Joe got back last night about 11:30 from Xuwen! He was emotionally
exhausted from the trip. Joe and the other 3 dads were able to visit the orphanage and each of the girls finding spots. He also got to meet the nanny who took care of Klaire for the first 10months of her life. We are ever so grateful to her and the good job she did with Klaire. The orphanage is fairly new, but set in the older part of the city. A dirt road led up to the orphanage. The director and nannies seemed excited to meet them. The guys gave the gifts to them and they were so thankful. They only got to go to the 1st and 2nd floors of the orphanage. On the first floor was one desk and some chairs and a few mopeds. It was very clean and sterile. Joe said is just felt cold, since there was no furniture or decorations. They took them to the 2nd floor where the babies were. They did not allow cameras in this part. Joe and the dads got to see the room where Klaire and the other girls had been living in. The cribs were metal and the "mattress" was a piece of stained plywood. It was a little hard to take, but in China they believe the harder the bed the better. There were 50 or so babies in this orphanage. They actually had about 14 newborns in there as well. Joe said you could tell the nannies really loved the babies and took as good of care of them as they had means to. The hardest thing for Joe and the other dads was to leave the other 50 little children in the orphanage. One little girl who was in the room Klaire had been in, waved and smiled at Joe when he came to the door. It is our prayer
that through our journey to Klaire- that someone reading our posts would feel God tug on their heart about adopting one of these special little children. I know our lives have been blessed immeasurably by our experience and I know He will bless and has blessed so many others as well!
After they left the orphanage, they all went to each of the girls finding spots. Joe said each time they all got out the van- they would draw a crowd. It was the first time most of these people had seen Americans. He also said the city of Xuwen is only about 18 miles from the South China Sea. It is a very tropical place with palm trees and banana trees. It was definitely worth the 14 hour trip to see where our daughter came from and spent the first 10 months of her life. We are ever so grateful for this opportunity for Joe to make this trip! We got lots of video and hope to post it soon on our family website. You can see many other pics and videos on that site which is
http://web.mac.com/airblastgames/iweb/Site/Welcome.html
Today, we started out the day with the group pictures- since part of our group will be leaving for home tomorrow. They are the families that adopted from other provinces - not Guangdong. All of us Guangdong families can not leave until Saturday-new China law! It was organized chaos! ha! Trying to get 13 babies on a couch for a picture- it was nearly impossible. (you can see in the picture ) After the pictures, we went to a tea house and sampled many different types of tea. It was very interesting to see all the different teas and tea pots.
We came back to the hotel and played around with Klaire. She is eating everything! She ate 1 whole jar of baby food and a bottle. She loves eating with a spoon now. It was raining, so we decided to just hang out here today. The girls all took naps. This evening, it was another party in our room with several families! We are really going to miss our new friends
that we have made here! It is kinda like college again- hanging out in the dorms! ha! We all go out in the hallway and play or leave our doors open and whoever walks by just comes on in and visits! We have made some wonderful life-long friends! We are planning an annual reunion - so we can see the girls each year to see how they all progress! It is amazing to see how far they have come already in just a week's time!
Tomorrow is our Consulate appointment. Amy and Lineaker, our guides, will take all of our paperwork to the US consulate. We have to be in our rooms from 9:30-10:30 in the morning in case they have any questions. If everything goes well, Friday , Klaire will be sworn in as an American citizen and we will get her visa and be cleared to come back to the US on Saturday! Please pray for us as we have to make a quick connection in Hong Kong- pray that we will not miss our flight!
Only 2 more days in China! We are excited about coming home and
introducing you all to Klaire, but a part of us is sad to be leaving our daughter's homeland! China will always have a wonderful place in our hearts! This country gave us our 3rd beautiful daughter!
Please keep Karlee in your prayers- she got sick tonight. We are not sure what it is- it may be something she ate or it may be that she forgot and brushed her teeth with tap water this morning. Please pray that she will be better tomorrow! Thanks for your prayers on her behalf! Also, one baby in our group- Audrey has been in the hospital today. Please keep her in your prayers as well. She has to go back for treatments tomorrow and Friday before she can go home. Please remember her mom, Elizabeth, who is here and her dad, Larry , as he went home last Saturday.
Good night from rainy Guangzhou! We love you all!
Joe, Julie, Karlee, Kassidy and Klaire
Joe and Klaire's nanny at the Xuwen orphanage
Dads and the Xuwen girls
On the "red" (maybe rust-ha!) couch
Guangdong girls! (Klaire is in front in hot pink)
Klaire finding spot- just outside the orphanage front door
