Orphanage Visit

Monday was spent mostly on a long ride to the orphanage. Emma's orphange was a 3 1/2 hour ride one way. Our guide, XiXi, rented a van so we had as comfortable ride as it could have been. (That being said, the drive was quite rough!) Rodney and I both went and took Emma with us. We feel like a lot of the crying she has been doing is greiving, so we were hoping that the visit would provide some closure for her. Another mom who has a Yangdong baby went with us, as well as one other dad from our group whose orphanage was very close to ours.

The drive to the orphanage was interesting. Once we passed through the cities and started to see the country, it really felt more like what I thought China would be. Until now, we had only seen cities. There are many different vegetables grown here, as well as rice. The pond areas you see in the pictures are fish ponds.

For the most part, Emma did great on the trip to the orphanage. She slept for a while, played for a while, and , yes, cried for a while - but not too bad. She loved looking at her book of kittens. It was amazing how long it held her attention! At least to us - you would have to ask the others in the group - I think we have become immune to her crying somewhat!

As we got closer to the orphange, XiXi told us the area was known for making knives and other cutting products like clippers and scissors. We weren't scheduled to arrive at the orphange until 2:30, and we were a little early so we stopped to eat and shop a little. At the entrance, there were many people eating, but they took us to the back and gave us a private room. XiXi ordered several dishes for us to share - duck, spicy pork, oysters, fish. Luckily they gave us each a bowl of rice and served fried rice also. That was about all I ate. I did take one bite of the fish, oh, and some kind of vegetable that doesn't really have a name - it is just something they grow in that area. It was ok, but fishy. Later they brought out a plate of chicken (free range chicken, as XiXi said, lots of bones). I ate a piece of that and it was OK. After we ate, we shopped for a little while. I bought 2 ladels that had pandas on the handle and a few other things. My mind wasn't realy on shopping, so I just wandered around. I can't believe I didn't think to take a picture of this place!

Finally it was time to go to the orphanage. We met with the assistant director and some others in a room near the gate. We talked and asked questions. They filled our bottle with their formula for Emma, and she sucked it down quick! We found out that they mix several different things in her bottles - rice, formula, ground beans, and a couple other things. I guess that is why she didn't like ours too much! Everyone has said that her orphanage makes their bottles hot and thick, but the bottle they gave Emma was just a normal bottle temperature. It was thicker than most mixtures, but I would describe it as runny yogurt rather than like the pudding that had been described. It wasn't their normal feeding time, so what we got may have been leftover. We were allowed to take pictures here and of the gate and play yard. Two of her ayi's (nannies) came down, and Emma seemed to enjoy seeing them. They were able to get her to "talk" and play a little that we hadn't seen yet. Joy, the other mom, and I found out that our two babies were in cribs beside each other, and that they would play with each other. That was really wonderful to know! We will definately have to keep in touch!

They allowed us to go upstairs to see the room where Emma lived for the first 13 months of her life, but we were not allowed to take any pictures. The first room was mostly children with special needs who were a little older than Emma, maybe 2-3 years old. The next room was where Emma and Sarah were. There were cribs all around the outside of the room, and a row of 6 cribs side by side sticking out into the room from beside the door. The last 2 cribs in this group were Emma and Sarah's. One of the Ayi's took Emma and held her and put her back in her crib. My heart kind of stopped seeing her there, but she seemed fine with it. The litle girl next to her kept touching Emma and patting her on the cheek. It was so sweet. I just wanted to take all of them home! Emma came right back to me with no apprehension at all, and she seemed happy throughout the whole experience. I don't really remember much else about her room - if there was anything on the walls or such. I just remember staring at the crib that was Emma's. I asked if I could take a picture of just her crib, with no children in the picture, but they wouldn't let me. :-(

This is the street the orphanage is on.

I had read somewhere about taking a book for the director and nannies to sign and write something for Emma, so we took the book When You Were Born In China that our agency sent us when we were starting the process. A couple of them wrote something. I need to ask XiXi to translate it for us.

This is a statue in the center of town.

Another shot in town.

The sunset over the mountains on the drive back to Guangzhou.

I know this post is kind of all over the place, but it is hard to put things into words. The visit was amazing. I am so glad we went and took Emma with us. I could tell that she was loved there.

On the way back to Guangzhou, we found out about the earthquake that hit here in China. We don't know any details, but how horrible. My heart goes out to all who are suffering!