We woke up early today in Beijing and started packing all of our things. Because of our messed up sleep schedule we were up quite early. Much to Mark's delight we were ready to meet our guide Vivienne in the lobby 2 hours early! Pretty sure that has never happened before! Our hotel room in Beijing was really nice! It was like an executive apartment with the kitchen and living space in the middle and a nice sized bedroom on either side:) It was nice for Abbie and Becca to have their own space:)
We arrived at the Beijing airport early and had a great flight to Chengdu:) I was able to sit back and listen to some Christian music on my ipod, it was so nice and much needed! Mark and the girls watched some movies during the almost 3 hour flight:) Our new guide Jason met us at the Chengdu airport and escorted us to the new hotel. The hotel still has their Christmas tree up in the center of their lobby. This is significant because we decided to leave our two Christmas trees (one downstairs, one upstairs) up at home until we bring Benjamin home:):):) I was very convinced that God was going to bring Ben home to us by Christmas....and when that didn't happen, I was disappointed and sad:( However, by now I have learned to trust God's timing, so we decided to keep our trees up until after we bring him home:) We bought him some gifts and still want to celebrate Christmas with him:):) So...even though we all know that CHRISTMAS is all about CHRIST and is not about the presents and the trees....this Christmas tree in the lobby is significant because in a way it is still Christmas and God is fulfilling that desire to bring our family this very special gift at Christmas!!! It's one of those "between God and I" moments:) We may also get the chance to somehow tell Benjamin the Christmas story and that would be great!!!! Not sure how we will do that yet, but hopefully we will find a believer who speaks Chinese that can interpret the Christmas Story for him:):) Anyway, we will have lots to celebrate when we bring Ben home and introduce him to his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and actually tell him or read to him the Christmas Story!
We ventured out of our hotel long enough to find a McDonalds and so we ate there for dinner:( Becca was happy because it was something familiar:):):) She has been a bit homesick, please pray for her. Today was pretty much a travel day and a "get acclimated to your new surroundings" day. Only 2 days left until we meet Benjamin:):):) Thank you so very much for your prayers...we surely need them to carry us through this time in China and once we get home:):):) It is late here in Chengdu and I probably need to get some sleep! Thank you Lord for bringing us safely to Chengdu, and thank you friends and family for holding us in your prayers:):):) Love you all!
God Bless:)
Patti and Family
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| The Christmas Tree in our hotel lobby:) |
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| This is our room for 5 nights...2 of these rooms...Ummmm, not the best rooms we have had while traveling to China:( |
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| We flew to Chengdu on China Southern:) Great flight..exceptional flight attendants! |
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| At the Beijing airport saying goodbye to our guide Vivienne:( She has been so nice to us! |
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| Our bus driver and our girls:) He was so kind to us and very timely:):) |
Ok, catching up a little bit! We are now on our second day in Chengdu and only one day away from meeting Ben!!!! We are so excited! We have a free day which is kind of nice so that we can get prepared for Ben. We also got some time this morning to facetime with everyone back home! That was really great and much needed! We missed the little ones though, they were all in bed:( Hopefully we'll get to talk to them tomorrow:) We got to catch up with Omi though, and Brie, Bryan, Justin, Jamie and Grandma:) Here are a few pictures of our day so far:) We'll update more later:)
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| Becca enjoying the fish in our hotel:):) She seems to be doing a little better with the homesickness today! Yay! |
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| Dad is working on organizing Ben's paperwork...in our teeny tiny room! |
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| Three beds, now we just have to unpack Ben's stuff and get his stuffed animals and blanket out and we will be ready for our new boy!!! |
Ok, now you are all caught up! We should be getting Ben tomorrow around 10:30am (Monday at about 8:30pm US time), we will try to update before then, but if not, our next post will include Ben in it!! Please pray for Ben as his world will be completely different in about 24 hours! We covet your prayers and are so grateful for all of you!
Love, Patti and Family:)
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