It's been a long day and the pictures aren't loading so I'm going to give you a quick overview of our day and go to bed! We have another early start tomorrow. I'll upload pictures another day.
Today we were out the door at 8 am for a visit to the Great Wall. Yesterday Amy REALLY didn't want to go. Guess what? She ended up having a great time. We rode up in the same cable car President Clinton rode in when he visited in 1998. It was purely coincident that we ended up in that cable car.
These are some of the easier steps we encountered.
Above is our guide Joy, trying to get Amy to take the steps at a safe pace. She was determined to show us how "easy" she could do stairs and had Joy & me scared half the time, but she never stumbled or fell.
We had to walk across a couple of these narrow ledges. It made me extremely nervous leading Amy across, but it didn't bother her at all!
Amy wanted us to leave her at the Great Wall, because she wasn't ready to leave. She said she wasn't interested in the Science Museum (even though just last week she said she wants to be a scientist). Guess what? She had a great time and pitched a fit when it was time to leave there!
She tried a few things and then was working on this puzzle. A gentleman came over and showed her an easier way to set it up and solve it than the instructions we were following. She was determined to figure it out on her own and not happy when I said it was time to leave. She said she wasn't interested in going to the Bethel event.
Guess what? She had a great time! She was impressed by the performances by the kids from Bethel (blind Chinese orphans like herself). She enjoyed meeting Ya Fen (Tracy), the girl we sponsor. Then she met Michael. They hit it off. They had a braille contest to see who could braille numbers with a slate and stylus faster (Michael won by a landslide). They talked about this and that. Michael is just 3 months older than Amy. He attends the Beijing School for the Blind and speaks very good English. Amy's decided she does want to learn English after all! Yea!
The most touching part of the evening was when Amy insisted on speaking to Fa Guo Ma Ma & Ba Ba (France Mom & Dad -
Guillaume & Delphine Gauvain), the founders of Bethel.
They moved last year to the Philippines to start another organization to help children there, but returned for the 10 Year Anniversary celebration. Everyone wanted to visit with them, but they took time to individually speak with Amy and reassure her about moving to America and learning English. In the car on our way home Amy asked Joy to tell me that Fa Guo Ma Ma told her not to forget that her mom and dad (us) would love her with all our hearts. I have never met or spoken with this couple. Amy was not under Bethel care. But they reached out to her, taking time away from speaking with the many adults who wanted their attention. During our adoption process for Amy, their staff was always willing to answer my questions about blindness and schooling for blind children. They went above and beyond, contacting Amy's school and getting information for me directly from her teacher. That contact made it possible for us to visit her school last week. I can't say enough about Bethel, the Gauvains and the staff.
Tomorrow: We visit Alice's foster family and some of the older kids at Bethel, including Ya Fen.
You guys are havin such an awesome time!
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