Bullet Train in Xinyang

When you adopt a child from Henan province, you are required to return to the city in which the child was found to apply for their passport.  Sophie was from Xinyang, several hundred miles from the capitol city Zhengzhou in which we are staying, so we got to take the Bullet Train rather than van to get there.

If it weren't for the fact that Joshua's passport trip holds some of our worst memories in China, we would have been very excited going into the trip instead of apprehensive.  Joshua was a very sick little boy on that drive and it was quite stressful...and messy.  Suffice it to say, we've done much praying leading into the trip to Xinyang!  

The bullet train was an answer to prayer!  It was much more comfortable than a van and actually somewhat relaxing.  Well, at least as relaxing as it gets when the cutest 3 year old in the world is wiggling in your lap and shoving Chinese kiddie snacks in your mouth every few seconds!  

Sophie playing with the newly adopted daughter of another family in our group who also went by train to their daughter's finding city.  They got off a stop before us.

Beginning at 7:15am, we walked to the new Zhengzhou subway, took the Subway to the Bullet Train, took the train 1 hour 45 minutes to Xinyang, 

caught a taxi to the Public Service Bureau,

 applied for the passport (another unhappy looking Sophie Joy Bei Bei in that one!), 

and then reversed the whole process!

In line to get our train ticket changed to an earlier time.  Everything went so quickly we were able to go home 2 trains sooner!

Sophie and Daddy waiting for train to take us back to Zhengzhou.

(scenes from the train ride....)

Other than getting her picture taken, she was a happy girl the whole time and very patient.  I couldn't help but think how much Joshua would have loved the bullet train!  He would have been so excited!  Sophie, on the other hand, preferred interacting with people and snacking!

The time in Xinyang was very fast and we only saw a very small part of this city south of Zhengzhou that was hilly and more agrarian.  

We will most likely never be closer geographically to Sophie's birth family than we were today.  I wished there was some way to hire a plane to write in the sky...
She lived!  
She survived!  
You saved her life by giving her up...and we thank you!  

My heart breaks for the birth families of my three youngest.  I want them to know that their babies are loved and getting the medical care they were given up to get.  I pray that they come to know Jesus so that even if they never see these precious ones in this life, they will get to spend eternity with them.  My heart was raw.  And my eyes tear as I type.  I can't imagine having been in their positions.  Please never forget that the gift of adoption is birthed in searing loss and pain.  

And, then, like that we were back in Zhengzhou.  A little weary and hungry, but, oh so thankful for an easy and problem-free trip!

Thank you so much for praying that Sophie would drink well.  She is and she has been fever free.  I am getting a crash course in her care and it will take me a little while to become adept at some of it. 

Our little girl has been through so much in her short 3 years.  More surgeries than I even know...but many.  More procedures than could be counted, but the scars tell of their work.  More threats to her health and life than I care to think about, because it turns my stomach.   

We are overwhelmed with love for Miss Sophie and ache at the thought of any harm coming to her.  Please pray that she would not get a fever or UTI  (she gets one at least once a month).  Pray that she would grow healthy and strong so it could better fight the nasty bacteria that attack her urological system.  Pray that she would develop a taste for healthy food as she has been on a diet seemingly deficient of what her body needs to be healthy and strong.  Her paperwork says she has a penchant for junk food and sweets, so we will work on that!

Thank you so much!  God is so good, all the time.  He has called us to a task that is beyond us but not beyond Him...and we choose to trust Him.  It is well with my soul.

In Him,