Today we took Ashlyn back to her home for the first 8 plus years of her life. Hefei Orphanage was much as we remembered and smaller than she remembered. As we walked through the school we heard whispers of "Shen YuanHui", "Shen YuanHui" and excited teachers and kids arched their necks to see the visitors. We had stopped and gotten candy and sweet crackers for the children and they were very excited to see them. The children were all so sweet and loving and we snapped many pictures. Next we went to visit the dormitory because Ashlyn's foster Mom was at the market and not home yet. In the dormitory we saw the physical rehabilitation rooms and more children who were not school age yet, including lovable beautiful babies. Next we were able to visit Ashlyn's foster parents and her Mother had brought bananas and nuts for us from the market. They exclaimed over Ashlyn's height (she's almost 5'5") and hugged her again and again. We even took some pictures of pictures of Ashlyn that they had on their wall. Next the orphanage director gave Ashlyn a handmade picture fashioned from iron of a tree with great branches. We were asked to bring a donation of 1000 rmb to visit and we were shown how much they purchased with it and they even gave us the receipts. Next the director took us to lunch and it was very good and interesting. Next we visited some children from a farming community and the children "spoke" to each other without many words. It didn't take long and they were playing jump rope together and riding bikes with each other. It was the highlight of their trip to Hefei. Ashlyn on the other hand has had the myriad of emotions in the last 48 hrs, from giddyness to sorrow to happiness to contemplation. This trip has been harder on her than she lets on. After returning from the countryside we went shopping for almost 3 hours and now we are exhausted. Oh yeah we had dinner at the wonderful, glorious noodle shop. It was just as good as we remembered from 2004. It's good that somethings don't change. Enjoy the pictures.