Zhengzhou

Once again, we were up at 2:00 am - bright and early!  I'm realizing the closer we get to Reed and Grace, the less I am sleeping due to excitement.  Hoping to get a bit more rest tonight, so this will be brief!

We had a wonderful trip on the bullet train and got to see much of the countryside and farms, which was fun.  Travis and I also took short naps.  ;-)

Once we arrived in Zhenghzou, we could immediately tell how different it was - as one of the other gals said, it felt like we'd arrived in the "real China."  Beijing had a much ritzy feel in comparison.

Our guides have been wonderful and we have been able to learn so much about Chineses history and culture.  We learned today that Zhengzhou is the capital of Henan Province, and one of the poorest areas in China.  Three years ago Apple moved their largest iphone factory here, as they can pay their workers the lowest wage here.  Sad.  Nissan also builds their cars here.
I have to say I was terribly embarrassed when our guide loaded us into the van for the hotel.  It was an older Toyota Sienna (No AC) and again, think TINY.  I felt I had packed quite resonably for 16 days/6 people, including a lot of food, gifts, and baby gear.  However, only ONE of our suitcases could fit in the back of the van, and the others were wider than the spaces between seats.  Both men were dripping with sweat trying to shove the suitcases into the van.  In between explaining the Apple/ipod factory, they were pointing out the local Starbucks where we could get our coffee. It was terrible!  I am already trying to figure out how to dump off one of these suitcases here.  Don't worry Liz - it won't be yours!


We got situated in our hotel, exchanged money at the bank, and made a trip to Wal-Mart, which was a true cultural experience!  NOTHING like Wal-Mart in the US.  Think of the old Woolworth dime stores, but selling dried ducks and live frogs and turtles in the seafood department.  Surprisingly, there were no takers in our group.  We did buy nearly $50 of candy to take to the children in the orphanges, as well as some snack food and bottled water for us.  No drinking the water in China, or any produce that's been washed!!  Pictures to come - maybe in the middle of the night if I'm up again.  :-)

The best part of the day was that we got some updated news on both of our babies.  We discovered that Grace left Shanghai Healing Home this morning for a 17 hour overnight train ride to get here.  She is traveling with her nanny and will be handed over to another nanny from her orphanage in the morning, who will bring her to us.  Their are traveling wiht Jeremiah - Danny and Amy's little boy.  I am sure she will be terrible confused, as well as exhausted.  However, I almost cried to know that God answered our prayer and that she did not have to return to strangers in the orphanage for a period of time, as is usually the case, but instead got to stay where she has been almost all of her life.

The update on Reed did make me cry.  We don't know for sure, but it appears that the orphanage he is in has apartments in it.  In those apartments, families live and will foster 4-6 children at a time.  Their is some indication that he has been living in one of those family situations - again a HUGE answer to prayer for us!!!  We spent the afternoon pulling together an additional gift for this family - candy for the kids, Dove chocolate, a scarf, and necklace (thanks Valerie!) for the Grandma who we think has been caring for him.  I could not find a single piece of paper or card in Wal-Mart to write a note, so I cut up a pretty envelope that had been given to me here (courtesy of the front desk's childrens scissors) to make a card.  The gifts are in a pink bag with red tissue paper!!  Again, no luck at Wal-Mart.  Hopefully our guide is right about the family; we'll find out more tommorrow or Wednesday when we go to his orphanage.

The additional bit of info we were able to garner, was in regards to the Show Hope facilities.  We knew Show Hope had two facilites in China and that Reed had been cared for at both.  We've made plans to try and vist Maria's Big House of Hope on Thursday.  However, we did not know that the second care facility is located IN Reed's orphanage.  It sounds like we will get to visit there as well on Wednesday while at his orphanage and I am also hopeful that he was there for an extended amount of time while recovering from surgery.

Please pray for us to sleep tonight and for our big day tomorrow if you think of us!  We will receive our kids sometime between 9:30 and noon here, which is 7:30pm - 10:00pm Colorado time!  We'll post again when we can!!!