Today was an amazing roller coaster of emotion day. I along with three other parents and our guide went to Hannahs home town today. It was a 3 1/2 hour ride through the southern China country side. I got to see rice farms and Water Buffalo by the thousands. Hannah comes from the small farming comunity of Yangxi. We were taken to the YangXi SWI (Social Welfare Institute) where Hannah spent the first nine months of her life. We were given an introductory meeting with Direcortor Mrs. Wong and Asssistand Director Mrs He. They gave some basic information about our babies and the care that is provided at the institute. At this time there are 70 healthy babies and 10 special need babies living at YangXi SWI. We were allowed to visit the room where Hannah lived. There are 48 cribs in the room and all were full but one. I took video and I took a still shot of every baby that was in the room. I got to visit with the 2 nannies that were on duty. They are peasant women from the local community. We asked them to write something in our books but all they could do was write their names. They were very sweet and seemed to take good care of the babies. I sat on the floor and played with a couple of little girls for about 20 minutes and they just started lighting up and giggling and rolling around. It was so much fun playing, but it was so hard to leave them behind. They just need someone to love them and hold them. At this time none of the babies at YangXi are assigned families. That makes me so sad. They are all beautiful happy babies. They just need a mommy and daddy. It was so hard to leave, but we will trust that God has his hand on every child there.
After we wisited the orphanage we had lunch with the director and her assistant at a local restaraunt. It was wonderful. Even the whole shrimp on a stick were good.
After lunch we were taken around to visit the finding spots for the four babies in our group. Hannah was left at the gate of the "Bright Pearl New City" community. It is a arched gateway at the entrance to the community. The YangXi SWI is about two hundred yards from the gate. I got pictures and video of the finding place.
There is so much more I could say about today but it is late and I am not thinking straight. It was just a remarkable day that will stay with me forever.
I have posted a sampling of the pictures on dropshots.
Please continue to pray for us as we are still waiting for the storm to hit. We have heard that the worst part will be north of us but that we can still expect high winds and lots of rain.
Pat |
