Our sweet girl spent the first three years of her life with a foster mother. Because she shut down on us when we first got her, and was starting to get use to us and open up, we made the decision to keep her in the van at the orphanage and take turns going in. We didn't want to confuse her any more than she already was, and we were trying to protect her sweet heart.
I was told before we went that the orphanage where she was was pretty nice. And that was true! I was quite impressed with it to be honest. With that being said, there are still nearly four hundred children there who don't have families. No building can replace a family. I know of 5 orphanages within an hour of there. Do the math. That's a lot of kids.
I was up first for going in. I couldn't wait to put together what pieces to our girl's story that we could. Her foster mother (the one next to the woman in white) was waiting on me. She brought her daughter in law, her sister and her neighbor. It was quite obvious our girl was loved! I could see they were disappointed when our translator explained that Bei Bei was in the car, but they understood. We spent the next little bit asking questions and getting to know each other as much as we could. She did tell me she was sad to see Bei Bei go, but she was so thankful she was going to America to get the medical care she so desperately needed.
When I saw these stairs, I knew I recognized them immediately. We spent many, many nights watching a little video of Faithlynn and this sweet lady come down these stairs. She was so nice to let me take a picture.
We also had a picture of our girl on one of these chairs. I, of course, had to take a picture. It was very surreal to see these places in person.
We didn't get to see where the older children were. Those clothes hanging to dry were outside of their area.
As I mentioned, this was a very nice orphanage. They had a few apartments that held about 6-8 kids each with a nanny. Because our girl was so sick, they had her in this apartment.
The first child I saw tore my heart in two. I immediately knew what his medical need was. Cataracts. This sweet angel will live his life in blindness because he didn't have the medical care he needed to save his vision. He was such a sweetheart.
We brought suckers with us, and we immediately won over the kids with them!
The little one I'm holding in the red jacket was Faithlynn's best friend. Still to this day our girl gets excited when she sees a video of her. They explained to the children that I was "Faithlynn's new mama," and when Wayne walked in that sweet girl walked up to him, reached for him and said, "Mama!" Cue tears here.
My last stop at the orphanage was the baby room. My eyes swelled with tears as soon as I walked in. All of those precious little ones were living their lives in a crib. If you look closely you can see a little boy sitting up in the back. The orphanage director (in the blue jacket) gave me permission to pick him up. Oh that sweet baby boy! He craved touch so badly. He just rubbed his head on my shoulder over and over. I started crying. The nanny made me put him back to take his nap. I stepped in the next room and just let my tears flow. None of these children know the love of a family.
I was constantly asking if each child I spoke with was paper ready for adoption. I was hoping to be able to advocate for some of them. When I asked about this little guy, our guide said, "Oh you don't want him. He has downs." Our guide was wonderful and really had a huge heart for the children, but this is their culture. It is a culture of such superstition. She then told me that I wouldn't be able to handle anything else because of my tears and suggested Wayne and I swap out.
When I got to the van, I was crying so heavy. Wayne looked horrified when he saw me. I assured him it was fine. There's just so many.
He informed me the doctor came out to the van while I was in, and she was pretty sure Faithlynn was getting pneumonia. We would be in Guangzhou in two days. We had to have a medical for her to be issued a visa, and it was decided she should be fine until then. We gave her the antibiotics we had with us. At this point, we really had no clue how quickly she would get sick. Nor did we realize just how serious it would be.
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