one thousand stories *part 1*

I could tell a thousand stories about the past few days.  They have been incredible.  More than we ever hoped for or dreamed of.  It will takes days to blog it all, but I will.  Because I hope I never forget these moments, and I know my memories will dim.

The best place to start?  The beginning :)

Our first hours on the road (Friday evening) were smooth and we made much better time than expected (this is, without doubt, the BEST way to start a road trip!)

One quick night in an, ummm..... average Chinese hotel and we were back on the road early, bound for Henan.

The roads are wide, and smooth, and very lightly travelled.  China has invested heavily in infrastructure in recent years, including interstates (inter-provinces?) and we definitely benefitted!  We've spent more money on tolls than on fuel but let me assure you, it was worth every cent!

I've spent hours on mountainous journeys through the northern and western parts of our province and these roads were so much better than I was expecting!

Finally, about 5pm and it was WELCOME TO HENAN!

John Paul spent his first 19 months in a village outside of NanYang, Henan.

Matt and I (and baby Luke) travelled to Zhengzhou, Henan when we got John Paul.  We also drove from Zhengzhou to Nanyang (over 4 hours) where we stopped briefly to apply for John Paul's passport, meet his foster mama (for about ten minutes), visit the hospital where he was abandoned and then drive right back to Zhengzhou.  It was one of our hardest days ever.  No one should take a 9 hour road trip with a 4 month old infant and a toddler they adopted the day before.  But it was what it was, and we did it.  Anyways, I was glad to be back in NanYang for a longer visit, and in less stressful circumstances.

We got to Nanyang, checked into the hotel, ate dinner, and got all our people tucked into bed.  Then we called John Paul's foster mom to tell her we made it.  She asked if she could pick us up at 7am the next morning!  She was so excited!  We suggested waiting closer to 8am and went to bed with a big day on the horizon!