Our visit to Bengbu Children's Welfare Institute

Last night as they slept.
So Sweet!

This is the model......

for Lily Wen, Chinese Acrobat!!! I love her imagination!!!

Lily at breakfast.

Graeme brightens when his fan club (below) arrives.

He is quite the charmer as he commands the crowd.

One of his Nannies feeding him tofu and rice.

This is the bed he shared with Xue Jie

The children waiting for a snack.

They are trying to figure out how to open the snack.

Just hanging out with his friends.

Open my cookie please!

All three are pointing to the bowl the Nanny dropped.

He has his cookie.

In front of Bengbu Children's Welfare Institute

The Institute

Back at the hotel...after his nap

Big smile for the Mama

He is so precious and we are so thankful to all the people who loved and cared for him at the Bengbu CWI.

Today has been very emotional and eventful. I don't even know where to begin. The first pictures are of Graeme and Lily Wen as they slept last night. I loved seeing their little hands together. They went to sleep early in anticipation of today. Breakfast went well and we discovered that Graeme really likes to eat. He LOVES noodles just like his Jie Jie. When we were getting dressed this morning, Lily borrowed Graeme's stacking cups to pretend she was a Chinese Acrobat like the ones she saw in the show in Beijing. It was so cute that we had to add it to the blog!

With mixed emotions, we got in the van to head to Graeme's orphanage. We both wanted to see where he had spent the last two years of his life and at the same time we were worried about how he would do on the visit. We wanted him to know about the children's welfare institute and to know that the Nannies knew that he was with us and all was okay. Not sure if all of that matters to a 2 year old but we needed to go. We were not able to visit Lily's orphanage because it was 10 hours by train one way from the city we stayed in so no one has visited. This was hard and we always wanted to go. We were given the opportunity to visit Graeme's and just could not pass it up.

Our drive took approximately 2 hours and we saw some amazing countryside. We saw people working in the rice fields and harvesting. We saw yaks pulling plows. It was as if you stepped back in time. I wish that I had asked the driver to pull over to take pictures but the drive would have taken twice as long. Also, I would never want to invade the privacy of the people working in the fields. It was so calm and serene and I would not want to intrude.

We arrived at the orphanage and collected our donations and presents and walked in the front doors. We walked through a lobby where there were many older people who live in the nursing home portion of the institute. They were very curious about our family. We head up in the elevator and were taken to an office. Very quickly, some young women enter the room and you can see right away that he recognizes them...his whole face lights up. At first, he won't allow them to hold him but then he does. We follow as he is escorted to the room where he spent so much time. He again brightens when he sees his little friends. He walks into his room and looks from the Nannies to us and back again. He is quite unsure of what to do. It is lunch time. A familiar Nanny pulls out a bowl of tofu and rice and begins to feed him. You can tell that this is familiar and a comfort. He eats and eats and eats. He moves further away from us and back into the circle of friends that he knows so well. They move almost as one. If one sits on the potty chairs, they all sit. They move together to stand around the Nanny for her to open the snacks that we have brought for them. It is amazing to watch how none of them seperate from the group. They stick together. They are so close. They were his first family and he was happy. We are relieved and overwhelmed. The children are all BEAUTIFUL. It is going to be very had to leave. You can tell how excited the Nannies and children are to see him....how happy they are that he is here with his family.

We share the items from the other families with the assistant to the director. We do not get to see the director as she is in an impromtu meeting with the vice mayor of the city regarding budget. The assistant says she will share the gifts with the director. We let the director know on our adoption day about the donation from our church. She will coordinate with CCAI regarding what is most needed for the orphanage and they will purchase it and bring it to her. I am so glad we discussed this yesterday since we did not get a chance to meet with her today.

Our guide informs us that it is time to go and she lets us know that Graeme will cry when it is time to leave. The visit has gone by too quickly and yet we don't want to linger. We take a moment to thank the Nannies...words just can't express our gratitude. Jane scoops him up and we head to the door. He is screaming and arching his back. As we near the elevator, she hands him to Wes. He continues to cry and it is the most heartbreaking moment we have had with him. I think this cry will last for hours. As we come down the elevator and enter the lobby, he stops just as suddenly as he started. He is still distant though and does not want to be comforted by us. Then, we are in the van going away from all of those familiar faces and friends. He continues to be distant and sad until he finally falls asleep. We worry and yet we know that this is the best thing we could do to help him through this transition. We are flying through the countryside and past the beautiful farm land. It dawns on me that we are taking him further and further from all that he has known and closer and closer to his home.

Lily did well on the visit. She was very clingy and wanted to be held by one of us the whole time. I tried to talk to her in the van about her orphanage as we have done so many times before but she was not up for a discussion so we will save that for a later date. I know that she was emotionally exhausted as she napped later today and slept for 3 1/2 hours.

We are all emotional. I think I would sell everything I own to bring home more children. But then I know, there are more families waiting and their day will hopefully be soon. We have already heard today that some of the children there have families coming soon to bring them home. How wonderful!!!

After his nap, he started to slowly interact more and did not seem as sad. He took a walk with Ba Ba while I slept a little with Lily. When they came back to the room, we played (bottom three pictures) This was the most he has played and interacted with me. He was a joy and delight at dinner. As I am typing now, he is vocalizing up a storm (first we have heard) and laughing out loud as he plays with is sister and Dad. It is hysterical. He is a completely different child and has really come out of his shell. I love the sound of his life and his vocalizations are beautiful.

This day has been an emotional rollercoaster ride. If someone asked would I do it again, the answer would be....in a heartbeat!