We're in Dabu

The day started at 4 am to catch an early flight to Guangzhou. We met our guide, Aron and driver in Guangzhou, where we left immediately for Dabu, Mandy's orphanage town. It was a six-hour drive which was on main highways until the last 1 1/2 hours which turned into mountainous roads that were curvy and fairly rough. We enjoyed the scenery along the way which was mostly farming. We are so thankful that both Aron and the driver are very nice and hospitable. We will enjoy spending the next couple of days with them.

The Director of the orphanage, He Li Na, met us at the hotel for a few minutes on her way home from work. She said Mandy looks very much the same just older. We will plan on meeting her at the orphanage tomorrow at 10:00 and she will spend the day with us showing us various parts of Dabu.

Mandy is loving staying in hotels. She is always excited to "set up" when we arrive at a new one. She said she is just gong to call them home since it is where we are going to live. She has been courageous in trying new foods but not so excited about the squat toilets. She was relieved at 4:30 when we got to our hotel and our room had a western commode since she hadn't used the bathroom since we left the airport this morning. She kept refusing to squat. Her bladder must be stronger than mine!

Here in Dabu there is no western food, only chinese. For dinner tonight our guide ordered us several different dishes to share including chicken with both the head and feet, beef with onions, bamboo shoots with celery, sweet and sour ribs, and a pork soup. Everything was very good. Mandy's favorite was the sweet and sour ribs and John and I loved the beef with onions and the bamboo shoots. Chop sticks are our only option and we all managed fine. After dinner as we were walking back to the hotel we stopped and bought some local fruit. I will have to ask Aron the names of the fruit again but we all enjoyed it and Mandy truly loved trying the new fruit, especially the hairy red stuff and the miniature oranges that you eat the rind all.

Tomorrow will be a big day for us and we are excited to get to have this experience. I know many of you have been and will be praying for us and continue to be thankful for that. We have definitely seen God throughout the last several days and know that he is with us.

We continue to look forward to meeting Michael on Monday and pray that he is being prepared for how much his world will be changing. We are so ready to physically touch and love him. Monday will not come soon enough.

I hope you enjoy the pictures and following us on this journey.

Sheila