Ecuador Day 13

Today was a very important day. It marks the 6th anniversary of when this journey all began. I spent New Year's Eve 2005 in the hospital with Flor and that night changed my life and the life of my family. Here we are now, six years later, in her home country adopting her. Wow.

Today was also special in that we got to return to SVP, the orphanage where Flor was residing (when not in the hospital) during my time here. SVP holds a large corner of my heart. I learned a lot of lessons there and have many wonderful memories. The experiences there changed my perspective on life and I hope have helped shape who I have become. I was so excited to go, yet when we got into the car and started driving, I started feeling really nostalgic too. Just driving there and taking the same route that we would take every single day for three months was enough to make me a little bit sad.

We were able to go with the Broaddus family to the orphanage, which was so great. Their Alison spent her first two years at SVP as well.

See this? It means nothing to most of you, but it is a sight we would see daily on the drive. This right here is what I think of when I think of Quito. Houses built into a hill.

And here we are! SVP. So meaningful to me. We were greeted by Sor Mayra, who was so gracious and kind. She took us on a tour of the orphanage and walked us around as we gave handmade prayer bears to each of the children in the casas. The Broaddus family had 49 of these bears, which we delivered to each of the children. It was very special.

The nuns requested that we not take any pictures of the children, so that is why they are missing. Here is the play area there-- it seems to have been added to since I was there!

SVP has two dogs. Jace was loving them. Flor, not so much!

This dog's name is Ashley, which I thought was funny. I told Stephanie that one of the most famous "chicas de OSSO" is Ashley and that I bet they named her after her. No sooner had I said that than Sor Mayra told me that she was named after "Chica de OSSO Ashley" haha! Ash, did you know you have a dog named after you?

Famous little hill at SVP. Flor and I...6 years to the day from when it all started. Love it.

The kids, Devin, and Stephanie swinging while we waited for the casa kids to finish their lunch. We sort of came at a bad time as the kids were eating and the babies were all asleep. But, we stayed long enough to be able to see them when they woke up.

During the time we were delivering the bears to each of the casas, I was looking anxiously into the face of each child who appeared to be 6-9 years old (ish) to see if they were one of my "babies." Most of the children in the casas were between 3-5 years old, but there were a few older. In one casa, I immediately spotted a face that I knew. M. Our sweet M! She always reminds me of my friend Beth, as she would always sing to her a song by the Beatles. I was so excited to see her! She is so big, but looks the exact same. She is 8 years old now. She talked to me for a minute and I explained to Sor Mayra and the nun in her house that I remembered her from my time here. Sor Catalina gave me permission to take a picture with her, which I did, but I won't post here as Ecuador has privacy laws regarding orphans pictures being posted. Suffice it to say, seeing M made the trip for me. She seems to be happy and doing well! I was also happy to not see any of the other kids as it most likely means that they have returned to their birth families or have been adopted, which is great news!

After the tour of the casas, we went into the nun's offices to unload the donations we brought. Thank you all who gave things for the children, the nuns were very grateful! We were waiting for the babies to wake up in the cuna, so spent some time talking to Sor Catalina. She is the only nun I recognized as she has been there since I was there. She was so friendly and so talkative! She remembered both Alison and Flor, which was great. She is actually the one who dictated Flor's Report of Adoptability to the Judge in 2008 when Flor was declared officially abandoned and available for adoption. I don't know if she remembers that much, but we have the report now and I just read it the other day. I thought it was interesting that she was the one who dictated it as Flor moved out of SVP in 2006.

Sweet Sor Catalina with Flor. Flor was about done at this point as it was way past her nap-time. Can you tell?

Sor Catalina thought that Jace was just "so cute!" and she wanted to hold him. Pretty soon, she disappeared with him and then returned empty handed. She just raved on and on about how cute he is and about how "sociable" he is. She then led me into a back room, where she had left him with two other nuns, (Sor Alba in the front, can't remember the other's name) as they too thought he was so cute. We got the "he resembles a doll!" comment repeatedly too. Oh Jacer, such a stud. He is getting quite the attention on this trip! They couldn't believe he is only 10 months old as he is "so fat!"

We then were led upstairs into the cuna. My heart nearly stopped beating, I was so anxious going in. I can't honestly describe the feelings I have for this place.

Hallie in the hallway of the cuna.

Sala Tres playroom- which has been updated quite a bit since I was there!

Sala Dos playroom- also updated with new toys and stuff. Probably good since it has been six years since I have been there!

This is Naomi, one of my favorite workers. Well, let's be honest, my favorite. So I was really happy that she was still working there and that she was on shift that day! She too loved Jace. She also ooohed and ahhhed over Devin and told me how "guapo" she thinks he is. She was very impressed with my choice in spouses. :)

Naomi put Jace in the kids' swing outside and though it was rather hilarious because he is so big in there.

This is Fabiola, another one of the workers who has been there since I was there. I didn't get a picture of Austellia, darn it. She is so sweet. All the workers also remembered Flor and Alison. Fabiola asked if I knew that Flor has special needs before we got here to adopt her. I assured her that I knew that even back 6 years ago when I was with her at SVP. Naomi was particularly cute with Alison. She must have some fond memories of her. I was really surprised actually that they all remembered Alison and Flor. I mean, really, how many kids do you think they have seen go through there in their days? Too many to count!

SVP also got this new ball pit! Fun! Flor liked it. She particularly liked to throw the balls.

We stayed just to see the kids waking up from their naps. I helped in Sala Dos for a minute until the OSSO volunteers arrived. That was really special for me. Hallie came in with me and went from crib to crib as the babies were waiting to have their diapers changed and would say "hi baby! It's okay baby! You are okay!" even though none of them were crying. It was cute of her. We talked to some of the OSSO volunteers for a minute-- first day for some of them!-- and then made our exit as our kids were super tired and we were just adding chaos to the cuna with all of our kids.

On the way out, we went to say goodbye to Sor Catalina and found her outside with the casa kids dancing like crazy to Lady Gaga, which was blasting through the place. It was hilarious. I remember from my time with OSSO that we had the nuns and workers over to our house for a party one night and Sor Catalina was a crazy dancer (ha, look, I even have a post about it!). So fun. I said goodbye to Mishelle as well. She was really sweet and kept giving Hallie and Jace kisses when I told her they were my children. Flor was off robbing some child of his push bike at the time...

In honor of New Year's, the orphanage is even getting in on the burning of the doll action. They had a bunch lined up on the sidewalk that I assume they are going to burn, plus they had these three, plus nun, hanging out the window. Awesome. Alison accidentally knocked the nun out of the window when we were walking out of the cuna and then once downstairs picked it up and was playing with it. haha, oops.

Today was honestly so wonderful. This has been the best day for me personally since our arrival, minus the day we were reunited with Flor. Everything has just come a full circle and it was so perfect. I loved sharing the place that is so near and dear to me with my husband and my children.

On another note:

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!!!

with love, 

from the Perry family

Flor

Hallie

Jace 

                     (can you tell we had pizza for dinner? For celebrating the New Year, you know)

and Devin and Kim (Yes my hair is crazy. Just forgive me and move on)

We love you and are so grateful for all your love and support during this adoption process!