Today is Sunday in Zhengzhou ("Jeng-Joe") China. We were supposed to meet our little Gracie today; however, there was a change in plans at the last minute. Currently she is located in Jiaozou City, which is about two hours away by car. Apparently the orphanage has two children to bring to Zhengzhou (Gracie and another girl), and the other child was due to come Monday. So they shifted Gracie's trip to Monday morning instead. There is nothing we can do to change the plans.
I took the news very hard on Saturday evening, but have no choice but to "go with the flow" and meet her Monday instead. Today we are spending the day at the pool. We are also going to venture out to a local McDonald's restaurant for the first time this trip.
We also met up with the Sanders family from Bloomington, IL who is adopting a little girl. They will meet their new daughter in about two hours. They also brought two of their sons and one of the grandmothers. They have another son and daughter at home with their other grandparents. This is the Sanders' second adoption in China. It has been nice for Quentin and Andrew, as they got to play with Colin Sanders in the pool today. It is also nice for Amy and I to be able to ask them questions and learn more about the process.
The train ride from Beijing to Zhengzhou was long (about five hours) but a comfortable trip. Getting on and off the train was a major exercise. There were lots and lots of people rushing around us, and also stopping to look at us. I started to pretend I was a chimpanzee and pick through the boys hair looking for gnats. It felt like we were on display at the zoo!
Departing from the train we ran into trouble with the local baggage carriers who kept changing the price to carry our bags. There were lots and lots of stairs and we had five backpacks and five roller bags. Thankfully, our travel agent in Zhengzhou came down into the train station and hauled us out.
Upon exiting the train station we came out into a public square. It was full of people. The city itself is huge (over 8 million population). Again I felt like we were on display as the odd-looking foreigners. Anyway, we safely made it to the hotel.
And now we sit and wait for Monday...
We love you all. Sorry no pictures today. We'll be sure to post some after we meet Gracie tomorrow.
3 comments:
Hi Steve & Amy,
We are praying for Gracie and your family to have safe journey back to USA. I encourage you with the following Jabez Prayer.
1 Chronicles 4:9-10 "9 Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, [c] saying, "I gave birth to him in pain." 10 Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request."
-Love,
Reddy Family
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