how is she doing? 6 months later

we have walked a long road to here. As you can see from the 2 pictures it is evident to see she is feeling very much like a Rill. Her English started at nothing and these days I actually am surprised when she says "what does that word mean?" I forget that she still doesn't know it all because she speaks it so well. It is so crazy to think how much your life can change in 6 short months at this time last year we had never seen her face . She has had so many firsts as you have seen. Is always willing to try anything new and loves to have fun. We often comment how happy we are God gave us a daughter who fits our family not a "stage dweller" but an adventurer. My cousin kyle said once "she was born to be a Rill she just had to find her way home" that really sums it all up I think.

The recent death of the policeman from church has really opened Mei's heart for Gods love, Jesus and heaven we continue to pray God will give her the understanding she needs to make a personal commitment not just love Jesus because we do.

The kids naturally have excepted her as we knew they would and she has come to love the kids. B and Mei still have the tightest relationship but her relationship with David is priceless to think that he actually worried about it is kind of a laugh now. She has thankfully aged down becoming more dependent on us. It broke my heart at first to see her do everything by herself. She will now sit a play little kid stuff with Gray and enjoys babies so much more now not as her duty but as her family.
School is a big question a lot of people ask about. David and I teach her kindergarten at home with gray which is going good she loves school.She can recognize most all of the letters in the alphabet and most of the sounds. She does well at Math and said that she had studied that in China as well as printing which I am not sure if she is just good at copying or they practiced them there too. I certainly know that it will be a long process to get her caught up as phonics is a hard thing to learn.

Mei lynn Rill is what she would say if you ask her name. It is really sweet how proud she is of her name and will always print it on all her school papers. She is also proud that she shares her name with aunt lynn and LOVES going over to 4027. We are really happy for that as it is nervous when you choose something that may be a problem taking old names away forever and adding the new. If you say her Chinese name now she puts on a unfavorable face and firmly says NO mei lynn...
Naturally it is hard to put everything down in a few paragraphs the wonder of life, the human brain,an differences in culture are amazing daily. She freely speaks of China very often with us and says the only thing she misses is a friend there but if asked says she has no need to go back there which I know will probably change and that's fine but for now she feels comfortable right where she is.

If you keep up with our blog you know that she considers herself "a 2009 like Emmett and Adeline" which is still interesting to me that to her that is her birth year. It will be interesting to see how her birthday and then her rill day go I have no idea. There are so many wonderful stories God has allowed us to be a part of and we know 6 months is just the beginning