Orphanage Visit

Evan and Taylor - Heading to the orphanage.

Today was very interesting and a day we will never forget. We headed to the orphanage around 10am and it took about 45-55 minutes to arrive there. The scenerary along the way was interesting. We went from one extreme to the other extreme. I love to drive the country side and view the daily life of people. Evan was fine in the car for awhile and then became very quite. It was pretty clear he knew where we were going. When we arrived he was afraid. Bob, Michael and I got out at the front gate and took some pictures. We explained to him to stay in the car with Taylor. After I got out and turned to explain to him to stay with Tay he waved good-bye to me. :( I shook my head no and tired my very best to let him know that we would be leaving with him. Front of the Orphanage. Houses the babies and toddlers. We all drove up to the orphanage and walked around the grounds. Michael asked Evan if he wanted to go inside. He nodded yes. He asked if we wanted to, of course we jumped at the offer. The building is separated by the childrens ages. We went into the school aged section. This consisted of the children 7-18 years of age. We reached the doors of the building and a man came out and started talking to Evan. He had my hand and Taylors, I can tell you his grip became a bit tighter. I don't need to speak Chinese to know the man asked or told Evan he was coming back. Evan started shaking his head no. This man grabbed his arm teasing him and Evan had the look of fear on his face. He just started pulling away, he was not going back. Children's Hospital on the grounds of Orphanage We went upstairs to where the childrens bedrooms are and that is where Evan froze. He did not want to move. There was no way to explain we just wanted him to show us his old room. In fact he was backing up like he was afraid we were bringing him to the room and going to leave. That is when Michael received a phone call from the assistant director telling him to finish up quickly and get out of the building. The CCAA is still retricting visitors due to the fear of H1N1. I quickly went and took a picture of what I thought was Evans bedrrom but later found out from him that it was the next room over. I would have loved to look in the room a bit more but a group of older children had heard Evan was there and was now surronding him. They all seemed nice except for one. She seemed to be tounting him or telling him something me. I saw the head teacher get upset with her and tell her to stop. I believe she was telling him we were going to cut his tongue out. I can't be certain but if you were to see the motion I think you would come to the same conclusion. Houses school aged and children up to 18 yr. old. Evan was able to see his head teacher and big sister. He didn't want anything to do with his big sister. I'm pretty sure it hurt her feeling. She looks pretty sad to say the least. He would barely look at her. The head teacher gave us another picture of Evan and three other sweet children swimming. As we were leaving the building they we looking out one of the building windows and waving. It was truely sad. He was happy to wave good-bye to everyone and his feet barely hit the steps as we went down. He seems so much more relaxed and is very happy. We have yet to see him cry. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Dining Room Bedroom - sleeps eight children. 3 Towers Evan is starting to test his boundries a bit more. We were in a store today and he was touching everything. I kept signing no. He was not listening. He kept letting go of my hand as well and that we will not stand for right now. He was not happy. I thought he was going to hit the floor and start to melt down. I help escort him out of the store before that happened. He loves to hang out with Taylor. The two of them together is so cute. When they get off the elevator they race down the hall to our room. I thought for sure he was going to end up sleeping in her bed but he is in ours. He is picking up so many signs it is amazing. He has about 15 signs that he has learned and then a few that he uses from the orphanage that we understand. He compunnicates his needs very well. I don't think we will have a problem doing his hearing test in a couple of weeks. Oh did I tell you how clean and organized he like his things? He goes around the room making sure everything is picked up and put a way properly. Tomorrow we are going sightseeing around Chongqing. We really have not seen much of the city except for walking around the streets outside our hotel. Thank you all for your prayers. If you have wondered why I have not sent messages to the other children at home that is because we talk to them once or twice a day via Skype. They know we love and miss them. They are doing really well and have a great friend taking care of them. We leave Chongqing on Friday! Wecan hardly believe it. If you've read this far thanks, if not I don't blame you! LOL I'm off to bed. Everyone else is sleeping already as usual. Bob, Cheri and Taylor