First Full Day In Beijing

Hello everyone,

Well we made it to China once again.  The flight does not get any easier but it didn't seem as long as it has in the past.  We arrived at about 4 pm in Beijing and it was cold and foggy.   We met our guide Vivian and she took us to the hotel.  Patti was very tired so she laid down to sleep and the girls and I went for a walk to find something to eat.  (That is another story too long to tell right now!)  We went back to the hotel and went to bed but only slept until 4am. 

The first day we went to the Great wall,  a jade factory,  a cloisonne factory, and had a traditional Chinese lunch.  We found a Starbucks and then went to see the Chinese acrobats.  They were awesome.  The girls really enjoyed seeing the acrobats:) Went back to the hotel and all of us fell asleep immediately without even going to dinner.  We woke up at 4am again and are now getting ready for today.  Catching up on 2 days of missed blogging.  We will see more of Beijing today by visiting the Forbidden City and the Hutongs.

The most interesting thing that has happened so far is the fact that we ran into Bill our original guide when we adopted Abbie and Becca at the Great Wall. Totally unexpected.   Every time we have traveled to China we have seen or met with Bill.  Even when we adopted Naomi and Sam we had contacted him and since he is always guiding other adopted parents we were able to coordinate a visit.  This time we did not contact him as we assumed that he would not be anywhere where we were going to be.  Wrong.  Patti was walking up the Great wall and saw him.  What is amazing is that this is part of the Great wall that we have never been to and Bill normally lives in the southern part of China. He happened to be here because he was transferred to Beijing recently and now guides  adoptive parents in Beijing.   Pretty amazing!  We visited with him for a few minutes, as he had to tend to his group, and then said our goodbyes.  It was great to see him.  Now five for five everytime we have adopted!

Thanks for all of you that prayed for safe travel on the way here, we are so blessed to have so many family and friends praying for us:) Here are some of the pics of our last couple days:) Some of them are out of order, sorry!

Abbie waiting oh so patiently.

Arrived in China!

The Great Wall with Bill!! Truly a miracle and such a gift from God that we ran into him!! Seriously made our  day, Patti cried tears of joy at getting to see him...which I'm sure is not surprising to any of you that know Patti;)

Our China girls in China!!

At the jade factory - pretty cool elephant!

What a cool jade ship!

More jade carvings just in case you haven't had enough:)

We don't look like tourists, do we?!?

Dad and two of his girls...good thing mom made us bring our winter hats....and gloves...and scarves....and jackets! It was chilly on the wall.

Went to a new part of the Great Wall that we hadn't been to before:)

Very fun to be here with two of our China girls:)

Another Great Wall pic as we drove by.

And another:)

Outside the Chinese Acrobat Theatre! So very cool! The girl loved it:)

Arriving at the Great Wall.