Day 7

Hello everyone,


Laurie is getting Brooklyn ready right now for a nap so I am going to give the update. First, we really miss our kids! It won't be much longer and we will be hone. Also, a big thanks again to Grandma's Alice and Doris, Darla and Josh for babysitting at home. We love you guys too.

We flew from Changsha this morning and we are now in Guangzhou. We just checked into our hotel. It is really nice. We made the trip to Brooklyn's orhanage in Yiyang, China (which is in the Hunan Province) yesterday. We were gone a total of 5 hours. It was a 90 minute drive to her orhanage. It was an unbelievable experience. We are very glad we went. We got lots of video and camera shots of not only the orphanage, but also her finding place. Her finding place is where she was abandoned. She was abandoned at the Yiyang Civil Affairs Building, which was only about 2 miles from the orhanage.

We rented a Minivan, and Laurie, Brooklyn and I, along with our guide (Mamie) and went to the Orhphange first. Mamie interpreted everything for us and was wonderful. When we first got there we visited the playroom. It was fairly large and clean. It had different toys for different aged kids. There was a total of 5 nannies (from Half the Sky-which is a charity organization-they work with kids one on one individually-and are separate from the orphanages) working with the kids. When we first walked in all of them started shouting Le,Le (meaning Yi Ru Le-Brooklyn's Chinese name)and all of them wanted to touch and hold her. They obviously loved her very much. Brooklyn's reaction was a total surprise to us, and also Mamie. As soon as we walked in and Brooklyn saw where we were, she buried her head in Laurie's chest and cried. She didn't want to go to any nannies at first. When she went to the nanny that was the most excited to see her, she did calm down after about 20 seconds. After about 5 minutes of the nanny holding Brooklyn she reached for Laurie. This obviously made us feel very good. It was apparent though, that all of the Half-The-Sky nannies loved her and worked with her daily. We think this is why she has been able to attach to Laurie like she has.

Next, we went to the small pre-school room on the 2nd floor. The teachers there also knew Brooklyn and were excited to see her. All of the kids in the pre-school came out and greeted us and one girl was taken by Brooklyn's pink shoes. She kept smiling at them and pointing at them. Laurie and I both said we would take every one of these kids home if it were possible. You could tell how excited they became when one of their "own" got adopted. The ages of the kids on this floor were all of pre-school age.

Next, we went to the actual room where Brooklyn spent her first 13 months. We were able to meet and talk with her main care-giver(this was the person that actually fed and cared for her). Her main care-giver was VERY excited to see Brooklyn. She immediately reached for Brooklyn and Brooklyn went to her and did not cry. The care-giver was so proud of Brooklyn. She told us thru Mamie (our guide) many things about Brooklyn. It was like a proud mom! She told us how Brooklyn likes to chew on her blanket (we have posted many pictures of Brooklyn chewing on her bib), likes to play with her care-givers cell phone, and liked to put on her care-givers reading glasses. She also told us that Brooklyn is very limber and very smart (we agree!). Her care-giver held Brooklyn for about 10 minutes and when it was time to go, Brooklyn went immediately to Laurie's arms and did not cry. It made us feel good in many ways. Because she went to Laurie right away, and because her main care-giver loved her so much.

We then went to the orphanage directors office and talked with him. He was very nice and told us some things about the orphanage. They currently have 70 kids, and about half of them are special needs. He said they have placed well over 1,000 kids into adoptive families homes. We got to take our pictures with him also. We were surprised at how we had access to the orphanage like we did.

Next, we went to Brooklyn's finding place. We got pictures at the exact spot where she was abandoned. It was just outside the Civil Affairs Building. Her birth mother knew she would be found at this spot and would be safe. Laurie and I are thankful her birth mother did this. We are sure it was very hard on her.

I am sorry this was so long. It was a wonderful day and Brooklyn is getting more attached to us by the minute!

Thanks,
Scott and Laurie