Things Happen in Threes...

They say things happen in threes. I guess our triple play was completed this morning. After yesterday's Aidan grumpiness and bathtub escapades, this morning I woke up to a loud POP. Seems Angie plugged in her hot rollers into the converter and forgot to change the setting to 1800w. She was in the shower and I got up to the POP and the smell of smoke. I unplugged the hot converter and immediately thought of the cameras, cell phones, and DVD player we would now not be able to recharge. The heck with hot rollers. Angie was not happy. Bad hair days halfway around the world just would not do. I guess the hair gods must have been with her because it appears she only fried the 50w circuit and the 1800w circuit still works. It was a good hair day!


Today, after getting the third incident behind us, was a very nice day for us. Despite Aidan having a little trouble sleeping last night, he was in a great mood all day. The group went to the orphanage, otherwise known as the Kunming Municipal Children's Home. We had a personal tour by a seasoned orphanage staffer and got to see the sleeping areas, eating room, restrooms, and recreation areas. Our children were all eventually with foster families, but spent their first few months in this orphanage. The few workers we interacted with remembered our kids and called them by name and spoke in Chinese to them. The facility, or at least the area we were allowed to see, was impressively clean, spotless in fact. Hard to believe this spotless for housing 600 children. Bottom line is that between ths facility and his foster family Aidan seems to have his priorites straight - eating.







An interesting thing about Aidan. He mimicks most things we do, and has brought with him a repetoire of things unexpected for a 21 month old. For instance, he already dribbles a soccer ball and catches it with good coordiantion. He uses a spoon better than many adults. He blows his own nose. When did you ever see a toddler do that on his own? He must have the potty training thing going on after what we saw during the bathtub incident. And here's one that is just wonderful to see. We were in the restaurant and he heard a local at another table hock up a big spitball and Aidan immediatley spit. Growing up on a farm must teach you all these things.

This afternoon we had the chance to visit the "finding site" where Aidan was abandoned. Others in our group had gone yesterday and reported back the unbelievable conditions of muddy roads and village squalor like you would expect in the worst third world image. The thought that a little baby was brought into the world in that area and left for abandonment really gets to you knowing what his/her life will be like in the USA. Aidan's finding spot was in front of a major hospital with manicured shrubbery and a clean courtyard. It was kind of anticlimactic after hearing the other stories, but we were able to record the site in pictures and video for our records. Wherever the babies are dropped off, it is truly sad that societal conditions make abandonment such a viable and real option. Somewhere in front of this hospital is the spot where Aidan was laid at age two months, in perfectly good health as far as the mother could tell, and a highly cherished boy for that matter. We will never know the real story behind it, but who cares at this point. His journey to be home with us is now almost complete. It is remarkable...

Later in the afternoon we took another walk around the local park. What was interesting today was the myriad of musical performers assembling in informal groups and playing songs that drew crowds to sing along and dance. Banjos, saxophones, traditional Chinese stringed instruments, and small drums were all used. The scene was something we would never see in the states. Cool.

Tomorrow will be a little shopping trip in the morning and then packing for a 6:30PM flight back to Guangzhou. It is amazing to think we have come this far in our adventure, but still a tough road ahead. One step at a time, I suppose. This may be the last blog post with pictures if I cannot get the White Swan computers to work with my thumb drive. But I feel that most of the important pictures have been captured and blogged and the rest of the trip will be survival mode just waiting and wanting to get home. I'll let you know more once we get settled back in Guangzhou.