Visiting Her Finding Spot

THe first picture above is Sophia's finding spot. This is the spot where her birth mother placed her so that someone would find her and care for her. I am so thankful we got to visit because it gives us another little picture of her past. The place she was left was at a Children's Care Center. It is a place that was established by a doctor from Europe to care for orphaned children. This was not the orphanage that she stayed at because of her medical condition but knowing that her birth mother left her here shows how much she wanted her to be taken care of. THis was a very secure, clean and beautiful campus. We got to walk around some and you could tell the children were well cared for.

On Tuesday when we were back at the orphanage, I had stayed in the car while Sophia slept. While everyone was inside, I got to see something that most probably don't get to see. A car pulled up in front of us and two police officers got out. Once got a box out of the back and the other opened the door for a woman carrying a baby. The baby could somewhat hold its head up, while the woman carried him in, on her shoulder. I am pretty sure the woman was a social worker, and the box was this little babies cradle as it waited for someone to find it. So as one little girl finds her forever family, another little one becomes part of the system.... my heart just breaks.

Now on to the positive side of adoption: Sophia is also getting closer to Russ. As you can see she will let him carry her. And tonight after her bath, she sat on his lap while we watched some TV. We almost made it through the day with no tears. At dinner time, she started to tear up. She was very tired and it was rally a boring day for her ( a little shopping and a lot of packing). I think she is realizing that we are leaving this place tomorrow and she does not really understand where we are going. But holding her helped the tears and she just cuddled the rest of the night.
Again improvement each day. Today we went to a mall to try to get her to pick out some cloths. SHe does not want to wear what we brought so we thought she could pick something out and that would be ok. She was ok with picking out and outfit but was very particular on what she wanted. We found a skirt that she tried on and it was a little too big. She measerued how big it was and went out to tell the saleswoman so we could get the right size. She can take care of herself, that is for sure. When she finally picked one out, I asked if she could pick out one more. SHe told our guide that two was too much, she did not need any more. OK she did not need any more but I wanted her to have more especially since we are going to Guangzhou where it is still very hot and she had 2 pair of pants and one shirt. So we got her to get a pair of shorts and a skirt with two tops. Success!

Tomorrow we head off to Guangzhou. Since she gets car sick, so I am wondering how it will be on a 3 hour plane flight? We are sad to leave the town she has called home for 5.5 years but we are ready to move forward with the next phase of her life. We feel like we are stuck in neutral right now and are looking forward to getting our entire family together - all 7 of us!