We have all adjusted very well by today to the sounds of honking, the music from the "mall", the curious stares and many Hi's, Hellos we receive. We have been very welcomed on the streets and in the orphanage by the nannies. Our new guide is Fun (this is how we say her Chinese name), she is amazingly patient, hospitable and so very sweet. She has endured our many requests with smiles and our thanks with such humbleness. We couldn't be more happy with her. She's 33 years old (but looks 20), very petite (there isn't one overweight Chinese person we have seen), with a sweet smile and even sweeter disposition. She is married and her husband is a computer engineer, she has been with Visiting Orphans organization for a year.
Now to get to what you really want to know, the children....Over the last 3 days we have really gotten to know their personalities, who will smile when we walk in, who will cry, who sits with curious wonder at these 13 white Americans coming into their home. The older children greet us iin the hall with smiles, giggles & Ne How (don't know the spelling). Some walk with walkers, or should I say run like the dickens with walkers, some follow us into the baby room, but everyone is so accepting of us being here. Even though they really don't understand why we are here! We haven't had much time with the older children yet, we are supposed to be able to spend time with them tomorrow morning. There are other people who volunteer to come in and help out with the older children, I'm not sure what they do exactly, I just know that we haven't been able to be with them very much in the last 2 days. We've spend our abundance of time with the 2 & younger.
Many of the young ones have some handicap, a few do not though. They are called "special needs" if they have only had a hematoma (sp?) birth mark. There's a young boy you'll see in my Flikr pages that is blind, I don't believe he has eyes even, yet you hear his belly laughter today over & over just because you reach over and splay your hand on his tummy. He's VERY smart and loves Elyssa, she was his favorite when she was at Chen Zhou last year. Then in another area you see Megan with her special friend from last year, he seems to be about 7or 8 and loves to play with her phone. These 2 girls, although only 15 & 16 have such compassion and hearts for these children that they have come over on their own, without family, to be with the children they loved on last year, along with new ones. There's a feisty litte almost 2 year old girl that has taken such a liking to Lori that she goes back to the nannies crying and clinging to Lori when we leave. We each have a special one that has touched our hearts and maybe even more than one. There's a little one that Makenna has grown so attached that has only 1 or 2 fingers on each hand. A few of the little ones already have families lined up, but it will be months before they are placed due to all the red tape that has to be dealt with. Tonight we learned from an email to Lori that the little girl Makenna loves will be called LuLu by her "forever family". Others have posted photos and video out there for her family.
A few of the little ones do have families waiting for them, then others may never be placed. The babies that we have seen are from 4 weeks old to several months old, a lot of times their paperwork isn't even started until they know which place or list they will be placed. Usually healthy babies go to families that have waited up to 10 years to have a child, that can only be God giving these people the patience, because I know from being here, how impatient I would be (or can be LOL)!
We love that the nannies are getting to know us also. These women worked tirelessly witht these children without days off, they work in shifts and even sleep in the children's rooms. Some rooms have small air conditioners, some do not and believe me, they are hot, sticky and stagnant rooms. The nannies bring us the babies and they know which ones we have taken a special bond to and bring them to us, there isn't a child there out of 16 or more that isn't being held, loved, played with or fed when we are there.
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