Thursday, December 14, 2006

Orphanage Day

We went and visited Jaili's orphange yesterday and it broke our hearts. We started the day at 6:00 am with breakfast and left for her orphanage with Kristi, John, Charlie, Sharon, Leah and Lauren (the other wonderful family that is with us) Their daughter was adopted from the same city as Jaili but a different orphanage. It took about 3 1/2 hours to get there and the kids did fantastic. We first went to Kate's orphange (John and Kristi's new little one). The director and the staff where very excited to meet everyone. They gave us a tour and the babies a bottle (Jaili did NOT want it). The orphanage was very clean and friendly lots of kids but they had toys and looked to be well taken care of. We then went to Jaili's orphange and finding site. Our orphange was a different story. First the staff was unprepared for us even though we had an appointment. The main director was at a meeting so the women who was the 2nd in command seemed very upset with us being there. Our holt guide, Catherine (who is amazing) talked with them and they finally agreed to let us and only us see only Jaili's room that she was in. We weren't allowed to take any pictures except of her crib, but Shane was sneaky and filmed the whole thing for Jaili to have later. The babies were all wearing the same thing (so the picts we got were purely for our benefit) and were lying on straight boards. So many wer in there and they were crying. Alot of the babies were doing the self soothing of rocking bakc and forth and banging their heads with their hands. Thier were no toys present so the only thing the babies had was a cloth chinese diaper to hold and play with. It absolutely broke our hearts. On a good note the director said that most of the babies were being adopted soon. Jaili did awesome. When her caregiver and director came to talk and see her she looked at them looked back at me grabbed my sweatshirt and snuggle in to me and ignored them. Her caregiver was even commenting on the fact that Jaili already ignores her and knows who her Momma is. They also commented on how young Shane and I were and they said that Jaili's birthparents were most likely very young and couldn't take care of her. The section of city that Jaili is from is rural and very poor. Most of the people that live there are farmers. You see ALOT of boy children but almost no girls. We then went to Jaili's finding place. She was found at a gas station about 10 min from her orphanage. We got lots of pictures. Just looking at the area and at our sweet daughter I could never imagine leaving her with nothing by a gas station hoping that someone would find her. It amazes me that the Lord had such a plan to bring this little girl to us. She is truly a miracle and I can't imagine our lives without her. I thank God everyday for my beautiful family that he has brought to me! I just love her so much and pray that Jesus will just continue to guide our lives and just be with Jaili and all of us everyday. I've never seen God's love for us like I see it when I look into my daughter's eyes. Shane and I are just astonished and astounded every second by our precious sweetheart. Although we don't understand his plan all the time we know that his plan his perfect and Jaili just confirms it.

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