High above Changsha

Greeting from the 30th floor of the Dolton Hotel in downtown Changsha, a city of 6 million. It has been rainy and cool. There has been very few opportunities to get out of the hotel so we are really looking forward to moving on to Guangzhou.

We were fellowshipping with two other precious families today. I want to ask you to pray for Jackie and Craig. Their son seems much younger and less developed than his official age would indicate. He clings to mom and will not go to dad at all.

This morning she was in tears. She is worn down to nothing and they are very fearful that he has developmental delays they were not prepared for. I was able to love on her and tell her about my experiences with Jena. Jena clung to me for dear life and would not go to Jessica for the full two weeks we were in China. Jessica and I really resigned ourselves to the fact that she had serious mental delays, but for those of you who know Jena, this is certainly not the case. Jackie took comfort with this real life example. Later in the morning her husband said they thought he had ear infections. I was able to tell them how this would affect his perception of the world and his ability to walk. They had not thought about that. But the mother's heart in Jackie is grieving and discouraged. Please pray for this family when you have time.
There is also a praise report. John and Tamela are the family who were able to adopt again because a co-worker gave them $10,000. John's back went out yesterday. Today he greeted us with the news that the Lord had healed him!

I thought it might be interesting to know why we are so tired of the western offerings of fried chicken, french fries, fried burgers. Perhaps we should be bravely tackling the Chinese menu for variety?

These are a few of the choices we have: Sauteed mutton home style, Chicken giblit with chilli, steamed fish head with preserved green pepper, steamed pork feet with preserved chilli, braised edible birdsnest, braised birdsnest(non edible?), shark's fin with rice, barbequed meat collation, simmered eight-headed dry abalone, and finally, my personal favorite, double boiled duck with Chinese caterpillar fungus.....

And you wonder why we keep eating french fries.......

Cori has eaten since the minute she got up and is still going strong. Grace bought lime flavored Lays potato chips but they taste like fruit loops. Cori cannot get enough!

Our next update will be from the beautiful White Swan Hotel on Shamian Island off the Pearl River. We will be reunited with the other families from Holt and get to swap stories over real western food at Lucy's or the deli. We will have her TB test, medical exam, get her passport, final documentation, consulate appointment and swearing in ceremony. We leave China on September 3 and fly backwards in time so we arrive home on the same day.

We are grateful for the grace God has given us so far and rely on His continued blessings.

Stephanie