A last visit to the orphanage

Mom and Amisha with some of the resident dogs

Hey all!

Things haven't slowed down at all here in India.

Amisha woke up after a long night's sleep to be greeted by my groggy face looking at her from another bed. Understandably, she wasn't very happy. We think she's opened up a little from yesterday, though, because she was bold enough to let my mom know that the dress she had in mind wasn't to her taste, and she'd like another one instead (and she picked a different one!). She loves putting on baby powder (a version of getting a bath over here, and making yourself presentable) because it means we're going out. She usually likes to look at herself in the mirror when we get the oppurtunity, so I think we have a true little lady on our hands! I think Kelsey and I are going to have fun indulging in girly activities with her :)

We ate at the breakfast buffet downstairs with Kristi and Amanda and their two kids, Shaili and Prasun. She was fussy on and off, so Amisha and I took a short journey to the bathroom. She looked a little doubtful that someone other than Mom was taking her to the toilet, but any suspicious feelings were settled when I showed her how to splash in the sink, crunch up as many paper towels as you want, and put it in the wastebasket. I got my very first smile and laugh out of her when I dunked her hands underneath the faucet, so now if Mom needs help it's my #1 back-up strategy to make a beeline for the ladies' room and let her explore the sink. Hey, every girl likes hanging out in the bathroom, right? :)

After breakfast we relaxed in the room a bit until we left, for the second time, for the orphanage to take pictures--this time with Amanda, Kristi, Prasun, and Shaili in tow as well. It's muggier and smoggier today (my mom compared it to sticking your face in front of an exhaust pipe, and I don't think I can put it any more appropriately). We went to the special needs building today, different than the one that we picked up Amisha at, and saw where she has lived for the past 3 years. Words can't describe what that sad little building was like. The orphanage is much smaller than Jonathan's orphanage, with probably around 30 kids total in both buildings; I have a new respect for the Internet that we were able to connect with this tiny place thousands of miles away in a city this big and with the orphanage with as little resources as they had. Seeing those poor kids was the most heartwrenching thing I've ever seen. Some kids there were healthy, and some of them were so sick....the thing to remember here, though, is these kids are only a handful of the blessed kids that actually have a place to wait. Many more don't, or grow up begging in the streets, only to die. Please keep those kids in your prayers, that they'd find a home.

We've been trying out some of the Bengali words that Anju, the orphanage director, gave us to make a little contact with Amisha (ones we've used so far are "Jal", water, and "Tumi ghummabi", go to sleep). She reacted to both, even with our questionable pronunciation, so it's comforting to know that we've breached at least a little of our communication boundary.

Mom just put her down for a nap, so we're going to seize the oppurtunity and rest up. A very loud (and very LONG) wedding procession last night made sleeping hard, so we're resting up...and glad that tonight is our last full night here already. We're going to lay low tomorrow, I think....gather our wits a bit.

Again, thank you for your prayers and care! We appreciate each one of you! :)

We're going to try to do a huge picture post later if we have time--until then <3
Allie

Now we are a family of 7!!

This morning we woke up and moved over to the Peerless to be near Amanda, Kristi and Jason. Our hotel room in the Kenilworth was in the older part (if there is one) and our room was overlooking the road. The windows had wooden frames that didn't close all the way and the street pollution and the street vendors fires all vented into our room. To make it even more comfortable there was no A/C in our room. I don't want to discourage anyone who is planning on staying there because besides the room the staff bent over backwards for us, the cost of everything was substantially lower than anywhere else and it is right next to the consulate. When we left the Intercontinental in Delhi they charged us 2225 rupees for the taxi. The taxi from the Kenilworth to here was only 50 rupees. Enough about accomodations...

We were able to visit with Jason, Kristi and Amanda. They are all doing great. Tonight Prasun even smiled at us.

We had trouble with the phones and couldn't get through to Ms. Roy or the consulate until after noon today. We were supposed to talk to her at 9 a.m. When we got a hold of her she told us to be there at 1:30 and our consulate appt. was at 2:30. We thought we would be spending half a day at ISRC at then doing the consulate the next day. We were late getting there because our driver had to ask 5 or 6 people where it was located. When we got in we caught a glimpse of Amisha walking around. We were taken in the office and Ms. Roy received three phone calls while we were in there and then we signed 2 things, held Amisha shortly and had to run out to make our consulate appt. We didn't get to see where she has lived or much more than the office. Ms. Roy said she would catch up with us at the hotel. We went out to the car climbed in the back and they put Amisha on my lap and shut the door. She was scared to death. She cried so hard that our driver pulled her into the front seat, stopped at a roadside vendor and got her a ice cream and then gave her a little stuffed animal that was in his car. We had trouble getting the US Consulate our driver insisted we get out at the British Embassy at we refused. He didn't understand any english, but finally after a few calls to our hotel we arrived at the US Consulate. We were brought right in and found out they were not at all happy with us because our paperwork was all done in Kyle's name. After talking to a few people they were OK with it and let us proceed. Amisha was crying so hard they had us wait outside the building. We left with packet in hand so we are ready to travel home!!