Update on Ian the Orphanage

We got very behind on our blog due to Ian's illness and a spotty internet connection in Wuhan. I will try and catch up - first and foremost, Ian is finally through the worst of his illness. WOW is all I can say. Very scary and very hard to deal with in a foreign country. He still had a fever as of Friday (among other problems), but we were able to start treating him with the antibiotics that were brought from home. He is still not eating (after six days) and is still very weak, but is definitely through the worst of it. I believe that somehow Mae sensed that she had to go with the flow and has been an absolute delight. Jarred has been a FABULOUS big brother and has not only entertained her, but really helped us. He is getting his crash course in being a jr. counselor for his summer job. Ian had one more trip to the hospital on Thursday (3/24) for his two hour IV drip of who knows what medicines. Rich and Jarred had gone sightseeing for the last two morninigs, so Rich was on hospital duty. I couldn't go back there. To say that is was unsanitary is a huge understatement. It was DISGUSTING. That afternoon, Jarred, Mae and I had the opportunity to visit or orphange, or Social Welfare Institute (SWI) as they are called here. There were eight families who received children from Chibi, but only three of us opted to go. We all got boarded a rickety mini van, with not springs in the seats (and of course no car seats or seat belts) for our 150 kilometer ride to Chibi. The countryside was beautiful; lots of farmland, water buffalo and mountains. The province of Hubei is full of lakes, so it is very lush and green. We got onto a surprisingly modern tollroad and made it to Chibi in one hour and forty five minutes. As we exited the highway, the SWI director was waiting for us to escort us to the SWI. Chibi has a population of appx. 1/2 million people; considered a small town in China. I recognized the SWI from the pictures; a fairly small two story long and narrow building. The caregivers were waiting out front to meet us. They recognized the three babies, as we discovered that a week prior to Gotcha day, the girls had all been removed from their foster care to ease the transition. Mae readily went into their arms and clearly liked the attention and being spoken to in Chinese baby talk. When we entered the front door, I was struck by how cold it was inside - at least 20 degrees colder than outside. I was glad I had brought a blanket for Mae, as the Chinese are very fussy if you don't have your child layered in huge amounts of clothing. We were greeting in the conference room wiht water and fruit and then given a tour. There is a clinic which consists of a small room that reminded me of the nurse's office in elementary school. The ground floor also had a large playroom for the babies which was very clean and bright. All fifteen babies currently at Chibi SWI are in foster care, so they were not there. We saw the older children's rooms - very neat, spacious rooms with two beds each and lots of blankets piled high. The older children were in school, so it was very quiet. Children who are not adopted can live in a SWI until the age of 18. Then the Chinese government will pay for a university education. They will take care of these children/adults for their entire life if necessary. The back of the SWI is butted by a beautiful bamboo tree forest and we found the spot where a picture of Mae had been taken6 months earlier. Behind that is a retirement community, so the girls have a lot of company and visitors to interact with.
We were given the chance to ask any questions and we discovered that Mae and Leah, a child adopted by a family who lives in Santa Clarita, were fostered by the same family. The mom, Sharon and I started comparing notes on the girl's developmental progress and found lots of similarities. We learned that the girls had a 15 year old foster brother (that may explain the Jarred connection) and that she was grieving over the lost of her two foster daughters. Leah is 19 days younger than Mae and they have been together their enire lives.
I asked to see the place where Mae was found on December 29th, 2003, at two days old. To say it was emotional is an understatement. The reality of her existence all comes crashing down, when you see the spot where a mother or father, at dawn, placed their infant daughter outside a gate of the SWI. When you look at this beautiful, soulfoul child, who is each day waking up to our world more and more, you wonder how this can happen. Jsrred and I took some pictures and spent a few moments grieving for Mae, for the loss of the family she will never know and being thankful that she has come to us. We hope to bring her back here when she is older.

It is now Monday morning and we are off to have the babies medical exams. Excuse the typos as there is no time to proof. Jarred and I will add more about Chibi later.