Day 7: Baking Cookies

When we arrived this morning, we played with the older kids and made cookies with them—snicker doodles. They were a hit! They don’t bake much here in China. Jennifer went shopping with Wendy (our guide) and someone from the orphanage yesterday to get the ingredients. They had to go to a bakery to get everything because they don’t sell baking ingredients at the regular grocery store. Also, their ovens were the size of a microwave, so we had to bake just a few at time. The assistant director loved learning how to make the cookies and said they will do it every day now!  It was a somewhat of a challenge to convert the measurements to the metric system measurement, but luckily Kim and Jennifer were the ones making the dough, so I didn’t have to do that math. That could have been a disaster had I had to that! I just got to help cut out shapes and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on the cookies. The nannies also wanted to sprinkle a green tea powder on some of the cookies. It was pretty good. Who knew? While playing with the big kids, the 12 year old, nicknamed “The Mayor”, took my hand and led me to a chair and told me to sit. He then went and got another chair and sat down beside me. He kept asking me to sing “wheels on the bus” again. Apparently, he loved that song! Soon, there were many kids around us wanting to sing. He didn’t appear to want to share the attention because he got up took his chair and moved it to the other end of the room. He then came and took my hand and motioned for me to get up. He picked up my chair and led me to the other side of the room next to his. And we sat. Again, he requested “Wheels on the Bus”. Love this kid! He is something else! At one point I was holding the three year old with Down syndrome (I don’t know his name, so I refer to him as “little bit” because he’s the only little one who’s always grouped with the big kids) and Lyn was trying to take our picture. The Mayor did not like that at all. He came over and photo bombed us! Little bit did not care for this, so he began pushing him away and pulling on his ear. The Mayor was so patient with him. He didn’t get angry or even push back. He just let him do it. Afterward, he pointed to little bit and tugged on his own ear, as if to tell on him. It was cute. Another time, little bit fell down and he went over to him to help him up. There appears to be a real connection between all of the boys. They all get along so well and are very kind to each other. I couldn’t help but think about the blogpost about him from a former team member that I had read just this morning. He’s 12. They “age out” at 14 here. At that time, they cannot be adopted any longer. That’s less than two years. He needs a family so badly! I hope and pray that someone will read my blog or Lara’s blog and see him and consider adopting him. He would be such an amazing addition to a family, I think. He has so many strengths and potential. He has been cooperative, well-behaved, and has such an easy-going demeanor every time we’ve seen him. He smiles a lot! He has a lot of leadership qualities. He appears to be smart and eager to learn. He’s always asking about the English words for things. This morning, as our picture was being taken, he pointed at the camera and said “Camera?” as if asking if that was the correct word. I think with the proper education, he could really thrive. He would be really good with younger kids, too, I think. Please won’t you share his story with everyone you know in hopes that someone might be willing to adopt him? After lunch, I spent the whole afternoon with my little guy with cleft lip/palate and Down syndrome. I was so excited to see him in the therapy room when I walked in. I haven't gotten to spend time with him all week since Monday. I learned he is two years old. He's tiny. I thought he was one. This little guy has my heart. He's the only one that I get emotional over. He's the one I am going to have a hard time leaving. How do I return to my life knowing what I know about this child. I am broken-hearted for this baby. He is not "paper ready", meaning he isn't even up for adoption. He probably won't ever be unless someone specifically requests him. There's so much that I can't even process, that I can't write. Tomorrow is our last day at the orphanage. We learned today that we will only be going in the morning. We are going to try and see about staying through the afternoon. I doubt I will get to love on him tomorrow because of all the activities planned for the morning. This baby needs prayers. Prayers for survival. For a family. For him to know he is loved. Here we are together.