Orphanage visit



Yesterday was our visit to Ben's former orphanage. It was about a two hour drive in a van.  The kids were quite calm, actually. There are no car seats for these guys and keep telling them not to get used to it. But I'm pretty sure they don't understand.

 

I don't even know how to describe the day. Maybe this picture of Ben on the ride home describes it best. 

Kevin holding Ben on the van ride home

 

He got that little scrape on his head after falling down upon his first 'run around' back at the orphanage. Not a great way to start the day, but he did run to both Kevin and I to show us. We were glad for that.  Upon first arrival at the orphanage, we were welcomed to a lunch with the director. Great food - we even tried 'Lotus root' for the first time. The Director explained that the Chinese government gives a stipend to orphanages for each child they have in their facility, so many do not want to make the children available for adoption. But she feels it is a better 'destiny' to have them in a family. So, she said that day now we are like family.

 

They do the best they can there, but the Director is right....nothing is as good as belonging to a family. As we walked to the rest of the orphanage after lunch, Ben was in Kevin's arms and showed no interest in getting down. He stayed there for the majority of the visiting time. The ending got pretty crazy as some administrative details not pertaining to our adoptions had to transpire. It was actually our social worker gathering data on 15 more children to find homes for. Let me know if you want me to pass any of their information on to any of you!

In the classroom with one of Ben's caregivers. She has known him since he arrived there as an infant.

We were able to walk the grounds, ask a lot of questions and as difficult as it was, on many levels to be there, I am glad we got to see where he has lived the first part of his life. We took lots of pictures and even a few notes from his caregivers. It was difficult to communicate, but we did the best we could. We also got his baby picture! I was so excited they had this. Many children in institutions do not have pictures of themselves so young. They also sent us home with a few toys from the orphanage. One is a talking man, with a removable hat, who apparently is a popular Chinese children's show character. Ben has latched on to that guy, for today at least.

 

This day brought out the most diverse and intense of emotions yet for all three of us. The other families agreed. Tonight as I write this Ben is sleeping and our prayer for him the past few days would be that God speaks to him what is true. Even in his confusion and our limits in communication right now, that the truth that he is safe and loved would be clear in his mind and heart.  As we were getting close to the facility our translater and facilitator spoke to the kids saying "We are going back to say good-bye to your friends, but you will leave and stay with your mommy and daddy....do you understand?" I saw Ben's eyes fixed on her as she talked and at the end he nodded.

 

We are thankful we've been able to blog and communicate with some of you from China. We weren't sure if we'd be able to. But there are a few things make it difficult to blog too much here. First of all our internet and VPN (which allows us to be on Facebook and BlogSpot in China) are spotty. So, sometimes I try and it's not working. And second of all, it's pretty much impossible to type on a computer when Ben is awake. He's a very active little boy and loves buttons so much he can hardly stand it not to push everyone he sees. So, imagine his excitement at a laptop keyboard.  All that said, we like updating you all as much as we can!

 

As I close out today, I'll try to give a quick glimpse of what we've learned so far about our boy.

He loves order. When our shoes are out of place, he makes sure they are all lined up properly. When a bit of rice falls off our fork as we feed him, instead of putting the rice in his mouth, he puts it back on the fork.  He is so bright. He has learned a few signs in baby sign language that have helped us communicate. When he needs help, he signs it. When he needs to be patient, we say 'wait a minute' and sign it. He also does this to us, for instance, when he's chewing and he's not ready for the next bite. When he bangs something really loudly or yells out, we show him how to bang or talk softly and often he imitates. He has learned probably at least a dozen English words already. Some he says, some he just understands. Today's new one was 'monkey'. Sometimes he even says 'monkey, monkey', in a really low voice. It's pretty funny.

 

I'll leave you with this little introduction to our guy via video.  We took it right before bed tonight. I hope the video works! If so, enjoy!