Last night in Nanchang and my girls need your prayers

This is our last night in Nanchang. Normally you don't stay as long we have but there were concerns about being able to get the paperwork completed on time since we did not meet Wan Yun until Monday.

But after eight days here we leave tomorrow, Monday, for Guangzhou.

Tomorrow is an important day though.

We will be visiting the orphanage at about 10:30 a.m.

We have asked for the foster parents of both girls to come.

I know for Grace this has been a difficult decision, one she has considered for the last 3 1/2 years.

She lived with her foster family from the time she was 2 months old until adopted at 6. She was very close to her foster mother and I believe very spoiled by her. But the foster mother also told her that if she ever left, she, the foster mother, would die.

Grace has cried so many tears fearful that she caused her foster mother's demise. She has at times when completely inconsolable about it.

To see her again is going to be very hard. She did not even decide she wanted to see her until tonight when I urged her to rather than regret it.

Now for Wan Yun, who has decided out of all the choices of names, Annabel, Annie, Wan Yun, or Belle, that she prefers Belle. She actually thought her name was Apple, and likes that too.

Anyway, Belle has been with her foster family from the time she was 2 years old until last year when she was identified to be adopted and returned to the orphanage.

For both girls these foster parents have raised them and seen them through a lot.

Belle, in sign language, tried to explain to me that tomorrow when she saw her foster family that they would be crying and she would be crying, but please do not be mad at her. Bless her heart, worried about how I would react to this sight. I used sign language that I would take pictures for her to remember when we got home and could have pictures of she and her foster parents. She grabbed me and hugged me and said over and over Thank you Mommy!

Grace has been very quiet about it all.

So if you can, say a little prayer for their sake as well as the foster parents. I know it will be difficult on all.

I have to tell something pretty funny before I end tonight and hope no one will have their feelings hurt if I didn't get an email responded to. I have packed and repacked so many times I am exhausted.

Anyway, back to the funny story. You are to take gifts for certain primary parties in the adoption process. One of the most important is the orphanage director. But because we will see the foster parents then they are the most important.

So we suddenly needed gifts for the foster parents.

Belle thought long and hard and first wanted to get her foster father cigarettes. I told her I would not buy him cigarettes.

The second choice was for ginseng for her foster mother. OK, how do you do that?

We went to the grocery store down the street from the hotel and she took us right to what she wanted to buy, a big box that has vitamins in them! So we ended up buying not only the big box of vitamins, but bird's nest and something. We convinced Grace to buy hers the same thing.

Anyway, I have heard of taking flowers, candy, wine, T shirts, ball caps, any and everything, but never vitamins! The guide felt it was perfect, practical and a wish for a long healthy life!