Henan Museum and Orphanage Tour

Henan Museum

Ty's nanny at ZZ SWI

All the fun at Swallow's Nest.

Sorry for the lack of pictures. It has not been the best day for us in downloading pictures to Blogger. Not sure if it is us, or the blogger issues. We have tried 5 times, including a slide show, so this is all you get.

It has been an emotional and grateful days. We visited Ty's orphanage in ZZ on Wednesday and Swallow's Nest, his foster home today. We have been able to piece more of Ty's history together and our heart breaks for this little guy. He has had more transitions in his 16 months then we would ever hope for. The good thing is, this little man goes with the flow which is a great survival technique. Ty spent the first 2 months of his life at Zhengzhou Social Welfare Institute (ZZ SWI), then was transferred to an orphanage in Kaifeng since he was being sponsored by Love Without Boundaries (they like to keep the kids they sponsor together) for his cleft lip surgery where he spent a year, then was transferred back to ZZ SWI for a month before Pam got him at Swallow's Nest in July. Then he was placed in our arms on September 16th, 2008. The madness stops. Please don't be offended if we do not let you hold Ty or babysit him for a while. Ty needs to know WE are his parents and WE will NEVER leave him. Ty needs stability in his life and our time here in China is not stable. In a couple of days, we get on an airplane ride and go to Guangzhou where we will be in another hotel with new people, new smells, new food.

While we were hesitant to take Ty back to his orphanage and foster home, we have seen incredible changes in him just tonight. Visiting these places I think made him realize that we are his parents and he is not going back. We have stayed in the hotel for the most part of the afternoon/evening with the exception for a walk in a nearby park after his nap. Ty played and played with his diapers, empty coke bottles, a flashlight, the remote control...seeking our help in figuring out how they worked and making simple games out of objects. He laughed, smiled, cooed and was talking away while pointing at objects in the newspaper. He is truly coming out of his shell. His body is becoming stronger by pulling himself up on objects throughout our room, crawling across the room (he would always stay in one place before), and walking with assistance. Before, he would take about 4 steps while I would hold his hand and then sit down. Tonight, he walked from our bed to his crib which was probably 20 steps for him! It is amazing to see the progress each day! He amazes us. Troy calls him a "soldier".