Orphanage Visit

So, did I ever imagine that I would allow my two kids to ride in the backseat of a Jeep type vehicle and ride two hours through crazy traffic with no seatbelts--he** no, but when in Rome, or in this case China, well, you can figure out the rest. Today we had the wonderful opportunity to travel 2 hours to the town of Zhu Hai and the Zhu Hai Social Welfare Institute (SWI) where Jaxon spent the first 2 1/2 years of his life. Unfortunately neither Nanny Helen nor our driver had ever been here, so navigating the streets of Zhu Hai was quite a trip in itself. We had to stop several times and make several phone calls before finally reaching our destination. Mrs. Yung was standing at the gate waiting for us and a welcoming committee quickly assembled. Upon entering the SWI, there is an electronic billboard and they had typed in the Chinese characters that read, Welcome to Zhu Hai the family of Zhu Zheng Hai. Jaxon was clearly excited to see Mrs. Yung and several of the nannies. I have to admit, I was worried, but he transitioned between them, Eric and I very easily the whole time we were there. They first took us up to where Jaxon lived/ slept. There are two rooms connected by a big window. Each room houses 12 babies/ children. All these children are eligible for international adoption. They said there are about 150 children there, but the others have severe needs and we were not allowed to visit them and for some reason they are not eligible for IA.

Erica--they let me take a few pictures of Fen Fen to send to Carter. I will get them off to you in a bit. She was in her crib when I got there, but was let out very shortly and pranced around with the best of them. They were very appreciative of the photo album you sent.

Katie--I was also introduced to Zac. When we got there, all the babies in his room were propped up on blankets drinking their bottles. They let me take pictures. I went back to him a bit later to rub on his back and engage him and he was up climbing the rails- literally. I will send you more details privately. The nannies described him as very active. I took a few more pics of him upright/ climbing and will get them to you. He is a big boy and looks very healthy. I have lots of pictures of the orphanage that I can send you when I get home.

Later, we were shown the indoor playroom. The floor is padded and one wall is lined with bins of toys. They even have a piano in there.

Next we went outside to the play areas. There are two play grounds, one covered and one uncovered and another one in progress. Abi and Jax played and climbed like they had never been on a playground before...... Towards the end, Eric summoned me that Jaxon had had diarrhea. In we all went to change and get cleaned up. The nannies thought we were not keeping him warm enough even though we were sweating our butts off. Hugs and kisses to say good bye and oh no, I smelled it again. Back in we go. This time, they gave him some diarrhea medicine. So we were thinking did he get car sick, was it his nerves, what was going on--we hadn't fed him anything different. Later I found out that when Abi and I were playing with each of the babies, the nannies had given him a warm bottle of milk. We have not given him any milk this week b/c he has a bit of congestion. So take note: running around like a banshee on the playground, sweating and warm milk don't mix! He slept most of the way home and is now fired up and ready to go. All in all, we couldn't have asked for a better experience. Jax left the orphanage and the people he knows with us with a smile on his face :) Life is good.

The city of Zhu Hai was very different from GZ and Beijing. It is a very lush, coastal town with mountains surrounding it. Helen explained that Zhu Hai is a relatively new town. The majority of the buildings looked new or were less than 20 years old. The traffic was nowhere near as horrible as GZ or BJ. Don't get me wrong, there was a mix of cars, bicycles, mopeds and pedestrians on every street--big or small, but it was not the craziness that we experience daily in GZ. Interestingly enough, they do not block lanes of traffic off when they are working in the medians. They just expect you to go around it. There were light poles waiting to be put up and bricks waiting to be paved in to the streets just laying around. Never, would that happen in the US.

We asked Nanny Helen about her trips to other orphanages, and she indicated that this was one of the best. It was clean and there was love everywhere we turned.

Our wild child is now sleeping soundly and we will follow suit shortly. Goodnight!