Finding Spot and Orphanage Visit

Today was a gray day. Fitting for our plans, I suppose. We left the hotel this morning and headed to the Suzhou Children's Hospital where Mollie was found. When we walked in, Mollie immediately went into her shell. Sarah was very concerned about her and wanted to leave immediately. I explained that there was no way she could actually remember the day she was left, but I did think that she could feel the sadness in her soul. Perry and I agreed- no need to linger here and ask questions about the exact spot; it was best for all of us to just move on.






We headed immediately to the orphanage. Mollie was happy and laughing in the van, but again went into her shell when we got out of the van and she saw the orphanage workers. We met in the office for awhile and then walked over to the orphanage. We were taken into a room with about 15 kids and they said it was Mollie's room. I'm really not sure what to believe, because much of what they've said about her time there doesn't add up for me. But if you believe what they told us, she has spent her time with this group of kids, most of whom were severely mentally disabled or had Down's Syndrome. The room was about 30x30, and 1/2 was filled with cots. There were no toys, and one tv. This is a picture of a group of kids who seemed unable to get up or interact at all. Heartbreaking.


Mollie sat in my lap the whole time and didn't talk to anyone. The nannies seemed very sweet and tried to joke with her but she wanted nothing to do with them. One nanny tried to take her from my arms but I held tight and told her "boo" (no). Maybe that was rude, but I wasn't letting my girl go. Abby did great and seemed unaffected by the disabled kids. She handed out dum dums to all the kids, even the ones on the pallet, and interacted with the nannies. Sarah sat beside me the whole time and cried a little.






We were able to meet a little girl whose mom I met on the Internet. She is precious, and the only other child in the room whose special need seems minor (leg missing from the knee down). She was smiling and laughing and seemed so sweet. There are 120 kids in the orphanage and we saw about 20, all in one room. I have no idea about the others. I probably should have asked more questions, but it was really hard to be there, I was worried about all 3 of my girls, and I didn't think we were getting straight answers anyway.


We left the room and were invited to lunch. On the way we stopped at the playground and I was able to get this awesome pic of Mollie on those slide steps again, but this time with her sisters. My favorite pic of the trip.


This pic was taken in front of the original orphanage gate.



Lunch was nice. There were only a few things we would eat, but it was enough. I almost had some of the "chicken soup," but when I saw one of the ladies pick up a chicken foot and gnaw on it, I lost my appetite.


We stopped at the restroom before leaving, and Sarah and Abby had to finally use a squatty potty. They were not pleased!
We were going to do a little Suzhou sightseeing, but it was cold, Sarah was done, and I had a migraine. So we drove back to nanjing.
There's more, but I'll post this and continue later.



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