Moments of Confirmation - Part Two

One day while we were in the middle of evaluating files and praying for discernment, we ended up at Grace Japanese Steakhouse for lunch. Daryl and I love eating at the hibachi tables and watching the show that goes along with the cooking. We got there at an off time, too late for the lunch crowd and too early for the dinner crowd, so things were kind of slow and we were seated by ourselves at a table. The hostess was very friendly and came over frequently to chat with us. In one conversation she mentioned that she was from China. Without mentioning what we were up to with our adoption, we inquired about which part of China she was from. Turns out she was from southern China - the province of Guangdong, specifically the city of Guangzhou (precisely where our son is from!) She spent lots of time talking to us about the differences in the regions of China. According to her the people in the northern part of China are larger in stature and like to eat more noodles and spicier foods. And then the people in the southern part of China are smaller in stature, eat more rice and a variety of foods. In particular she mentioned that the "joke" of Guangzhou is that people there eat everything from the sky except the airplane, everything from the water except the boats, and everything with four legs on land except the tables. I've seen enough pictures on adoption blogs of the markets in Guangzhou to know that she probably isn't far off on that one! "Cindy" as she told us to call her, went on to give us the recipe for making "congee" (thin rice soup for breakfast) and a few other dishes.

Eventually she scratched out a shopping list for us in Chinese on the back of an order ticket so we could take it to the Asian market in town and get the right supplies. As we left she invited us to come back and seek her out for more recipes whenever we were ready. How many times have we gone there and just made small talk with the hostess or chef? It was a delightful afternoon and one more reminder to us of how small the world can be when we are paying attention. We left smiling and with our hearts lighter. What a gift from God that day was for us!