When Lily was living in the Zhuhai SWI she had a very good friend named Jian Hong. Lily has a lot of pictures and talked about her all the time when she first came home. Time passed and Lily made new friends but the memories and faces of her friends from Zhuhai were forever etched in her memory. One day I was browsing blogs and ended up on a blog that was advocating for children waiting to be matched with families. While scrolling through the blog I saw a picture that looked familiar, I knew that playground. I saved the link to the picture and waited for Lily to get home to show her the picture.

Later that night I remembered the picture and showed it to Lily. I asked her did she recognize the child in the picture and the biggest smile came across her face. Very matter of fact she said, " yes, that is Zhu Jian Hong". Well I knew that name very well because Lily had talked about her so much. She got all excited and ran upstairs and got her scrapbook of pictures from her days in Zhuhai. She flipped right to a page and sure enough it was her. She even had on the same outfit that she had on in Lily's picture. I have heard of families learning about their daughters best friends adoptions and I couldn't believe I had stumbled (ok, I truly give God the credit here) upon this picture. Without it I have no doubt I may never have discovered that Jian Hong was listed for adoption here in the US. The next day I contacted the agency that had Jian's file and requested the status.I explained to them that this was my daughters best friend in China and I was told there was a family reviewing the file that was very serious and that they were to decide soon. The agency was so nice when I asked her to please pass along my contact information to the family in hopes that they would contact me or let me know if the family had decided not to proceed with her adoption. The next Monday the agency let me know that YES the family was proceeding with the adoption and they would pass along my information. I anxiously waited for them to contact me. Very shortly the mom did. We began contact and have been in close contact every since. Jian Hong is being adopted into an amazing family.

Jian Hong met her mom and dad the day after Christmas. She will be living close enough to Lily that we can see each other without it being a huge ordeal. Lily cannot wait for the day she can be reunited with her friend again. And I cannot wait to meet her sweet momma. Jian Hongs mom is blogging here about their trip to China. Check it out Jian Hong is beautiful and they are doing well.


 "An invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but will never break." --An ancient Chinese belief"

These two girls were destined to meet not once in their lifetime but twice. The thread may have gotten very tangled at one time but God untangled it and brought these two families together.

We really enjoyed visiting Hong Kong Disney, if you are going through Hong Kong to China I recommend it. We worried about taking her but honestly it was less stressful and more fun than many of the sightseeing tours we have been on in China planned by our agency.

It was very similar to Disney World on a smaller scale but had the coolest Toy Story Land my kids would be gaga over. It wasn't overly crowded but boy did we get the stares. It is so funny watching people do a double take when they look at us and then her and then back at us.

We went by train to Hong Kong on Wednesday afternoon (making our train with just 15 minutes to spare, whew) and enjoyed a train ride through China. China has one of the most unique landscapes to watch (not that I've really been anywhere else but still just amazing to look at). In one view you can see dozens of brand new high rise apartment buildings and just below them farmers tending their crops and appearing to have never entered the modern age.

Arriving in Hong Kong made us feel like we are getting closer to home and we are ready. Hotel living is not a glamorous life and essentially that is where we have spent most of our time. Luckily the hotel we have stayed in have been superb! We are so ready to get home and figure out our new normal and I just cannot wait for The O'Cain Crew to meet our newest member. God new this silly, crazy little girl was perfect for us, she is going to fit right in.

Today we had the chance to check out Hong Kong Disney and it was great. I will post pictures once we are home but tonight I am whooped and going to bed. Ellery did great and we just took it easy and enjoyed walking around. We did hit a few rides though and her favorite just like mama is It's a Small World! I love that ride.

Next post will be from home!! Can't promise when it will be though. Please pray for safe travels and for me to be able to handle the stress thrown my way. I have never traveled across the world with a 2 yr old.( Thank goodness for the Ergo, thanks Sharon!!)