Orphanage Visit Day!

Annie woke up bright and early at 4:30am again ready to play! I don't think her big brother was quite ready to be woken up so early!!

After breakfast our guide, Ming Ming, picked us up to go for a tour of Annie's orphanage. I had her give Annie a pep talk about how we were just going to go there to say goodbye to her nannies and friends, and that then she would come back with Mommy to stay. She seemed like she understood and was fine with it. She was pretty quiet on the half-hour drive there, which is pretty unusual for her, as she is usually chatting away in Mandarin, and smiling and laughing.

Shanghai's orphanage is actually one of the nicest orphanages I have seen. I had been to ten different orphanages last fall with Superkids, and the facilities here seem very nice. We went first to the room where Annie had slept, and then to meet the group of kids she had been with before we came for her. They said she had been moved to this group a month before, although they didn't know why. Her group was in a play room with her three nannies. Annie seemed neither happy or sad to see her nannies again. She really seemed to me like she was there to do her duty to say goodbye so that she could go and just be with us. This to me was really a good sign. She had the closure of saying goodbye, and seeing that her nannies were happy for her to go with her family, but she was neither longing for them, or afraid of them. She didn't seem concerned at all that we would leave her there.

They pointed out one little boy that had been her best friend, and she did go and stand next to him. He was walking around on his knees, and I am just guessing that he might have Cerebral Palsy. He was a happy little guy though! Annie passed out candy to her friends, and then we said goodbye. As we were getting ready to leave a huge group of army soldiers came and stood at the entrance to the room and were checking it out. I wondered if this occurred often, but apparently they just come once a year to look over the facility. They were all in their dress uniforms, and I would say there were an equal amount of women and men all in their 20s and 30s. They smiled at us and said hello, and a couple of them even asked to take our picture.

Next we went to visit one of my friend's little girl. She will get to go home soon, and I was so happy to see her and that she was doing well, and was able to pass on a hug from her mama! We tried to go to the classroom where Annie had been taken each day for schooling, but they were closed. We headed outside for a couple of pictures, and then were done. (They asked that we not publish any pictures taken on the inside, so I will just be posting the one's taken in front of the facility.)

Again, the facility was very nice, and the nannies and workers there seemed very kind. Orphanages are sad places, though. There are children in them (like Annie!) that somehow have a joyful spirit, a smile and a twinkle in their eye, which is amazing given their circumstances! And there are others that you know will never even get the paperwork done that is needed for them to have a family, even if there were families that would be willing to adopt them. I think most of the nannies do the best they can given the circumstances, and I am sure there are some nannies that are better than others. In some of the orphanages I have seen nannies that have to take care of 11 or more children on their own that are of different ages and special needs. Thinking of taking care of even one child with special needs seems like a lot to some people, but when you have a room full of children that have different kinds of needs and are at different stages in their lives, it has to be difficult! I am just so thankful that Annie doesn't have to be a part of that environment any longer. She will have a family that already adores her and will love her forever.

On the way back Annie started perking up a little and pointing out things she was seeing outside of the van. The drive was a bit crazy with traffic, and let's just say our driver was not at the top of his game for the day! We had to stop by the notary office to pick up more paperwork, and then we headed back to the Yu Market for a celebratory lunch with Ming Ming, I guess technically it is called the, "City God Temple," which is connected to the Yuyuan Gardens. We went to a famous dumpling house that was really good! It was also fun to get to know a bit more about our guide before we had to say goodbye to her for the week.

We went back by a shop there at the market where I had bought Annie's tea set so that I could get a bigger bag of some yummy ginseng we had purchased at the beginning of our trip, and had been enjoying all week. Then we headed back to the hotel and said our goodbyes to Ming Ming.

All three of us were pretty tired once we got back to the room. Lack of sleep is kind of catching up with us all (and no, she will not take a nap!) Annie kind of got the tired crazies in the afternoon. She did also have her first little mini fit (or maybe you would just call it a grumble) when Stephen kept trying to put his big coat on her. Not sure what she was saying, but she was giving him the business! It was actually pretty adorable at this point, although I am sure in the future as she lets us see more of her not so sweet and perfect personality, it won't always be so cute!

We are off to Nanjing on Saturday! I am excited for a new location, and to be just two days away from Wyatt!! I just hope Annie will let me give him lots of loving, too! Before she left, Ming Ming gave Annie another little pep talk on how we were going to go pick up Didi (little brother), and that she was going to be Mommy's big helper to help take care of him. Let's hope that helps!!!