Sunday, November 26, 2006

After a nice long night’s sleep (answered prayer), we headed to the airport. Five of the 10 families, including us, traveled together to Jiangsu province. The other five each traveled to a different province, where they will meet up with a guide. Like all of our other flights on this trip, we left on time, had an easy flight, and arrived on time (answered prayer). On the way to our hotel, we learned that we’ll receive our babies around 10:00 a.m. tomorrow! All the families will be together in the government Civil Affairs Office, but we may not receive them all at the same time, as they are traveling from four different orphanages, and may arrive at different times.

At this time, our guide is still not sure if we will get to visit the orphanage on Wednesday or Thursday, if at all. I am hopeful that we will receive permission to go. It is a 2.5 hour drive each way, so if Kristen is not feeling well, or didn’t travel well on her way here, one of us will stay here with her, while the other goes to visit the orphanage. While we are so close to where she spent her first 16 months, we want to document all that we can about where she lived, and have a little more time to talk with her primary caregiver and the orphanage director. We are praying that the way is cleared for us to go.

The hotel is lovely, which is nice because we will spend much time with Kristen here over the next five days. As you can see in the picture, it’s rather foggy and dreary today, but Nanjing is still a nice change from Beijing in that there are trees! Our hotel is adjacent to a large nature preserve, and is within the city wall of Nanjing, which was built in the late 1300’s. It is the longest surviving city wall in the world. Nanjing is a city rich in history, as it was the capital of China several times. Jiangsu is the most wealthy province in China, largely due to its manufacturing base.

As we spend our last evening before receiving Kristen, we realize just how many prayers the Lord has answered in our journey to her. When we first felt the tug toward adoption, we prayed for peace about a decision whether to proceed or not, and we felt peace about moving forward. We prayed in confidence that if God called us to adoption, that the finances would work out, and they did. We prayed that God direct our path in choosing the special needs program, and He did. We prayed that we would know Kristen when we got her information, and we did. At first we prayed for a quick TA, and we didn’t get it. But finally we prayed to surrender this adoption to God (again), and knew in our hearts that there is a reason for His timing. We are now so blessed to be traveling to Jiangsu with other Christian families! We prayed for Kristen’s health and development, and by all reports, she is thriving. Through following God’s call to adoption, our faith has been strengthened as we have seen God show His faithfulness time after time. Now we will lean wholly on Him as we bring Kristen into our family.

When you check this site tomorrow, you should pictures of Gotcha Day!

Blessings,

Monte and Suzanne