Day One

It's 3:20 am on Monday morning in Xi'an, the city where we are staying in Grace's province. She's been restless since around 2...

Yesterday we flew out of Beijing at 10:55 and landed near Xi'an at 12:55. We met our new guide, Sherry, and began receiving instructions about how our day would unfold.  We had an hour drive to the hotel, we would stop by the bank to exchange our currency for all the appointments this week and then go to the civil office to meet our children at 4. We are with a group of 3 other couples adopting from our agency and we would be joined by others at the civil office.

The hotel stop was brief with only enough time to put out our luggage, grab the few things we were to take with us and use the rest room. Steven and I stepped inside room 2303 hand in hand and took a moment to bless the Lord and invite His presence into our first "home" with Grace.

We drove through miles and miles of traffic as Sherry continued to guide us through some helpful hints about all that was about to happen and inform us of some history of the province and nation.

I looked out the window at the sea of people as she spouted estimates of the population in all the major cities of China and the verse "the people walking in darkness have seen a great light" just kept rolling through my mind. So many people and dynasties and legends and gods it seems. I wondered how many of them knew Jesus.

As we neared the civil office I could barely hold myself together at the thought of meeting Grace. We got on the elevator and went to the 20th floor of a downtown building. As the doors opened our new friends Mike and Brooke saw their 2 yr old baby girl in the arms of her caregiver immediately.  We rushed down the short hall and turned into the first room and I  could see an older Asian gentleman pointing at me with excitement as if to say "there she is" to a little girl sitting beside him. It was Grace!!!  The room was filled with noise and crying and laughter and mandarin chatter as moms and dads embraced their babies for the first time.  I hugged Grace and stepped back to see her beautiful face as the older gentleman pointed to Steven and me saying Mama and Baba!! She looked mostly frightened and confused and she clung to this gentleman. Then Steven held her and loved on her as she continued to hear her foster father (as we learned) tell her "this you mama and baba."  He would give her to us and she would do what he said kissing us both on the cheek several times but she didn't want him out of her sight. After maybe an hour or so of translated conversation about her and then pictures the civil office took, foster "baba" had to leave. Steven took her in his arms and she began to scream, "baba, where you go!"  Over and over!  Tears streaming down her face and her little arms pushing away from her new baba she cried and cried. We paced the floors and prayed and loved until the other families were ready to go.

We left the building and got to our bus.  The guide offered a quick stop at a baby store if anyone needed anything before returning to the hotel. I walked to the store while Steven held Grace on the bus. I got back and she had stopped crying. I asked how she did and he said, "While you were gone the alarm on my phone went off and our friend Brooke said its time to pray for Grace."
We had shared with Brooke that for many months our family (& a few friends) have all prayed together, wherever we are, at 5:30 for Grace. Then Steven said, "as soon as my alarm went off she stopped crying." And she hasn't cried since!!!

We got back to the hotel room and I began to color with her and show her her suitcase full of her own things. She has talked and talked to me and all I can make out is "Mama!"  We ordered room service and she ate so good. She has just giggled at Baba and called him by name too.

As I lay here in the night writing this the Lord has reminded me that she's not just been so sweet and loving because she's a good girl or we're anything special. She's been like a changed little girl since 5:30 because you and I have been praying and the presence of the Lord is in this room. Please don't stop!!