Keepin Up With The L.Perry Family 2: Orphanage Visit

Friday, January 11^th: We visited Lia’s orphanage today. I took several pictures of the orphanage itself but was only allowed to take pictures of 2 older girls…NO other children could be photographedL One of the order girls I did photograph was a 13 year old girl who has a family coming for her in just a couple weeks and the other was a 17 year old girl that “aged out” of the system. Apparently they were letting her stay and reside in the institute. She is lucky because not all orphanages would allow her to stay. Both girls have been rooming with Lia (Jing) the last couple weeks; after her foster family returned her to the orphanage. We were able to see a few baby and toddler rooms. I tried to talk to and touch all of the babies and even got smiles from a couple of them. The girls passed out candy canes to the toddlers. SO many precious, beautiful children without mamasL The orphanage was HUGE and we only saw a small part of the old building. There are several hundred children in the orphanage and several more hundred now in foster homes. The lady that gave us the tour said there are over a thousand kids total. It breaks my heart to see how these kids live out their lives day after day in these institutions. It was also a great reminder of why Lia is the way she is…on SO many levels. I asked for some baby/younger pictures of Lia. We were told they had noneL She was just another mouth to feed to them. She spent the first 8 years of her life there…before she entered the foster care program and not one person seemed attached, sad or happy for her. I just can’t understand… It is so easy to forget about all that are neglected and suffer when we don’t see it on a daily basis. I can’t bring them all home…we really do need to be done. Lia is going to need a lot of love, patience and guidance to be able to catch up with other American kids her age. Honestly…she might never get there. She had missed SO much…maybe too muchL I will do my best….but I also want to be realistic with my expectations. I think of my other adopted kiddos and even Lorelle (adopted at age 3) and Lilyan (adopted at age 1)…still have issued that I know are related to neglect and lack of attachment when they were very young. Lia has gone 13…almost 14 years without someone really caring about her, loving her and making sure she has what is best for her. Oh my word…how do these kids survive?!?! Prayers for the long road ahead and especially for all the kiddos I saw today whose futures are so very bleakL Also pray that the rest of our trip goes smoothly and quickly. Lorelle is especially having a hard time today. She is missing America, her friends and even school. She is especially having a hard time seeing all the street beggars and all the kids with visible special needs we saw at the orphanage today. Lilyan on the other hand is doing just fine…so farJ I miss my boys!!! I am SO ready for BIG squeezer hugs from Liam and LeviJ We are SO blessed!!