Heading to Kunming, Yunnan Province

Well, I've not heard anything from Bryan since the AM of the 9th (our time, evening of the 9th China time). He was exhausted from their Great Wall tour, and hopefully from shopping that afternoon. They are starting their Tuesday (11th). After breakfast they are scheduled to fly to Kunming.

Kunming is the capital of Yunnan province. Yunnan province is the furthest SW province in China, and sits on top of Laos and Vietnam. It is called "Eternal Spring", as the temps rarely get above the 70s or below the 40s. Yunnan grows 85-90% of all of China's flowers. China has 56 different minority groups. In Yunnan alone there are 36 different minority groups represented. Yunnan province was the home of the US Flying Tigers unit from WWII. (A film is currently being made about the Flying Tigers.) Kunming is lush and beautiful!! I can't wait to go back to visit again!! The majority of people are very nice. We got more strange looks while in Kunming than we have any where else in China. Not only were we some of the hand full of Americans in the entire city of millions, we also had S with us. Two overweight Americans with a Chinese child was not something these people see on a daily basis. :-D

There is nothing tourist-wise scheduled for them on the 11th day. Bryan will probably take advantage of the free afternoon/evening to show Tommy around Green Lake and then head to Wal-Mart for some Dove candy bars. We're not for sure what they're called in China, but they're similar to a Crunch bar. They are the delicious Dove chocolate, though, and about 1000X better than a crunch bar! I'm looking forward to the ones he brings home for the girls and I! (My mouth is watering just thinking about the taste.)

The 12th, is a big day. It is the day they get to tour the orphanage. Bryan is suppose to get to meet the nannies that took care of S the short time she lived there. He has a photo album for the orphanage from the past year, as we've been lucky enough to have others take photo albums to the orphanage for us. (A HUGE Thank you to all that have done this for our family!) We are praying, and ask that you pray too, that Bryan and the other families will be able to view their child's or children's file(s) at the orphanage. We so desperately want to have more pictures of S, especially of her before her surgery. Then on the 13th, Bryan gets to meet S's foster family to learn about the 10+ months she lived with them. We would also like to request your prayers for the other families. Some of the other children's foster families had not been found as of the 7th. We don't want anyone to miss the opporunity to meet them!! THANK YOU!!!!!!

Please note: we do not plan to share much, if any, of what Bryan learns from the orphanage or S's foster family. We believe that this information is too personal to share with the world, and if or when S wants to share that information, then it will be her choice.