Friday, August 18, 2006

This morning we started out for the orphanage at 9am. It took about 1 and a half hours to get to the town of Yiyang. As we left the city we drove through some beautiful parts of the country. There were green rice fields everywhere and smaller villages along the way.

As we arrived at the orphanage the director greeted us in a large conference room and told us a lot about the history of the Yiyang CWI (Children's Welfare Institute). It was built in 1992 and although it can hold up to 200 children, currently it had between 80-90 orphans, 50 of those being children with disabilities.

We were next taken into a large playroom where we found many babies and nannies. There were probably 30 babies and 15 nannies, all of whom were very happy to see us. Within minutes a woman approached me because she recognized Ellen. I did not understand what she was saying to me so I asked our guide, Jane, to come over and she translated that the woman was one of Ellen's nannies. Ellen clearly recognized her and let her hold her. It was a tender moment for me to meet the woman who had cared for Ellen since she was brought to the orphanage. Ellen's other nanny was not working that day but I was given a picture of her and Ellen together.

It was difficult to see the living conditions of the orphanage as well as some of the sick children. Yet, we felt very blessed that all of the nannies were warm, kind women who were all very happy to see our daughters. The room we were in was the infant center built by Half the Sky Foundation just over a year ago. It was the nicest room in the orphanage.

Our next visit was upstairs to see the babies bedrooms. Ellen's room had 5 cribs and a bed for the nanny. Right inside the door there were 2 potty chairs and there was a little girl in one of the chairs. There was a very nice woman who greeted us in the room who also knew Ellen. She held her and was very happy to see her, giving her lots of kisses.

The highlight of today was when one the orphanage workers found the note that was left with Ellen the day she was found at the orphanage. She gave the note to us and our guide translated it for us. It was a simple note that indicated Ellen's birthday, but we will treasure it and hope it will bring comfort to Ellen one day. Most babies are found without a note and we are grateful to have this one item, most likely from Ellen's mother.

Near the end of the visit we were shown the place where Ellen was found, right outside the gates of the orphanage. She was one day old when she was left there and I am glad that we had an opportunity to meet the people and see the place where she was cared for this past year. I hope one day we will return to show Ellen around this town and the Yiyang CWI.

Ellen did very well today. She is more and more playful and eating everything we put in front of her. She enjoyed her first time in the swimming pool and loves taking her bath every night. It is just amazing to see how quickly she has progressed in her short time with us. We are all in love with our little baby!