Day 14

Day 14:  Today was quite eventful.  We hired a driver and van to take Ann (our guide) and ourselves to Qingyuan City about 75 miles away.   The drive to and from Qingyuan was a beautiful one that took us through the countryside on a bright, sunny day.  This is where Y's orphanage, The Welfare Institute of Qingcheng, is located.   It turns out that Qingcheng has a new director.  The assistant director and the caregivers are the same as when we adopted Y last year.   We missed the old Director since Y had a special relationship with him.  We brought with us the childrens' clothing we had purchased earlier and the gifts from our travel group (#46 – you know who you are), and presented them as a donation to the orphanage.   Additionally, once we reached Qingyuan City, we stopped at a roadside vendor and purchased fresh fruit (cases of grapes, apples and some melons) to add to the donated clothing.   After a rather long journey with bridge detours, getting lost and having to stop and ask directions at least four different times, we finally arrived (address: No. 5 First Alley, Huancheng Second Road, Qingcheng District, Qingyuan City).Their website is: http://www.qcqfly.gov.cn/index-english.htm   We were pleased to see that there were very few children present, approximately 15, including the two older girls.   They were very welcoming to all of us.  They were so pleased to be able to see Y again.  We were able to play with the children a bit and pass out candy (Y's job).   All recent adoptions have been domestic (though to date none have occurred this year) and at this time 90% are classified as special need (at least 3 cleft and 3 club feet).

Z's progress report: meltdowns are on the rise, however in between he is as adorable as ever!

After returning to Guangzhou, we went on one last shopping walk into town.  We had a great time exploring the alleyway shops, visiting our old friends at the Pearl shop, and spending down our Chinese currency.   Eventually we returned to the hotel, got the kids to bed, and then began packing.  We're off to the airport at 8:30am.   Guangzhou to Beijing to Chicago all in about 18 hours!