies and daddies to love them.
We have started a scrapbook on her life; Abbi looks at it religiously, her little forehead wrinkling in puzzlement as she tries to figure out who she is, where she came from, where she is now, the whole complicated adoption process. We try to reassure her, tell her that she's now our "forever child" and that nothing will ever take her away from us; we love her so much.
Abbi is like most four-year-olds. When she's not worrying about her heritage, she loves to dance around like a little ballerina, color, watch "Caillou" and "Sesame Street" on television (Abbi is very smart!), try to read, and learning to write her name/numbers. She will be starting pre-K in the fall; this will be a new and exciting adventure for her. She will soon associate with other kids her age; and she will learn about other kids, their feelings, their interests, about the big, wide world as only pre-school age kids can experience it.
We are nervous whenever we think of it, but we think this is best. She needs to be with other children, learn to socialize, make new friends.
Yet for now we are enjoying her just as she is. She is a child with much potential, and we are determined to unlock that potential, watch her blossom.
Abbi isn't the first child we adopted: we adopted Hamish from Africa, and Bonita and Gisela from Mexico. They don't look like us either, yet like our newest child, they are as much our children as are Eric and Heath, our two "homegrown" children. We can't imagine our family without any of our adopted children; they've given us so much in the way of joy; we definitely are blessed in taking in these beautiful children into our family as our own!
Well, we have to get ready (Abbi has a doctor's appointment, just a routine checkup), so we will go now. I will write more about our family, share the stories of Hamish, Gisela, and Bonnie another time. Take care and God bless!
~Love, Wendy Grace Kruliuk, Colorado Springs, Colorado (mother to six, four adopted, two homegrown). :)
Did you know that in Chine they have a deficit of over thirty million girls due to that policy of only one child per family?
And, taking in consideration that it is the male child that should take care of his elders...
This exceptional book, Celebrating the Gift of Being Alive, has the perfect thoughts and words for birthdays, graduations, engagements, marriages, and any life celebration or family tradition.
Note: Since my husband's cancer surgery 4/25/05, this book content has been integrated into the public speaking content for audiences interested in a sassy approach to personal and/or community awareness events. Another chapbook on intimate love poet
