Amazed

*** I am having a hard time uploading pictures on blogger and gmail so I am sorry for the lack of pictures.***

Sorry we have not been keeping everyone up to date but after our unbelievable night the other night we have been in shock and when we have not been in shock we have been extremely busy.              

 

Let's first go back to the other night.  We got a call around 3:30pm from our travel guide that Kate had lived with a family for a while and they knew that this was our last night in Beijing and that they wanted to take us to dinner.  They insisted on taking us to one of the nicest restaurants in Beijing- Beijing Roasted Duck- and would not let us pat for a thing. (Our meal started off with duck heart and duck skin by the way- and we also got certificates on the ducks life- from birth to our dinner) Well what are you to think about that?  All sorts of thoughts and emotions flowed through us but we were cautiously optimistic.  We prayed together while we were waiting that God would protect us and go before us into the meeting.  We had no idea that she had lived outside of the orphanage- although she is so smart and well adjusted that we had our suspicions.

 

God orchestrated this meeting because if you will remember us meeting a lady at the zoo the other day…the lady's daughter (a 4 year old) told the grandmother of the foster family that she saw Kate at the zoo.  The grandmother thought this was crazy that first of all she saw us at the zoo in a city of 18 million people and she was pretty sure Kate had already left the country.  Get your head around that for a minute.  God's timing is perfect.  For those of you who are still waiting to bring your little ones home- I hope this story encourages you.

 

The grandmother called her son who works at the orphanage and asked him to see if we were still in China because she would like to meet us and say goodbye to Kate.  Well one thing led to another and we had dinner with this family and one of the teachers from the orphanage.  They were some of the most incredible people you could ever meet.  They LOVED Kate with all their hearts.  She stayed with this family for 99 days after her surgery.  Yes they knew down to the day how long she lived with them.  Thanks to our sweet guide who went with us to translate,we talked non-stop for 3 hours.  I promise you that I could not have hand picked more amazing people to love on our Kate.  They loved her like she was their own- that was very obvious.

 

Kate did not want much to do with us during dinner.  She sat with her Ni-Ni (grandmother in Chinese) and Ni-Ni fed her the entire time and just loved her as if she were her own grandchild.  Ni-Ni's son works at the orphanage.  He is 33 and his wife is 30.  Our guide the whole night referred to them as the foster mother and father.  They live with his parents.  So all four seemed to know Kate intimately.  Kate was SO EXCITED to see them.  She smiled and laughed the whole night.  It was so fun to watch.

 

Brian was also thrilled to find out that Kate has a history of pinching and biting and she had bitten the grandfather on the shoulder and the lip in the past.  Apparently she doesn't like men- lets hope that continues until she is at least 21! :)

 

They told us that Kate has a gift for music and they hoped we helped her develop it.

 

They also brought us gifts…one for me, Brian and Kate.  We also have a picture of the entire family with Kate when they took her out for her birthday.  They even had pictures of her on their cell phones.

 

The saddest thing of the night was when we left and Ni-Ni was overcome with tears.  Everyone cried as we took Kate away from this family that LOVED her.  Wow.  We will never forget that night.  Kate cried too, but only for a minute.  We cried harder than she did. 

 

We have their address and email and phone numbers and promised to stay in touch.

 

We walked back to the hotel in totally disbelief of what had just taken place.  I wish you all could have been in the room with us.  From the moment we walked in we were totally at ease.  God was in that room with us- it was amazing.  I don't think I have ever seen God's hand so visibly in all my life.