Unfortunately, because the kids remaining in the orphanage are disabled, he asked us to not take any photos or video. We were OK with that, but Love without Boundaries, who donated some of the blankets had asked if we could possibly get any photos of kids with the blankets. Sadly, that was not going to happen.

The video that I wish I had, however, I pray will remain engraved in my mind forever. As we entered one of the rooms with children, a woman shrieked and came running over to us. There was no time to get out the video camera and turn it on as she grabbed Benjamin and kept saying "Li Wa, Li Wa!" She clung to him and had the biggest grin on her face and tears in her eyes. What was even more touching and just made the tears flow for me was when he saw her, he too let out a shriek of recognition and laughed and grinned. He remembered her!

The vice-director had told us we would be meeting his teacher, but I hadn't expected much because when we adopted him we met his supposed school teacher. Since he had been profoundly deaf, he had sat in a classroom in their kindergarten learning nothing, and I didn't think he had much of a relationship with this teacher.

Well apparently, "teacher" this time had been lost in translation as what they really meant was we would be meeting his Ayi, or nanny who took care of him for the 2 years he had been in the orphanage. When we left with him 6 years ago I wondered if anyone there truly cared about him and loved him. They tried to pick him up on our visit 6 years ago, but he wanted nothing to do with them. We had already had him for two days when we returned to visit and he clearly did NOT want to return and he didn't have any language for us to explain that we were only visiting.

To see someone so excited to see him made me happy to know he had been truly loved while he was there. She kept reaching out to touch him, hug him, tousle his hair,and then at one point grabbed him and kissed him on the cheek. We were able to get some photos of them together, but oh how I wish I had their greeting on video.

I asked her if he was a naughty boy when he lived there and she grinned and said that he was very smart and very curious. She said he always wanted to take things apart and see how things worked, so it is clear he hasn't changed much.

We were able to see some babies and some children up to the age of about 3 years in a couple of rooms. They took us to Li Wa's former classroom and the dormitory where he slept, but he didn't remember it. It looks very different from when we visited before as it now has only a few beds. We do have a photo of his bed and room when we visited 6 years ago and he could point out his bed to me at the time, so I am glad we were able to get photos before.

Continued...