The big news of the day is that we received Sarah’s passport and our official adoption certificate along with the other paperwork we’ll need to get her the official OK from Uncle Sam to go home. Tomorrow, we’re off to Guangzhou for the next step in the process.

The other big news is that Sarah continues to blossom, as do the other girls in our group. Sarah laughs and plays now (at least near one of us) and is not nearly so shy with strangers. She is still far from outgoing, and that’s just fine with us, but she is not scared of the whole world any longer. She is really beginning to know that we are her family, and she even runs up to Jordan with arms outstretched! She’s a handful – inquisitive, happy, stubborn at times – and we are so happy that God has blessed our lives with her.

Our wonderboy has been terrific too. He’s more than ready to go home, but he is really being a “good, strong boy” as one Chinese man called him. He is wonderful with Sarah, and he is making the best out of a trip that does not involve 12 hours of pre-programmed fun every day.

One thing that has really struck us is how the local people have been friendly and happy wherever we go. It’s not that they are trying to get our tourist dollars or anything cynical like that – they are genuinely nice. Two old ladies stopped to chat with us on the street … a businessman in the elevator patted Jordan on the shoulder and complimented him … a woman at the pool tried for half an hour to get her shy son to play with Jordan, since he had nobody to play with … we have had at least 100 people on the street say “hello” and smile at us. The list goes on and on. Changsha is (by American standards) a fairly poor city, but people are always neatly dressed, happy and friendly, and we feel completely safe walking the streets – not at all like the “poor side of town” in most American cities. China is really a wonderful place full of caring people. They drive crazily and cram too many people on an elevator, but the people have good hearts, especially for the children. That realization is one of the unexpected things we’ll take home with us in a week.