Day 4 Shenyang, China

Shenyang is a fascinating city! It belonged to Russia at one time so the architecture reflects that influence. There is a roundabout just down from our hotel (Intercontinental) that has a huge statue of Chairman Mao in the center of the road surrounded by a grassy area. We are staying in the downtown area, but there are small, very simple shops wedged in between glittering high rise buildings. There are lots of piles of vegetables, mainly lettuce and onions on the sidewalks. Our guide told us that since it gets very cold in the winter here, the people are preparing the vegetables to store for the winter. The thing that is really hard to get used to is the driving habits of the residents. There are very few traffic signals and pedestrians are supposed to just walk out in traffic, avoiding eye contact with drivers who are hurtling towards them. The pedestrians expect that the drivers will avoid them, but it is far from a certainty. Also, when cars do come near pedestrians, the object seems to be to get as close as possible without actually making contact. It seems that motorcycles are allowed on the sidewalks and bicycles are absolutely everywhere. My favorite are the bicycles that have huge carts attached in front of them; we actually saw one that had a couch on the cart in front. 

We met our wonderful guide Kathy today and she is making our lives much more simple and more secure. We spent quite a bit of time together this evening during which she helped us exchange money, took us to a photo shop for yet more adoption photos, took our laundry to a cleaner, briefed us on tomorrow's events and accompanied us to a dumpling restaurant for a superb dinner. We had huge portions of several items and two large beers - the total tab was $15 American!

Saving the best for last, tomorrow is Gotcha Day! We will meet Gage at 10:00 at the Civil Affairs office. We are getting used to calling him AiJun, his Chinese name, which we have been encouraged to use for the first week or so. Kathy hasn't met him, but she did have more information than we previously had. Apparently, he has really wanted to be adopted which is so wonderful! He is nervous, but excited. Sounds like us! She said he is a very good student and physically very strong. He has spent the last couple of days back at the orphanage in Dalian being prepared for this big change in his life. He and the orphanage director will drive up tomorrow from Dalian to Shenyang.

Thank you to all of our precious family and friends who have journeyed with us to this point. This is the day we have been anticipating for 18 months and we couldn't have made it without your love and support. Please pray that God will gently knit Gage into the fabric of our family.