China day 4 {Over the river and through the hoods}

Hey, folks. It's Andy. Sheryl is taking the night off from the blog and has asked me to take a turn. By way of disclaimer, photos will be added to this post as soon as we get a 3-prong adaptor for the Mac - our HK adaptor won't work, so I'm writing this on the iPad.

We packed up this morning and ventured out to find a coffee shop. Passed up a Starbucks in favor of a local beanery - turned out to be a good call. The wi-fi was strong, and so was the coffee, so we were in business. Got to catch up on some email and social nonsense. I was shocked to see my brother, Steve, had joined Facebook and sent me a friend request. The bad place has officially frozen over.

We decided to mosey on back to the hotel around 11, a walk that, unlike our first day here, was absent of rain and gale-force winds. We grabbed our bags and said goodbye to Hotel Icon. If you're ever in Hong Kong, you won't regret staying there. They sent a bellhop to the train station to buy our train tickets for us to keep us from standing in line. And they had a taxi waiting for us. Well played, Mr. Concierge. Well played.

No surprise, there was a Golden Arches (a.k.a. "Crack D's" in Unc Dave's lingo) that made sense for lunch. We were entertained by numerous ChEnglish t-shirts walking by. (I'll have to write a separate post on this topic - too many good ones to pass up....)

We cattled our way onto the train platform. I looked for a sign to Hogwarts, but nothing doing. Found a seat on the second level of the "high-speed" train and settled in for the ride to Guangzhou. It was both scenic and entertaining.

No doubt, it was obvious when we had left Hong Kong. The shiny quickly wore off, and we were soon in a very different place. No more luxury cars, high-end retail and designer restaurants. The towns we were flying through were skinny, tired and muddy.

Rolled into Guangzhou shortly after 3:00, zoomed through customs. There was a friendly gentleman at the station holding a sign with our name on it. We assumed we were the only Lynchs on the train, so we got into his van and had a lovely (knuckle-whitening) ride to the Garden Hotel. It's a beauty - an absolute bargain at the rate our agency worked out for us.

We met our guide in the lobby and got checked in. She filled us in on what to expect tomorrow. Gotcha Day is going to be a wild ride.

We found a charming little Mexican restaurant not too far from the hotel - yes, I said Mexican. It was amusing to see Chinese girls dressed in Mexican outfits. The food was actually quite good - no doubt, we'll hit that one up again some time over the next nine days.

We're both remarkably calm heading into Gotcha Day. It's been about 17 months since we started this journey (I'd ask Sheryl for specifics, but she's already asleep). To think that tomorrow is it...well, it just feels right. Heck, I can remember being more nervous about final exams in college than I am about getting our Goose tomorrow. I guess I didn't study as much for the exams as I have for Lucy.

The main reason we're at peace is we know God has ordered our steps, Lucy's included. He had this day planned for us from eternity past, and we're just walking it out. Yes, this adoption will doubtless be the hardest thing we've ever done, but this is His plan for us, and He has given us everything we need through His Son, Jesus.

As I sign off, I must say that I am so proud of my dear wife. If you only knew how much work she's put into this...wow, it's staggering. I think Lucy will see it in her eyes tomorrow and quickly learn how much her mama loves her.

And, for what it's worth, I don't think it will take her long to figure out that her baba's pretty much smitten, too.

One more sleep....

Thanks for reading, friends, and thanks for praying. We appreciate you.