First of all, I would like to thank everyone for their wonderfully supportive comments! I also appreciate everyone coming out of the woodwork after I asked who was out there. It is great to know people are thinking of you when you are so far from home and things aren’t easy.
After Sunday’s draining experience, Adam and I talked and decided that Ben definitely had earned a well deserved break from the madness! I cannot emphasize enough what a trooper Ben has been. He has handled the stress of the situation better than many adults would! He helps out with carrying stuff (or his baby sister), lends a hand when he can, seeming to intuitively know what needs to be done. I am so proud of the fine young man he has become!
Also, it is such a wonderful gift to have the calming influence of my mother here. She is great about being a neutral party and just being there to pitch in and help with either Eliana or Maya Mei as needed. And Ben is SO grateful each night to retreat to Grandma’s room to regroup and to sleep there in peace. Ben and Grandma have enjoyed having some time together and have apparently watched some interesting/unusual movies!
On Monday we were scheduled to have a private van and driver and our guide, Connie, was escorting us to Eliana’s former foster home in Dongguan, True Children’s Home. We visited TCH in April 2008 and you can read more about how we found out about Eliana’s time there on our first blog in the 2008 archives (http://chinastork.blogspot.com). Adam and Ben changed plans and stayed behind in Guangzhou to just explore the area around our hotel and have some Dad/son time and have a little break from everything else. So, at 8:30am all of the ‘girls’ in our group gathered in the lobby for the 1.5-2 hour drive to Dongguan to visit Eliana’s alma mater. :o)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cohnfamily/sets/72157623262680535/
In the pictures you will see our guide Connie in the pink scarf, the operations director, ‘Katrina’, in the pink sweater – she lives in an apartment in the same complex and is there on a daily basis to make sure things are running smoothly. You will also see Jenny Smith, the wonderful American woman who we first had contact with at TCH. I am not sure what Jenny’s official title is, but she manages everything and handles fund raising efforts. The flowery Boppy pillow Eliana is sitting on in a few of the photos is just like the one she was sitting on in the first photo we ever saw of her and were taken when she was just about 8-9 months old. :o)
True Children’s Home is a wonderful place – see their website to learn more about it. They have one caretaker for every two children in their care. The provided medical treatment/surgeries and as needed the specialized care needed before and after. It is their goal to not return any of the children to the orphanage, but rather to keep them in their group home as long as needed and then to place them with local, specially trained foster families until the child can be adopted permanently. They have had several children adopted domestically as well as all of the internationally adopted children. Eliana was in their care the first year they opened, from October 2006 until late June 2007. Unfortunately, her orphanage director insisted that she be returned at that time, and she remained there until we arrived in April 2008 to adopt her. It would have been much better if she had been able to stay with a foster family in Dongguan during that time, but we are grateful for the time she did have there. All’s well that ends well.
Oh, I wanted to smuggle all of these babies home! Identical twin infant girls with bilateral cleft lip and palate, just like Eliana’s, sleeping peacefully together in the same crib. And a little boy who is nearly four – he was blind, had lost both eyes and had the flattest head I’ve ever seen (from neglect – just laying on his back in the orphanage for so long), but the sweetest demeanor and purest singing voice you’ve ever heard. Such a joyful boy! He could sing in Mandarin, Cantonese and English – I think he is quite bright. The little girl with leg braces that I took several pictures of is currently waiting for a family. She has spina bifida (repaired), hydrocephalus and club feet. Her file is with Small World Adoptions and is listed as “Anna”. She was very sweet and blew kisses to us as we left.
Trying to catch up on Guangzhou posts and pictures before we leave for Beijing tomorrow!
Hugs,
Laura Beth
Yay Ben! What did they find to get themselves into while the girls had their day? The kids are adorable, as are yours....I don't think you have room in your suitcases to take them ALL home (and Ben might just about have had it by then )
ReplyDeleteSo great to see photos of Jenny Smith after hearing her name and amazing stories about her for years from you and Shelli!
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