Monday morning, Oct 8, at 6:53 am Nanjing time

As I start typing this, we are about 2 hours from leaving to go meet our new son, Zachary Eli. We mostly are very excited about this, but a little bit nervous as well. I'm sure it will be an emotional time. Even as I type this my palms are a little sweaty.

Yesterday, our guide Jin (pronounced like "Jean" - the adoption agency gives her the name Jane, but we're using her Chinese name) filled us in on a lot of info. She's been an adoption guide for 11 years now and has a wealth of knowledge about this process. She's very impressive - totally on the ball, takes care of every detail, and speaks fluent English.

Jin mentioned that normally the first 24 hours can be tough and rocky for an adoption of a boy like Zachary Eli. Sometimes that can be only 2 hours, sometimes that can go on for days or even longer. We of course hope and pray for a smooth transition. We asked whether Stacie may help in the transition, and Jin thought she would be a big help.

Jin also mentioned that boys in orphanages typically won't be interested in teddy bears but rather other boyish toys. Fortunately, we have a car and other stuff for him.

Yesterday was more relaxing than the other days. We didn't start touring until 2:30 pm and then ended up at about 7 pm (with take out KFC, which was good but more spicy than in the US). Sue and Stacie took a nap, and I went out walking around, looking for some black, low cut athletic socks. None of the stores had any my size (XL), but I think I created quite a stir walking around given my height.

In terms of the sightseeing, we went to the Purple Mountain yesterday, which is about 30 minutes away. At the bottom of the Purple Mountain there is a mausoleum for Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, who is considered the father of the Republic of China during the early 1900s. Dr. Sun was a democratic revolutionary and is revered here.

We walked up 392 steps to get to the mausoleum. This represents the population of China, which was 392 million which represents the population of China at the time of Dr. Sun's death in 1925. (Wow) The first picture above is the 3 of us on the steps.

We also visited the Old Town area of Nanjing. Nanjing is a very old city - 2,000 years old and even during parts of the 20th century was the capital of China. Some of the buildings in the Old Town are 400 years old, and some of Old Town hasn't changed in 1,600 years. Amazing. The second picture above is of the Old Town area - mostly a shopping area now with the historic buildings.

One of the things I did yesterday was surf the internet and found out that there were some big upsets in college football - USC losing to Stanford (cool) and Illinois beating Wisconsin (sorry Bob Skilton). I didn't shed a tear for the Sparties, who lost in OT to Northwestern. On the other hand, Michigan is obviously not a very good team this year - just struggling to beat Eastern Michigan. (I also see from the internet this morning that the Lions lost big-time. I shouldn't have been surprised, but I thought perhaps things would be different this year . . . )

Back to the adoption . . .

I think that the best way for me to close this is to simply type up Sue's journal from yesterday at 10:25 pm. She gave me permission to do this, and I will quote it in its entirety since it is better than I could do and I share the same feelings. Here it is:

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Sue's journal: Sunday evening at 10:25 pm

"I have so much yet to journal about the past few days but I first have to write about what is about to happen in 11 hours.

Yi Lai [Gord's note: pronounced "Eli" in Chinese] will have his mommy, daddy, Stacie, Sarah, Ryan and Stephanie!

My sweet little boy. I haven't met you but through pictures and some video. You are in my heart and I know that God has placed you in our family for a very special reason. We already love you and will promsie to take good care of you. Please know that I know it will be difficult to trust me and open up to me because you have been taken away from the only life you know. My dear Yi Lai there is so much more. I pray that you will feel the love and warmth of having a family, to not ever be alone in the night or when you are scared or hurt. Please know that we will always be here for you.

I pray that you will once again open your heart and learn to trust and allow yourself to feel love and share your love. But most importantly that you will come to know and love Jesus and to trust in what he came for too. That my son is the biggest act of love that can ever be displayed.

Rest now as tomorrow morning very early you will travel here to meet us. We are excited and anxious and yes, nervous about our finally meeting. I am so ready to begin our lives together my dear son - I love you."

That about sums it up. We love you, Yi Lai.

Gord