Trip to China
Itinerary  |  October 17  |  October 18  |  October 19  |  October 20  |  October 21  |  October 22  |  October 23 - Gotcha!  |  October 24  |  October 25  |  October 26  |  October 27  |  October 28  |  October 29  |  October 30  |  October 31  |  November 1  |  November 2  |  November 3  |  November 4

Wednesday, October 26, 2005 Trip to Yingtan City   Today was an exciting exhausting day.  This morning the 4 families with babies from Yingtan City left for a day trip to Yingtan.  Our goal was to locate and visit the finding locations for the 4 babies.  We left at 9am and it was a long trip from Nanchang.  The traffic was treacherous and we watched as the landscape turned from city to village to very rural.  About 1 hour into the trip we turned onto a highway and took that about 1 ½ hours straight to Yingtan.  We were all under the impression that Yingtan was a small remote rural town about 2 hours outside of Nanchang.  Boy were we wrong!!!  As we pulled into the town we were hugely surprised.  Yingtan City was a modern bustling town with very friendly people!!!  Our driver had not been to this town before so he was unsure of where he was going.  He simply did what 95% of American males WOULD NOT do..  he asked for directions!!!  He took the list of finding locations and started asking business owners where each one was. The first location we visited was Sabrina's.  We then started looking for Kiah's.  Kiah was found in front of the city department store on a long wooden bench.  After asking several pedestrians and shop owners, we learned that the original dept store was no longer there.  It was replaced with a book store.  We found the exact location and we were overwhelmed.  It was a book store in front of a little circular park area.  There were benches all over the park and it is right on a major road way where many people walk and shop.  As I carried Kiah off the bus towards the book store, the tears started flowing.  Her birth mother left her in a place where she KNEW she would be found quickly.  It was a beautiful area.  All sorts of thoughts flooded through my mind as my tears fell.  I had an overwhelming feeling of Kiah coming full circle.   In Chinese the character for "abandon" actually means "left to be found".  The definition is positive not negative as in the English language. Kiah's 8-month journey to her family started in this park.  I cried for her birth mother who obviously loved her so very much to leave her in such a heavily trafficked area.  I cried for her foster mother who cared for her and loved her so very much for the last 8 months.  I cried for us and for Kiah as we have finally found each other.  However, we believe that God had intended Kiah to be with us from the beginning.  So, this was part of her journey to our family.  We got pictures and video of the site.  As we were going back to the bus I decided to run back and sit on the bench closest to the book store.  I don't know if that was the bench she was left on but I hoped.  It was a tearful moment as we walked away from the site.  We were all wondering if our daughter's birth mothers were somewhere in the crowd looking on. We then proceeded to Grace's finding location.  The last finding location was that of Riley's.  Hers was important because she was actually found in front of the Yingtan City orphanage!!!  It took forever to find the orphanage!!!  Our driver was so frustrated but he didn't give up!!!  He made numerous phone calls and after driving down a dirt road through a remote village in Yingtan, we finally pulled up in front of the orphanage.  It looked exactly like the pictures we had seen.  It was surreal to be there.  They opened the gates for us immediately.  We were tentative because we had not gained permission to visit the orphanage before our trip.  We simply wanted to take pictures in front of it.  The orphanage director came right out and welcomed us!!!  We had met her on Gotcha Day and the day after when she came to our hotel room but we had forgotten to get pictures with her.  She was very gracious and visited with us for awhile.  She was happy to see us and the babies again.  None of the babies wanted to go to her!!!  I think they were all confused and scared to be back at the orphanage.  The last time they were there was the morning of Gotcha Day when the foster families dropped them off.  The orphahage director went in her office and retrieved a list of our daughter's foster families.  She started calling them to see if they were available to come by.  She was not able to reach them.  We were all relieved as our children are going throught the attachment and bonding process.  We were afraid to have them see the foster families again right now. After taking many pictures we climbed back in the bus and headed back to Nanchang.  It was a 7 ½ hour day but we were all pleased with what we had seen and learned. We rested in the hotel room a little bit and then headed out to McDonalds.  It was about 7 blocks away down several busy streets.  It was dark so all of the neon lights were on.  We said that it looked like Asian Las Vegas with all of the people and the lights.  We made it to McDonalds and had THE BEST tasting McChicken and fries that we have had in a LONG time. We then strolled back towards the hotel and stopped at the grocery store.  We saw several other couples from our group with their babies so we really caused a commotion.  We came back to the hotel and gave Kiah a quick bath.  We are all heading to bed now.  We are planning to meet the group at 9:30am in the lobby to visit a pagoda.  We are also going to try to visit a couple of the local parks.  If anyone has seen the National Geographic DVD called The Lost Girls of China, the adoptive parents travel to Nanchang.  There is a beautiful park featured in the DVD so we are hoping that we will be able to locate it tomorrow.

Kiah's finding location Kiah, Mom and SWI Director Moms and girls at the SWI Yingtan City SWI All smiles!!! Playing around

Jake and Katelyn, we are inching closer to home each day!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!   We wanted to give a quick shout-outs to:   Mom, Dad and Danielle:  THANK YOU SO MUCH for taking care of the kids for us!!!   Brandon's parents in Florida:  Chet and Carol, hope all is well with you in Florida.    Elissa Dacales:  Thank you so much for all of your help.   Christine White:  THANKS so much for checking on our family while we are gone.  It means a lot to us.   Our friends and family:  Thank you for all the emails and prayers.   All of the families in our small group:  the Canestras, the Whites, the Bairds, the Kaplans and the Fragas:  THANK YOU so much for all of your prayers and support over the months!!!    Love from Nanchang,        -Nicole, Brandon and Kiah!!!

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