Journey into Johnny's beginnings! Part One

Today was INCREDIBLE.

We went into the day with Denise, our "in-province coordinator" having booked us a train ride to - and back from - Xuzhou Province, the province where Johnny was born. It's departure and arrival times were 9:30 am and 6:40pm, respectively. With taxis and extra time for rush-hour, we knew it was going to be a very long day - especially for little Mr. John.

It was a 2-hour train ride. And, it was a very comfortable one at that! We find that Johnny does better in the bumpy, darting, beeping taxis than he does in a smooth, quiet train. Don't get me wrong, he did great - but, it seems that the taxis lull him to sleep, whereas the smooth train kept him awake and in need of constant entertainment!!! (So, am I wishing for a turbulent flight home? NOT!)

We met Ms. Tang, the coordinator of Xuzhou Social Welfare Institute, when we arrived in Xuzhou. She was the gal in the earlier pictures who brought our little guy to us at the Adoption Center on Monday. She is a wonderful lady who is a mixture of resourceful, accomodating, gracious and tons of compassion.

Our first stop: WOW! Look what we pulled up to.."Welcome Wei Jiahong's Family to Xuzhou Social Welfare Institute" What a welcome. Guys, these people must have gone all out to have made a sign like this for us! Money is extremely hard to come by for them!

They opened up the doors for us, too. We saw Johnny's playroom - complete with his little friends 6-12 months old. Oh, an aside - even the local newspaper paparazzi showed up. I'm really not kidding! One had this huge camera and kept snapping away. I didn't know what to think!!! (You can see him in the lower right side of the picture. Check out the camera!)


This is a picture of Johnny's nanny at the orphanage. We didn't get a chance to meet her at the adoption center earlier. We thought the gal with Ms. Tang was the nanny, but we were mistaken. "Thank you for all your love!!!!" These awesome people - to us - have no name. But, we will thank God for your part in our son's life always.

When we got to their bedroom, the staff plunked baby Johnny down into his crib. We actually TOUCHED the little guy's crib...tee heee. I'm giddy! Anyway, they also put him in his next door neighbor's crib with her in it and another one of the children. It was an all-out party! HA!

Johnny said his last "Good-byes" and we all gathered in front of the building for a group photo.

Onto lunch!!!

They then loaded us up into the van and took us to an incredibly nice place for lunch. As we walked into the building, we saw the cook and his station. NoVikings. No Bosch. "Just" a hard working Chinese cook who is determined to do a great job. I guess American's pricey high-end appliances are way overrated. You wouldn't have believed the spread and the tasty food they prepared for us.

Here is a shot of the table before we all started eating. And, yes. We tried it ALL...duck feet, wild frog legs and squid soup!!!