Last Full Day in Guiyang

Today is our final full day in Guiyang. We received HG's passport today. As I walked down the streets tonight, I thought a lot about this town. It is very, very poor. I am just amazed at what people will do here to make money to survive...clean shoes, bake sweet potatoes in a barrel on the side of the streets, carry baskets on their backs to carry goods for people, pull carts by hand loaded with furniture and many other things that most of us would never consider doing for such little money. Very eye-opening. I see these little children that are dirty out on the sidewalks selling papers, balloons, or just junk. I can't help but wonder "Where would Hannah Grace end up if we were not adopting her." I think that she would be a lot better off than a lot of these children because she was in such a wonderful foster home. I am ready to move on to the next step of bringing our baby home, but I will miss this place. It will always be very dear to my heart because of what I have seen and mostly because it is where my daughter is from. I will never forget how many people were staring at me when we first got here and how many more smile now. Or how uncomfortable I was when I arrived and how comfortable I am now. HG is doing much better. She had a very playful night. We were trying to pack. She was unpacking as we were packing. She is into everything. It is hard to believe that we have only had her for five days. Things have really changed in such a short period. A normal week of work for you has been an eternity here. Tonight, I thought about how things have been the past few days. It sometimes seems to be very frustrating when she wouldn't stop crying or won't let you hold her. What seems very difficult to us must be much more difficult to her. Her world has just been totally rocked. She has been taken from someone she loved so much and given to someone else who loves her very much. But at first, she doesn't know that. Everything has suddenly changed for her. The walls she looks at, the sounds she hears, the language she doesn't understand, the people she is looking at, her daily routine, her bed, her eating habits, the one who feeds her, and I could go on and on and on. But through all this, she has been one tough little cookie. Through all of the trauma and mourning that she has been through, she still has it in her to smile many, many times throughout each day. So, what do we have to complain about? Nothing. All we have to do is give God the praise for this wonderful Chinese Treasure that HE has given us. Praise the Lord!!!!!!

GREG