Happy Thanksgiving, and what a Thanksgiving it was.

Each day seems to get more and more amazing. We arrived in Huanggang last night with a police escort, banners at the hotel and a wonderful ceremonial dinner. The children were given more gifts at the ceremony, beautiful red silk dresses to wear to the orphanage. After breakfast this morning we visited the orphanage and once again we were treated like royalty. As we pulled up in the bus to the orphanage you could here loud music being played and huge blown up decorations and banners welcoming us back to the orphanage. Many of the children and the workers were dressed up in performance outfits as we got off the bus. There were older girls in beautiful red dresses greeting our children with flower lays when they walked off the bus and giving parents flags of China and their own country. There were also dozens of bystanders outside the orphanage waiting to see us as we arrived. Once at the orphanage we were sat in the courtyard in the middle of all the buildings in front of a stage. All the government officials were present giving speeches and all the orphanage children and nannies were around. It was a little chilly as it started (close to 60 degrees), but warmed up through out the morning. After the speeches there were about 25 orphanage children doing different performances for about 45 minutes. About half the children were handicap or special needs ageing from 5 to 16. The performance was very good, but sad knowing all these children live in an orphanage. Between performances some of the children were interviewed on staged and asked questions like who is their mom and how is their life. There answers were all the workers in the orphanage were their moms and cared for them deeply and they want to do what is best for their country. It was very emotional as the kids don’t know what they are missing.

We saw the lady that handed Peiton to us when we first adopted her in 2002. I found out that she is a doctor in the orphanage. She came up to Peiton calling her Miao Miao (Meow Meow). We gave candy and suckers to many of the children as we watch the performances, most children were very excited to receive while others were too shy to accept. Leaving the orphanage was sad and there were even more bystanders outside as we left.

We came back to the hotel for lunch and then had an hour break, yes we had turkey but they cut it with bones still in the pieces. I asked the guide to take us to the shopping market where Peiton was originally left by her birth mother and William and the asst Director of the orphanage took us there. It is now converted to Mobile phone market but the area on the ground floor is like a farmers market and had many meat products displayed on stands outdoors. I took many pictures and had a good conversation with Peiton about this was the last place her birth mother was with her. It was great to be able to take her back to that spot on Thanksgiving Day. Many people were watching us and wondering why we were there.

I was able find out some information we never knew from the asst director through our guide. She has worked in the orphanage for 30 years since she was 18 years old. She remembers Peiton since they had to try to find special smaller spoons for Peiton due to her cleft lip at the time. She told us that Peiton was foster cared by the orphanage director (Director Yang) during much the first part of her stay at the orphanage. She said Director Yang liked to take care of the children with special needs herself until they got better then let others do the foster care. For Peiton she was with Yang for most of the time then with the doctor whom was the one that handed her to us at the day we adopted her in 2002. We will get to spend time with the foster families tomorrow morning and find out more.

After that visiting Peiton’s finding spot we visiting the new orphanage which is still under construction. The outside of the childrens part of the social welfare institute is mostly done and a few other buildings but still much work to do to finish the inside and other buildings. It will house abandoned children, handicap children and adults and elderly who have no family to take care of them. All 11 of our families help plant a special tree is each of our daughter’s name which was fun for the girls. Afterwards we went to an place to pick oranges. There were many cats, chickens, and dogs around. We ate many oranges and brought a couple bags back to the hotel. When we got back to the hotel we were taught how to make dumplings and sticky rice balls and had them and tons of other food for dinner. Looking forward to meeting foster mother in the morning.

Jim

Next part from Peiton:

I have been having lots of fun with the girls on our trip. Every day I keep receiving more and more gifts, my favorite so far is the red silk dress, then my book on Huanggang city second and then the panda bear stuffed animal third. I felt like a movie star at the orphanage today and had fun giving some candy to some of the girls. I liked picking oranges and eating them too, I ate 4 of them while picking them. We saw 5 cats, most of them were all white. I got to plant a new tree at the orphanage but my shoes got all muddy. This was the best day yet.

I miss everyone,

Peiton