Day 2

A super long day today! We started very early, leaving the hotel at 7:15 am, although again we were up really early (4 am!), unable to sleep any longer.  We started the long trek to the Great Wall of China! George, our guide in Beijing, gave us a little mandarin lesson on the way. 

The wall was pretty amazing! I had no idea it would be such a vigorous climb and we were really working up a sweat going up, up, up. We climbed and climbed the stairs and ended up finding a place to stop and get a Popsicle at the top of the section we were at. We were stopped many times by the Chinese people to take a picture with us. I guess seeing Americans with light colored hair is quite a novelty to them!

The pollution was really bad and it made for some not so great pictures from far away. 

Next we visited a jade gallery to learn about the "treasure of China" as our guide calls it. They had some beautiful things and we picked up something special for Eli to give to his bride when he is older. Next was lunch and then a long bus ride (stuck in tons of traffic!) to an acrobatic show. 

The show was really great and they did some amazing tricks!  I had to cover my eyes at several parts because I just knew someone was going to plunge to their death with the crazy stunts. Hannah said it was the best show she had ever seen!  We are so exhausted from nearly 12 hours out and about. Trying to relax the rest of our last evening in Beijing. Tomorrow we head to Zhengzhou to prepare for meeting Eli on Monday!

Day one!

Day one in Beijing was packed full of tourist attractions and taking in all we could of life in China. We woke up super early this morning around 5 am and felt ready to go. Our bodies are having a hard time adjusting to the time difference.   We took a walk outside our hotel to pass the time and enjoyed breakfast at our hotel. It was a delicious spread filled with American breakfast items but also lots of Chinese food to choose from too. We met two other families from our adoption group also. Then are super nice and also traveling with some of their biological children. All of them are girls so far so that has been fun for Hannah! Our first touring spot was Tiananmen Square, followed by the Forbidden City. 

I thought the best part was the Imperial Gardens at the Forbidden City. It was really hot and humid the whole day and we were all dragging a little by the end but we made it through. It was really cool to learn about all the Chinese history in this area.  

The air quality is so poor here. I have never really put much thought into how fortunate we are to have clean air to breath but now I will!  The air feels so thick and hazy and hurts your throat to breath if you are outside too long.  One lady in our travel group noticed today that you can look directly at the sun and it doesn't hurt your eyes at all from being covered with such a thick layer of smog. 

Here's some of the sweet girls in our travel group with their fans. 

Next we visited a Chinese family in their home, known as a hutong, where they served us lunch. The food was so yummy. It was really interesting to see their homes and streets and hear how the people in this area live. The streets to the house were so narrow we couldn't take a car there so we rode there by rickshaw, which was a little carriage attached to a bicycle and a local man pedaled us there. It was quite the experience!

We had some rest time back at the hotel in the afternoon and Hannah enjoyed this huge bathtub, her "hot spa" she calls it. 

Then a well-known Chinese restaurant for dinner where we tried Peking duck and lots of other delicious foods. Hannah is eating lots of rice and figured out how to eat with her chopsticks!

It was a good fun day but SO different from our life back home. We are heading off to bed for a big day of touring the Great Wall of China in the morning!

We made it!

After a very long day of travel we finally made it to China!  It's is 10pm here and we are settled into our hotel in Beijing and heading off to bed. Looking forward to a fun day of sightseeing tomorrow. 

It's finally here....

We have been waiting for what seems like forever for this time to come.  It doesn't feel real yet, but probably will tomorrow when we are boarding the plane.  Tomorrow it is finally time to go to China to get Eli!  Our bags are packed, preparations made for our little ones staying behind, Sam is finishing up last minute work stuff and goodie bags are packed for Reagan and Ben to count down to our return home, and Sam's amazing parents are already at our house ready to take over caring for our kiddos. 

We have been truly blessed by our community of family and friends during this whole adoption process.  We have felt so loved and supported from the very beginning of announcing we were adopting until the day we are ready to leave.  It is amazing how God has surrounded us with such wonderful people who have supported us in so many different ways, with donations for our garage sale, those who bought fundraiser bracelets, organizations that offered us grants, friends and family that have prayed for us and with us, those who have given us a listening ear when we were feeling anxious/frustrated/excited during the process, those that have made financial contributions, those who have offered to watch our kids while we are gone and bring us meals, and the list goes on and on.  Thank you! We love you all and could not have gotten to this point without all of you.

As I go into this final night home with my three children, I feel sad about leaving them for so long but also so excited about the future of our family!  I absolutely cannot wait to meet Eli and bring him home to the rest of the family!  Stay tuned for details from our trip starting tomorrow!   

Happy first day of school!

Happy first day of school to these little sweeties!  1st and 3rd grade!