More Day 1 Observations from Marci

Marci sent this e-mail to me sometime yesterday and we wanted to make sure it made it on the blog.

"All the officials gave speeches, including me with Eva translating. I think it went pretty well. Then the kids did their introductions. They all were very cute, taking the microphone and introducing themselves. Everyone was extremely well behaved.

President Barack Obama's half brother was there and I got to chat with him a bit. He moved to Shenzhen after 9/11 and started a new life and working with the orphanage. Very nice guy. He's really into music, so after one of the kids played a flute for their talent, he gave him a big hug. There's a cute picture of that.

The little girl we call Shelby got slightly overwhelmed a couple of times, but not very much. She's adorable and seems to get around just fine. She can even manipulate small objects. She made a bracelet for her craft on stage. I'm really impressed by Lisa, the little girl that has CP. But she's so capable! She has some spastic type movements at times, but there hasn't been anything she couldn't do! She even memorized a poem and presented it and was the only one to do a little dance without a coach sitting behind us! She can color in the lines pretty well, too.

The limbo was great for most of the kids, although the nannies didn't understand to raise and lower it. We'll try it again today. Each kid got their gift bag after going under it. Then we did the hula, which the kids really loved. The Hawaiian music disappeared after I gave it to them for some reason, so we did the hula to some Chinese song, but it was fine. I have video of that, too. Heidi was kind enough to video for me. Some of the kids are really shy, but some came right up to me to dance. Chrissy is absolutely adorable! I've danced with her twice now. We did the chicken dance earlier in the day and then the hula together. She's so sweet and all girl, it seems. I was able to get so much information about each of the kids from the staff at Bao an. So I have a lot more about the Bao an kids than the ones from Shenzhen. BUT, I was able to get a picture of each of the kids from Shenzhen with their foster parents if they have them! That will be a treat for the families.

After the day yesterday we were invited to the founder of Sunshine Academy's home and joined her. They're extremely nice and seemed impressed with ASIA."

posted by Vicki