I hope I can relate all of today’s events without crying. It has been quite a day. This morning we visited the Dong Xi vegetable market (Anna Brooke’s finding place). Many of you may remember our visit in 2004. We actually met the lady who found Anna Brooke when she was a baby. We took a picture of the lady with us today. We had no idea if she was still there. Maggie showed a man the picture and he pointed to a side section. Dwain immediately spotted the lady. By the time we made it to her there was such a crowd that we could hardly move. She was thrilled to see Anna Brooke again. She told us a gain about finding Anna Brooke. She also said there was a note, but she didn’t know what it said (she can’t read or write). We were able to get her name and address. We will send her some pictures so she can see Anna Brooke grow. We love this market! The people are very poor. However, they are so happy and friendly to us. We were able to thank the lady for her part in our daughter’s life. We told her she was a part of our family. She hugged us and had tears in her eyes. We had almost made our way out to our bus when she appeared again.
She gave Anna Brooke a bag of homemade muffins she had made and was selling. With one last hug and a wave she disappeared again. We are so thankful and blessed to have found her again.
Next we headed to Hefei SWI, Anna Brooke’s home for her first 13 months. They were excited to see her again. We gave them a photo album, some of Anna Brooke’s stationary and a suitcase full of school and craft supplies. They then took us to see some of the orphanage. We went to see Anna Brooke’s room. Good News…it is now a play room which means there are not as many babies as there used to be. Actually there are now 400 children (500 when Anna Brooke was there). Half the children are healthy and are with foster families in the country side. The remaining 200 are special needs and stay at the orphanage. We were able to visit Sunbeam village, started by Half the Sky. This provides Foster Care for special needs children. The family’s have 6 children to care for.
We met a beautiful girl maybe about 13 or 14. She has to use crutches to get around. She showed us a notebook full of beautiful drawings. She loves to design fashions. Her art was unreal! We were all quite taken with her. Kim was especially interested in her. I’m going to contact Half the Sky and find out if she is in their big sister’s program. She definitely has talent.It was a great visit. We are thankful that Anna Brooke was at that orphanage. However, we are so thankful that we were able to become a family and she wasn’t one of the children left behind.
From there we went to Meishe’s school. The children were so excited to see us. Actually, that’s an understatement. I have never seen kids so excited! We were the first foreigners the teachers or kids had ever seen. They all had us little homemade gifts. They were so proud to give them to us. They sang some songs for us. We gave them a lot of schoolsupplies. They had never seen glue sticks or washable paint before. A special to Josiah, Titus and FBC… You made some children very happy! We then headed back to the hotel and crashed. We went out to eat that night. It was a very special day. Please remember our big girl. I won’t go into details. I will just say she now understands adoption and the loss that has happened. She is grieving her birth parents. Please lift her up! Thanks!
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