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