Day 7: A glimpse into the future

We first want to extend a big "thank you" to Dale Holgate for keeping Grandpa Dick and Great Grandma & Grandpa Long informed of our travels! We're also so grateful to all of you following the blog. The comments and support are keeping our spirits up!

Thursday's photos: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=f0o3yyn.ckdc2gp3&x=0&y=umkgw

Just like most days, we met Minnie at 9:30am in the lobby and hailed a cab to head out to Xi'an CWI (Children's Welfare Institute), Isabel's orphanage. As I mentioned yesterday, we weren't 100% certain we chose the right path taking her back. All along the way I felt uneasy, thinking that maybe we were making a terrible mistake. The drive was about 30 minutes. We pulled up to an arched gate with guard shacks on either side. I'm not sure the gates open often for cars. It didn't for us. We were just let out at the edge of the driveway and Minnie checked in with the guard. At quick glance, the place looked like Disneyland. The as we walked onto the grounds there were two buildings. A pink one to our left, and a yellow one to the right. The pink building had spires and looked like a castle from a distance. The grounds were well manicured and some workers were building a new playground in a park area across from the front door. They weren't very far along, but it appears as if it'll be similar to the playgrounds we're used to back in Minnesota. Just to mention it, because I don’t later, the yellow building contains the offices for the orphanage. That’s where we delivered the 30 super crisp unmarked non-sequential Ben Franklin’s. It was a donation I’d make again.
When we entered the pink building it was fairly quiet. The foyer raised the four stories of the building, and the stairs were off to the side and semi-circular. We'd go up the semi-circle to the next floor; it was flat across the diameter, and then repeat...almost like a D. Maybe the explanation and description is minutiae anyway. I think half the stuff I describe may be as well! Anyway, we went all the way up to the fourth floor where we were greeted by the A'yis (pronounced I-Es...the nannies). We put paper slippers over our shoes and dropped off our gifts in the office. We were then taken around the corner into a long hallway and turned into one of the first rooms. The room was divided into two halves, the first with cribs around the perimeter, and the second was a play area. The divide was about a 40" wall with a gate. I began taking pictures immediately and Leslie was working the video cam. These children were adorable, every last one of them. I just broke my heart to think of these children living in this place. Don't get me wrong, these kids are well cared for, it's just their situation sucks. I wanted to take them all home, although new friends of ours in Minnesota may have something to say about that! Mel and Pete are coming in a few months to pick up Lu. He's the adorable boy in the light blue sweater in quite a few photos. I can't wait for him to get back with his forever family too, because he and Isabel are best friends. At one point we were posing for a photo with Lu, and Isabel wanted nothing to do with me holding her. She was doing her back arch and whine. Lu was such a cutie...he reached out to Isabel to comfort her. Unfortunately it didn't work, but as we say, it's the thought that counts.

We met Mel and Pete through the Xi'an yahoo discussion group. That was extremely helpful for us once we were matched with Isabel, but before we traveled. Within 10 minutes of joining the yahoo group we received a photo of Isabel from a woman in Australia! My goal when making our visit was to take as many photos as I could of all of the children so that others waiting on the yahoo group may get a peek at their little one. Unfortunately I think I may have missed a couple, but I really tried my best.

As parents we dream about what our little one will be like someday. When they're in diapers we wonder when they'll crawl. When they crawl we wonder when they'll walk. When they walk we wonder when they'll jump and run. And when they jump and run we wonder what the heck they're going to get into when we look away for a moment. These first few days with Isabel have been a crawl with a bit of standing while holding onto furniture, but today at the orphanage we got to see into the future. She was almost completely a different little girl. It was clear that she helped run the place when she was there. I could've guessed considering how sassy and manipulative she's been with us. She really shined like a rock star. We got to see her walk for the first time (literally), and did she ever...no noodle legs here. She even helped Lu and the A'yis feed snacks to the younger kids. And best of all, she smiled like it was her job. This glimpse, if only for an hour, was well worth the visit. She got to say goodbye to her friends and A'yis, she even blew them all kisses as we took the last walk down the hallway to her future.

Back at the hotel she certainly digressed in the hour since we left the CWI. She was back to noodle legs and staring into space with her sad face. I soon put her down for a nap and Leslie hit the streets to explore and to try and find a department store. While she was gone I worked on uploading the near 100 pictures from today, and then I heard a whiny cry. I wondered if Isabel would be out of the crib again when I opened the bedroom doors. She sure was, and not only was she standing in the middle of the room staring and whimpering in my general direction, she was holding the pink pair of shoes she was wearing the day we met. These shoes were nearly out of reach on top of the safe in our closet, and she found them in the darkened room. My heart broke for the umpteenth time in the past four days. I turned on the lights, opened the curtains, and just let her play with those shoes for as long as she wanted. It was a precious moment I'll not soon forget.

When Les returned from her street adventure, I took a stroll down to my favorite little grocery store. My English speaking friend was sadly not working. I stocked up plenty until we depart on Saturday, so I don't think I'll ever see him again. Godspeed young pudgy dude, I truly hope your life is fantastic.

I was only gone for twenty minutes, and experienced deja vu when I got back to the room. Isabel was walking for Leslie! They were having another grand old time like they did on Tuesday. They had out crayons, stickers, and stacking cups...it was AWESOME! I can only believe that our visit today was an essential piece for her to move forward. If we had lived Monday on the South Pole, we were damn near Santa today. Isn't life amazing?