"IZZIE"

(Okay, this is really one of the nicknames given to a child that just does NOT fit!  Yuck!)

Monday morning after finishing a brief (way too brief because I could have stayed in any room with kiddos for HOURS) tour of the several rooms in the Children's Welfare House, we were taken outside to the playground to meet more kids!  Music was playing, and I couldn't help but start dancing as we walked out to join the older children's morning exercises.

After organized aerobics (which I failed at just as horribly in Chinese as I do in English), FREE PLAY TIME!!!  So much fun just beginning to get to know all these larger than life personalities!  With my camera ready, I snapped pictures in between all the fun and activity.

One of my first photos was of little "Izzie"

The Assistant Director came over to share with me more about "Izzie" because she was one of the children on my list from AWAA.  Visibly you can tell by her facial features that she is blessed with an extra chromosome, Down's Syndrome.  She also had a heart condition, not uncommon for children with Down's Syndrome, but it has already been repaired with surgery, Mrs. G. assured me.  Though Mrs. G. shared that she is not yet talking, "She is very smart!  She listens and understands everything.  She is a good girl.  Would make a very good daughter."

 

After our after lunch rest time, we returned to watch the children entertain their guests by singing and dancing and even a martial arts presentation.  Little "Izzie" danced in two numbers.  

LOVE that big bow on this sweet princess!

She was so intense and focused.  She watched the nannies who sat up front to help lead the little ones.  

This is some serious bell ringing!

 

 

("Izzie" is downstage on the far right of the video)

We loved every minute we got to spend with "Izzie" throughout our week at the orphanage.  She was always timid and shy around these strangers, but we witnessed her close relationships with her nannies and caretakers.  

In the Angel Room, she played happily with her friends as one of the "big kids" with the mobility and dexterity to play all around the room while tiny ones received muscle exercising therapy from nannies and nurses on staff.

Mrs. G. is so right! 

 "Izzie" is a beautiful daughter who is just waiting for her family to come bring her home!

At lunch one day, I shared a video clip of my own daughter's softball league from a local news report.  

Mrs. G. had expressed concern about what life would be like for these "disabled" children from the orphanage who are adopted by American families.   She wanted to know how our "government' would take care of them when they reached adulthood.  As she shared about the hopeless state of so many children we never met who are bedridden, in wheelchairs, and unable to care for themselves, my heart broke.  Children without hope filling Chinese orphanages can live such fully lives surrounded by the love of family and friends here in the U.S.!  Special Olympics programs, schooling, therapy, and medical interventions throw open a world of possibilities!  

According the AWWA's most current information about "Izzie" - "She is designated by the CCCWA as a special focus file and is from one of our agency’s orphanage partnerships. She has a very detailed file and a family at any stage of the process is eligible to review her file."