Our last days in Fuling were spent in the orphanage with more speeches welcoming our families and reassuring our children that they will always have a home there.

 

AnMei and her caretaker found each other and what a warm and heartfelt welcoming it was

And more nannies recognized her by her cute nose ... and a special gift for all the girls by Director Yang

                   

Many more speeches and a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new buildings with all the staff and families

            

More babies at the orphanage, while many are in foster care      

View from the orphanage    

And the last two days AnMe and I enjoyed walking around and discovering

Fuling very much.                                                          

saying Good-bye to many of our new friends and found Fu "sisters"

  AnMei and Caroline from Seattle

before we had to leave at 4:45 to Chongqing, Beijing and home.

          At the airport in Beijing with Kennedy, who is on her way to Texas

  We arrived in San Francisco at 12 am after a 24 hour journey and filled with many, many stories and experiences to digest.

   

        

Fuling

Nov. 26, 2008            Fuling

 

Fuling, AnMei's hometown is on the Yangtze River. The hotel was prepared for our arrival. 

We went to visit the old      orphanage, AnMei's first home, and saw the room in which her crib used  to be          .  

  

         

AnMei with her nannies and Director Yang, who has been in charge of the orphanage and is now retiring. All greeted her with hugs and seemed happy to see all of the children they once cared for on a daily basis.

                                     

At the new building we got to spend time with some of the babies and decorate one of the rooms with original art work by the big visiting children.

                                

Chongqing to Fuling

On our last day in Beijing, we visited CCAA, where all our fate was determined by staff who diligently compared notes and photos to make this perfect match. That is where in 2002 someone decided that AnMei belonged to us and that we were to become her forever family.  

Somewhere in one of these shelves is our file with our family photos, dossier and AnMei's early information. The files of all families who have adopted from China are kept and stored here.

After this visit the girls had a chance to participate in a calligraphy class and learned to write the character for FU which is part of all their chinese names and also the symbol for happiness. AnMei's chinese name is Fu De Yang. Most girls on this trip share the name Fu De.

 

And finally we arrived in Chongqing and stayed in the same hotel that we stayed at when we first met. AnMei sat in the chair that she drank her first bottle and fell asleep in on her daddy's lab six years ago.

Nov. 25 Chongqing

We visited the Pandas at the much nicer zoo, where the pandas have more space to roam and climb trees.  Then stopped for a group photo, where we became quite the spectacle for the day with many people stopping to watch us being filmed.  Afterwards we were invited to view AnMei's file at the CHongqing Adoption Registration Office and received her first baby picture.

In China

Our departure from San Francisco on November 21. AnMei was ready to get on the

 plane and has become quite the traveler.

We have arrived and already spent two very full days in Beijing and one full day in Chongqing. So much has happened in these past days that it is not easy to recount it all. Especially when it is late, AnMei is asleep and I am ready to go to sleep myself. 

The days have been long with many impressions, needing to be digested.

In Beijing, we were welcomed by the Minister for Adoption Affairs and all the children were received warmly, showered with gifts and got to be on stage to sing a song.

AnMei made many new friends fast and it is a joy to see all the children, mostly girls connecting so easily. It is apparent that they share a special bond with each other.

After the welcoming ceremony, we went to see the Olympic Venues

 

and visited the Great Wall of China. AnMei ran all the way up the stairs to one of the towers with one of her friends, and they were a LOT of stairs. And we can proudly say that we walked all the way up the Great Wall of China!

The next day Calligraphy class and flight to Chongqing and a very tired AnMei at the same hotel that we stayed in during our first few days together.

We're returning to China

AnMei and I will be leaving for our first return visit to where our wonderful journey began six years ago. On November 11, 2002 AnMei was placed into our arms at the Civil Office in Chongqing, China. And thus began our life as a family.

On November 21, 2008 a group of 50 families from all over the world are going to meet in Beijing to attend this special homecoming trip to China. We will meet in Beijing, spend two days there before flying to Chongqing and visiting Fuling, where all our lives changed forever.

The Social Welfare Institute of Fuling, where all our children shared their beginnings with each other and the wonderful caring staff, will be moving to a new facility at the same time as Director Yang will retire from her many years of caring for the many, many children. 

Our visit will be the last visit to the place that was our children's first home and a farewell to Director Yang. 

We are busy with packing and planning and revisiting old photos and videos from 2002 and preparing for our travels.