Adoption Ceremony & Orphanage Visit

So I have a lot of catching up to do on this blog. On Tuesday, we all went back to the government building where we met Leah to have the formal adoption ceremony. We did paperwork, took pictures, and then moved on to a room where we officially promised to care for Leah as our own child, and to never abuse or abandon her. All of us, including Leah, had to put a finger in red ink and place our fingerprint on the paperwork. After that we came back to the hotel, rested, went to eat dinner, and finished up the day with a little shopping. We picked up a few snacks, and we had to find Leah a cup with a straw -- she isn't very good with a sippy cup.

The next day we went for a visit to Leah's orphanage, which is in Fuling, a city of about 1 million people, which is roughly two hours away from Chongqing. We left around 9:00am and went straight there. The Fuling Social Welfare Institute is both an orphanage and a home for the elderly. 

The front entrance:

The kitchen:

The classroom:

The playground:

The visit was all very overwhelming for me. If I'm being honest, I was actually surprised at how bare it was. Just take a moment to digest the picture of the "playground!" It was very much an institution. I did not see many toys or much of anything at all besides beds, tables, and chairs. There are somewhere around 30 children at her orphanage, which is fairly small compared to some others. The kids were very excited to see us! We arrived right as they were eating lunch.

We got to see Leah's bed:

The nannies were so sweet and each one wanted to hold Leah ("Qiao Qiao").

Another nanny wanted to do Leah's hair. She said she wanted to braid it for Gotcha Day, but she was not working that particular day.

One of the more heartbreaking moments was when we were able to see the baby room. The nannies do their best, but there are just not enough hands for all those kids. There were babies just laying in some of these cribs:

There were also a couple of tiny babies in incubators. I was not prepared to see that. One little one they said was only a couple of days old and weighed one kilogram. I just can't imagine it is very likely that baby will live long.

Another heartbreaking moment was when the nannies pointed out one particular child to us and said we should recommend him "if we have any friends looking to adopt." They explained how smart he is and how he only has the small deformity on one hand. Here is the precious little guy:

I have such a hard time putting my thoughts down about this! It is hard to know that this sweet little boy does not have the love of a family. It is also hard to hear the nannies try to "sell" him as smart and only having a minor problem when none of those children deserve a home more than another! Y'all, it is just flat-out hard to see this place and these kids in person. It is easy to "forget" something like a picture or a video presentation. I know we will never forget meeting these kids. This guy latched on to Greg:

One of the first pictures we saw of Leah was on this slide:

At the end of the visit, we thanked the nannies so much for taking care of our Leah. They all came out to the steps to say goodbye.

If you look closely at the top window, you can see some of the elderly residents watching us leave!

Leaving the orphanage as a family:

Thankfully, Leah did not have any trouble leaving. During the visit, she would go see each of the nannies, but then she would ask to come back to me. I was happy to see that!

After we left, we had lunch and then came one of the neatest parts of our trip so far. Our guide took us out into more rural Fuling where they do a lot of farming. We drove along the Wu River, and then he approached a random house and asked the family if we could meet them and see inside! Here is the outside of their house:

As you walked in, there were tons of soybeans hanging outside:

The inside was very basic stone/cement with hardly any furnishings. As you walked in the front, there was a pile of sweet potatoes straight ahead and a small table to the left.

They were very proud of their kitchen because it had electricity, which was essentially a light bulb hanging from the ceiling.

Our guide said it was one of the nicer homes in the area. Once again I was hit with the reality that I live such an incredibly cushy lifestyle! The family was very welcoming, and they gave us some grapefruit, a "ground squash," and a small pouch of local pickles. Fuling grows a lot of mustard greens, which apparently they use quite famously for pickling. 

Some of the farmland:

We ran into major traffic on the drive home, so we did not get back to the hotel until 6:00pm. We have been trying (and really enjoying!) a ton of local food, but I was very happy to get some KFC after a very long day. It was exhausing, but certainly a day I will treasure and never forget!