Last Day in Nanchang!!!

We are coming to the close of our first week of this journey!  While we will remember this city forever as the city that we received Ella Grace, this city doesn't really have significance to her and the path she has been on since she was born.  She was born about 2 hours from here, and has spent the last 3 years of her life in Beijing, in a wonderful facility, where she was loved and cherished by the workers as well as many people around the world.  We had no idea, until we got here, that she was not in the orphanage that she had been turned over to at the time of her abandonment.  For some reason, the orphanage never shared this information with our agency, and the reason we never got any substantial updates, is because she wasn't AT the orphanage!  She was in an American run facility who takes care of children with special needs and funds surgeries for them, which was the case for our Ella Grace.    She received SOOOO much love there and was prayed over for the past 3 years.  Just further proof that God has had His hand on her throughout her whole life, which we knew already, but being able to see it for ourselves has been such a blessing! 

And for Sara, who hand delivered our special blessing to us, THANK YOU, so much for the love you and your staff have given to our Ella Grace over the past 3 years!  We are so fortunate to have met you, and now to be able to be in contact with you and to help support the wonderful work that you all are doing! 

Gotcha Day with Sara and our family

Little girl started off our day, by refusing to go to sleep until 2 am.... yes, that's right!  She had a late nap yesterday, and slept for about an hour, and we paid the consequences last night!  She wasn't fussy, but was giggling and laughing and ready to play!  Brad finally got her tired by pulling out the hair brush and brushing her hair for about 10 minutes.  He then put her in her crib, where she FINALLY dozed off.  We were worn out!  We all slept until 8:40 this morning.  Thankfully, we didn't have to meet our guide until 10 am.

We spent our last full day here by taking a trip to a porcelain shop.  This region is known for it's fine porcelain.  We found a few things to bring home!  We also then went and found Pizza Hut, where we enjoyed some YUMMY pizza, and got a little taste of home!  We came back and have been waiting on our final documents to arrive from the Notary, as well as our laundry to return from the laundry service who came to pick it up.  Brad just came back from KFC, bringing back our dinner and came in the room all excited.... he was standing outside of KFC, trying to hail a cab for a ride back to the hotel.  He was unsuccessful, so started walking, and a man who had been watching him, who was riding a motorcycle, motioned for Brad to jump on the back, and he gave him a ride back to our hotel!  Missed that photo op, but it made Brad's day! 

Brad & Ella Grace in front of Porcelain

Good night for the last time from Nanchang!  We can't wait to get to Guanghzou, where we will meet up with our travel group and get to know some families from our area!  We've got to repack all of our gear and hopefully get some good sleep.  Ella Grace had a 5 minute nap today!  We are hoping she will be ready for sleep by 8:00.... I know we will be ready!  We have a short hour and a half flight tomorrow, and can't wait to see this next hotel we will be staying at.  The one we have been at here has been awesome, and it looks like the next is going to even out-do this one!  Should be fun!

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