Friday-Saturday,
February 9-10, 2007

Praise God from whom
ALL blessings flow!!!

We wish there was another word in the English language other than WOW!!! To describe what we experienced the last 36 hours. God continues to pour out His richest blessings upon us. We left Guangzhou Friday morning at 10:00 as planned and headed to Dianbai with our driver Mr.Lee (a friend of our guide Amy) in his Toyota. Lottie was a great traveler, only getting fussy for just a few minutes on the way there and a few minutes on the way back when it was close to nap time. Remember this was a 4 hour trip each way – that is miraculous in our book!!!! We stopped at a rest stop on the way there. This rest stop was very busy with people traveling for Chinese New Year. It is much bigger than the rest stops we are used to seeing with bigger convenient stores and such. The rest rooms themselves consisted of rows of squatty potties. (A hole in the floor upon which you squat to go to the bathroom) They should be marked with a sign - BYOTP ( Bring Your Own Toilet Paper) Shannon learned this the hard way!!! The roads were very busy as we traveled and in China all the cars honk. You honk any time you are nearing another car to let them know you are there. Driving in China is somewhat like taking your life in your hands. We are glad to be back safe and sound!!!

We arrived in Dianbai at 2:30 to meet the orphanage director, Mr. Huong. He showed us around the orphanage, allowing us first to go to the room Lottie was in during the last few months. We saw her crib, now empty!!! We also saw 7 or 8 of the other girls she has spent the last several months with. We can only pray families are on their way to bring these girls home. Not that the conditions were bad, they appeared quite adequate, but these girls need the love and security of a forever home. We met the nanny that spent a lot of time with Lottie. We took their picture together as you will see. She seemed to really enjoy Lottie and said she is even more beautiful than when she left the orphanage. And that IS true!! It is amazing what a little love and affection and a sense of belonging can do for the appearance!!! We also were allowed to see one of the older children’s rooms. There were 7 or 8 children about 6 or 7 years old sitting at two table and chairs and having a school lesson. The “teacher” was writing numbers on the blackboard and they were learning their numbers. We then were invited by the director to his office to visit. His daughter was in town from college and he had her join us to help translate. WOW!!! God provided even in this as we did not have a guide to translate. We sat on the couches in his office and had tea while we asked questions about the orphanage and the area. They were so nice and friendly. When we asked him if Lottie was one of the smallest babies at the orphanage he said yes, but that she was the one when she woke up each morning that made the other babies happy!!!! She brightened their day, he said. Yes. She is our little peanut, our little sunshine!!! When seeing how happy she was with us , Mr. Huong commented, “How do you become such good friends in only 2 days?”

Mr. Huong and his daughter were kind enough to take us to the market where Lottie was found on Feb. 27, 2006, when she was only 2 days old. We were able to take pictures of the market as well as the presumed corner where she was found. This was a bittersweet moment as we realized her birth mother had to lose something in order for us to gain something. We are thankful beyond words to this mother for choosing to bring this little girl to life and then to safety where she was assured she would be found and given a home one day. That day is now here and her every wish has been fulfilled. Only our Great God can orchestrate the details to fulfill her desires as well as ours with this precious little one!!! Documenting all of this will be important for her one day.

The name of the actual town in Dianbai where she was found and where the orphanage is, is Shuidong Town. Americans are a very rare thing in Shuidong Town, so we were quite the attraction. Several little girls in the market wanted their picture taken with us. The neighborhood boys across from the orphanage wanted their picture taken as well. We obliged as you can see and they were delighted. We went to the hotel room that Mr. Huong had arranged for us after going to the market. We rested for a short while and then met he and his daughter as well as our driver Mr. Lee for dinner. We ate at a famous restaurant in Shuidong town according to his daughter. It was different in that it had private rooms for each dinner party. And the food was a bit more traditional than what we have seen.

The meal started by each one of us peeling a potato looking vegetable and then eating it by hand. We also had fried rice, chicken, pork, some yummy fresh fish, and some type of green leafy vegetable. You pick out what you want from the dishes on the lazy susan with your chopsticks and place them in a small bowl and eat with your chopsticks. Lottie had fun playing with the chopsticks as well as trying out some of the rice mommy fed her with the chopsticks. Our waitresses loved seeing Lottie and making her smile and giggle and they actually held her through most of our dinner which was nice as we have not perfected this chopstick thing. We returned to the hotel to sleep for the night and met Mr. Huong and his daughter as well as his wife and a sweet little 8 year old girl from the orphanage for breakfast. It was a very traditional Chinese breakfast which we had not experienced yet. We had bowls of porridge which consisted of soft rice in chicken broth with chunks of chicken. It was very tasty – Lottie thought so too!! We also had some type of bread with different fillings – meat, eggplant and some small, black vegetable. We had some type of small pastry filled with a custard. And some type of yellow cake. We learned a new custom we were not familiar with. At breakfast , they wash their plate, cup and chopsticks with the hot tea before eating. We don’t think the dishes were dirty, it is just their custom, so we tried our best to copy what they were doing. It was enjoyable to experience these traditional Chinese meals.

We checked out of the hotel and headed to the beach area. Mr. Huong and his daughter joined us for this as well. When we got to the beach we found many fishermen pulling heavy fishing nets in from the ocean. There were also many fishing boats, large wooden boats they take out into the ocean to fish. We took lots of pictures and video of this. It was quite fascinating. Shannon was excited to see some “vendors” with carts on the beach selling shell necklaces and the like as she had hoped to purchase something from Lottie’s birth town . Mr. Huong and his daughter did the bartering for the cost after Shannon had made her selection. It was humorous to watch them compare prices by writing numbers in the sand. They acted disappointed that it still cost more than they thought it was worth. Maybe we should have just pulled out our empty pockets again. :)

Mr. Huong and his daughter asked why we wanted to come and see the beach. We told them that we spend a lot of time at the beach at home and wanted to see Lottie’s beach. His daughter said that the Chinese say when they look way out across the ocean they think they can see America. We told her we say when we look way out across the ocean we see China!!! Now every time we look out across the ocean we will be reminded of a land that gave us our daughter and be forever grateful!!!!

We said our goodbyes to Mr. Huong and his daughter and expressed our gratitude for their incredible kindness in spending all this time with us. We never imagined this would be possible!! We headed back to Guangzhou where we will spend this next week before returning home next Friday!! We took a few different back roads to get on the highway and saw some more of the area. It definitely has a third world look to it , although, you will see new buildings being built with bamboo scaffolding and other large more modern buildings and then see fields with farmers plowing with oxen. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to where the buildings are located or when they are finished. All along the way many buildings sit unfinished at different stages. You will see bicycles carrying big baskets of chicken next to big buses, motorcycles, mopeds and cars on the roads. An interesting blend of old and new. That defines China in many ways.

Well, it is getting late here and we are tired from our journey. We send our love to All. We thank you for all of your prayers. They were answered in FULL. We give our Highest Praise to our God who has blessed us abundantly!!!!