China Care Baotou Children's Home

We traveled to Baotou today, a 2-1/2 hour drive, to see the children's home where Naomi lived for her first eight months. (Our guide and the other Bethany family traveled with us.) We also met Naomi's foster mother. It was a wonderful chance to get a little more of her history. The Children's Home director, Anna, and her staff were very kind and gave us a tour and delicious lunch. They have a small, but clean and cheerful facility. Anna told us Naomi had a great foster family that loved her very much and missed her a lot since bringing her back there a week before we got her. It was obvious when her foster mother came in that she was overjoyed to see Naomi again. She said she and her husband had cried and she had missed sleep since leaving Naomi. She told us--through translation--many things about how smart and special Naomi is. They are fostering another baby now, but feel it's not the same--Naomi was so dear to them. She was very animated and smiling and warm to us. She told us how glad they were to learn Naomi would have such a good family. We exchanged mail and email addresses, and hugged before parting. It was a very emotional and positive visit, but quite draining. After the first few moments, Naomi seemed to remember her foster mother quite well and enjoyed the visit with everyone paying attention to her. She didn't seem to have any trouble separating at the end of the time and waved goodbye to her foster mom. We felt a special connection to the foster mom and Baotou China Care, and we will be keeping in touch with them and remembering them in our prayers.