Visiting the girls' orphanages was so sweet

Lian's orphanage is fairly small, just 90 kids or so.  When we walked in, they had a big banner up saying "Gu Yi Lian Welcome Back Home" - really sweet.  So many nannies remembered her.  Two nannies had retired, but made a special trip in to see Lian.  Lian's favorite nanny was also there, which was wonderful.  The orphanage director is the man standing next to Eric - we have lots of photos of him with Lian and she spoke fondly of him.  Her favorite nanny is next to me, wearing a black sweater.  The other two nannies (in pink coats) I recognize from Lian's photos - she spent a lot of time with them.  The nanny on the far right pulled out her phone and showed me photos of Lian from years ago - she's kept them on her phone all this time.  Also, I had made photo books on Shutterfly and sent them back - she'd taken photos of each page and had those stored on her phone too.  It was clear that Lian was very much loved there.

We were invited to stay for lunch, and they prepared a feast for us - so many different dishes, and it was all delicious.  We had a lot of time to ask questions of them, and for them to ask questions of us.  She showed off her gymnastics skills, and they were so thrilled to hear that she is healthy and doing well in school.  Due to the bird flu outbreak, we weren't allowed to interact with any children, but it was wonderful to see her nannies - and to have so many of them return to see her!

After Lian's orphanage visit, we went to an old water village on the outskirts of Shanghai.  Harmony stopped us at this bridge and suggested a photo (our guide translated) - so we obliged.

Today we went to Medora's orphanage.  The Shanghai orphanage is much much larger - about 500 children live there.  The nannies tend to turn over more quickly than Lian's orphanage, so we didn't hold out much hope that anyone would remember Medora - it has been almost 5 years.  But we were so lucky - several nannies have been there for a long time and remembered her.  This nanny is the one who brought Medora to meet us on gotcha day.  We toured the orphanage, but couldn't interact with the kids due to the bird flu.  They gave Medora a pin with the orpahange's logo and a DVD about the orphanage.  And - this is the best - they gave us a color photo of the day Medora was found.  The earliest photo we have of her!

Well, tomorrow we start the journey home.  It sounds so simple ... depart Shanghai at noon on Wednesday and arrive Denver at 5 PM on Wednesday.  If only it were that easy!!!!