Wednesday, July 23, 2008

A Peaceful Moment Thursday afternoon

Hey dear friends and family,
This is actually Meg posting... The last 4 days have been a whirlwind and this is the first moment i have not had our new little one in my arms. She is napping on the bed behind me and Jim and the others are playing a game of billiards. I would call it pool except the table is so strangely huge and a gentleman attendant is there constantly to see if you need anything!!! The hospitality here is amazing and the Chinese people so gracious to us. We have occasionally gotten some disaproving looks but those are few and far in between.

Now on to Joy..... She is doing wonderful today!!! Though we cannot fully explain it, somehow being at the orphanage yesterday changed something for her. Though she sobbed when we left, she seems to now understand that we are her family and are not going away...(i think those first few days she kept wishing we would) The woman who raised her is an amazing loving woman whose eyes welled up with tears as we drove away. I am thankful beyond words for the love she has given Joy and know i am the recipeint of all her work. It was humbling how kind she was to me. She asked that we keep in touch with her and send her pictures of Joy in her new home.

Today Joy has a lightness about her and is proving to be quite humorous to us. Her nanny kept telling us how clever she was and we are seeing that quite a bit now. They said she does not like to play with dolls but likes more hands on things. She is reminded us quite a bit of her cousin Dale, trying to figure out anything from an IPOD, to the TV changer or the switch on the lamp!!

Thank you so much for your prayers. We leave here in the morning and are heading for Guangzhou where we are all looking forward to a Starbucks and some Western food. I think it will be a long time before we eat at Panda Express again!!!!

Love to all,
Meg

The visit to the Children's Institute

Wednesday, 7/23/08 at 9:30 PM, Zhengzhou. - We visited the Children's Institute today that has been Joy's home for almost two years. It was about a four hour trip each way with about 1 hour at the Institute, so a very full day.

The institute welcomed us and Joy with open arms. Joy lit up and smiled brightly for the first time since we have had her when she saw her caregiver; the women who has acted as her foster mother for the time that she had been there. Joy's caregiver is a very warm and caring person, and it was evident that she had shown Joy a tremendous amount of love over the last two years. It was encouraging to us and very touching to watch her hold Joy as she spoke to Joy and reassured her of her future with her new family. With Joy in her arms she pointed to us & refered to us with Joy as Mama & Baba (daddy in Chinese), and speaking of Mac, Jake, & Melissa as Joy's brothers & sister. We wish we could of understood all that she said to Joy, but there was no question that what she said was more than we could have asked for from the one who has cared for our new daughter from infancy.

We thanked Joy's foster mother from the bottom of our hearts and assured her that we would give Joy all the love & care that she deserved. It was evident that she was grateful that Joy would have something that they could never give her there, but none the less it was very emotional for Joy, her caregiver, and all of us. On the trip home we could not help but feel that something in Joy had changed just by the way she looked at us. Though you could see the sadness of her loss, there seemed to be a new recognition & acceptenace in her eyes of who we were to her now as well, and an ease we had not seen before. We are very grateful for this time, as emotional as it was at the time, and for the fact that Joy has had the opportunity already in her life to know & experience being loved; we know it will only help in allowing herself to embrace ours for her.

While there we got to see where Joy slept & played and to meet & see alot of her friends that we have seen previously in pictures & videos. The workers acknowledged us to the kids as their aunt, uncle, & cousins. We took candy, treats, and gifts and it was touching to see how grateful they were; they were so precious and you wanted to hug them all. We know at least two of these friends Joy will likely get a chance to see again as we are aware that adoptions are in process for them from our area. It was alot of fun to see the kids and to interact with them. The needs are great for all of these kids but it was encouraging to see how much the workers & caregivers were doing for these children, and to know that many of them will be on there way to new homes soon too.

We are sure that this blog will not do the day & its significance justice. We do have some photos but were having trouble downloading so will post some once we have it resolved. Thanks for your continued prayers for us, and add some for the kids and workers we had the opportunity to meet today. Thanks!!!