Wuhan Orphanage Day

We went to the local Wuhan orphanage today. Hudson was there for a short period before he was placed with his foster family. He was very unsure about being there. I am so glad there were 2 of us, cause I was busy taking pictures & Stephan was able to reassure Hudson. Poor little guy probably thought he was going to stay there. He didn't want to interact with any of the kids & especially didn't want to go into the room w/all the cribs (where he was for a few weeks).

Hudson is making progress each day. He is getting more comfortable & we are understanding each other more & more. He tried some grapefruit juice today & his whole body shivered. It was very cute. He also tried some ice cream last night & was very unsure.....but his sweet tooth prevailed, he ended up loving it. He is trying more words each day as well. We are so pleased & proud of his adjustment. We sure do love our little guy. I have never had a biological child, but I don't how I could love any more than I do my 2 adopted blessings. I guess once they are your child, that's all it takes. We feel so lucky.

We found out the original orphanage has been added on to quite a lot. It is a very large place. The majority of the funds used to expand the building were donated to the orphanage by Taiwan charity. There is one orphanage director Dr. Chin (he used to be a physician before he became the director). He gave us a very nice tour. The orphanage currently has about 600 children with 90% of them being special needs or waiting children. They have a staff of 200 to care for these sweet little things. There are 3 shifts & they each do 8 hours on. Let me tell you that was one of the toughest things I have had to witness. Don't get me wrong I think this is a very nice facility considering all things. But seeing all these little children with no families to love them, really tugs at your heart. We both had to hold back the emotion for Hudson's sake as well as our guide & orphanage director. We were only allowed to take pictures inside of the one room Hudson was in. There were other rooms containing older children who had pretty severe special needs. Kids in this room couldn't walk, had cerebal palsy, etc.....You could tell these kids were just craving to be touched or to be shown any attention from unfamiliar faces. There were rooms with babies who need one on one attention & some of these were being funded by "Half the Sky" foundation. All the nannies/caregivers had shirts with "Half the Sky" foundation on the back....thank god for this & that these sweet babies are getting the much needed one on one attention. If you care to you can go to their site http://www.halfthesky.com/. to see what wonderful things they are doing/have done here in China. We then moved on to the room with all the cribs. The picture doesn't do it justice. Keep in mind there were babies in every one of those cribs. Surprisingly the room was quiet. There were about 3 nannies in there. All the babies had special needs & were wrapped up like they were heading to the arctic. Some had bottles propped up with pillows so they could eat. I just wanted to pick each one up & hold them for ever.

We then moved on the meet Willow. She is being adopted by a family in Spokane. She lives in the orpanage & we had to pull her out of class. We only got to see her for about 5 minutes, long enough to give her a gift from her new family, which we brought over. She is a sweet, shy, little girl. We asked her if she knew she was being adopted & she said "yes". She also wanted to know when her family was coming for her. I'm not sure what they told her. She was very happy to get her care package & liked to look at the picture of her new mommy & daddy. I would say she is currently wearing a size 4T. The orphanage director said she is able to receive more care packages. I think it was a little overwhelming for her & it felt a little rushed. Never the less she knows she has a family coming for her. I have some more pictures for you all when I get home. I am sorry I didn't get any video of her, as they wouldn't let me inside the orphanage.

Our last stop was out in the courtyard to meet the other 4 children up for adoption. We also got to meet little Dani, who is also being adopted by a family in Spokane. She really didn't care to be around us & stuck pretty close to her foster mother. She did however love her care package, especially the doll. She is a darling girl & very active. She was playing on the toys outside & running all around. She also kept asking when her family was coming to get her & loved looking at the picture book her family made for her.

There were 3 other little kids there, I am not sure of their adoption status. One little boy had club feet & wouldn't stop crying very long so we could get a good picture (we did get some though, I'll send to Small World Adoption Agency when we get home). The other little boy in the picture with the hat is deaf & absolutely scrumptous. He has a wonderful demeanor & seems to be very happy & content. The other little girl was sweet as well, it seems she has a repaired cleft lip. She was talking a lot & probably boiling hot in her wool sweater.

We are so happy we could get these pictures for these families waiting for these children. We have been there & know how you hang on to any shred of information you can get on them. The video is taking forever to download. I will try to do it later.

Loves & kisses to Ravenna for us!

The entrance to the orphanage

The orphanage director Dr. Chin & the orphanage physician. She is the lady who brought Hudson to meet us at the Civial Affairs office.

Hudson & me standing by a statue for his birth year "Rooster". He loves wearing his sisters sunglasses.

Here is the room Hudson was in. I wish you could see all these precious little babies.



























Little Dani

Little Willow