We have six children now:  five sons and a daughter.  They range in age from two to 12 years; we feel blessed to have them in our lives.  They are such good kids.

We didn't know a few months back whether we would ever get a daughter.  However, God gave the go-ahead, and so now Elizabeth Song, is our newest child.  She's from China.  She's been with us for just a few short weeks.

Naturally, the boys are excited at having a little sister to play with.  Elizabeth, meanwhile, isn't so sure.  She's still scared around us (to her we're nothing more than strangers).  She's not used to the hustle-bustle that is the norm around our house.  She's also not used to being here in America; she's been uprooted from the only world she has ever known.

Elizabeth can talk a little, but when she does, it is totally in Chinese.  We know a few basic Chinese phrases that we learned from a Chinese-English dictionary.  We're probably saying them very badly, but Elizabeth doesn't seem to mind.  At least we're trying. 

Of course, we use some sign language to show her what we want her to do, saying it in English.  Maybe she'll learn that way.

We are hopeful that in the next coming months, Elizabeth will get over her shyness and learn more in the way of English, so we can communicate effectively with her.

Elizabeth is the daughter we've always dreamed of.  After five boisterous boys, we can now splurge on "girlie-girl" type clothes, shoes, and toys.  We are having a blast.

They have some of the cutest, prettiest clothes for little girls, and we are not going to deny Eliazbeth in looking her very best.  If we dress her up like it is Christmas or Easter every day, so what.  We are having fun doing it.  LOL  We want people to notice her.

Elizabeth is painfully shy.  She doesn't like to be around people she doesn't know; we don't blame her one bit.  We are willing to help her settle in her new life here in America and we know that it is going to take some time before her true personality emerges and she gets over her painful shyness.

Happily, the family pediatrician has pronounced our girl healthy.  Thank God.  She does have some developmental delays but we are praying that once she learns more English, that will disapper completely.  Even though she is two, Elizabeth is more like a one-year-old baby: she is not toilet trained, and she doesn't walk yet.  It's because nobody ever taught her how.

The women caretakers of the orphanage where she had been back in China were too busy taking care of the other kids to even bother teaching them how to talk or walk.  Just keeping the babies fed/clothed/bathed/cleaned was enough for these overworked Chinese women.

Now it is our job, here in America, to teach her how to talk and walk and how to interact with others.  We also have to teach her how to love and how to go to the potty, amongst other things that parents regularly teach their infant or toddler children.

Until the day comes where Elizabeth can talk (in English), go to the potty on her own, and walk, amongst other things, we are just going to let her do her own thing and help her navigate her new family (and life) here in America.

*to be continued.*