Her Final Goodbye

Yesterday we went to Orphanage.  It was a good visit but a strange visit.  

When we arrived the doors to the building were open and there was no one in the lobby so Little Miss decided she would be the tour guide and went right over to the elevators pushed 3.  The tears were in her eyes the minute we pulled into the parking lot.

(Noelle's Orphanage)

 

Once we got on her floor a little boy saw her and ran into a room and yelled, “Xiao Xu!”  The nannies came running out and appeared surprised to see her.  As soon as she was in their arms she started crying and they started crying.  They all huddled around her and were talking softly to her trying to calm her down. 

 

Dan and I just stood there trying to interact with some of the children.  There were two children that we specifically wanted to see; her best friend and her friend, Jake, who will be coming home to the US in January.  Neither one was there.  Jake was at school down the road and her friend was somewhere in the building.  They told us they would go look for her friend and that maybe we could go see Jake at school.

 

Dan and I started taking pictures and were then were told that we could not take any pictures inside the building.

 

(Noelle sharing her snacks)

Yesterday, prior to going to the orphanage, we walked down to a supermarket and picked up some snacks.  After Noelle had calmed down with the help of the nannies she put her backpack on a table where all the children were sitting and started pulling out all the snacks that we had bought the day before.  Dan and I had no idea that she had packed them in her backpack.  She had also brought some of the toys we brought her and put those on the table.  It was a very sweet moment but a very emotional moment for me.  To see her heart for her brothers and sisters she was leaving behind. 

 

A few minutes later her friend arrived.  The girls embraced and cried.  This is where the visit gets a little chaotic.  I was too busy helping the children open their snacks that I hadn’t noticed the director had arrived.  She was not happy that we were inside the building.  We found out that she only authorized a visit outside of the building.  The visit was quickly shut down and I did not get any pictures of Noelle and her friend.

 

We were told we could visit Jake but the visit would take place in our van.  So we drove down to the school with a nanny.  Once we got to the school we were instructed to stay in the van and the nanny went to get Jake and brought him to the van.  I had some pictures that I delivered to him from his Mama and our guide made small talk with Jake.  He and Noelle quietly said goodbye to each other and then he was whisked away.  The whole visit from the minute we drove up to the orphanage to driving away was about 20 minutes. 

As we drove away I had a couple of thoughts….

Ok, that was a really weird visit.

Was it worth it?  20 minutes? 

Did she get what she needed out of it?

(Noelle and Jake)

We were about half way home when Noelle stopped crying and started initiating interaction with us.  Her smiles were back.  I guess she got what she needed in those short 20 minutes and as weird as it was it was worth every minute.  She remained in this sweet happy mood for the rest of the day.

 

Today we head to Guangzhou .  Dan and I are looking forward to a change of scenery from the COLD and smog to the hopefully...sunny and less smog. 

 

I know many of you were praying for us and some of you crazy people were even fasting for us…we can’t tell you how much we appreciate all the love and prayers that are being sent our way.  Please continue to pray for us as we are only halfway done with the trip.  Only 7 more days!!  I miss my Mason and Reagan so much.

On a side note…for any of you reading this that are familiar with Bonich’s story, does this totally remind you of Bonich saying goodbye to family and giving things away and having closure?!  It's almost identical!