Day Five, July 23 Chenzhou SWI

Wow. Today has been a pretty exciting day. I sit in bed with a very full heart.

I decided not to blog last night because I was so tired, and the day wasn’t too exciting.

To catch you up… we took the high speed train from Beijing to Chenzhou… an 8 ½ hour ride. It was pretty long, but we made it, and that’s all that matters. We ate the oh so famous KFC for lunch. We asked Steve if he liked Ketchup or not, and he said yes he did. When he finished his meal, he took one of the packets and squirted the ketchup right into his mouth! He is such a funny man.

I spent the majority of the ride watching Gilmore Girls. Whoohoo! I was surprised by how long my battery lasted so I could watch them. Such a blessing.

When we arrived, the assistant director picked us up and brought us
 to the hotel. We were welcomed with big smiles and lots of stares 
from the hotel staff here. They treat Americans like we’re celebrities.

We went out for a quick dinner afterwards, and then headed to bed right away because we were exhausted.

This morning we had a nice breakfast in the hotel. Poor Rachel has a gluten allergy, so sometimes it difficult to find foods that she can eat. But Steve has been very conscious of that.

At breakfast, Steve was thinking very hard and then he looked at me and said, “Do you remember the way to the orphanage?” Oh of course I do, Steve… I visit this place in my dreams. ;)

Though I will say, I was a little worried that I had forgotten.

When it came time to leave he said, “Okay, you lead the way now!” And so off we went.

We made our way to the orphanage, taking in all the sights and 
smells along the way. Funny how a place halfway around the world can be so familiar and comforting. We came across lots of stares, as well. It’s funny, because I remember that people stare because they haven’t seen an American before. But I often forget to what degree they stare, and it still takes some time to get used to.

When we arrived at the orphanage, Helen, Mr. Wren, and the new director came to meet us. We sat down and talked with them for a 
little bit. They welcomed us and gave us the schedule for the next couple of days. The director from previous years retired this year, so there is a new director, and she is very sweet. I really enjoyed meeting her.

After our short meeting, we went up to see the babies. When I 
walked in, Liz was in there and turned around to say hi to us. She waved and I ran over to give her a big hug. Another nanny who we 
spend lots of time with was there as well, so I gave her a hug too. 
We played with some of the babies in the playroom for a bit. There were two babies with cleft lips. One looked just like Emerson from last year. I was almost shocked by the similarities. I played with her for a little bit. She was so beautiful, must have only been about 8 months or so. Sweet little baby who loved to be bounced up and down.

The director came in and we all visited for a little bit. Liz said that 
she’s still looking for an American girl to marry her son… and I 
think she was meaning that she wanted to set us up, haha. She’s so funny. I told her that she wanted Annie to marry her son last year, so she should still hope for that. ;) Looks like you have a husband, Annie!

The director also told me about the two heart babies, and that they both have families! I was so thrilled to find out. Tears filled my eyes as she told me they already have families, where they are going, and that they will be adopted soon. I am so happy.

Eventually it was feeding time, so we brought the kids back into the crib room, where they lined them up to eat their food. We all spent some time walking around to each of the cribs, holding and playing with the babies.

One little boy especially caught my attention. I think I’ll call him James. I believe that from what I can tell he has autism. He was a 
sweetheart with a stylish haircut. I leaned down to say hi and he was very focused on his hands. I stroked his cheeks a bit, and he just gave me the biggest smile. I rubbed his belly and arms, and he loved it. He was smiling from ear to ear. As I was leaning over the crib my hair was falling over his body, and he kept taking his hands and feeling it. Not pulling it, but he would run his fingers through it and was very focused on it. I picked him up and we bounced around the room a little bit. He was giggling when I picked him up, so happy to be out of his crib. When we walked by one of the fans 
he acted surprised, but them let out yet another giggle. He was so sweet and enjoyed the little things in life. It broke my heart to have to put him down again, but Steve told us to go to the other room.

When we went into the other room with cribs full of babies, I noticed a few familiar faces, one of which was Sadie! Sadie was just as much a diva as she was last year. I sat down to play with her and she took my knuckle and bit right into it! That’ll probably leave a mark for awhile.

A little girl to my right, Emma, started crying and whining, “mama mama mama!” (means the same in English and Chinese) which broke my heart. I picked her up and rocked her a little until she calmed down. I’m not sure what her special need is, but she has special shoes that look like they are correcting her feet so she can walk. I’m very impressed that they have them for her. She’s such a peanut. We played with some of the toys in the room, and she seemed pretty active for a little one.

There was one real tiny baby, and when we asked how old he was, 
we found out that he is only 6 days old! Such a tiny little one.

I picked up a tiny cleft baby that was crying and tried to rock her to calm down. The nanny brought me her bottle and told me to feed her. It worried me at first, because I knew how difficult it is to feed cleft palate babies. I’ve done it before, but they were much older. But I put the bottle in her mouth, and she ate pretty well. I thought more than half the bottle would be all over her clothes and mine, 
but she kept most of it in her mouth and ate it. I was so impressed. Steve told us it was time to go, the nannies needed to eat lunch, so I burped the baby until I got a few burps out of her, and then set her down. She started crying as soon as I set her down, which just tore my heart to pieces. I wish I could have stayed and held her all day. Bless her.

We walked back to the market to grab some waters and other snacks which was fun. I was looking for shampoo to bring to New Hope with me when I go back, and a lady came up and started 
talking to me. I’m assuming she was asking if I needed help. I smiled and kind of chuckled a little bit and she looked blankly at me. When I said, “Oh, I don’t speak..” in English, finally laughed and went, “oooh.” So funny.

When we were checking out, a man and his wife and a couple other people were all talking loudly around us, and I can only imagine by the stares and points that they were all talking about us, haha. It’s funny that they make a big deal out of us.

We ate lunch at the hotel, which was good, as always. Rachel and I asked at the end of the meal, “Steve, did we eat a lot of food?” He replied, “Just average.” Oh Steve. He still doesn’t think we eat enough. I think he wants us to gain 10 pounds before we go home!

After lunch, Rachel and I rested for a little bit. I wrote part of my blog and then took a quick nap.

When we returned to the orphanage, we went up to see the big kids. As soon as we walked down the hallways the kids were jumping up and down, and when we entered their room they jumped on us all, so excited to have visitors. Gracie ran up to me and gave me the BIGGEST hug I’ve had in awhile. She’s a little sweetheart. I think I had six kids jump on top of me all wanting hugs and lots of love. I 
shuffled my way over to Joy and gave her a big hug, and she greeted me with her loving smile.  I think that’s when it finally hit me. We were in Chenzhou, and I was actually in the orphanage.

There’s always a time in every trip when you have the “aha” moment when you realize you’re actually in China. I had that a few days ago… but this was my “aha” moment from when I realize I was actually in Chenzhou. All it took was a little hug and smile from Joy  :)

Eventually all the kids climbed off, and Gracie took my hand and dragged me across the room to play. We spent some time playing ball together, kicking and throwing it across the room. We danced a little, jumped around a lot, and giggled a ton. Other kids would join in from time to time, but she stayed with me almost all day.

Mia came over and began to play with us. I picked her up and swung her around a little bit and boy, did she love that. That’s all she wanted to do for the rest of the day! She followed me around all afternoon asking me to pick her up and swing her around. Funny 
little girl. While I was sitting and listening to Gracie sing to me, Mia came and sat in my lap. When I clapped and said, “clap clap” in Chinese, Mia’s face lit up and started to clap, and then took my hands and clapped for me. She then went around all day clapping for me, expecting me to clap back.

We were in the new playroom that we were able to help them purchase last year. I was excited to be able to see the new equipment and other therapy pieces on the wall for the kids to do. 
There were a few slides, a couple swings, and then lots of puzzle type things for the kids to do on the walls. They seemed to really enjoy it a lot, they were all running around on it like crazy today.

Most of the kids are kids that we’ve seen previously… but there were a couple new faces that I hadn’t seen before, and they were pretty quiet. Breaks my heart to see new toddlers and older come in every year. I can only imagine how hard it is for them and how heartbreaking it is for the nannies, as well.

Charlie, little Jack is with the big kids now! He is getting so big and so long! He still can’t walk, though, which is sad. I picked him up and bounced him around and then I put him in one of the swings and he really enjoyed that. Paul came and sat on the other side of the swing, as well, and they had some fun swinging together.

Shawn! Sue is also with the big kids this year, and he is walking with help! Such a big boy now, so very long. He smiles when he is happy and is very responsive now. He really loves to slide!

At one point a ton of the kids started doing forward rolls, which was comical. I guess the older kids must have learned that in school or something. Daisy, Gracie, Mikey, and Colin all started doing them all over the room, and sometimes on top of each other! Haha!

In a brief moment when I was alone, sweet little PJ came over to see me with a ball in his hand. PJ is a little boy with Downs, and he is SO loving. He gives some of the best hugs I have ever had. He has such a serious face, it breaks my heart sometimes. Last year we were able to break him out of his shell a little bit when we were doing bubbles, which was such an exciting thing to see.

He came over and wrapped his arms and legs around me and gave me one of his amazing hugs. I sat in a corner and simply rubbed his back for a couple minutes. Somewhere along there he remembered his ball, so he grabbed it and started rolling it to me. He was so 
funny, he took the ball and very carefully rolled it to me, and everytime I would roll it back and he caught it, he would stop and clap for himself.  Such a sweet little guy.

For those of you who know Ray, you’ll be happy to know he’s his same old loving self. He came and gave me multiple hugs, but then would run off and slide down the slide, which I’m convinced is his new favorite thing to do. Every time he reached the bottom he was beaming from ear to ear.

Sweet little Jessie is still as little as she always was. She’s strong enough to hold self sitting up, and she can walk with help. I spent 
some time swinging her upside down, sliding, and tickling her. She loved all of them and couldn’t stop giggling.

Rachel began to teach Gracie how to do a handstand. She’s almost there, actually! I think she may be doing it by the end of the trip. We may have a future gymnast on our hands! Watch out Rio 2016. ;)

At one point Gracie lead me to a corner of the room so she could have me to herself. We played a bit, I stretched my legs and arms 
out and she followed, and then we danced together. We did some jumping jacks and marching. We stopped for a bit, but then Gracie thought it was so much fun that she initiated the stretching herself. Daisy and Mia came and joined us, and we had a little dance party by ourselves.

Steve was great with the kids as always. He played ball with all of the boys all afternoon. They absolutely love Steve, and he kept them very busy. I said last year that one of the many reasons I loved Steve was because he played with the kids, as well. And I love 
seeing how much he loves and enjoys spending time with the kids. It is really amazing. At dinner tonight he looked tired, and I asked him if he was ready for bed. He explained that he had just been so excited today. Jokingly I asked, “Because of pizza hut??” (where we went for dinner tonight), and he replied, “No. Because of the children!” Such a sweet man.

All I can say is, the kids were wild and crazy today, but that’s just the way I like it. I’m sure I’ll have lots of nice bruises tomorrow 
from them climbing all over me! They kept the room high energy. It was so nice to be back playing with these kids again. I’ve watched some of them grow since they were itty bitty, and it’s amazing to see how far they’ve come.

When 5:30 rolled around, Steve said, “okay, it’s time to go now!” So we started to say our goodbyes. I had kids climbing all over me once again, giving me hugs goodbye. Gracie stopped me and looked straight in my eyes and made an arm gesture and stomped as she rattled something off in mandarin, and then Joy followed, as if they were saying, “You came back RIGHT here tomorrow!” I smiled and said that I would be back. :)

We walked to the hotel and then got ready for dinner. For dinner tonight we ate at Pizza Hut. We had to take the bus there, and let me tell you, public transportation in China is quite the feat. Lots of people in a crowded space, and lots of butt bumping. The lady next to me kept falling all over me because she couldn’t hold herself up when the driver would slam on the breaks.

Dinner was very good though. The pizza here tastes just like the pizza there, so that was a nice surprise.

Anyways, I’m very tired, it’s be a pretty exhausting day. Praying tomorrow will be another wonderful day with the kids!