raise your hand if…

raise your hand if you’ve ever heard of Lianjiang City, China.

didn’t think so.

this is the hometown of our daughter, darby. Lianjiang is in the southern Guangdong province of China. other than darby’s 9 “sisters” that were all adopted together this past february, we have never met anyone else from Lianjiang city. in fact, i can’t remember a single person who has recognized the city since we returned from china, including a handful of chinese people who’ve asked about where darby is from.

until Christmas Eve….

on our way home from the last christmas eve service at our church, we stopped at a chinese take out restaurant close to our house. it turns out that the guy who waited on us is from Lianjiang City!! his name is Lin.

we asked him a few questions, but for fear of coming on too strong and ending up with a restraining order, we decided against inviting him over to our house on the spot. truthfully, we’d love nothing more than to strike up a friendship and learn more about darby’s hometown. i am so curious about what life is like in Lianjiang.

we hope to visit one day. pay a visit to the spot where darby was found and to the orphanage where she spent her first 13 months. say “xie xie” (thank you) to the nannies that took such good care of her.

needless to say, we’ve found our new chinese restaurant of choice.

so……how many orders of kung pao chicken before we try to “next level” it with Lin?