Nanchang - Day 5

Thursday - January 13, 2011 - 10:45pm

Remember how I said in my last entry that I would let you know when I discovered other "things" that describe Grace? Well about ten minutes after I turned off my computer and went to bed I discovered something else: Grace is a roller. We made the mistake of putting Grace in bed with us last night. Well, I shouldn't say it was a mistake, we wanted to see how she would do in our bed, whether it might promote further bonding (one of the things Grace is not is a snuggler, at least not yet). But it just didn't last very long. By the time I got in bed, both Renee and Grace were sound asleep although they sleep very differently. While Renee is sleeping she is very still with an occasional roll-over or re-positioning, Grace is just the opposite; she rolls in her sleep with an occasional moment of stillness now and then. I started off with my body facing the middle of the bed and Grace (who was in between us) but soon rolled the other way after receiving a few slaps from Grace's arm and a kick or two from her foot (better on my back than on my face). After a few minutes I half-rolled towards the center again and turned my head to see what she was doing because she was still being restless. That was a mistake. Grace had pulled herself up into what seemed like a half-sitting/half-standing position with her back resting against the headboard of the bed and, just as I turned my head to see what she was doing, she fell over towards me and our heads collided. Nothing serious, although neither of us particularly enjoyed the experience. The incident neither woke her up nor caused me to go to sleep so, for her comfort and my safety, I decided it would be best for her to sleep in her crib. She actually seems to prefer it. Maybe I do too.

Grace is also a tumbler. She stumbles and tumbles occasionally as she masters the art of walking. She has absolutely no fear and a seemingly high threshold of pain so therefore it doesn't concern her much to fall, whether walking across the room, climbing out of her crib or crawling/sitting too close to the edge of the bed. Not that she has fallen off the bed or out of her crib; we have been careful to prevent those accidents. It's just that she doesn't seem to concern herself with avoiding those things. She still stumbles now and then while walking and fell against the leg of the desk last night, hitting her cheek (she did respond passionately to that one). Then this morning she walked into the arm of the bedroom chair lip first. She's kind of a "rumbly-tumbly" character determined to achieve her own agenda. You might say she is relentless (funny, that's how we used to describe Kimberly). Still, she is a joy to have around. It is amazing to me to look at this little girl, not really knowing much about her past or the influences that have conditioned her behavior and/or personality, and realize that she is ours. To have and to hold. To love and to train. To nurture and to comfort. And to teach her of the love God has for her, and help her to understand that He has a wonderful plan for her life - and we get to be a part of it. I am truly in awe.

Today was our last full day in Nanchang as we are scheduled to leave tomorrow for Guangzhou where the U.S. Consulate is located. Renee and I wanted to visit the orphanage where Grace lived prior to our arrival so we asked our guide Helen to arrange it for us. There was an extra charge for this excursion of (are you ready for this?) 1,000 Yuan or roughly $153. For a three-and-a-half to four-hour van ride. Remember the doctor's house call (hotel room call) yesterday for Kimberly at $6/hour? I am not complaining about the cost, we were happy to pay it, I just feel bad for the doctor. That poor woman. Apparently is pays more to drive foreigners around in a van (almost $40/hour) than to be a five-star hotel's resident physician. Now, I know there are fuel costs (and insurance I hope) involved in operating a touring van, but come on!

It took us close to ninety minutes to drive to the orphanage in Zhangshu City, which is south of Nanchang, but we didn't stay long once we arrived. We wanted to get some photographs of us with Grace in the place where her odyssey began. So we snapped a few pictures and hopped back into the van and were gone. Grace was abandoned on November 28, 2009 at the gate outside of the Zhangshu Social Welfare Institute (the same orphanage where she lived). The orphanage officials estimated that she was three days old when they found her and assigned a date of birth of November 25, 2009. Earlier this week we were given, as a part of the adoption documentation, a copy of the local newspaper advertising her discovery and requesting that her parents/family come to claim her. Sadly, the advertisement contained over fifty photographs of other children who had been abandoned. And no one ever came for her. Until we arrived.

After seeing the city where she was (likely) born, visiting the orphanage where she lived (we didn't feel the need to go inside) and walking the street in the neighborhood where it is located, I can now see beyond any doubt the reality of what we are doing here. We are rescuing Grace. Before today I would have never used that term. And I don't mean to presume that we are heroes or anything silly like that. But as I held her and I looked around at the neighborhood, and saw the gruesome, run-down buildings, and heard the desperation in the voice of someone groaning inside one of the apartments, I sensed the hopelessness of that place. And I knew that Grace had been rescued. That she had been redeemed, in a sense, and set free. But it is the Lord God Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, that has rescued her and set her free from this harsh and hopeless place. We are merely the instruments He has chosen to use.