Best Day Yet!!!

Today was our last full day in Zhengzhou. Tomorrow evening we fly to Guangzhou to finalize our adoption and receive US Visas for our children from the US Consulate. We have enjoyed our time in Zhengzhou as we have gotten to know our children more and more. Today we planned to return to Maria's Big House of Hope to visit with the Martin family, the nurses, and many of the children who were there when we visited before. We were met, however, early this morning with a phone call telling us that because of the snowy weather the roads were closed so the van couldn't take us to Luoyang. Not to be deterred we bought tickets for the bullet train and rode to Luoyang where Steve Martin picked us up and took us to Maria's. Our guide, Vivian, was so nervous that she gave me her extra cell phone in case we had any trouble. When she met us back in Zhengzhou she said that her mom was upset with her for letting us go alone!!!  We felt bad that she was so nervous for us.  She has done a fantastic job for our entire time here in Zhengzhou. Oh yeah, the bullet train.  The fastest speed that I saw posted was 309 km/hr. That's 191 miles per hour for those of you nonmetric people.

At MBHOH we had a wonderful time. We were able to spend time with the Martin family and catch up on everyting that has happened with us and them in the last three months.  The Martin kids were so excited when we arrived, and we were just as excited to see them.  We walked around and checked on many of the sick babies. It's amazing what God is doing in that place. Many of the children who were so sick before are up and running around now. Many of the  kids were gone but we were able to get updates from Steve and the nurses.  We went back to Davidson's room and the nannies there were so excited to see him. He went to them easily, but within minutes he was ready to return to his mama's arms. Believe me she was relieved.  That was the point we knew without a doubt that he was fully bonded with her.  I'm still working on him, but I know he will come around eventually. We are so thankful for the Martins, the nurses, the nannies, and all of the staff at MBHOH who give their lives to care for so many babies, and who cared for our precious He Yi for the first 19 months of his life.

Ming Yu had a great day at MBHOH too. She enjoyed seeing where her brother had lived and seeing the other babies as well. She spent most of her time with Be Be the Chinese language teacher at Maria's. Be Be spends time with the nurses and Martin family every week teaching them Chinese. She's young, newly married, and pregnant, but most importantly she and Ming Yu became instant friends. They talked all day then finally Ming Yu asked Be Be  to translate for her.  She had not, prior to this asked either of our guides to tell us anything. We had a good conversation and came away feeling reassured that Ming Yu is excited about moving to America, but still sad to be leaving her home and her friends. I think seeing us among friends helped her realize that we really will bring her back to China for a visit. She smiled and laughed more than I have seen yet. She interacted with her brother some too.  This father could not have been happier with today. We still got to embarrass our teenage daughter by sitting in the wrong section of the train on the way back to Zhengzhou. We had to move and of course every eye in the train was directed at her. How embarrassing her silly American parents are!!!

As God continues to work through our adoption journey we continue to pray for our children with us and our family back home. We are thankful for those who continue to pray for us and with us. We look forward to sharing more updates from Guangzhou.