Orphanage Visit

Today, we took the long ride to the orphanage...it was the most beautiful ride, very mountainous and lush green....rice fields and lots of bicycles and motorcycles...we finally made it to her orphanage. Actually, the director knew we wouldn't find the road, so he met us on the big road on his motorcycle and we followed him to it. It was so nice and we got a warm welcome...all of the nannies just flocked to Alice and scooped her up. You could tell she was a little confused, but she was glad to see them...it really made a huge lump in my throat, but I did ok. We went inside into a little conference like room and I gave out some candy...they made us tea and we talked back and forth, Rebecca our guide, translated. Not sure if I mentioned it before, but Alice speaks Hakkanese and so do the workers at her orphanage. So, Rebecca is unsure of what she is saying most of the time. She said the nannies and director speak Cantonese to her but when they speak to each other, she cannot understand them. It was alot of fun, actually...I got to hug on her friend, the little boy, his name sounds like Ah He--he was precious...I got to show them pictures of our family and tell them about them. They asked us questions and it was just a very unique experience. Then, they let us go up to her room to see her bed and where she spent alot of her time, but we were not allowed to take our cameras, so we went up and I will say that it was very clean and her bed was sweet...very small and had a big fluffy pink comforter inside...it had an open barred window and the breeze blew through. We stayed up there for about 30 minutes and talked about all of the kids that were also adopted and I told them that I promised we would take good care of her...then came the tears--one nanny got me tissue...they were really nice...we went to the front gate and made a picture all together and then they gathered around her one last time and just kept touching her face over and over, each one of them. My heart just hurt. The little boy called out "Hua Hua, don't cry"...she didn't...you could tell she was confused, but we said goodbye, she waved at them and we got in the van...that was that. I was definitely crying hard, but it was a very emotional day...I am so glad we went and now I can tell her all I know about it...I think it will be good..I needed to be there in person. We then, made our way to her finding spot and it was in a very quaint dusty little village--Gaosha village (not sure if that is spelled right) to be exact....we found the Agriculture Wholesale Market and the street where she was found....I wonder if her mother saw us and knew that it might be her--there was a large group of ladies peeling oranges and throwing them on a gigantic tarp for canning right across from where we were...it was SO small, it is definitely possible and it makes you wonder what she must have been thinking the day she placed her baby girl on the side of the road...with formula, bottles, and towels..in the hopes that someone would find her and give her a better life?? We will never know the circumstances for sure, but the Lord does...he also knew that we would have the privilege of being her parents since hers could not take care of her for whatever reason...I am so thankful that he let us be the ones. I am humbled. She is such a treasure. One thing I learned today is that she is loved and that makes a mama feel good...they love her so much....and so do we...