Sunday in Nanjing

We were both awake by 4 this morning. Kaila slept a good 9 hours. My sleep was a bit more choppy. I was wide awake from midnight until about one am. I was able to FaceTime Chad, Samuel, and Daniel. It was so good to see their faces. Emily and Halle weren't home so I missed seeing them during this middle of the night chat time. Missing them all like crazy.

After breakfast we walked around the area near our hotel a big chunk of the morning. 

Our hotel is the tall building on the right with the green Holiday Inn sign.

We witnessed a near collision of the man on the bike and the little green taxi thingy. They were yelling and honking and not happy with each other. Notice the bike is almost bigger than the green taxi thingy. 

We met with our guide for a bit to go over the plan for the week. We were also supposed to get our money exchanged for the week, but had no luck finding a bank that would do it for us. The first bank was closed today even though they are normally open in Sundays. The second had computer issues. And the third did not deal with currency exchange. We will get our money exchanged at bank number one tomorrow before going to meet Luke. The hotel will exchange small amounts for us, so we have enough for eating and shopping for now. 

Highlight of the day right here people, don't skip this paragraph! Our guide asked me how I do it with 5 kids at home and now adopting one more. She wanted to know how I keep from going crazy (ha!!). She said she has twins and wants to be a better mom. I told her I have a big helper, my God. She gasped and asked, "you believe in God? Are you a Christian?" I told her that I am. She let me know that she became a Christian a year ago! We had some time of sweet sharing and chatting after that. She read the entire Bible last year and is now focusing on the gospels. She said her life changed the moment she believed! Of all the guides in Nanjing, to be matched with one who is a part of the small growing number of believers in this country is priceless. Any of you who are my FB friends can see a video I shared last week of Christians here holding Bibles for the first time. That video brought tears to my eyes when I first saw it and a deep love for fellow believers in this country. To now, a few days later, have one of these believers standing by my side as we adopt Luke is not lost on me. God used that video to prepare me for this very moment. I pray I can be a small encouragement and a light to her this week, that I have the right words, and the wisdom to answer her questions. Oh goodness, where are my theology-expert, entire Bible memorized, missionary parents or my pastor-wife sister when I need them? Things are changing here, there is freedom to believe and to own a Bible. Freedom to congregate is not here yet, but maybe soon. Please pray for believers in this country, they are a slowly growing number! 

Hard to top that but I'll keep going. Our hotel is adjoined to a huge mall. Huge as in 7 stories tall. We walked many of the floors this afternoon in an effort to stay awake and enjoy the air conditioning. It's not too hot thanks to yesterday's rain, but it sure is humid.

So many people. 8 million in Nanjing.

Many sidewalks look like bike parking lots.

It is 5 pm and we are fighting hard to try and stay awake until 7 tonight. We are close, we might just make it!

We meet Luke tomorrow at around 2:30 pm. He is spending his very last night in his orphanage. He will leave his orphanage in the morning to make the long drive to Nanjing. Tears come to my eyes as I rejoice at the immense blessing of him becoming our son. Tears also come as I know he will not understand what is happening and his little heart will likely be sad, confused, and afraid. Please keep him in your prayers if you think of him over the next few days. 

Hugs to all,

Liberty (blogging from iPhone so please forgive the pictures hanging off to the right, bugs me like crazy but nothing I can do about it)