Said goodbye to Ahmu today

What a great day we have had so far. Shelby woke up all smiles and of course she had to be dressed up perfectly for her visit to the orphanage today. As you can see, she was in a great mood this morning and posing and playing for the pics. She let CJ feed her again this morning, yeah!


Then we were off to Yongning Social Welfare Institute. She fell asleep on the way there and her foster father met us immediately as we turned into the gate. He jumped inside the van and started calling her name and trying to snatch her from me. I had our guide ask him to back off a bit so she could wake up. She did wake up and then went to him. Then her foster mom showed up and of course Shelby preferred her and was so happy to see her. Her foster mom was very strong and did not cry or anything to upset Shelby. It was a wonderful experience! We asked a bunch of questions and just let Shelby sit with her and the foster dad who kept taking her with protest from her Ahmu. Her foster mom kept telling Shelby to come to me, but I told our guide to tell her that she did not need to come to me until we were ready to leave. Her foster mom really enjoyed seeing her again. Shelby played with her foster brother as well. As you can tell he has not been adopted yet as originally thought by my guide.


Of course it was eventually time to go and at the time we went to the van, Shelby's foster dad was holding her so I asked our guide to have him give her back to her Ahmu so that her Ahmu could be the one to finally hand her over to me. She did and of course we all cried but it wasn't terrible. Shelby broke down a bit in the van and had one of her short grieving episodes; however, it did not last very long. Shelby knows now that her Ahmu knows where she is and accepts her being with us. Her foster mom said that she had tried to prepare her by showing her pictures and telling her that she was going to go to America when we came for her. This visit was a good thing and I am so glad we did it. My heart and head were on straight before, during, and after the visit thanks to all of the BTDT parents who commented and helped me prepare accordingly.


After the visit, we went to McDonald's for lunch-again. And then we went to Wal-mart for a few things and back to Parkson's which is where they have this indoor playground that the boys played on a few days ago. This time, however, Shelby played too! (Lori-she is ready for our favorite place :) She has really started to come out of her shell and she is starting to trust us more and more. She played and laughed and giggled in the playroom. She even let me go outside the playroom area and sit and just wait for her.

I do feel that the visit to her Ahmu gave her a bit of closure and assurance that she needed to be OK with her new family. Thank you to everyone who have wished us well and sent comments and gave tips and ideas and of course a special thanks to anyone and everyone who has sent up an extra prayer for us during this amazing journey. His Hands are truly all over our family!