Friday already???

Wow, it's hard to believe this was our seventh and final day at the orphanage. Today the kids and the team all seemed a bit tired, but not too tired to party! The morning began with getting all the kids into new clothing and shoes, which is no easy task, but they all looked great, and everyone had something that fit:)

Wu Jia Wei being tutored by Juan

They giggled when I handed them photos of us from last year. Now
I will have to take this one for next trip:)

"sweet" Jing modeling some new clothing

Jared and I had a fun conversation with Feng Hua. She was
laughing and correcting him at his attempts to speak Chinese.Her
memory for spelling english is awesome. We taught her the meaning of
"awesome" and she could spell it hours later.

After our typical walks and playing in the morning, we made dumplings alongside the nannies and some children to help prepare our lunch. It was a lot of fun, and tasted wonderfully too.

dumpling "rookies"

Jared was so proud of his dumpling baby

Some of the kids helping

The nannies were impressed by Anna's skills

Following lunch the school kids came by for the party. They have all grown so much, but definitely remembered us this time. We did a few crafts and played around before the party began. Chen Yer decorated a visor with stickers and some Chinese writing, then sweetly brought it over for me to wear. Our guide Steve told me it meant "happy" or "peaceful life." There were three beautiful cakes for the party, as well as mangoes, bananas, and apples. You wouldn't believe how much the kids can put down! The director had one girl recite a poem, another sang a song, and three nannies danced for us.

Chen Yer made this visor for me

So much fun to share!

"Happy Birthday sweet children..."

Me and my lunch buddy. The food was awesome!

I have always loved this precious boy. Always so serious but
gentle and concerned for the little ones

I can't remember this girls name, but she made a visor for Pam

Some of the sweet older boys decorating their visors

Then came the difficult time of saying goodbye, which is always so tough to do. A couple of the older children understand what is going on, which is rough. But leaving them with memories and hope is a wonderful gift for us both. There are some wonderful things planned for when we are gone, and I hope to be able to post updates on those things at a later date.

Hoping he has a family by this time next year

Saying goodbye never is easy

Until next year...

Tomorrow we fly back to Beijing, but leave Angela here. She and Sa return to the orphanage in the morning to begin training the nursing students, so there is no rest for them! Speaking of rest, my eyes are slamming shut as I am typing this, and I have a flight to catch in the morning, so I am signing off. Hopefully you can see photos soon.