Xiushan Orphanage and Hong’an Town

Today is the day (again!).  I am getting excited and full of anticipation.  Aubrey, Madi and I hug each other.  We had breakfast in the hotel.  It was all Chinese food...no western breakfast...and NO COFFEE!  We hopped onto our bus and head to the orphanage.  It is raining hard and it’s cold.  As we approach the orphanage, we see the entrance which we recognize from pictures.  We are met by Mr. Zhen (the accountant) and Mrs. Wu (the administrative staff).  They take us to the 2^nd floor and into one of the rooms.  There before us are the babies.  OMG...I thought we would get a longer tour of the facilities before we see the babies.  There are 3 girls and 1 boy.  We did not meet the 13 year old girl as she is in school.  We met one nanny. We didn’t get a chance to meet the other nanny as she was not expected back until mid-afternoon.  She was one of the original nannies from our adoption.  Baby Xiu Xiu is adorable and smiles a lot.  She is about 1 years old and is being adopted by a family in China.  There is a 3 year old girl who is very small and looks only 1½.  She didn’t smile as much but Gabriel played ball with her and she enjoyed rolling it back to him.  We met the baby boy who was propped up in a basket in a corner.  He is about 6 months old and so cute.  Apparently he has a heart condition.  There was a 7 month old sleeping in the crib.  It appears she has Downs Syndrome.  When she woke up, Gabriel picked her up for awhile.  When she was put back in the crib, she moved her head back and forth as if to say “get me out of this bundle and pick me up again”.  We all took turns holding the babies, including our girls.  Cameras were flashing and pictures were taken.  I held Xiu Xiu.  She laughed and put her head against my head.  She didn’t move...she stayed in that position.  My heart stopped.  The last time that happened, it was 8 years ago when Madi was placed in my arms.  I had flashbacks, goose bumps and tears welled in my eyes.  Then I thought of all the babies that have come through here and my biggest wish is for all of them to have homes.  I wanted to wrap Xiu Xiu up and take her home with us.  It was great to see our girls interacting with the babies.  They played with them, held toys in front of them and I think holding them helped ease any negative thoughts, issues or insecurities there may have been.  It was time to leave.  Goodbye little ones...may each of you be blessed with a family.

We then went on to Hong’an Town...the Old Village.  It is about 300 years old.  It is very pretty and peaceful.  The homes and shops here look ancient.  We walked down to the river which connects the 3 provinces of Chongqing, Hunan and Guizhou (I will have to check on this fact).  We could simply hop on a boat and row across to the Province of Hunan.  We walked further up and stepped into a little shop which had traditional hand made skirts and tops, as well as hand woven and hand crafted cloth drawings.  Windy and Mr. Zhen helped us negotiate.  Grace bought a silk hand stitched top and skirt for Alicia.  Donna bought 2 hand crafted cloths (perhaps batik).  One of them is a rendering of a water buffalo in the farm fields.  Madi picked out a beautiful silk skirt with hand stitched beading.  The owner’s sister who made it is of the Miao minority group.  Apparently the skirt is a traditional skirt from the Tujia minority group.  We all wanted to purchase something to remember Xiushan.

We found a restaurant in Xiushan town centre called Xian Fu Cai (Sheng Foo Tie).  It was the best meal so far...mainly because the dishes were not as spicy.  Madison even had 3 little bowls of rice...with soya sauce poured all over it of course.  After lunch, we drove by a couple of special places.  Our first stop was to Madison’s finding site.  I am not going to mention the actual location due to privacy/personal reasons.  The three of us stepped out and took some pictures.  I must say that I had mixed feelings.  I felt sad but at the same time happy because if it didn’t happen, our precious girl would not be with us.  Next, we stopped at Katie’s finding site which was actually quite close to Madi’s.

What a day it has been!  We are thankful for the kindness and time given to us by the people of Xiushan SWI and the Central Office.  We are grateful to all of the nannies who have cared for our girls.  We also have a special place in our hearts for the birth parents and wish them well.  Most of all, we are thankful for our little one “Madison Taylor Fu Ying Wong”.  Love you baby!

 

 

 

MADI’S CORNER:

Today I wore my navy blue shirt and my navy blue tights and my leather boots.  I woke up at 7:05 exactly because I had to be ready at 9:00 am to go to the orphanage.  I brushed my teeth then went downstairs to have breakfast.  For breakfast, I had some or more like 10 dough balls, some congee and a bite of a salty vegetable dumpling.  We were all done at 20 to 9.  So right now I’m just sitting on my bed waiting for the clock to hit 9.  Although my room doesn’t have a clock, we used my mom’s phone as a clock.  On the bus, I sat beside Katie and we sang songs from Frozen.  When I got to the orphanage, I saw the babies in the cribs.  It brought back many memories of when I was 9 months old and when I was there in those cribs.  I took lots of pictures of the babies.  There used to be about 100 abandoned children but now there were only 5.  Four babies and one 13 year old.  Three girl babies and one boy baby.  One girl was getting adopted by a Chinese family.  All the babies were so cute.  The 13 year old was at school so we didn’t see her.  Next we gave the nannies each a red envelope with money.  Later after we did that so like 2 minutes after we gave the babies gifts.  Once we ate lunch, we went to everybody’s finding place.  So where they were found before they came to the orphanage.  First stop was where I was found.  Auntie Donna, Windy and Gabriel took pictures of us standing there and in my mind while all the cameras were flashing, I was thinking “This is my real family and the people I want to spend the rest of my life with.  This is my home but not where my family lives.”  After the photos, we went to where Katie was found.  After that, we went to Old Town.  I bought a traditional hand made skirt.  When we got back to our hotel, I went to Katie’s room and ate miso soup.  We played stuffies and stuffy fight.  It was dinner time as soon as you know it.  For dinner, I wore my new skirt.  I ate like even more than my lunch.  I ate a lot for lunch.  I had my shower then went to bed.  The next day we are going back to Chongqing.