Trust in the Lord with all your heart...

...and lean not on your own understanding.  Proverbs 3:5

Where to start?
There is so much to process here.

 

 

 

Yesterday was a full day with a visit to Ainsley's orphanage.  We have no words yet really to describe that... it's too hard to comprehend.  Just to give you an idea, there are 800 children in the orphanage where Ainsley lived.  80-90 percent of these children have special needs.  It's hard not to ask "why?" and "how will this work out for good?" even though this facility seemed quite modern and overall pretty organized, with polite staff.






We also were able to go to Ainsley's finding spot, and it was raining as we got there- which just seemed so appropriate.  So many feelings that brings- curiosity about the story that brought Ainsley here, thankfulness for a parent or parents who chose life for Ainsley, sadness for the hole it must have left in their hearts, prayers that somehow God will touch their hearts and give them a peace about their child, and make Himself known to them.

Our day ended with running through a thunderstorm to a restaurant near our hotel, trying to order in Chinese.  And...let's just say it was an adventure:)

Today started with a trip to the U.S. Consulate where we took an oath for adopting, and tried to take care of our final paperwork.
It's hard to explain the details, but there was a problem in getting Ainsley's passport in time.  We were very down to the wire waiting for signatures from officials, and literally running(praying all the while) in and out of buildings between the Consulate, Passport Office, and Medical Exam Clinic... to beat the deadline of noon.  If we did not get this done before noon, it would have delayed our departure here.  Our guide, Eva is incredibly helpful.  And we are praising God tonight, that He worked out the details, and we made it just in time...so that after we pick up Ainsley's visa Thursday afternoon, we will still be able to leave China at our scheduled time Friday morning!  Yay!



Guess who is loving being a big sister?

For our last night here in Guangzhou, we were able to have dinner at Lucy's on Shamian Island (and actually sit at the same table we did eight years ago with Ellie!) Then we enjoyed a beautiful night with a boat ride on the Pearl River.  It is so different here, the cities are just huge, surrounded by skyscrapers and unbelievable lights everywhere.  When we were here eight years ago, there were so many bikes, now you see only a few bikes and cars everywhere in the city.  And people, I can't even explain to you how many people there are everywhere we go!

Lucy's



Our boat ride on the Pearl River
 

And little Miss Ainsley is showing us more of herself each day.  We even saw her temper yesterday:)  So we take that as a good sign that she feels comfortable enough to be upset with us ;) 

Even better, we heard Ainsley giggle for the first time last night!   She thought it was pretty funny to see Ellie doing cartwheels. 

 

Thank you for all the messages for Ainsley! 

They will be a treasure to her someday when she can understand!