Our Visit to Zhongshan

Not sure whether to title this post "Visit to the Orphanage" or "Invasion of the Body Snatchers".  I guess both apply.  We started the day yesterday by having Emme's TB test read and then headed out for the 1.5 hour trip to the orphanage.  She was her usual quiet self, and slept most of the way.  Now, I was really unsure about this trip and how it would affect her.  I was nervous.  I prayed a lot.  So, when we arrived and she tried to scurry off my lap to get out of the car, I had a lump in my throat.  She was glad to be back.  Naturally, I spent the entire time wondering if she would be willing to leave with us, or if we had made a mistake in coming.  We headed to all of the rooms she had spent time in, and met all of her friends and caregivers/teachers.  Everyone was excited to see her and she seemed excited to see them, but I could see something going on in that little mind of hers.  Like she belonged but didn't.  She would visit and hug and pass out lollipops, and then return to us.  Our final stop was the room where she slept, where her buddies were getting ready for their naps.  We hung out for awhile, giving hugs and being silly.  I didn't want to leave. Somewhere deep inside me I was frantically trying to figure out a way to take them all with us.  Finally, we had to leave, and Dong Yi did fine.   We briefly visited the hospital where she was found and headed out of town.  That's when the body snatcher part of the story begins.  Somehow, our quiet, shy, reserved little girl became a wild woman.  W-I-L-D.  She was laughing and squealing and quite frankly, a bit hard to control with no car seat.   I can't believe our driver didn't pull the van over.  Lol.  After we returned to the hotel, she took her nap and woke up happy for the first time since we got her.  She was more comfortable in our room.  She talked a bit more. We ended our evening with dinner and some time at the playground where she repeated her performance as a wild child, much to the dismay of the Chinese grandparents at the park with their sweet little grandchildren.  Honestly, it was like watching a repressed little soul be freed from captivity, perhaps testing how far the freedom would go.  Or, maybe she's just plain naughty..hahaha!  Either way, I think that today, in some small way, she choose a family.