Jiangxi Journey - Nanchang and Mt Lushan

Many of you know of our dear, departed Aunt Nan who we met ten years ago in Nashville. She grew up in Nanchang, which is also where two of our daughters were placed in our arms. Her brother, Hong, and his wife, Xuiping, invited us to spend five days with them last week. Our time together was such a rich blessing and our "family" has grown even more! We met Nan's sister, her two adult children and granddaughter, Yuji's father in addition to Hong's son, his wife, their daughter and Xuiping's sister and brother-in-law who live in Nanchang.

The afternoon we arrived in Nanchang, Hong and Xuiping served a delicious, traditional Chinese meal at their home. This is the apartment where Nan and her four siblings grew up many years ago! Hong and his family now live there.



We took the girls to the Gloria Hotel where Zara was placed in our arms in 2002. Then three years later, Zola was placed in our arms in a government building but we also stayed at the Gloria Hotel for a week. Being there brought back so many precious memories of seeing our babies for the first time and also the friendships we made with other adoptive families who remain so special to us.



Nanchang is the provincial capital of Jiangxi province and has a population of over 5 million.

Our friend, Maria, who we met through Zena's adoption in 2004 joined us to travel for two days. Maria worked for Children's Hope and then came to the US for additional university studies and visited with us throughout her four years in the US.

The next morning we got in a big van that Hong had rented and our family, Hong, Xuiping and Xuiping's sister took off on a four-day sightseeing trip! We went to Mt Lushan which is a beautiful part of God's creation! Over two days, we hiked about twelve miles through this beautiful park!

Much to our surprise, we saw monkeys living in the wild! There were about twelve monkeys and they were coming up to the trail as people walked by. The signs said not to feed them but people were, so the monkeys would come up to people expecting food!