It’s our last night
in China, and we celebrated by going to hear the Old Jazz Band at the Peace
Hotel on the Bund in Shanghai. For our last 48 hours in China, we took a
nighttime cruise along Pudong and the Bund, visited a Childrens Art Palace, the
French Concession, the China Art Palace (Museum), Yu Gardens, Confucian Temple,
and had a beautiful meal at a contemporary vegetarian restaurant.
Sophie’s visit to her orphanage a few days ago was … emotional. We spent the
day visiting the children who live in the new orphanage building, visited the
old orphanage site, and the place where she was found at two days old. Then we
bought a new washing machine for the orphanage, plus some toys for the kids.
Sophie held and played with several of the babies and toddlers, all with
special needs (health issues) and her interactions with those kids touched her
very deeply. There was one small very sweet boy who we found laying in a crib,
who could not walk. She picked him up and gave him a kiss on the cheek, and
then he showered her with kisses and called her ‘sister’. She met a nanny who
had cared for her, the lady who chose her Chinese name, and the doctor who
examined her when she was found and brought to the orphanage at 2 days old.
They called her by her Chinese name – QinXin – which is now her middle name.
They treated her like a celebrity, a prodigal daughter, and everyone cried when
we had to say goodbye. It was really quite a profound experience. The director
was grinning the whole day, and made us promise to keep in touch. It was very
hard to say goodbye at the end of the day.
I will
write more about this on my blog.
We get home late Sunday night, and I’ll be back in the office some time Monday.
Thanks for joining us on this two-week journey to Sophie’s roots. In a few
weeks I’ll be flying to Tokyo to photograph the quilt festival there. It is my
honor and pleasure to be able to share these experiences with you. Thank you
for your support of our business and our charity program, which includes
donations to Altrusa to help orphans in China with health issues.
sharing your Passion for Fabric…
Luana and Paul
