On Wednesday we made a visit to Eli's orphanage, the Zhengzhou City Children's Welfare Institute. It was one of the saddest things I have ever seen. So many children without parents. Sam and I were a little concerned about how going back would affect Eli but he didn't seem to have a reaction either way towards this place. There is a little confusion about how long he was living in this orphanage versus being in foster care. Our adoption agency told us he had been in foster care since last October, but the orphanage told us he had only been in foster care for one month. Either way this orphanage is where he spent the majority of his life before he became part of our family. 

This is the outside and Sam talking with the orphanage director and our guide, Vivian. 

While waiting to go inside he figured out how to give kisses and has been giving tons since!

This is the room that Eli spent most of his life in before being adopted. This is called the Lily Orphan Care Center and the room is funded by our adoption agency, CCAI. There were two rooms to the care center, one for tiny babies and one for older babies. He was in this older baby room with about 5 other kiddos. This is considered the "nicer" part of the orphanage. The heat was almost unbearable inside. No fans or air conditioning and it was about 95 degrees outside and probably the same inside. 

The babies were really quiet, mostly just laying on the floor, with a nanny sitting nearby. There were a few toys but not much. It is heartbreaking to think out son spent most of his life in here. 

This is the sleeping room and below is the crib Eli slept in. 

We were hoping to meet his foster family but that was not able to happen. The nannies in his room at the orphanage were very kind and interacted well with the babies. We were hoping to meet his primary caregiver there but it turns out they have about 20 nannies that rotate through so there wasn't any one that he was really attached to. They all seemed to know Eli but he didn't show any kind of recognition of the nannies or the orphanage. We were so glad Sam and I were both able to go and it wasn't traumatic for him. 

Then we headed out to the outside play area and garden area. 

This tall building in the back is where some of the foster families live on site at the orphanage. I am so thankful to China for taking care of our son but this is no way for children to live. They need loving families to bring them home and need families to support the different ministries that provide help to these orphanages. No children should have to grow up without families and we are so thankful God led us to our Eli.