The Day We Became A Family
On Wednesday Nov 22 at 6:30am we were anxiously sitting in the hotel lobby with the other couple waiting for our facilitator to pick us up. Couple No 3 were already in the van, and just as jittery and excited as we all were to finally be heading to Tuyen Quang Province to meet our children. Tuyen Quang is approx 100km NW of Hanoi. Fairly close to the borders of Laos and China. The ride was somewhere between 3-4hrs through some very remote parts of the country. Lots of lovely countryside surrounded by mountains.
All of a sudden the van turned off of the pavement, and we were on a long dirt road with nothing on either side but heavy trees. We had made it! Our first stop was at the orphanage directors office for a brief meeting with him. While there he gave us a warm welcome and then told us (through a translator) a little about the orphanage and the children residing there. He then said that it was time for us to head down the road to the area where the children were.
We walked down the road and though the gates to the Tuyen Quang Social Welfare Center. The orpnanage grounds had 3 buildings that we could see, that were in a horshoe shape with the main entrance at the other end. In the middle of all the buildings were benches and trees with a small garden area. I dont know what I was expecting. Yeah, I do. I was expecting to see a run down, dirty building with lots of crying children. I was expecing to feel my heart sink for these children. But what I saw was what looked like a fairly new building with lots of opened windows. It was pale yellow with green shutters, and looked quite nice. Inside to our left was a bassinet with 5 or 6 newborn babies all in a row sleeping bundled up in hats and blankets. Then on the far wall, was a long row with a sort of wooden platform covered with rattan mats and blankets. This was were the rest of the babies lay. All of them in a row. The director said that there were 29 babies currently living at Tuyen Quang. All of them looked clean, well fed, and calm. Moving around them constantly were their nannies. They took care to pick up whoever started crying, feed whoever was hungry, or sit in the corner singing to whoever needed comforting. My heart did hurt for these babies, but it was filled with warmth as well. For these nannies, these angels in their blue uniforms, were working tirelessley to give everyone of them as much love as they could. They were giving these babies the best start in life that they possibly could. And it showed in each one of them, Bryan included. If you had met Bryan in Vietnam, you would have found him to be very happy, smily, giggly, calm and peaceful. Just a beautiful happy baby. We have the people of Tuyen Quang to thank for that, and we did thank them profusely for everything they had done for our children.
The entrance to Tuyen Quang Social Welfare Center
This is where we met our son for the first time
Going to that orphanage was such an amazing experience. It just goes to show that it isnt how many things you have in life, but how much love you have in your heart and how much of it you share with others. The conditions Bryan lived in were very sparse, but it was made up for tenfold in love.
All of a sudden the van turned off of the pavement, and we were on a long dirt road with nothing on either side but heavy trees. We had made it! Our first stop was at the orphanage directors office for a brief meeting with him. While there he gave us a warm welcome and then told us (through a translator) a little about the orphanage and the children residing there. He then said that it was time for us to head down the road to the area where the children were.
We walked down the road and though the gates to the Tuyen Quang Social Welfare Center. The orpnanage grounds had 3 buildings that we could see, that were in a horshoe shape with the main entrance at the other end. In the middle of all the buildings were benches and trees with a small garden area. I dont know what I was expecting. Yeah, I do. I was expecting to see a run down, dirty building with lots of crying children. I was expecing to feel my heart sink for these children. But what I saw was what looked like a fairly new building with lots of opened windows. It was pale yellow with green shutters, and looked quite nice. Inside to our left was a bassinet with 5 or 6 newborn babies all in a row sleeping bundled up in hats and blankets. Then on the far wall, was a long row with a sort of wooden platform covered with rattan mats and blankets. This was were the rest of the babies lay. All of them in a row. The director said that there were 29 babies currently living at Tuyen Quang. All of them looked clean, well fed, and calm. Moving around them constantly were their nannies. They took care to pick up whoever started crying, feed whoever was hungry, or sit in the corner singing to whoever needed comforting. My heart did hurt for these babies, but it was filled with warmth as well. For these nannies, these angels in their blue uniforms, were working tirelessley to give everyone of them as much love as they could. They were giving these babies the best start in life that they possibly could. And it showed in each one of them, Bryan included. If you had met Bryan in Vietnam, you would have found him to be very happy, smily, giggly, calm and peaceful. Just a beautiful happy baby. We have the people of Tuyen Quang to thank for that, and we did thank them profusely for everything they had done for our children.
The entrance to Tuyen Quang Social Welfare Center
This is where we met our son for the first time
posted by George and Chris | 7:53 AM
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