Today is Beth’s birthday. She's 11 years old. She’s upstairs doing a little schoolwork today, and then we are off to get our nails done. After that it’s lunch at Panera (she likes soup in a bread bowl) and then we will come home and feed the dogs and put a loaf of bread in the bread machine to go with the Crock Pot Beef we’re having for dinner, at her request. What she doesn’t know is that we will then go see Martian Child before I drop her off at the Parks and Recreation Home Alone class at 4 PM. We’ll all celebrate her birthday (once again) tonight at dinner.


Last night she informed me that yesterday just might, in fact, be her birthday. She’s right, of course. Abandoned Chinese babies don’t usually come with information about time and place of birth. I think this is one of the biggest crocks of all—not to know the exact day you were born. Every time we have talked about this—whether about Beth’s birthday or other kids, like Dora—I have avoided pointing out the fact that November 15th is a “best guess”. The orphanage staff believed Beth to be about 5 days old when she was discovered. That leaves some wiggle room. Here I am, the Queen of “put all the cards on the table” and yet I have studiously avoided this topic; I guess because it is a sad fact I didn’t want to dwell on any more than necessary. Obviously, Beth has already processed this. Her comment about it yesterday was amazingly unemotional. I don’t for a moment believe that it isn’t important to her, or doesn’t register on her, but she is still able to get out of bed in the morning, knowing that she doesn’t know the exact moment she was born. When I expressed a bit of surprise about her having processed it so completely, she looked at me and said, “What? Do you think I am DUMB?” “Of course not,” I said. She went on to discuss how older kids in the orphanage clearly didn’t know much about their histories or birthdays, so why would it be any different for the younger ones?


She’s excited about celebrating her birthday. She’s excited about spending the day with me (as I am excited about being with her.) She’s very glad she’s alive, and says so when she says the evening prayer. She thanks God for each special day. This is most definitely a different view than that taken by other adoptees in my family ...


We’re going to have FUN today! Have I mentioned how much I love this child? And also let me mention ... how grateful I am to a set of parents half way around the world who have blessed me with this child.