Last Day with Group in Wuhan

Yesterday we visited the Yellow Crane Tower. It was also the first day it rained while in China. After lunch we went shopping at Walmart and a large mall. We saw some new flavors of Pringles that we took a picture of for everyone: Seaweed and Crab. We can’t find those back home.

The orphanage director drove over from Huanggang last night during our dinner (a 2 hour drive) to give us a copy of the local paper we were in and two DVDs. One was a bunch of footage from the orphanage and the other was a news clip that was aired on CCTV. Last night we were also on CCTV news, there was at least a 5 minute segment that featured our group on our tour. Peiton and I are in it several times, and to think this broadcasted over all of China as well as cable around the world. The treatment of our families has been just remarkable. It was a real big event to for China to have their girls come back and visit, they really made a great impression.

Today the group splits up. Most are going directly home after going back through Beijing, some are going to Hong Kong and another to Shanghai. We will be heading to Chengdu to see the pandas.

Jim and Peiton

Last Day in Huanggang

From Jim:

This was the final day of being in Peiton’s home town of Huanggang. After breakfast we went back to the orphanage to take a tour of the facilities. We saw an older children’s room where there was a bunkbed where 4 could sleep. We saw a nursery which had about 15 cribs and a couple of play rooms. We went into a room with some handicap children from 3 to about 5 years old and spent a little bit of time with them. Next we went into a cafeteria like room where the had a ping pong table and a couple of boys playing. One of the boys was about 13 years old and could tell he had been badly burned earlier in his life. I play a few rounds of ping pong against him but he was much better. Some of the girls played and had fun for a few minutes.

The next room we went into had the files on each of our girls waiting on a big table. It had all Peiton’s original adoption documents, medical exam and pictures that we were given a copy of when we adopted her. There wasn’t anything new in the file. They also had all the photos that we sent the orphanage over the years including the ones we posted on the internet.

The next room was a presentation of certificates to each of the families for the donation we gave as a group that bought 2 air conditioners and 2 televisions for the new orphanage.

The last stop was meeting the foster parents. Peiton was foster cared by two different staff members of the orphanage. The first was the former Director of the orphanage who died in 2005 and the other was the lady that handed Peiton to us when we first got her in 2002. Her name is Zhou and is a doctor at the orphanage. She was also the foster mom of two other girls in our group after fostering Peiton. Zhou lives with her mother and also has a biological daughter. Her daughter was in one of the pictures that was given to us when we adopted Peiton, we often wondered who that older girl was. So Peiton had a sister, foster mom and a grandmother. While Zhou worked at the orphanage during the day the grandmother took care of Peiton. They gave the three girls each a pair of colorful tennis shoes which was very nice. You can tell they all missed the girls very much and were crying and hugging them for a long time. We got to spend about an hour with them. Zhou told me that when they took Peiton to us for the adoption that the older sister was crying and saying to her mom that she promised to stop fighting with her if she could stay, which was very funny. It was very emotional for all leaving the orphanage.

After leaving the orphanage we went out to lunch then to a beautiful park in Huanggang City. At the moment we are in the bus heading back to Wuhan for the next two nights.

Jim

From Peiton:

Today I got to go back to the orphanage and see where the kids live. I got to spend time with my foster mom, grandma and sister. They were happy to see me and kept holding me. They were very nice. My foster mom gave me a pair of really cool tennis shoes, I will be the only one back home to have these. It was sad waving good bye to them on the bus and I got teary eyed too. I am having lots of fun playing with the girls on my trip.

Peiton

The photos are of my foster mom, grandma, and sister.

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

Wuhan

More photos...

Video of Peiton

Here is video of Peiton doing gymnastics. I hope it works!

Wuhan/Huanggang-Peiton's Birth City

We flew to Wuhan, which is located near Peiton's birth city. It has been an amazing day! Our plane was delayed due to fog so we only had a few minutes to check into the hotel before we had to go down for the welcoming ceremony from the city government. Our bus stopped at the edge of the city of Huanggang and the mayor of the city came aboard the bus and welcomed us back to the city. We then had a police escort all the way into town. Wow! There were even some people there with cameras from a TV station.

The dinner was amazing, they kept bringing more and more food to our tables. They had everything from chicken, beef, lamb, duck, fish, hot pot, dumplings, soups, Chinese Merlot wine, etc. Most of the food was wasted, The orphanage brought the girls beautiful red Chinese sleeveless dresses and shoes that they are suppose to wear tomorrow. After dinner, the girls from Australia got on stage and song some English and Chinese songs for the government officials. After that Peiton got on stage and performed some gymnastic moves and everyone was very impressed and proud of the girls. After Peiton, the Dutch girls sung some songs in Dutch.

It was a remarkable day and evening. Tomorrow we head to the orphanage.

Jim and Peiton*

*You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.

Day #4 Beijing

Today we started out at CCAA and it was a great experience. We got to see several files in different stages. I saw AWAA files in the review room and even one file in the matching room of theirs. For those of you that don't know this is the agency that handles ALL chinese adoptions. AWAA is the organization we used to adopt Peiton, and GOL (Gift of Love) merged with them this last year.

Our Group was on Chinese TV and Sally from Indiana was told that someone saw it from the states when it was broadcasted on CCTV on cable. We will be getting DVD copies of that and pictures of our trip as a gift from CCAA.

We went to Forbidden City and the girls had a lot of fun running around. After that we went to the Pearl market and bought dresses and few other things at really good prices. We plan to go back when we get back to Beijing next week.

Tomorrow we head to Huanggang, the governor will be meeting us when we get there.

Jim and Peiton