November
2009
2009
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Zoe, Beth and Shari visit local foster homes, a local school and meet Zoe's Foster Mother |
| Nov 20 9pm (China time) It is pretty late and it's been a full day so today will have to be a summary - maybe tomorrow I can write a fuller description. Breakfast at the Shanxi Grand Hotel - if you've never been here, it's amazing! First off to the orphanage for some pictures. Not allowed inside to see the kids (due to swine flu) but photo ops. Then off to see some local foster homes. The director, the reporters all went with us as we trudged through the village visiting one foster home after another. They seemed to want a lot of shots of Zoe with the babies ... she was not very interested. 4 year olds have a mind of their own. We also saw 2 little girls that were already matched with families, waiting for their adoptive families to arrive in the next few months. Soooo cute! Catherine, the Director's interpreter, was with us in our van again today and Zoe is really taking a liking to her. They played and laughed. So much fun to watch. Then there's the trip to the local school. Again, treated like royalty as we were given the grand tour. The President (what we'd call a principal) was very forthright with the needs of the school. The Director said if they can improve the conditions of the school then he will send their 200 local children to this school. We're discussing ways we might be able to help them with this. Education is so important - especially for orphans who will not be adopted. It might be the difference between being able to support themselves and not. Eventually it was off to lunch. It was kinda like a buffet where you see the food first and order it but this one is just samples and they cook it fresh. I guess I've gotten used to seeing strange things in the restaurant, smells, and people staring at me ... I hardly notice them any more like I did the first trips to China. I'm also (sorta) getting used to the traffic in Taiyuan. Let's just say that Beijing makes me nervous ... and the people from Beijing thing Taiyuan traffic is NUTZ! Then we went to the train station to pick up Ayi. (Zoe's foster mother). It was a special, touching reunion. Zoe let her pick her up, hold her, kiss on her. It was like some part of her remembered this woman. Tears all around. She brought her 2 daughters with her. We rushed to the van so we could go back to the Hotel but we were stuck in the parking lot for about an hour. Meanwhile, we were about 1 1/2 hours late and the director was waiting for us with the reporters at our hotel to interview Ayi and me and Zoe again. By the time we got there, it was sheer madness. It was a scene only Angelina Jolie might get it seems. There were TONS of reporters with cameras. There was even a TV station there covering the story. Apparently, this is BIG news! While during this madness, someone from the hotel noticed who we were and handed us the newspaper from the day and we were in it. Seriously weird. I'm so stinkin' proud of Zoe. This was hard on us grown ups. So I cannot imagine the emotional overload this must be for a 4 year old. But she handled it like a pro. I'd done some serious praying about covering! Zoe's foster mother hand made her a pair of shoes. Her foster sisters bought her a sweater, jean skirt and jacket. Plus a big bear. The foster mother also gave her a jade necklace that symbolizes life. Interesting as that is what we named her. After all the reporters went away, we had a nice pleasant dinner with Shari, Zoe, Tang Xia, the foster mother and 2 foster sisters. It was so special. Ayi kept feeding her. Zoe even mentioned to me privately, "She is feeding me like a baby." I don't think either one of them minded. Then they invited her to their room. I gave them a photo album I'd made up of her time since she's been with us. Daily life kinds of things. I think it will become a family treasure. So much more to say but it's late and we have much more tomorrow. In summary ... Zoe rocks! |
| Beth will also be blogging at destinyshousechurch .blogspot.com |
Thanks for joining us on this journey! Should prove to be an interesting one. |
| To go back to the itinerary page, click HERE |
