Thurs, July 5

Today we got to visit the SWI where Madi is from. It was hard on everyone, especially Madi and her "Chinese Mamma" and I. But what we take from the experience is seeing how much she was loved, and pictures that will be so important to Madi in the future. We were able to take a bag of suckers and give theme to the children while we were there which was really fun to give to them. The children were happy, in classrooms doing music and other things you would find in a daycare. Here orphanage's nanny's are from an organization called "Half the Sky". It is a charitable organization that trains nanny's how to care for children where they are not only physically secure but emotionally also. They give much love and thank God that he put them there, not just for Madi but all the happy children we saw. When we get home we will post a link for their webpage. This would be a great organization to make donations to. I knew of them before, but I did not know that they had touched Madi's life. You may recognize from the pictures above that we also got to take pictures as a family in the exact same spots her referral pictures were taken. You can only see the top of the swing because we were giants standing next to it.

Picture 1 - Us and the one of the SWI directors.

Picture 2 -The lady in yellow is one of Madi's main Nanny's. She loved this lady and went to her, but did not want to stay with her. Wanted me or Daddy to take her back after a quick hug. You can see in the pictur something a little funny. She insists on wearing my watch...

Picture 3 -The lady in yellow is Madi's Chinese Mamma - the Nanny she loves so much. Madi was sobbing, I was sobbing, the Nanny was sobbing. This was the most emotional moment and I cannot describe it in a way to give it justice. This woman made us a little book with a few pictures and a note from her in the front. Our guide is translating that for us. It talks about how happy she is that she has such a warm friendly family but to not forget her and how much she loves her..Priceless !

I can't put any pictures of the children on the web page...

Madi is very headstrong - she is a daddy's girl when it is bed time and everyone else she wants to go away. I've also included a picture of her having her snack before bedtime leaning on Jeff and the look on her face is her look that means everyone else go away ! She wants me in cars and at meal time, but something about sleeping is all about Jeff since the 3rd day.

See you guys soon. We come home in 1 week. We are HUNGRY !