Thanksgiving

Please pray for one of the babies in our group. Her name is Amy and she has been very sick from the time she was placed in her parents arms. She is making improvements but it is a little at a time.
It is Saturday (11/29) and we arrived back in Guangzhou last night around 7pm. We had a grueling 6-7 hour bus ride both to and from Maoming. The road conditions and the traffic and are just bad, but with that being said it was well worth it to see the city and orphanage where Piper was living.
Thanksgiving Day – We could not be more thankful today as we think about how blessed we are to have such great friends, family and two beautiful children. In the morning we went to the orphanage and when we got off the bus we were surrounded by school kids and they were fascinated to see us. They were all trying to practice their English, “hello”, “welcome”, and giving Scott high 5’s and shaking hands. The orphanage is located on the first 4 floors of an apartment building. We went to the 2nd floor and left our gifts for the orphanage and the nannies. Thank you to the families that have donated items to the Kidsfirst Foundation. We took a suitcase full of toothbrushes, toothpaste, teddy bears and clothing, it was well received. At that time the orphanage director handed out the clothing that our children were found in. It was very emotional moment and we are so thankful that they kept the clothing for us. Next we got to go see the playroom and crib rooms. Piper’s nanny was in the playroom and she came to the door to talk to her and Piper got the biggest smile on her face and was laughing. They call her Mei Mei and you could tell that they love her. Her nanny told us that she laughs and smiles all the time and is a happy baby. We got to see which crib was hers and were able to take a few photos. They are very strict as no photos are allowed of the other children in the orphanage. The orphanage is clean and seems to be well run. They said there are about 80 children living there and a lot of the ones that we saw were special needs. It is heart breaking to know that most of these children will never have a family. When we left the orphanage we were able to go to her “finding spot”. It was on the corner of busy street. It was very powerful moment to for our family to be at the spot where her journey to our family started.
Thanksgiving dinner consisted of more Chinese food. I don’t think we will ever complain again about not having a “good” Chinese restaurant near us. It seems that Pipers favorite time is when we sit down to the table to eat. She bangs on her toys and is happy. On the bus ride back to Guangzhou she was laughing and smiling as Scott and I played with her. She is letting Scott hold her a little bit more but still wanting me all the time. We are hoping within the next day or so she will let me put her down without crying and play on the floor. When I put her down she just sobs and crawls after me. Today we go for the medical check and then the rest of the day if free time…whohoo! More later. We hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving feast!