Upon arriving at the orphanage for our second visit, we were taken to the playroom, where Tom's "class" was gathered. It was such fun to walk into the room and see it finally...it was so familiar to us because one of the videos we had received of Tom had been filmed in there. As soon as we walked in, we saw him....but he was quite content on a riding toy and didn't seem to want much to do with us. That was okay, and we just let him take his time getting used to the strange new people who seemed to be so interested in him.
One of the great blessings of our time at Basundhara was getting to take videos and pictures for other waiting parents of their beautiful children. One of my adoption friends was watching my blog closely and praying for our time in country, knowing that we would see her precious girl. I had a list of children to ask about, but when I mentioned her name, they took me right to her.
Isn't. she. gorgeous??! Those eyes! She didn't seem to understand why the workers wanted her to smile so badly for the camera. So she didn't. Smile, that is.
Eventually, she let Hoffbeast pick her up, and at that point, all was well. Rex gave S and the other children lollipops that we had brought, and she (and all the other kids, too) loved it! We didn't ever get big smiles from her (at least not at this point), but we sure did get a lot of beautiful photos and video for her mama back home!
All the while, there was Tom, riding away and loving lollipop land, too!
One of the kids who immediately got my attention was this beautiful girl, seen here holding Tom. P was the oldest of 3 siblings, and I knew their names from my passport application site searches. They, too, had gotten caught up in the passport nonsense and didn't know when their parents were going to be coming. But in the meantime, they were loving on the babies and looking forward to their own homegoing. Tom absolutely adored P! In fact, next to Soudemani, his nanny, P was the person he obviously trusted the most. I love this photo...I haven't been able to connect with P's new family here in the States, but I hope to someday.
Before we left home, Rex chose a stuffed animal to take with us to give to Tom. Jingles was a big hit from their first meeting...Daddy was even able to get a smile out of Tom by being silly with Jingles! Big brother, Rex, was a big hit, too! He was so, so good with Tom right from the start, always giving him space when he needed but also always looking for ways to reach out and love on him. And he loved getting to interact with all of the other kids, too!
This man is the physical therapist who works at the orphanage. From what we understand, about 90% of the kids at Basundhara are classified as "special needs". No doubt, he spent lots of time with Tom, helping him learn to walk and learn to use his little hands. We are so grateful for him, as Tom is almost fully functional at this point. I wish he was here now to work with Tom after his upcoming surgeries!
Notice in the background the sweet little girl in pink. We'll call her N. She stole my heart. And I've thought about her nearly every day since our return. We have been told that her family is on their way to get her soon...I do hope so! Here are some of the other beautiful kids we saw in the playroom that day...
The Pink Dress Trio, as I like to call them. The girl on the right, I know nothing about. But the girl in the middle came home in November, and the girl on the left--well, her parents are arriving in India TODAY to meet her and bring her home!
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