Saturday was our last day to visit the orphanage. With the unpredictability of Haiti traffic, we couldn't take the chance on Sunday of trying to head out to the orphanage and get back for our flight in time. I checked in with some other adoptive mamas to see how they handled their last day. I wasn't sure if we should say anything at the start of the day to T or just wait until it was time to leave to explain to her that we would be going home. Consensus was to wait until the end of the day, which is what I figured. We didn't want to make our last day a sad day by telling her we were leaving at the start of the day. We wanted to enjoy the day and cherish as much as we could of it.
On the last day I took all of the outfits that I had packed for T and planned to give the bag to the Nannies for them to use for T or any of the other girls. There were 2t outfits left and some 3t outfits that were too big for her. I let T pick the outfit that she'd wear that day and she picked a little dress that was white with black polka dots and black and pink ruffles. I put the other clothes back in the bag and put them aside to give to the nannies at the end of the day.
We had a few older girls on the third floor balcony with us and T was going through my back pack with them. She was basically cleaning out whatever she could of "goods" that she could give the older girls. I couldn't quite figure out the relationship over the 15 day trip between T and some of the older girls. She seemed to give them a lot of things and I couldn't tell if she was freely giving it to them or if she was giving it to them because she had to due to ranking order. There were times when they seemed like they were being very caring and other times when it seemed like they were maybe just being bossy and telling her to bring them things. There is definitely a pecking order at the orphanage. It is hard to blame the older kids because they typically do not get the same level of attention that the littles get since there seem to be more littles matched with families than older kids matched with families.
At one point two of the older girls were sitting with T and I and started looking through the bag of extra clothes. They seemed to like one of the 3T outfits that I had brought for T. (It was one of my favorites too, but I didn't offer it as an option because I knew it would be too big.) They had said something in Creole to T. I think they were telling her that it was pretty (belle). Before long she decided that she wanted to change into the outfit the girls pointed out, because after all it had matching flip flops adorned with a pretty pink flower. The flip flops were also too big, but that didn't stop her. The shirt was a peachy orange color with a flowered bow on it. She had grabbed the matching pants/leggings which were white with pink and orange flowers. In addition, T decided the outfit needed a skirt to go over the leggings...a striped skirt with a completely different color scheme. It didn't match, but she rocked it anyway!
I know this blog is getting long, but it was our last day and it was a full day. Hang in there!
Early afternoon T wanted us to take her down to the swing set, so we headed outside with a friend or two in tow. I pushed her while Shawn made funny faces at her to make her giggle. She is clearly going to be fearless and will give us a run for our money. She started showing us how she can do "no hands" on the swing again. She thought she was pretty clever!
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| Look Dad - No Hands! |
Before long Misty shared that we had about 3 minutes before we needed to go. We headed down to T's room so that we could give the nannies the extra clothes and take a photo of where she sleeps, which is in a crib in the corner under a window. We headed back out of the room full of kids and nannies to try to say our goodbye without an audience. We sat down with T on the little picnic table outside her room and through our translator started to tell her that we were going to be leaving to go home. We opened the photo book that we had brought to leave with her and tried to explain where home was compared to where she is. We explained that we love her and that we would be back and that we love her some more. She cried harder than she had in the 15 days, it probably didn't help that I was also crying. It was hard, just as I suspected it would be. I don't know how much she understands, but I do know that she has seen other families come and go, so she does know that mamas and papas do come back.
I am thankful for those that will stand in the gap for all of the kiddos in waiting. Each family that is with our agency does whatever they can to make sure that our kids know that their families love them and have not forgotten them. Misty and David are the first post bonding family to do that for us since they are finishing out their bonding trip after we head back home. On Saturday and Sunday they were gracious enough to continue loving on our girl and they brought a lunch for her that we had left with them. They shared pictures and a video with us to show us that T is doing just fine. They even had her doing "the stanky leg"! Love these families that hold us up when things feel unbearable and praying for each one of them as they continue this crazy journey of adoption!
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