What an Emotional Day!!

Hello everyone! It is 5am Thursday morning here in China. I have been trying for two hours to download pictures and it just isn't going to work. Tuesday night was my dad's birthday. Our guide made reservations at a restaurant and we had a feast. It was amazing. They had a private room set up for us and we had so much food it was unbelievable! It only cost $32 for everybody. The food was excellent! Yesterday morning was a very special time for us. We were able to go to the orphanage where HG was taken to when she was found. They took us on a tour and it was very nice. It is a pretty new building and is much bigger than I ever expected. It is just heartbreaking that they need orphanages so big. This one only places about 60 children internationally per year. They took us to the room where HG slept the first night she was there. I have some pictures, but they wouldn't let us take many inside. We went into the children's bedrooms. It was so cold and they do not use any heat. It was about 35-40 degrees in the bedrooms. It really was an eye-opening experience. When we walked into one room that was full of children, this little girl just ran up to us and started hugging everybody. The little boys all brought their chairs and would sit them at your feet so you could sit down. They were so precious and I just wanted to bring all of them home. To think that a 2-year old would offer you their chair. Wow! We need to send some of our kids from America over here for a couple of weeks so they can appreciate the lives that they have. I am so glad we have an opportunity to adopt a child from China and I would do it 1000 times if I could. All of the children were really glad to see us and I would have loved to just stay there and work with them! As I was there, I just wanted to cry, but I couldn't in front of all of them. What a memory that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. And the great part of it was, all of these children were so happy! I give God the praise for that and it is my prayer that each one of them will be placed in a loving home someday. When we left the orphanage, we headed to the hospital where HG was found. Thomas, our guide, said we could go into the hospital, but we probably wouldn't be able to go to exactly where she was found. As we went into the lobby, we found the sign that named the area she was found in. It was on the third floor. My heart was pounding. We then got on the elevator and made our way to the third floor. As the door opened, I was becoming very anxious and somewhat shakey. HG was found in bed #4. We walked down the hallway and the first room had a sign on it that said beds 1-3. Oh my! Now my heart was racing!! I thought, this is so close to where our baby was left. We walked a little farther and there it was on the door - beds 4-6. Emotional time!! My eyes filled with tears! The door was cracked and Thomas pushed it open. There it was...Bed #4. It then became very real to me. Someone walked in this room with our precious Angel and left her alone in this bed. I am not sure how it happened, but I do know that it did happen. And the amazing thing about it is that this was all a part of God's perfect plan. His plan for the begiining of the journey for us to receive our daughter. I pray for HG's mother, wherever she may be. I am thankful that she loved her enough to leave her at a hospital where she would be taken care of. I am also very thankful that we were able to go to these places. This really helped us a lot and will be things that we can keep in our hearts forever. I also thank Thomas for making arrangements so all of this could happen. I will post pictures as soon as it will allow me to. Keep us in your prayers. HG will not let Steph sit down while she is awake. Every time that Steph sits down, she really gets upset. We are not sure why, but we know that it will pass. Stephanie is very tired and needs some rest. I think her arms are about to fall off. I would like to help, but still no luck on holding her. She did, however, say "Daddy" in English several times yesterday. That was very encouraging!! She has an incredible smile that will probably help her get a lot of things from me in the future. That's probably not a good thing!! lol! I just love her to death and I absolutely cannot wait until I can hold her in my arms. Thanks again for all your prayers!!!

GREG