It Certainly is A Great Wall!

We did visit THE wall today, and climbed as high as my goofy, swimmy head would allow. It struck me as funny that I had written about the "ancient" hutongs from the 1400's yesterday when I heard our guide mention dates in the 400's for that wall. It really is amazing, stretching over 6,000 miles across China. I would love to post photos, but even my old photos that are the header for this blog aren't showing up for me now. Hopefully this will change once we get to Lanzhou. If it does not, I will email a few to a friend (Hi Denise!) and ask her to post them from the US.

We had some other adventures today, including a meal that included a whole, steamed fish. (For those of you who went to Antigua with me, remeber Clarence? Ha Ha) That fish gave some in our group the creeps, but Joel and I thought he was tasty. We asked what kind it was and our guide called it a Grassfish. One of the men in our group asked if that is a Chinese Carp, he assured us it was not :)

We head to the airport in the morning to travel to Grace's province. I was handed a document today that said, in a nutshell, we agree for you to adopt this child, please proceed to the appropriate office in her province with this document to complete the process. WooHoo! We were told that we will not meet her until Monday, but history with our orphanage reflects families receiving their child on Sunday evening. We arrive mid-afternoon, and have packed the bags in such a way to be ready to meet her immediately upon arrival at our hotel. We have also learned that most plans are fluid in China...which gives us much hope :) Either way, within 36 hours I will be holding my baby girl. I wish I could express how this feels, but I don't know the words. I am excited, nervous, awed and humbled...and that doesn't even begin to describe it.

Please pray for us especially during this part of our trip. These first few days with Grace could be challenging, depending on how she responds to us. Also, pray for the young lady who was to be our guide in-province. We learned tonight that she is very ill and that they are sending a replacement for her. There are several other families that will travel together to a different province tomorrow to receive their children. There are some huge unknowns facing some of them. When you pray for us, please remember them as well.

Lastly, because internet access has been a little sketchy at times, I'm not going to respond to your individual comments. Please know that we are reading them and that they are a great encouragement to us. We are blessed to have wonderful friends and family supporting us during this journey. Hopefully, our next post will be the one we've all been waiting for!