Gabriella Faith Benefield

Over the last several weeks I have sat down with each of my children and interviewed them for our Anniversary Month. Angela and I have been blessed with awesome kids, and I want our friends and supporters to have a chance to know them better. Although Gabriella talks non-stop from morning until night, she is not quite ready to be answering many interview question, so I have asked the rest of the family to help put Gabby's article together.

July 2010

Gabby was born in Tulare, California, while we were on our last furlough. She was a beautiful baby, and has only gotten prettier over these last 2 and a half years. About a year ago when she graduated from a crib to a toddler bed, she used to love to get up in the middle of the night and go to mommy and daddy's bed. It was always a big production, sometimes taking two or three trips to get her whole entourage of teddy bears, baby dolls, blankets, and pillows into our room. She never cried or asked for help...just went back and forth bringing stuff in until she had everything she wanted.

September 2010

Gabby is very outgoing. Although most of her older siblings are pretty shy around strangers, Gabby is quick to greet everybody. When she greets a person in Khmer, that pretty much guarantees a smile from the person. Gabby is very well-spoken for her age. She knows how to get her point across. She is also pretty much convinced that she is in charge of all the other kids in the house! She has no qualms whatsoever about telling her older brother he's being a bad boy or ordering one of her older sisters around. And if they don't obey...well...let's just say that she is a very articulate tattletale.

This is the result of having 3 big sisters, August 2010

Gabby loves to pray for meals. For quite some time, she has had a standard prayer, which is very good and makes perfect sense. A few months ago while praying for lunch one day, she embellished her standard prayer. The new and improved prayer went like this: "Dear Jesus, Thank you for the food. Bless it to our bodies. And mark it with a "B". And put it in the oven. In Jesus name, Amen." It took awhile to regain control at the table after that wonderful heart-felt prayer!

With big sister, Emma, June 2010

Gabby's favorite color is purple, which is the color she always chooses when selecting a yogurt drink. Her favorite food at Lucky Burger is chicken nuggets, french fries, and "chepchup". Her favorite book is "My Goodnight Book", and one of her favorite things to play with are "Little People". When she doesn't know anyone is watching, she carries on quite lengthy and detailed conversations between a family of Little People.

With big brother, Stephen, March 2010

Gabby loves to bring daddy his shoes when he is getting ready to leave the house. She also loves to tie his shoelaces in knots to "help him".

With little brother, Seth, whom Gabby calls "Sether Boy", March 2010

Candace: "Gabby loves baby dolls. She loves to do their hair, and she loves to wear pretty dresses and getting her own hair done pretty for church. She loves it when I play with her and when I help her do her doll's hair."

December 2009

Deborah: "Gabby likes to play with kitchen toys. She likes to pretend she is cooking and bring a toy cup to mommy and say, "Here's your coffee." She also likes to play in water (like the sink or a bucket of mop water) even though she knows she's not supposed to. She's very afraid of thunder and lightning. Also, she is usually carrying 2 or 3 babies and 2 or 3 stuffed animals around at one time."

December 2009

Emma: "Gabby likes to draw stuff on paper, then come to me and say 'Emma, does that make sense?' She does this because sometimes Stephen writes down letters and shows it to daddy and asks, 'Does this say anything?'"

December 2009

Stephen: "Gabby likes apples and bananas. She also really likes to draw. In fact, she goes in Candace, Deborah, and Emma's room and gets drawing stuff out without asking."

December 2009

November 2009

Next article...Seth!