So many of you have been following the story of our adoption, and the journey of the Howerton clan embracing, and being embraced, by Duzi. I thought I’d share another moment of PURE MAGIC (giggle).

After traveling for 26 hours, we were delayed on the tarmac in Atlanta, waiting for the final leg to Seattle to begin. Duzi had a window seat, I was in the middle, and sitting next to me was a really friendly Microsoft Employee named Brian. He asked me some questions about our adoption process, and was insightful, articulate, and kind. When I mentioned that our faith was a major motivator for us, he was respectful and affirming, even though he indicated that faith normally wasn’t his thing (I forget how he phrased this exactly, but he was cool.) He asked me if I had shown Duzi anything on Bing Maps.

Several weeks ago, Google announced that because of a "highly sophisticated attack" on the e-mail accounts of Chinese dissidents, that the company would no longer filter Google search results in that country.  As search engines are required to agree to this stipulation in order to operate in China, many suspect that this will lead to Google's eventual withdrawal from the country. Because of the size of China's population (and what this means for Google's market share), Google's increasing entrance into other product markets (operating systems and cell phones), and the increasing importance of China as a world power, this announcement was almost entirely unexpected. And despite the view articulated in the Business Week article linked above, although there may be some business considerations for the decision, when Google announced the decision, the reasons articulated had nothing to do with profits, but were about people.