Despite the resulting food poisoning ...

... I am thankful to have visited the orphanage, if only for one particular piece of information the visit yielded.

When Hui Ying was found outside the Huidong Civil Affairs Office, her body was yellow. Due to a birth defect involving her digestive tract, toxins built up inside her, and by the time she was found, she was near death, the orphanage director said. This leads me to believe that her birth parents abandoned her as a last resort to save her life. The fact that she was 4 months old -- and not a newborn -- when she was left would seem to confirm that belief.

Fortunately, her condition was stabilized at the orphanage, although for some unknown reason her corrective surgery wasn't performed for 14 more months. The orphanage director said the surgeon told him it was the most successful surgery of this type he had ever performed.

And now, our daughter eats like a horse and is the model of health.