Jing Yi and foster parents |
Two families joined by one little girl |
At the gate of the orphanage |
Front of Orphanage |
It was a cold and rainy today as we traveled to the
orphanage. Traffic was a snarly mess and
our guide said due to the weather there were many accidents, not good news when
you are jammed 5 in the back seat of a taxi without seat belts. Our guide has been to the orphanage many
times and was able to lead us directly to the foster family home. The minute Jing Yi saw we were passing
through the gates to the orphanage, the tears started falling. She stopped crying at the foster home and
held the foster mom’s hand. We toured
the home; it was very clean and tidy.
All 6 foster kids shared a small bedroom. Jing Yi slept in a bunk bed with her 6 year
old foster brother. Two more kids shared
the top bunk. We sat and talked to the
foster parents for some time, it was great to get a glimpse of Jing Yi’s life
up to this point. We walked to Jing Yi’s
classroom. Her foster brother was so
excited to see her, he grabbed her by the hand.
Foster mom said he has not eaten well since she left. There were about 20 kids-all 3-5 years old,
the majority boys and all special needs.
They were very curious, some reached up to be held, and some tried to
get stuff from our gift bags. The
teachers were all happy to see Jing Yi and she must have felt somewhat like a
celebrity by all the attention received.
Although there was some heat on (unlike the foster home) the kids all
wore heavy coats inside. Hard to leave
all those small faces behind, I hope they too all find forever homes.
Jing Yi was not sad to leave and actually seemed a bit
relieved and happy once we were traveling back to the hotel. Perhaps she was worried about being returned
to the orphanage-hard to tell what goes on in that mind of hers.
Tomorrow we leave for Ghongzhou after picking up Jing Yi’s
passport. The weather will be much
warmer and the area very familiar after our last two adoption trips. During this last leg of our journey we will
get Jing Yi’s visa so we will all be ready to fly home.
I did take many photos of the kids and the orphanage but in
order to protect their privacy, will only post photos of Jing Yi and not the
other children. The foster mom really
encouraged us to send her updates on Jing Yi’s progress back in the
states. She showed us photos of other
children they had cared for and said she still thinks of them and misses them
and wonders how they are doing.
No comments:
Post a Comment