Trip To Orphanage

I really agonized about the decision to take Wade back to visit his orphange. I wanted the photos to share with him someday but also knew he would be so confused and possibly very upset when he saw his friends and special nannies.  God granted is a wonderful experience with no stress at all for little Wade.  We hired a driver to take us on the trip which was a little over an hour and one of the agency reps went with us to interpret.

We met the orphanage director and staff, and I gave them our donation of clothes and quilts.  We then went to Wade's room. Several rooms with about 12 babies each opened onto a little courtyard.  The children and nannies all came out shouting Xiao Ran (pronounced show ran).  He waved and grinned.  In his room we let him down and he crawled under a crib laughing... they told us that this was his.  His primary caregiver had the day off but I saw several that I recognized from photos.  He was passed around happily.  One four year old ran up and they said he called Wade brother.  He has already been matched with a family in the states too.  My heart was about to burst, I would have taken him home too!  We thanked them for taking such good care of Wade and told them a little about his new home. We took photos and video that I will share later.

The cleft babies are so scary to most parents here.  We were told where Wade was left and that his parents were most likely farmers and didn't have the money to get the corrective surgery.  There were some toddlers in his room and about 8 infants.  Mike commented on the trip back that he now understood how so many families return. One in our group is getting theor third and another is getting their fourth.

This photo was taken on the ride home, he sure loves his Daddy and he is actually upstairs now with him during a nap.  I am so blessed to have two special boys to share my life!