Determination......and hope

In the 2 months that Julia has been with us I have to say I have never laughed more or been more in awe of her spirit.  She is funny.  She is helpful.  She is smart.  But mainly, she is determined.  She wants to do everything herself and she wants to do exactly what Joy is doing......but, even better.  Because she is not a baby.  She tells me all the time, "Mom....no more baby.  Julia big one."  See at the orphanage the "big ones" got to do more.  They didn't have to sit on the little plastic duckies all day.  They got to sit on stools and watch TV.  Pretty much all day.  Julia did get to go down the hall to the school.  And she says she was allowed to play on a piano sometimes.  She was lucky, though.  She could walk to the bathroom, so no diaper!  That's big in an orphanage where people are busy.   You would think that sitting on your stool day after day, week after week for 5 years would knock all hope out of you, right?  Not Julia.  Nope.  She watched basketball and dreamed of the day she would get big and be able to play like that.  She knows Yao Ming and knows him well.  She had hope and she never lost it.  It kept her going.  And then there's that determination........she practices.  She stands out on the deck day after day.  Bouncing the basketball.  Last week she bounced it 51 times in a row.  And then she noticed that Joy switches hands when she dribbles.  Huh.....not to be outdone she practiced.  This week she can switch hands, too.  She is right handed and complains that her left hand isn't as strong as her right.  So, yesterday I caught her dribbling with her left hand.  Very slowly and manipulating the ball to get better control.  She has also started blocking her sister and running across the deck while dribbling the ball.  And the biggest miracle of all???  Last night she didn't want her beloved ice cream cone until she was done practicing!!!!!!!  She chose a few more minutes of basketball over ice cream............I totally don't understand that............but, then I wasn't clinging to hope and determined to make it out of an orphanage.......I was here eating ice cream and going to the beach...........okay, maybe more ice cream than beach............this is Illinois and all that ice cream isn't great for the swimsuit............I digress...................again...............sigh..............she's amazing, right?