Today Was a Gift

Today was a gift! A 10 hour round-trip journey gave us priceless information for our little girl.

We first visited the Longgang SWI in Shenzhen. Mia only spent the past 5 or 6 weeks there, but it was the stepping stone for other pieces to her history. We were able to read and photograph the police report of the circumstances of Mia being found. It brought tears to my eyes as our guide Connie was translating the details. We also got a couple of pictures of Mia from when she was little and were able to take a photo of a couple of pictures of her as a baby.

Another blessing of visiting of the orphanage was that we got to love on our friends little girl, Olivia, who will be coming home to our town in the next couple of months. :) What a sweet girl. All of the kids were in their beds for nap, but Mia ran into the room and yelled for Long Ping Huan. I was worried she would wake everyone up, but no one else seemed that concerned. They even let Mia pass out candy to each child's bed. (Davis's - I sent you an email update and pictures :))

We then went on to Buji to visit the kindergarten Mia had lived at since she was just a few months old. We pieced together the story of who ran the kindergarten and who took care of her. The kindergarten is a private one, and it was state of the art. The little classes of kindergartners in their plaid uniforms were beyond adorable. We observed some type of break time where they played music and all the children came out of their classes into the hallways around a 4 story courtyard and did action songs. They did a song similar to head and shoulders knees and toes and Teddy Bear Teddy Bear turn around. The songs were in English as this is a progressive kindergarten that teaches English to the little ones.

After this, we went to a park in Buji where Mia was found. It was a blessing to go to the park and take some memorial photographs. Next year they will tear the park down to build a subway station, so this was a one time opportunity to visit and photograph this place for Mia.

And then we went to the school where Mia has been attending since 1st grade. The security did not allow us in, but they were able to call her teacher out to come and meet us. Mia seemed happy to see her. And the kids in the school yard had fun saying "hello" to us in English through the gates.

Mia was obviously well taken care of and loved at each place we visited. She is very social and seemed to have many friends at each place, both grown up and young ones. She was happy to see familiar faces at each place. She didn't seem sad at any of her goodbyes, as if she isa ready to move on to the new chapter in her life that has already begun.

It is a precious gift for us to have these pieces of Mia's history. But as I type this, I think of our heavenly father who is not missing even one detail of her story. He has known her since before she was born. He has been with her every moment and in every place. I look forward to the day that Mia realizes and understands the depth of God's love for her. We are starting the small steps in that direction by showing her our love for her because of his love for us.

We have so many pictures from today, so I am going to put those in several different posts.