Zi Qing

This guy. My heart! Such a remarkable boy.

Today, I think I will start by just writing down some of the words that have come to mind about Zi Qing. (zuh- jih).

remarkable

resilient

joyful

good sport

hard worker

steadfast

manly

determined

observant

helpful

ambitious

trustworthy

cheerful

brave


All of these traits have been observed in the time since I met him at the airport on Tuesday.
We had a big debacle where he thought I was abducting him (funny-ish in retrospect, I guess).  He was steadfast in his refusal to budge until he found his American aunty (he was finally convinced this was me.)

We thought his name was pronounced ZEE and he has gently ignored us until we were able to communicate our interest in his ACTUAL name, where he was a good sport repeating himself until we got somewhere near an accurate pronunciation.

He smiles and laughs constantly. His joy is absolutely contagious.

He has determinedly and observantly worked his way in to our daily chores, doing dishes, feeding animals, collecting eggs, making his bed, etc. WITHOUT BEING ASKED. We have started teaching him how to do all jobs, because he hounds us until we let him do it.

He copies Joe at every chance, and refuses help on anything he thinks he can do on his own. he works patiently and calmly until he succeeds.

I think what impresses me most is his quiet, sweet way of communicating needs and wants. He asks for our attention with smiles and taps and leads us to whatever it is that he needs. He doesn't just take, he asks with confidence.

One of the coolest thing so far is when Arwyn asked for a piece of pizza last night. Zi Qing opened the box, ripped off a crust and handed it to her. For those of you who don't know, Arwyn has a dairy allergy and cannot have the cheese part of the pizza. Zi already figured that out and gave her the part she is allowed to have.

And one funny story: A young lady who speaks Mandarin tried to speak with him yesterday. He good-humoredly spoke slowly and clearly (and maybe a little disdainfully), "I don't speak Mandarin, I speak Louyang dialect."


This guy. A gem of human being. A gift of God.

Pray for him and his forever family. They don't want to miss this.