Here is a tour of the orphanage....
This is the front of the orphanage.
This is immediately inside the front door.
This is the room in which we were allowed to visit with Rance everyday. We visited 38 days, for a total of 76 hours spent in this room!
This is the upstairs "foyer."
This room is to the left of the upstairs foyer. Each child has a locker where they keep their outfit and pajama's and slippers for the week. You can't see the other set of lockers which includes Rance's, but they are immediately on the left when you walk through the door. The door on the right is the toilet and the door on the left is the sleeping room. You can see a glimpse of a doorway just before the lockers on the left which goes into the main room where Rance's group spends all of their time.
This is the sleeping room where all of the 9 kiddos in Rance's group sleep. Rance's bed is the fourth one back on the right side.
This is the room Rance's group spends all of their time in. Rance said he doesn't even remember the last time he was outside. Its not a large room, I am standing against one wall to take this picture. Its not child friendly in its decorations, just plain white walls and plain white lace curtains. There are few toys for the children to play with, in the left corner is their "house" area, with a small table and 2 plastic chairs and 2 dolls. Then there is a small kitchen set and then the wooden "desk" with the mirror is their barber shop. The wall I am standing against is just shelves that hold their stuffed animals and few toys. In one corner there are some plant stands with small green plans and an aquarium, but I don't remember if there are any fish in it or not.
That's all we were allowed to see and take pictures of. Its a rather small orphanage with only 23 kids in it (soon to be only 22!!). It is also a special needs orphanage. Rance was put there because of his eye condition, there were a few with down syndrome and several with symptoms of fetal alcohol syndrome and several that looked healthy and normal!
Tomorrow we wait until the court gives us the official court decree saying Rance is ours and then we will go straight to the orphanage to pick Rance up! We will have to sign papers, change Rance's clothes and help Rance say good bye and that will be the last we will see of this place!
We have asked Rance several times if he is ready to leave the orphanage forever, to never come back, and each time he says yes without hesitation. However, I think tomorrow will be hard on him and I know it will be hard on the caregivers who love him very much and his friends who will be left behind.
As we were taking pictures Friday night of the orphanage and of Rance's group both Matt and I's hearts were breaking. They were breaking for all of the sweet children left behind, one little girl in particular stole our hearts right away. She is also Rance's closest friend.
There is a caregiver there who loves Rance very much and is very close to him. We wanted a picture of her with Rance but she wouldn't even come in the room because she said it would be too hard on her and she knew she would cry.
So tomorrow while we will be so excited to finally make Rance a part of our family, we realize we will be breaking hearts of those left behind in order to do so.
Please pray for the caregivers and the other children, specifically the other 8 left in Rance's group tomorrow. Pray that God will comfort their hurting hearts and pray that the children will understand why they were "left behind."
Please pray for Rance. Although he says he is ready I know leaving tomorrow will be hard on him. This orphanage is almost all he has ever known.
Please pray for Cavin as he will adjust to having big brother around full time, not just for two hours everyday.
Please pray for us, pray that we will be compassionate for those who are hurting and that we will have wisdom to help guide Rance through this life change.
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