Orphanage Visit

We leave for Guangzhou today. Right now the boys are asleep. It is amazing how Ethan has started bonding with us. Last night after we got back to the hotel he would run up to each of us and wrap his arms around our legs and hold on tight. It was so sweet. I know he is probably saying words to us but we are not able to understand because of his palate. He is a sweet little boy.

We went to visit the orphanage yesterday. It was a very emotional visit. Ethan was very quite on the way there. Miranda told him that we were going back so he could tell everyone goodbye. Once we got there we were greated by the director and assistant director. The assistant was one of the people that brought him to Zhengzhou. They were very nice. I just hated that they was a language barrier. It is always hard to really talk to someone through an interpretor. The director gave Ethan an apple. He would not let go of that apple for anything. Once we left the office to go walk through the orphanage some Ethan just took off walking around. He did not seem to mind being back there at all. This makes me think that they must take good care of them there. The firs that we saw were the three little toddlers in the crib out in the corridor. They saw Ethan and started yelling at him. They were so cute. They had the split pants and all. When they had to use the toilet they would just go and sit down on it. Maybe the split pants are a bad idea. LOL

Ethan's nanny (Ayi) came up to get him. It was so nice to see how much she really cares about him. Of course they said that he did not have enough clothes on the bottom. I only had one pair of pants because it was going to be 72 that day. Oh well. Next we went to visit his classmates. The three little boys standing with him in the picture are his best friends. We were told that they were being sent to the CCAA to be placed in the adoption pool. I pray they get families quickly. There was one little girl in the crib in the classrooom. She was such a beautiful little girl. There is something wrong with her legs but from what I could gather from hand motions she uses her arms very well. Let me tell you when she smiled at me and said hello I wanted to grab her right then and bring her with us. Please pray that they will send her paperwork to the CCAA for adoption also. She just really touched my heart.

Next we went to see the little babies. A few of them were awake in their cribs. They were all so sweet. I made sure that I went by and touched everyone of them and said a prayer for them. One of them was a very happy baby. He/she would laugh and smile at us while we were talking to him.

Then it came time to say goodbye. This was the really emotional part for me. This is where Ethan had spent all but a few months of his life so far. His ayi had taken care of him from the start. She was really the only mother figure he has know. I know that it had to be hard for her to see him leaving but happy to know that he would have a family now. I gave her a hug and told her thank you for taking such good care of him. We both just held each other tight for a about a minute. It was very hard for me to just up and leave this woman that had cared for him. I'm even crying now as I type this. I know that there are some orphanages out there that do not take good care of the children and then there are those that do all that they can for them. I truly believe the latter is Ethan's case.

We did get the directors email address. I am going to try and send them updates as often as possible so they can see him grow. I hope that we might be able to send his Ayi a gift from time to time also. Enjoy the slideshow.