Baidu Images

As anyone knows who has walked the road of adoption, and in particular Chinese adoption, it is often hard to find "history" of your child.  The only real information we are given is on paperwork or from the orphanage or foster care they stayed in.  Photographs are hard to find except if you send along a disposable camera before adoption.  And even those pictures are somewhat scattered.

We have gaps in information about Lucas and his history.  So whenever we can get "ANYTHING" to fill in those gaps even if we don't completely understand it (ie in Chinese) we will take it.

I recently found out about something interesting.  

There is a website called Baidu Images. 

 I think it may be similar to Google Images. 

If you type in the name of the SWI (orphanage), which in our case I got off his adoption documentation, you can find images of things about the orphanage.  This includes a lot of things that I don't really understand, but I did find several pictures of Lucas... 

I'm really missing pictures of his babyhood.  But, these are good too.

The things I found interesting...

1.  It appears they had a lot of visitors.  Some of them look "official"

2.  It appears they also were given gifts of food, and toys and even clothes

3. Some of the pictures appear to be huge events where some organization was maybe donating money? (stages, music, putting kids on stage, etc.)

4.  Even caucasion vistors arrive once in a while.

5.  Our boy seems to be somewhat "famous" in a few pictures that look like newspaper clippings.

6.  There are a lot of pictures of old people.  Like there was maybe also a nursing home type facility related to the orphanage?  It was a huge building.

7.  They appear to have a lot of "therapy" toys/equipment for the kids to use

Front row grey shirt far right

2010

peace symbol boy on her shoulders

Front by desk, "peace"

ok, this one makes me a little mad.  I think they were trying to use him for some publicity thing and if I know him, he didn't want to do it.  ...

 They put him on a stage with the other kids....my boopski...I'm so sorry


He is hiding behind the boy on the left in the yellow shirt

 2009
another Newspaper type article. ( I couldn't get the image of the newspaper to show up here, but I kept it) I think this is one of the nannies, but I will ask him to be sure.

I was hoping to find baby pictures.  That's really what we are lacking.  I have virtually no pictures before about age 2.  I would love to fill in those gaps for my boy.  But, today I consider it "success" that after sitting and weeding through a google images-type site for an hour, I was able to identify MY boy in those pictures and have at least these pictures to add to the mix.  I stopped when Isaac told me the further away I get from the original search, the less likely they will be "on topic".  Time to stop when I started seeing images of white girls in bikinis.

But, I LOVE that I can find him in a sea of Asian pictures. 

 I used to not be able to do that. 

 But, now I KNOW MY boy!

so, for today.  A few pics.  And now I just need to get the newspaper articles translated somehow.