How tiring and interesting the last two days have been! A lot of moving around to see Beijing's sights like Tian’anmen Square, the Silk Factory, the Great Wall of China (and I mean great), the 2008 Olympic site, and the Forbidden City with its gates and temples and rooms. Our few moments of rest came when we rode in a rickshaw through some of the oldest housing in Beijing, built during the Ming dynasty over 600 years ago, and where people still live today.
Our tour guide Angela from http://www.ladybugsnlove.com has been great and very kind and helpful. She helped us to learn how to eat with chopsticks, introduced us to Peking duck, and told us about Chinese weddings, and told us lots of interesting things about the Chinese people and China. We were even in the midst of a wedding reception today!!
Now we have relocated to Guangzhou from Beijing and have met up with our travel coordinator Emma from our adoption agency, All God's Children. Hoping for a little downtime tomorrow so we can prepare to meet our daughter in just another day and a half!
Please keep us in your prayers, especially little Jenna. Her life is going to be so different and we know it will take a while for her to adjust to many, many new things. Being here in China the last few days, we already see so many differences of family, life, and culture. She will not understand why her world has changed and that she has a new home in the USA with her forever family. Please pray she will be able to trust us and accept us quickly and we will be able to meet her needs. God has chosen her to be our daughter and we are forever grateful to Him for her.
Thank you for all your emails. Hope to catch up on emailing back tomorrow with our rest day. Thanks for all your SKYPE calls.
Kevin and Gretchen
Cherry Blossoms at the Forbidden City
Children playing at an old imperial home building during the Ming Dynasty
Crowds at the Temple of Heaven
Our tour guide, Angela at the Temple of Heaven
Forbidden City
The Great Wall
The bride at her reception dressed in traditional Chinese red gown
Birdsnest at the Olympic Stadium
Water Cube
Chinese French Fries - Big Mountain
Typical bike rider on Beijing streets
What a way to cart eggs to the market!!
View from the hotel room in Beijing, many, many, high rise apartments for 17 million people
Greetings from Nashville! It looks like the 2 of you are up late/early. :) Thanks for taking us on this journey with you - the pictures are incredible! You must be in Jenna's province now. So excited for you! Continued prayers for rest, safety, and a wonderful meeting with your daughter!
ReplyDeleteLove, Jen
Well it is now Sunday in China and that makes me think: "TOMORROW, TOMORROW, I LOVE YA, TOMORROW, YOU'RE ONLY A DAY AWAY!" Yippee! You are down to HOURS now! We are still praying for sweet Jenna's heart. God is preparing her, I just know it! Can't wait to see pictures!! Love to you all! Shelley and family
ReplyDeleteThe Chinese french fries looked great--surely it took both of you to eat them. You (Kevin, Gretchen and Jenna) will be in our thoughts and hearts all through the day tomorrow--what an awesome day! we love you! Jake, Chris and Diana
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