On Wednesday we visited the orphanage where my precious guy
spent most of the first three years of his life. We left at 9:30 along with the whole group of
4 families. It was not a long ride and when we arrived one Ayi (nanny) who
cares for the children ran to me and took JunJun out of my arms. She was so excited to see him. She had another child with her. This was a 9 year old boy who is being adopted
by another American family and was one of the three children they had a going
away party for several weeks ago. I
recognized him right away. She was very excited to introduce me to Max. She was so excited to tell me all about the
family that is coming for him.
Right as we walked in there was a play area off to the left
and my little guy soon wiggled out of Ayi’s arms and ran to the play area. I realized later this was the place where the
first pictures I ever saw of my precious little guy were taken. Here were the
steps that he was sitting on in the picture that stole my heart.
Soon we raced off up to the 5th floor, where
Bennett ‘lived’. As soon as we walked in there was a little boy who begged me
to pick him up. He was so sad and so
wanted my attention. I gave him some
hugs, but we didn’t have much time. Ayi showed us the different rooms where
JunJun spent his days and nights. We saw where he ate his meals and they showed
me how he shares his food with the other kids. He does share! Every time he gets food he shares first with
mama and Brynlee and then he has some himself.
Sharing his food. There's the little love on the left that was just begging for hugs.
Brynlee and Max in the background.
They showed his bedroom and his bed that he slept on. They
asked him to get on so I could take a picture. His response was NO! He has a gesture that he does when he doesn’t
want something. He shakes his head and he shakes his hand back and forth and
makes it very clear that he does not want that. He did not want anything to do
with going on that bed.
This is as close as he would get to his bed.
Then we went in to the school room. There was a woman there
that they said is a volunteer who comes in every Wednesday and works with the
kids. When we went in they were working on art projects. There was a girl there who was working on a
drawing. She was a phenomenal
artist. Her drawings were very
good. They asked me if I got the photo
book and told me that that was the very first time they had done something like
that. It is a photo book of pictures of
the kids that were on the same floor as he, pictures of him with the nannies on
that floor and various other pictures.
They also wrote on the pages. At
the end they wrote a long letter. I now have to get it translated. Each page is
very touching even without seeing the translations. As we were walking another
Ayi came and tried to take JunJun and ‘our’ Ayi said ‘no’. Ayi turned and kept
him in her arms. She only had a short time with him and wanted to keep
him.
Photo Book
First page above. Makes me tear up.
On the outside of the bag the photo book came in.
I know some people will not allow their children to be taken
from their arms while back for an orphanage visit and I can so respect that.
Each child is different and the parent knows their child and each have their
own feelings on this. I knew that
bringing him there it could confuse him or be hard for him, especially if he is
held by or spends time with his Ayis. But I also feel strongly that I should
give them this time with this child if I am given a chance. They have cared for him for over 3 years and
from the teary eyes of the two Ayis, I know loved him. He is leaving them, maybe to never be seen by
them again. I was given a gift of the rest of his life with me. I want to give them this tiny bit of time
with him. They were all so excited to see him, including all the children in
his group of about 15 or so. The kids
all called out to him and said his name so excitedly when we were there. They all wanted to be by him and hug
him. I know it was right for me to let
them have this time.
I will not share a lot of photos
inside the orphanage because usually it is not allowed at all to take pictures
inside. They gave me permission to take
pictures and they also took some. I am
so thankful that they allowed this and that I have these for when Bennett is
older.
Too soon we were done with our tour of the 5th
floor area where Bennett spent his days and we raced off to a QQ session (like
Skype) for Max with his American mom, Olivia, who is on her way right now to
adopt him. I’ve gotten to know Olivia over the last few months as we have both
been working towards bringing home our sons from the same place. It was very
fun and a bit surreal to see her there on the screen and know that we are here
now and soon she will be too.
As we were there Ayi told me he only knows 2 words, Baba
(Daddy) and Mama. I don’t know why they
are saying that, because as we were there he said different words. We went
outside and he started taking off his jacket and said something that sounded
like ‘Loh’. And the Ayi said, “Oh, he’s hot. He’s saying he’s hot.” He sure
mimics lots of words we say and has already learned several new words-car,
thank you, Nin’Nee (Brynlee), peek-a-boo, etc. So not sure what it is, but
we’ll figure it out. He’s a very smart little guy. He watches once and does it.
A cute story – when the cleaners come in he races to one garbage and takes it
apart, pulls out the bag and races to the cleaning lady and then runs to the
bathroom and pulls out the garbage from there. They get a big kick out of him –
say he’s clever boy. J
While we waited for the others to come back to the vans we
played in the outdoor playground. When
we were out there the Ayi told me that they try really hard to take good care
of the kids and do the best they can for them, but they are happy that some
kids can go home to forever families. She said she’s happy he can go to
American and have a good life. I told
her that I can tell that they take good care of the children. And they do. I know that someone has cared for this little
guy.
When the others came out we went to the front of the
building and took family pictures and I took some of JunJun with his Ayi
there. We were then all leaving and JunJun
was looking at me so sad holding Ayi’s hand still. Then he was waving to me and
saying bye bye mama, bye bye. It was so heartbreakingly sad! It was so sad
because he thought that now I am bringing him back and will leave him there
again. It is so sad in an entirely different way, because I was leaving a
visibly upset Ayi there at the orphanage and taking a precious little boy who
it was obvious that she really loved.
I wish I would have had more time there, but I am so
thankful that I got to make a visit. It gives me a better understanding of my
precious son and some parts of the beginning of his life.
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