He's already answering our prayers...

If you ever wondered how awesome God is...He's this awesome: answering prayers before we even get to China.

1. We asked prayer that we'd be able to communicate with Luyana. I had been previously told that the orphanage workers only speak a local dialect and that Luyana would not understand Mandarin (which I know a little bit of...at least enough to communicate with a 2 year old!). I found out yesterday from a friend that her little girl (who she adopted from the same orphanage just last month) speaks and understands Mandarin! Hallelujah!!!

2. We've been asking for prayers for our trek through Shanghai sans guide. We are praying that we will find our hotel, get train tickets, and get on (the correct) train to Nanjing where we will get Luyana. Today we were finally given the name of our hotel in Shanghai and it is within walking distance of the train station!! YES! We have two whole days to figure out where to buy tickets and how to get on the train. We can do it! (But don't stop praying!)

**On a semi-related side note. I had my Mandarin phrase book out the other day, studiously practicing things I might need to say. Mark grew increasingly annoyed as I kept shouting things like:

"Wo you zhi chuang! Do you know that that means?"

Silence.

"It means: I have hemorrhoids! .... I know how to say that, just in case!" 

He was unamused and unimpressed. He'll be thankful, though, if...you know...he has any issues in that department.