Baotou

Today we made a 2.5 hour drive to Baotou.  Ivy was so awesome on the whole trip there and back.  She has spent the first two years of her life in the Baotou Social Welfare Institute.  Today was a hard day on all of us.  Ivy was very quiet when we got to the orphanage.  We wanted to visit the orphanage to gather any information about her life before we knew her to share with her later in life.  We know so little and cherish any little bit of history we can find.  Her nannies were very excited to see her and all wanted to hold her.  She let them hold her but quickly wanted back to her mama.  I can't even begin to tell you what this did for my heart.  I am so glad that she finds me as her comfort.  We found out also that Ivy was part of the Half the Sky program - which is some of the best news!  This means she had a consistent trained caregiver that responded to her needs.  It was the same caregiver we saw in all the videos we received before our travels to bring her home.  We received a baby book she made for Ivy with monthly updates and tons of baby photos.  This is so special and we cannot thank this organization enough.  Most international adoptive families will never have something this precious.  We also believe we owe them for how sweet this girl is.

http://halfthesky.org/en

We also visited Ivy's finding spot.  In China, it is illegal to give your child up for adoption, so many families abandon their children in public places in hopes that they will be found very shortly after.  I will not be sharing these photos.  This is her story and we need to respect her privacy.

Tomorrow morning we fly out to Guangzhou.  The US Consulate is located in Guangzhou which is at the the opposite side of the country.  We will be there for the next week to get her Visa to get out of the country.

She loves to be held and kissed.

She is happiest when I am holding her.

She loves to put her face against mine and lets out a big sigh.

At night she falls alseep needing to hold my hand.