We've arrived in Yangzhou

Bad news! No photos today – we left the cord for our camera in Shanghai. We will try to borrow one tomorrow and get some photos posted.

We had another great day. We took the subway to the train station which was quite an adventure. Luckily we boarded the subway before it got too crowded. By the time we reached the city center we were convinced that we couldn’t fit another person on. Sure enough the subway would stop and 3 more people would squeeze on. It continued this way for several stops. We arrived at the main train station without any trouble and took a 1 ½ hr train ride to Zhenjiang. From there we took a taxi, crossed the Yangtze on a ferry and arrived in Yangzhou around 1:00 pm.

We enjoyed a slow afternoon at the hotel before meeting up with the other 38 families (from7 different countries). The City and the Adoption Service organized a very large banquet prepared in our honor. We arrived about 30 minutes early, while the other families were coming in on buses. The deputy mayor of Yangzhou was at the banquet, along with several other city government officials and the local news media. There were speeches and entertainment, along with a huge and extravagant meal consisting of several courses of the local cuisine. It was very impressive. We had a chance to meet some of the other families in our group at the dinner and on the bus ride back to the hotel.

We sat with 3 other families that have girls from ages 9-13. Claire was excited to sit by the one girl in our group that she remembers. Lily is nine and was adopted when she was 5. We are so proud of how well Claire is doing, I think some of the other families have enjoyed hearing her prospective on life at the orphanage.

Please pray for us as we leave after breakfast to go and visit the orphanage. From what I can tell, we will be there most of the day.

Claire is bubbling over with excitement so I will type her thoughts for you: I am so excited that I got to see my friend again. I had a great time at the party tonight. The party was for all of the girls that were adopted from Yangzhou. My favorite part of the party was the food. I loved the magic show, it was awesome. I am glad that my mom and dad enjoyed the party. We left the party and got on a bus and drove back to the hotel. I sat in the back and told my friends stories about Kensington’s bunny and about my cousins dog Josie and we asked each other lots of questions. I’m so excited I might not sleep good because of my trip back to the orphanage. Thanks for praying for us. Sincerely, Claire