Happy Birthday Nyah!

Today was Nyah's 2nd Birthday. We started the day going to breakfast, going for a walk in the park. The park had an amusement park of sorts in the middle of it. She got to ride on some little rides. She through a whopper of a fit when we left. WOW! I think she is used to getting a bit of her way when she does that. It was lovely. We had all kinds of Chinese people looking at us while we walked out of the park.

We then went to McDonald's for lunch and an ice-cream cone. We went shopping in the mall and went home for a nap. When we got back to the hotel there was a beautiful cart in our room. It had candles, cake and a rose. The cake said happy birthday. Our guide said that the adoption agency set it up. So nice! We took a nap first and then celebrated by having the cake.

More pictures to come.

A New Day For Nyah

Nyah woke up to a better day.

She slept with the orange all night and made sure she had it in the morning.

We left it in the room for breakfast and she did fine all day with out it. She still insists on wearing her shoes, even during nap time.

Nyah's Finding Place

Nyah was found on the side of the street next to a shop. She was found with "old, cotton clothing." She was probably from a poor family. It was winter and she was not very warm. She was picked up by the police in the morning and then, taken to the orphanage at that time.

She was 3 months old.

Top 10 Worst Experiences

Well, where to begin. Today we arrived in Xinyang at around 12:30. Our first mistake was that we did not insist on eating 1st. Nyah and Eric were very hungry. We arrived at the orphanage and Nyah's foster Mom was standing at the gate with a few more people. Her foster Mom immediately took her. Nyah was so glad to see her! It was a beautiful thing for them to see each other. We were able to walk around the orphanage. I have to say that they obviously love the kids. There are many women there to help take care of them.

The orphanage has about 100 kids, approx. 60 are babies. We were able to go into small rooms that have some toys, for the kids to play. The building is made out of cement with long dark hall ways and narrow rooms. While we were in the toy room one of the nanny's brought in a little boy who goes by the name Jou Jou, he slept in a bed next to Nyah. He is also missing his right hand. They said that Nyah and Jou Jou looked a lot a like and have the same problem. They said that maybe we could have a boy in the family. I was little shocked but smiled and said hello to the boy. He is cute and has just entered the system.

Then we went to see where Nyah slept. We passed a couple of baby rooms, the babies were laying down for their nap times and there were approximately 20 babies in each room. When we walked into Nyah's room there were so many little ones. (I am not emotionally able to talk about all the babies yet.) I knew it would be hard for me to leave them once I was there...and it was.

We were able to visit with Nyah's Nanny. I could see quickly that Nyah was going to have a hard time and didn't want to draw things out for this reason. However, we took the Nanny and one of the workers with us to see Nyah's finding place.

Following that we decided to take Nyah's foster Mom back to the center before we had lunch. She had already eaten and I really wanted to go.

As we were getting ready to leave, Nyah freaked out. She screamed, kicked and kept calling for her Mama. We hugged the nanny and left. Nyah cried and screamed for over an hour. She was devastated! Never has my heart been so broken for another person. She was truly filled with grief. I never should have taken her. I guess she did something similar when leaving and being brought to us. No wonder she was so quiet and reserved the 1st day we got her.

Nyah was given an orange to hold by her nanny while we were at the center. She held it for the 4 hour drive and freaked out if she dropped it. She is still holding it in her crib, in her sleep.

The following 3 hours of our drive, she was almost comatose. She was either crying or laid there starring out the window. My heart breaks just thinking about it!

Thankfully she seemed to snap out of it the last hour of our drive. She started smiling again, eating and playing. She still struggles and as I said she won't take her shoes off (the ones she got at the orphanage). And, she's still holding her orange.

Of course, there is much more to say but I will wait until I get home.

Thanks for your prayers today, they were very needed!

Tomorrow is Nyah's 2nd birthday. We are going to go back to the park and McDonald's to celebrate. Also, the hotel is giving her a piece of cake to celebrate, Sweet!

Love you all,

Mel

The Longest Day of Our Lives!

We began the day driving to Xinyang. It took 4 hours to arrive. We were excited for this day and enjoyed the scenery. It is a very rural area into a very poor city.

Here are the pictures.

Nyah and Her Stroller

Nyah loves her stroller. We bought it yesterday and she now wants to be in it all the time. Here she is playing in it. This morning she woke up and pointed to her stroller...she wanted to sit in it immediately.

Nyah's 1st Smile

Yesterday, Nyah smiled and laughed for the 1st time.

She is incredibly cute!