March 25
I Love Nainai, Yeye, and LaoLao
It's Ken again, today. As a whole, our group had mixed feelings going into today. Today was the day we drove the two hours to Fuling to see where our daughters have spent most of their lives up to this point. There is a mixture of intrigue and fear that they will remember the familiar surroundings and take a step backwards in the bonding process. Zhou assures us this will not happen, but emotions and rational thought don't always go hand in hand. Still, pretty much across the board, this experience is going to be all we have to later tell our girls where they came from before we became family. That driving force, to be able to shed some light for them in the future, exceeds any trepidations.
Even though it was drizzling, the drive out was interesting going through the countryside. Fuling itself is another pretty big city and cramped and crowded as all get out. Regarding the orphanage, I'll let the photos do most of the talking. The photos are a little out of order. Basically, the room that looks like a walker parking lot is where the children spend most of their daytime hours. Sometimes they come out into the courtyard if it is sunny out. The other room is the bedroom, filled with cribs for naps and sleepy time. There are about 200 kids at this orphanage at the moment. The small rooms we saw were just the rooms for the kids already in the process for adoption. I guess the good news is, the cribs were already full when we visited, at nap time. Reviewing the photos here, you just can't capture the full essense in a snapshot. When we get home, I will be very interested to see how it came out on video.
Anyway, as you can see, Lexi (and mommy) had no particular attraction to the place. Any fears there were certainly misplaced.
Afterwards, we did all go out for a wonderful lunch at a hotel in Fuling. That was some of the best food I've had on the trip and it was exciting to find many foods that Lexi enjoyed so much.
After yesterday's posting debauchle, Lexi was very worried about her adoring fans not getting proper updates. As shown in the last photo, she was going to see to it that it didn't happen again if she had anything to say about it.
All is well .... heck, all is wonderful! Unless plans change, tomorrow is the zoo.
Erin here:
Just a quick word from me about the orphanage visit. You can't tell in the photos but I pretty much was in tears during the whole visit. Seeing Lexi's crib and watching Lexi point to the curtains as something familiar was hard for me. Unlike some of the children Lexi was not very excited about anything or anyone at the orphanage. At one point an orphanage worker came up to us and wanted to hold Lexi. I was very nervous and did not want to let her out of her carrier. I started to loosen it so the worker could hold her and Lexi grabbed on to me with the tightest little grip. This was both a wonderful affirmation of the bond we are developing and very sad all at the same time.
Lexi is doing great. Ken reads her a book, the peekaboo book. There is a page that says Mommy. When Ken gets to that page and says Mommy or Mama she looks at me whereever I am. Today they were looking at the photo book and Ken said where is Mommy and she looked up and pointed right at me with a smile. When I said where is Baba she pointed to his photo in the book. I know there may be regression when we get home, but so far she is doing great. She is quiet and shy with the group but with the one on one she just shines. Something she couldn't do at the orphanage. Lexi is also great at sharing. During meal time when we are feeding her she will sometimes break from eating to feed us back.
Erin and Lexi not very happy visiting the orphanage! This crib is where Lexi slept.
