Family of Three...or Four, sorry Ruby!

Woke up early again this morning, nervously ate some breakfast and packed up Wi's little book bag to bring with us to the orphanage.  We were not too sure what to expect other than there would be another family staying at the same hotel that would be going over with us...other than that, nothing, not one idea of what was in store.  After getting everything ready to go we headed down to the lobby to wait and saw another couple walk up carrying large bags of stuffed animals.  John looked at me, shrugged his shoulders and said "Probably, go for it."  So I walked over asked Songkhla Children's Home? and ending chatting with the nicest couple from Switzerland!  He is German, she is from Cambodia and they were waiting to meet their little girl for the first time.  The van picked us up and all of us very anxiously rode to meet our children.  Upon arriving we were whisked off to Wi's house again where he met us with big smiles!!!  There are a few little boys in his house that knew we were Wi's Mae and Pao and they also gave us big smiles and wai's, really adorable!  We hung out with some of the nannies again, said many tearful goodbyes - I cannot tell you how much they love these children, so touching to see, ate lunch and back to the main admin office we went.  On the way out of the door from his house he stopped and ran back to grab something from his cubby and came running back out with a big smile clutching a little stuffed elephant that we sent to him in the fall of 2008! Let me tell you, that elephant has been L-O-V-E-D!  Around the house there were other toys that we recognized and the nannies pointed them out to us and told us they were going to get the rest of his things together for him before we left.  Once back in the admin office, we signed some paperwork (not too sure what it was, but the airport accepted it) asked a few questions about Wi and what he likes, questions about his background, but there was a bit more of a language barrier than we had anticipated so unfortunately we were not able to get too much info on his past, we did find out though that the Director feels that it is very important to get the kids out in the world so he has been on field trips to the zoo, the beach and airport!!!  Took some more photos with Kuhn Suda and Kuhn Jampi and went back to his house to say goodbye and collect his things.  By the time we made it back though, it was nap time and the doors were shut so we were not able to do those things.  The other couple (they would bring their daughter home the next day) and the three of us got back in the van and went back to the hotel.  The woman we were with told us that she was speaking with Kuhn Suda and she told her that she is very happy when the children get a good home and will have a good life, but she loves each child as her own and is sad to say goodbye.  Then I cried, I guess it was about time, I held up as long as I could :) I am just so sad that his whole world is turning upside down and we have absolutly no way to communicate that to him, I am sad at how terrifying that must be and all he has to go on are his instincts that he can trust us.  Back at the hotel the little trooper grabbed his book bag and marched right on in with us holding our hands.  It was waaayyy past nap time at that point but we figured better late than never and laid him down.  He had one minor tiny meltdown when he looked around and did not see his bed but let us pick him up and fast asleep he went.  We pent the rest of the afternoon rather quietly just hanging out together and ate dinner at the hotel.  Another unfortunate thing is that even though the social workers at the orphanage said they wrote down his schedule and likes and dislikes, we did not get that so going forward should be interesting!  Bed time was a breeze and all we can hope is that tomorrow goes just as well...please wish us luck as we make things even harder on the little one as we get on a plane back to Bangkok!  Talk to you from Bangkok...
Love,
Nancy and John

Heading into the orphange, King's BDay preparations

Wi's first house - building #21 (I think, they told us in Thai!)

Nanny who LOVED Wi!

After paperwork with Kuhn Suda, Director

Kuhn Suda, other family, the Badalamenti's, and Kuhn Jampi, head Social Worker