So Far In China

Wow! What a trip this has been so far! My flight was delayed in San Francisco so i ended up getting to the hotel at about 1:30 on Monday morning. We had to be ready to leave by 7:30 to go to the Shanghai orphanage. We had such a good day there! The children just never cease to amazing me. They are so innocent, so resilient! I think one of my favorite moments of the day was when Jack walked in and said, "Hello, my name is Jack!" He spoke excellent, articulate English thanks to having been in a foreign run foster home until recently, and was so much fun to visit with.

That evening we flew to Changsha. We got to the hotel there by about 11, but then my VPN wouldn't work and I had some other things to do and by the time everything was done it was 2 AM. Again, we had to leave the hotel by 8:10. Again, the day was full of seeing children who blew me away over and over. We saw so many matched children and it was such a pleasure to take gifts to them from their families and to get updates for their families! And we saw so many children whom we knew or recognized on some level.

We took the high speed train from Changsha to Yichun in the Jiangxi province last night. it was a little earlier night since I had everything that needed to be done all wrapped up by midnight. This morning we leave at 8 for the Yichun orphanage. I find myself getting excited all over again as I think of the children we will see there. The familiar little faces we will see, the new kids we will meet, it is always something that makes me excited.

Our time here will continue to be very busy, busier even than we normally are on these trips. I am borrowing Keely's computer to be able to do this post since mine will not connect to either VPN I have installed. Little things like that are very frustrating when your time is limited.

Over all I am doing so well! I feel (relatively) well. I thank God for this since I really did not know how it would be. I felt pretty bad going in to this trip and God has really given me the strength I need to not only make it through each day, but to be able to enjoy each day. It is such a gift!