September 16, 2006 Today was a long and tiring, yet rewarding day.  Bright and early this morning, our group (minus one family who decided not to make the trip) boarded the bus for Tonggu County where our girls spent their first months of life.  Tonggu is in a rural part of Jiangxi Province, to the west of Nanchang.  It took about 4 hours to get there by bus.  I have to make mention that we had our first “squatty potty” experience today—let’s just say that it will be a long time before I complain about restrooms at gas stations in the U.S. :) We arrived around lunchtime, and met Director Guo, the director of the Tonggu SWI at a local restaurant.  There we were treated to local cuisine from the Tonggu area.  The food was actually quite good, and Mary Joyce was especially fond of the butter bean dish.  What is very impressive is that we had to eat the entire meal with chopsticks, which meant that Mary Joyce was also fed with chopsticks. From there we went on to the orphanage and had a Q & A session with Director Guo. We learned several things about the orphanage:  Currently, the children range in age from birth to 15 years.  There are about 30 babies still under the care of the orphanage.  The babies are in foster care.  He also told us that there are about 12 special needs children currently in their care.  We saw a few of these children later in our visit.  Chet and I also learned that there was another baby in Mary Joyce’s foster home who was adopted by a family in Spain.  Our group had collected a donation for the orphanage to buy supplies, and we had also brought supplies for their use. Several of us also brought gifts for our girls’ foster parents, which Bruce was kind enough to label for us so that they would get to the right people.  We just really wanted to show our appreciation for the precious gifts they have given us in our daughters. After the Q & A session, we went out into the SWI courtyard and made some pictures.  We also handed out some candy to some of the children who were there.  Several of the babies were found at the gate of the SWI, so their families made pictures.  They were going to put the rest of us on a van to go and see our girls’ finding spots, but they quickly realized that we wouldn’t all fit in the van.  Instead, they gave the list to Li Ping and Bruce, and we went on the bus to the different locations.  Mary Joyce’s finding spot was in a local square.  She was on the verge of falling asleep, so she and I stayed on the bus while Chet got off to take pictures.  Even though I didn’t get off and just looked through the window, it was a very emotional experience.  Just the thought that someone could leave this precious little girl there just breaks my heart.  On the other hand, they left her somewhere that she would be easily found and knew that she would be taken care of. After visiting all of the finding locations, we started back to Nanchang.  You know how the trip home usually seems to go more quickly than the trip out?  Not this time.  On the way out, everyone was snapping pictures and anticipating the trip.  On the way back, we were all tired.  We made it back, though, and are so glad we made the trip.   Jiangxi Scenery     Buildings in the Countryside   Local Tonggu Cuisine     Mmmmmm...Butterbeans!     117b Moms and Babies (Minus One)   Presentation of Gift     Girls at the Orphanage     Tonggu SWI   Tonggu Locals     It's been a long day...     Cooper's Funny!             This page hosted by