Day One

February 12, 2012 Day One

We are in the guest flat in Hong Kong.  Katie is on the couch.  I just took a walk.  It’s 5pm - definitely feels later than that.  We just bought some groceries this morning.  Life is good.

We started the day in the Regal Orient Hotel in Kowloon.  Out of the 27 hours or so of travel yesterday there was only one hiccup.  We thought we were staying in one hotel, but we were actually staying in another hotel 30 minutes closer to the city.  No big deal. 

We left the hotel in a taxi and travelled to the guest flat to meet Jonah’s social worker.  It was a little surreal talking to her.  She knows him probably better than anyone.  She said he is over his cold and feeling fine.  She also mentioned he is on cloud 9 and really excited about this week.  We briefly talked about the plans for the rest of the week and then she took us to the center of the city.  Our only objective for the day was to buy groceries so she told us where to do that and then she left. 

So we did what any experienced traveler would do.  We went to McDonalds.  Usually I only have one rule I try to follow when I’m out of town.  Don’t eat at a chain.  But I have a different rule for international travel.  When you find something acceptable eat now and eat plenty – you never know when or what your next meal will be. 

Everything I remember from the trip before was confirmed today while I was walking around.  I love this city.  After eating at McDonalds we walked around in the Central area.  In this part of town there are outdoor escalators going up and stairs to take on the way down.  There are a lot of shops and restaurants along the way.  We were there for probably an hour and didn’t even ride all the way to the top.  Things are a lot less crowded today since today is Sunday.  So it worked out pretty good for this to be our first day here. 

We took a taxi back to the apartment and Katie chilled while I took a walk down the hill to Hong Kong Park.  I couldn’t have picked a better time to go.  I saw three weddings, a graduation, and a model photo shoot.  I’ve included some pictures from the walk below. 

I would like to ask you to pray for Katie.  The devil is really attacking her.  We are both anxious about this week and we ask for your prayer on that matter.  But please ask God to calm her heart and relieve her from worry.  Thank God we have a refuge and hiding place in the Lord and his Word.  I don’t know how anyone does anything without that.

Tomorrow morning at 8:30 we are going to meet Jonah for the first time.  We are only a 10 minute walk away at this point.  We first decided to adopt 5 years ago – and it all comes down to tomorrow morning at 8:30.  Wow. 

Thank all of you for praying and thinking of us.

Our flat.