Day Two - Meeting Ida

I am just going to dive right in and start from where I left off in my last post :)

As we pulled up to the orphanage gate we were greeted by a man who acted as a guard for the orphanage. He let us in and led us into a pretty good sized open space. There was dirt everywhere (the ground was pure dirt, not much grass to be found in Kinshasa) and being outside for any length of time in Congo (especially if you're there in the summer like my mom and I were) means you were sure to be sweating within seconds.

We followed Julia in and were greeted by several of the workers/nannies there. They told us that all the children were asleep so we quietly made our way into the orphanage building and began going through rooms looking for our Maida. As we were looking into two of the three rooms there my mom and I were both tickled again to find that we recognized many of the children and could call them by name.

This was the boy' room. There were several bunk beds and each had at least four boys to a mattress.

Finally we came to the last room! My mom and I went in, looking for her (although I knew that I was only there that moment to be the camera girl ^^). The kids began to wake up and try to figure out what was going on as we walked in.

  

  

This was one of the first faces we saw as we walked in, greeting us with a Bonjour
  and a beautiful  smile :)

Someone told us that Maida was still sleeping on a bed in the corner. My mom quickly walked over to her and I followed close behind.

This is the first glimpse we saw of her!

Everyone had already woken up, but Maida just kept on sleeping. She was wet and sweaty but my mom picked her up anyway. She woke up VERY groggy (she could barely keep her eyes open!) You could tell she was wondering why a strange Mondeli (white person in Lingala) was holding her, but at that point she wasn't awake enough to care. 

She did eventually really wake up and somewhat understood what was going on. All of the workers kept telling her she was going to leave with her new Mama and sister and go live in America with a new family. Maida was very quite, reserved (understandably so) and didn't speak one word.  

The nannies cleaned Maida up and put a pretty dress on her

In the back of the orphanage trying to get some alone time with her before the other kids came and piled themselves on top of us :)

I wish I could say that Maida and I were like glue from the first moment, but, sadly, that would be a lie. She had some big territorial and control issues about me. Don't worry though, we had it all sorted before we got home (and who's name does she now constantly call when she wants to play? lol) 

We left the orphanage and stopped quickly by a hospital to go check on (with Julia and Papa J) a baby who was sick with malaria (she is fine now and is home with her own family!) Afterward we went back to our hotel. Julia and I went to grab some bottled water at a market nearby to leave mom and Maida alone for a bit to have a little bonding time. When I got back my mom said that Maida was starting to come out of her shell and smile and laugh a bit (of course that all ended when I entered the room ^^)

To celebrate getting visas and all of our children on the same day Papa J took us to an Italian restaurant (man was the food in Congo good! Who knew, right?). We heard Maida talk for the first time that night! A girl Maida had been particularly close with in the orphanage (she is a couple years older than Maida and you could tell that she took care of her while they were there) had been picked up by her parents a couple days before, but they happened to still be there. When they saw each other in the lobby of the hotel right before we left to eat they just smiled at each other. The little girl swiftly walked over to Maida, took her out of my moms arms, set her on the floor, grabbed some toys, and started to talk to her about who knows what. It was the funniest thing and had us all laughing. Maida joined in with all the kids (some other kids from the orphanage was there too) and they played and talked the night away. It was so cute!

After we got back it was time to call home, and then bed. Maida really enjoyed hearing the voices of her family on the phone!

 This was the picture we took of her first night with us. A very good ending to a very good day :)

Just as a heads up to you all (I'm sure you realized this already) my little sisters name is Maida Grace, but we call her Ida (pronounce Ee-dah)