Orphanage visit

Yesterday we traveled to Zhuhai to visit Hayley's orphanage.

It was a hard day, both for Hayley and her mama.  There were quite a few tears.  At one point she got very angry and outright rejected her best friend (who has aged out.).

As far as orphanages go, Zhuhai is a good one, but just the sheer numbers of kids without parents broke my heart.  Many, many of these precious ones have DS.  There are other needs as well.

One of the more interesting things about this trip has been how much we have learned about Maia.  She was unable to communicate with us at all when we came to adopt her 16 months ago.  Now she can't stop talking!  "Maia like this China!  Maia eat this China!"  And heartbreakingly, "Maia sleep this China" (pointing to a bamboo mat.). "Maia cold.  Maia cry."

We are off to visit the bonsai gardens today.  It will be nice to do something with no emotion attached to it.