Today, as most of you know, was our last day at the
orphanage. It's always hard to say goodbye to the kids and our friends in
Chenzhou, knowing what I’m leaving behind is too much to bare. Especially this
year, when the trip is so short. I really wish that with this being our first
trip with the new director that we would have been able to spend more time
there. BUT that is okay. I think we still set the foundation for a good
relationship with her.
We started our day playing with the bigger kids downstairs.
When we arrived they were sitting at the table doing their morning routine. We
went and sat down, Gracie pulling me to sit next to her. Eventually the nanny
told me that I could demonstrate how to do one of the crafts I had brought yesterday.
They were just little scratch off masks that they can make designs in. So
Rachel and I passed them out and showed them what to do. They all sat so
quietly as they drew on their masks. When Steve finished with his, he put it on
and said he looked like superman or a ninja. He must have told the kids because
a few of them started running and trying to karate chop him. J The kids all came up
to us showing their masks, half of them were covering their eyes so they
couldn’t see, but they were oh so proud to show us!
After that we took them outside to play with some chalk and
bubbles. We pulled out some chalk and started drawing all over the place. Drew
took my hand and pulled me down. We drew some pictures together, and I traced
our hands, which he really loved. Rachel traced Gracie and drew in her face and
hair, and all the kids LOVED it.
Colin pulled me aside and we drew some pictures together. I
taught him how to draw a star, and he copied me perfectly. Everything I drew he
copied me and when I would stop he gestured for me to keep drawing more. He was
so good.
Gracie pulled me aside and she and the nanny taught me how
to write some words in Chinese. She wrote Jia Jia (big sister) and Mei Mei (little sister), and then pointed
to me and then her. And then she wrote her name and some other words I wish I
could read. Someday, someday I swear I will know.
At one point Ray pulled me aside and he laid down on the
ground like he wanted me to trace him. So I traced him and when I finished he
stood up, looked at it, and squealed in delight and ran away. Looked back, and
squealed again. It was the funniest reaction, haha!
We had a fun game of copying what the other drew for awhile,
when I remembered to ask about Elyssa’s little boy, John. The nanny told me he
was upstairs, and so I asked if I could go see him, she said yes.
So I ventured up to the sixth floor to find little John. I
entered a room with a bunch of kids that we hadn’t seen the previous days. I
noticed that these were the kids that weren’t as high functioning as the others
downstairs. Carrie, Sue, Jack, and Jessie were a few that were in there. I
spotted John and made my way to play with him for a bit. He was his same old
giggly self. I tickled him and swung him around for a bit which caused the
biggest smile I’ve seen. He really is such a sweet, sweet boy.
As I played with John, all the other kids noticed and
started making their way over to me. Before I knew it, I had 4 kids in my lap
and 2 kids holding my hands. I set the kids down and spent some time with
Carrie. The poor girl still can’t walk, but I know she tries and wants to. I
stood her up and walked with her a bit, but it was still pretty difficult. But
boy, she has a laugh that can fill a room. She just giggled and smiles all the
time. Thinking back, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her upset, just a very happy
girl. I moved to the floor to play with the kids that were standing up holding
the table. Jessie made her way over to me, so I tickled her and Sue and they
rolled all over the place laughing. Emily’s little girl from last year was in
there (her name escapes me… I’m so tired right now), and I picked her up and
tried tickling her and walking with her a bit. She still can’t walk on her own,
but is standing with help. I was able to crack a few smiles from her too.
I sat down and a bunch of kids climbed into my lap and I
pulled out my phone to take some pictures. When they saw the forward facing
camera, they all thought it was the coolest thing. They would laugh and point
to themselves. Little PJ kept sticking his head in front of everyone so he
could see himself haha.
I eventually went to sit on the bench with John again. Sat
him in my lap and played for awhile. PJ made his way over to me and stuck his
legs in between John and I and sat down in my lap and wrapped his arms around me
in the biggest hug. We just sat there and snuggled for a long while. I was
rubbing his back, and after some time, he took his hands and rubbed my back
as well, which was super sweet.
When it was around the time to leave, I said goodbye and
went back downstairs. Bob and Rachel had blown bubbles with the kids outside.
So sad I missed Drew trying to blow his bubbles but spitting all over me. I
miss Ray running around popping them and Gracie catching them on her stick. But
I’m so thankful that they were able to do that with them.
They went back inside and did some tattoos with the kids.
They always love these things, and make a big deal out of them. It looked like
LA Ink… China edition. ;) Gracie learned how to do them and gave Rachel and I
a few. She counted how long she needed to wait and then pulled them off. She
was so proud and pulled Steve over to show him.
Eventually it was time to clean up, so we wiped tables and
helped sweep, and then we were on our way. For lunch we went to the same mall
and ate in their food court. But let me tell you, this was the nicest food
court I’ve ever seen. They were actual sit down restaurants all on the fourth
floor. The food was very good. The food here is always good, but when you hear
mall food court you think fast food. But this was just as good as the hotel
food. After lunch Rachel and I ventured
out to the market to do a little shopping.
It was rainy on our way back to the orphanage. It made our
usually sticky and sweaty walk to the orphanage pleasant, though dodging the
sea of umbrellas proved to be difficult.
When we got to the orphanage I went up to see the older kids
and Rachel and Bob went to see the babies. I was able to see their classroom
where the kids will do school next year. It was nice, on the same floor as
their playroom and where they sleep. I sat down with Gracie and Steve and asked
her some questions to get to know her a little bit better. When we finished I
hugged her and said, “I love you” in Chinese, and her little raspy voice choked
out “I love you, too”, and I got a huge lump in my throat. Love this little
girl so much. I gave her the dress that Shannon and Makenna bought her, and she
was so excited to wear it! She especially loved the bow. I showed her the
picture of she and Makenna, and she studied it for a very long time. I almost
told her that she could keep the picture, but in that moment it hit me… nothing
she has at the orphanage is her own. Two seconds in the other room with the
other kids, and the picture would have been passed to all the kids and she may
never get it back. It broke my heart to think that nothing she has is her own.
Nothing any of them have is their own. *
sigh *
I joined Bob and Rachel on the baby floor for a little bit
before we were to have our party. I walked over to see little James. I picked
him up and bounced him around a little bit. When I set him back in his crib I
sat him up, and he immediately started to fall over. At the same time Rachel
looked over at me, holding another baby up and asked, “Do you think some of
them can’t hold themselves up because they’re never out of their cribs?” And
sadly, I think that’s the case. A lot of the older ones have a play area
in each of the rooms, but some babies are always in the cribs which is sad
to see. The nannies do all that they can, it’s just hard when there are almost
14 babies in a room.
Steve came and told us that we needed to have the party, but
we had only visited one baby room so Rachel and I quickly ran in to the other
to see the other babies. We picked up a few and checked on our little wheezing
baby. He was still alive, thank goodness. Didn’t seem to be wheezing as bad,
but it still wasn’t good.
There was one little baby that was so tiny in that room. She was all skin and bones. She reminded me a lot of Sarah from last year. Skin hanging off of her body and she even did the same thing Sarah did with her hands, holding them out in front of her. It broke me to see her. Hoping that with time she will fatten up a little.
We made our way downstairs to the kids playroom where they
set out all of the food and cakes for the party. They went all out with chips
and other types of snack cakes. We had ordered two cakes for the kids and
staff. They put candles in the cake. Five candles, for each year that we have
come to visit Chenzhou. J
I hope that someday the candles on the cake will be more than we can count!
All the kids sang Happy Birthday in Mandarin, and we cut the
cake! They devoured that thing. Sky was licking her plate clean!
After everyone ate cake we cleaned up and put everything
away. They put on some music and the kids did a little dance and sang for us, a
“thanksgiving song”, from what I understood. It was super sweet! Then the music
kept playing, and they wanted us all to dance along with them, so we did. I
noticed Sky bobbing her head up and down, so I stood up with her and got her to
dance a little bit. She jumped up in joy and laughed, and then wouldn’t stop
jumping. I could barely support her! She’s gotten so big.
Afterwards we played a game with the kids that the nanny
had taught us. We had 3 different groups, bumble bee, drangonfly, and
butterfly. When they sang our part of the song, we had to run around the room
doing our hand motions. If we were late, we had to do a song/dance for
everyone. I was a butterfly with Gracie and Daisy. Gracie noticed partially
through the game that Steve didn’t have a team, so she dragged him over to join
ours. He was so funny running around flapping his wings and jumping.
Rachel had a very large group, and none of the kids were
paying attention. So when their group was called she was always running and
scrambling to get all the kids to run around the room, carrying half of her
group. She gave us and the nannies a good laugh! J
It came time to go to dinner. A lot of the younger kids went
upstairs to eat, but a few of the older ones lingered behind. We helped clean
up, but then when we were shuffling out the door I asked if the older kids were
going to come with us to dinner, not wanting to say goodbye to them just yet. I
was pleased when the answer was yes.
Gracie grabbed my hand and made sure to sit next to me. The
food that the orphanage prepared was so good. I loved every bit of it. Lots of
vegetables and rice, two of my favorites! We spent a good amount of time
talking with the director, getting to know her and learning their needs. I
really love the new director. The kids love her, too. It says a lot about her
that the kids are excited when she comes in the room. They all call her “mama”.
J She is young, very
sweet, warm and welcoming. She said she was excited to have us back in the
future!
After dinner the kids were being shuffled out to head back
to their rooms. I noticed them leaving out of the corner of my eye so Rachel
and I ran over to give them hugs and kisses goodbye. I gave Gracie hugs and
told her I loved her. Gave Daisy some kisses and swung her in my arms one last
time. I was embraced by one of Colin’s big hugs. And then just like that, they
were gone. As I watched them walk back
to the orphanage, I choked back tears, and all I could think was that the time
was too short. It was too short and I wished more than anything that we could
still be there.
We turned around and went back into the dining room. And
from then on it was picture time. We took pictures with all the nannies and
directors. The nanny that stays with the older kids pulled out her phone to
show me the picture we took together last year. :’) So sweet that they still
keep those with them throughout the year. We said goodbye to the nannies. It’s
never easy saying goodbye to friends, but this year I felt at peace about it.
It was a strange feeling, but it was good.
The Director, assistant director, and Helen all asked us to
come into their office one more time. There they gave us a present to show
their gratitude, which was very sweet. We sat and talked for a little bit. We
talked about New Hope and the three new kids that were being sent there and when they will be going there.
The time came for us to leave. We told them we were so
grateful to be able to come and visit for a few days. We gave our hugs and well
wishes and said goodbye. Rachel and I talked a lot about Gracie needing a home
on the walk back to the orphanage. She is such a sweet and smart girl
who really wants a family.
Rachel and I went out shopping again later that night to
find Steve a nice gift. We found some things that I think he’ll like, and it
was nice to get out and about.
It was a sad day for sure, Rachel and I couldn’t stop
saying, “I can’t believe it’s over. I feel like we just got here…” But I left
with a sense of peace and hope.
Peace knowing that the kids are in good hands. They really
are. This is one of the better orphanages that I’ve seen, and for that I am
happy. The new director was wonderful, and I can tell that the whole staff
really does want what’s best for the kids.
Hope knowing that there has been so much improvement in the
last few years. Kids have gotten to go to school, they’ve moved to a new floor
of the orphanage, babies have gotten surgery, and SO much more. I leave with a
sense of hope for the future, that it will only continue to improve. Hope that
one day these kids will have families, and that the ones who will never be
adopted have a comfortable place to live.
And for that, I am truly thankful. This is a feeling I can
only tell you comes from the Lord, and I leave knowing that they are HIS
children, and they are in HIS hands. Praise be to him!
Next steps to how you all can help Chenzhou is coming soon… I can't wait to tell you about it!!
As far as Saturday and Sunday, we didn’t do much. Traveled
on the train all day to Beijing on Saturday. Sunday we did some shopping for souvenirs and
then shopping for New Hope donations.
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