Visiting Kaitlyn's Orphanage

Yesterday and today were all about getting to visit Kaitlyn's Orphanage. The first step was to visit the Adoption Center for the Hunan Province. We went to the same room where we first got Kaitlyn and where we did all of the adoption paperwork. There was a nice speech by the Director and they gave the girls some gifts. There was another girl from our tour group that is from the Hunan Province. She is from an orphanage in Changsha, while Kaitlyn is from one in Hengyang.

Here is a photo of the two of them in front of a welcoming sign.

Here are Kirsten and Kaitlyn sitting the same seat where we first saw Kaitlyn. She was being held by her nanny.

The drive from Changsha to Hangyang took about 3 hours. Most of it through the country side. This is the first time we have really seen anything but city in China. Here is a photo of some of the rice paddies we passed.

Today is when we really got to go see the Orphanage. We were very surprised when they took us out of town. Even more surprised as the roads got narrower and eventually turned to dirt roads. Before we got to the orphanage we were driving on roads like below. It made us a little worried, but we arrived at a standard Chinese structure for the orphanage.

We were able to meet with Kaitlyn's Nanny. The one that was so attached to her when we adopted her. Here is a photo of Kaitlyn giving her a hug.
We had created a picture book of Kaitlyn growing up. Kaitlyn gave it to here nanny and we went through it describing each picture. The lady in black and white stripes is the nanny's daughter.

As we toured the orphanage and later went out to dinner, Kaitlyn and her nanny stayed very close. The nanny wanted to be very close to her. At lunch, she helped Kaitlyn eat and dished more food on her plate. We learned later that the nanny has worked in the orphanage for 30 years, since she turned 18. Also, before that she was an orphan herself and was raised in the same orphanage.