Our Journey to Charis

We are so in love with our little girl it is just not funny. Every day she comes out a little bit more. She is a spirited little thing.

I think that today's trips were the most enlightening so far. We visited to People's Park and were able to go into one of the villages that was about 30 minutes outside on Nanchang City. Our guide told us that it is a typical average income village. Not rich, not poor. Most of the villages around here are like this one so chances are good that Charis came from a village much like this. She told us that the villagers are very protective of each other and that even if they knew someone had a baby and did not keep it, they would never tell. She said that it would be understood by the others that the child would be too expensive to keep. After seeing these villages, I am amazed at the love and sense of community they have with each other. They were very gracious and kind to us, offering us water, which was HUGE for them. The poverty was shocking to me, I don't think I will be the same. God has blessed us far more than we could ever imagine. This is our last night in Charis' province, we are taking our little girl with us tomorrow and that brings some strange emotions. I hope to return someday with her and take her to the place she was found and let her see her homeland.

On the lighter side, we have all decided that we could use some Mexican food right now! We are looking forward to getting to Guangzhou tomorrow. We will have a few more choices for Western foods. Nanchang City just does not cater to the Westerners. I think that it will be a long time before we want to order Chinese take out!!