Beijing Tours - Day 2

Saturday (in China, Friday in Minnesota) we did day 2 of Chinese culture in Beijing. Our destinations for the day were Jade factory and shop, The Great Wall of China, 2008 Beijing Olympic Park, and we ended the day with an acrobat show. It was another great day of touring and enjoying Beijing with it's rich history. It was a very hot and hazy day so climbing the wall was great workout. I earned my slice of pizza and some ice cream for supper after climbing thousands of stairs on the Great Wall. George (our CCAI rep) told us that while we are climbing the wall to think about the people that actually built the wall and carrying the bricks while climbing. I cannot imagine what hard work that was. Here are some pictures from our adventures.

This entire ship is made from Jade. Yep, a little out of my price range, "we can ship it to your house" is what the saleslady told me. Ha!

More Jade statues

A neat little ball that represents family with is several different generations represented by each middle section and cannot be divided

The section of the Great Wall we walked (or should I say climbed). George says that if you climb this section you are a hero in the eyes of the Chinese. : ) We are Chinese heroes now. Ha, ha!!

Dave, this picture is for you!!! There must have been a group from Purdue at the Great Wall : )

That is what we are about to climb

o.k. made it through one little section, not doing too bad!

O.k. we are getting kind of warm climbing stairs

Yeah, I think this picture is out of order. This is at the beginning of our ascent of the Great (Uneven stepping stone) Wall of China (Seriously, some steps are one block thick, some are two, some were even 3 blocks think). And, I think I look pregnant in this picture, but it is the passport holder thingy under my shirt that is bulging out. : )

Getting pretty high now!

Now it is time to go down. My legs were shaking going down.

This little boy was such a trooper. I followed him on the way down and he just kept stepping down even when it came to the really narrow parts.

Another side of the Wall

Time for lunch! Seriously George, this looks disgusting! Thanks for ordering for us, but no thanks!

O.k. George, you redeemed yourself. Thanks for the fries! : )

Heading to Beijing Olympic Park. Can you say SMOG!!?? Isn't this building funny looking? On the other side are three regular sized buildings next to it. George said when you look at it from the other side it looks like a dragon. They are hotels that hosted Olympic workers, athletes, tourists, etc.

Entrance

In front of the water cube

The Bird's Nest

Acrobat show

Beautiful ladies in the show

It was a fun and exhasting day! Once we arrived back at our hotel, we freshened up a little and went for some pizza at a pizzaria across the street from our hotel with another couple in our travel group. Let me tell you how scary walking around Beijing is. There are just tons and tons of people and cars everywhere. You have to watch your every step because cars do not slow down for you. So just crossing a busy street is an adventure in itself. We were wiped out and went to bed early and had a good night of sound sleep. One more day and we will be with our little Lucy. I cannot believe it!

Beijing Tours - Day 1

After a few hours of much needed sleep we were back into the swing of things. Today we visited three different places: The Hutong district, Tian'anmen Square and The Forbidden City, and an authentic Chinese Silk Factory.

The Hutong district: This is a district where people still maintain the culture of China from hundreds of years ago. This is where court officials and military leaders and upper class citizens lived during the days of emperor reign. We visited one house that was maintained very nicely by a man named, Mr. Hou. He lives in these quarters with his wife, mother-in-law, and his son. He inherited this house from his family. It has been in the family for 150 years. George (our CCAI rep and a very good tour guide) said that if anyone would want to purchase these houses today, the cost would be 3 million dollars. These living quarters remind me a lot of the house where Mr. Miaggi lived in the movie Karate Kid. : )

Mr. Hou (on the left) George our CCAI rep (on the right)

Front door of Mr. Hou's house

Mr. Hou's courtyard

Mr. Hou did all the writing on the this door.

 *I tried to upload a video of our rickshaw ride to Hutong, but it was taking too long and not even uploading, etc, etc. Hopefully I can get it on here sometime soon.


Next stop was lunch. George took the liberty of ordering our food for us so that we could experience what true Chinese dining was like. I must say, it was quite tasty and I am slowly learning how to use chop sticks. : )



Mmmm!

 After some energy food we traveled to an authentic silk factory.

Silk factory

learning about the process of getting silk

Cocoons in water being unraveled

ladies pulling out the silk to make a quilt

silk worms

 Of course we had to get a little gift for Lucy and Isabelle here, but I will wait to show that until I can put it on Lucy.

Next was Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden City. I was fascinated by The Forbidden City. To think that I was walking where emperors from ancient China walked. It was surreal.

Entrance to the Forbidden City

Inside the Forbidden City

The emperor's throne

All the buildings had  very detailed paintings along the ceiling. I wonder how long it took to paint all this.

Another view inside the Forbidden City

It amazed me that this ancient piece of history is in the middle of a very busy and crowded Beijing. The Chinese people value their history. It is evident in how they keep a place like this preserved and protected. This is all part of Lucy's culture and look forward to telling her about our visits to these places. Who knows, maybe someday we can bring Lucy here to show her in person. Four out of the 9 families that are in our travel group have brought their first child they adopted from China. They are showing their children the culture they came from. Very neat!

Today (Saturday) we will visit another piece of China's history, The Great Wall.

Chinese word of the day we learned: xie xie (thank you in Chinese)

We Made It!!

I am too exhausted to write much but I am happy to report that labor is progressing wonderfully. Flights went well. I was able to watch a lot of movies to keep the time going and am really enjoying the current book I am reading, 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker. Excellent book! We have been awake too long for my brain to think anymore. We meet up with our group for tours in Beijing tomorrow morning. Good night. It won't be long now, little Lucy!!!

We are in Labor......

We are in labor and the little one is due to arrive on Monday, May 21st!!!! We leave for China on Wednesday! Soli Deo Gloria!!! The other good news is we do not need to stay the extra 5 days that we were told may happen. Praise the Lord! We have finished all the last minute paperwork and sent it off. We have been to Target a few too many times in the past couple of weeks just to get those "just in case" items. : ) We are getting ready, well as ready as we can at least. Here is our itinerary:

5/16     Leave U.S. for Beijing. (leave Minneapolis airport at 3pm. Our first stop is in Tokyo then on to Beijing. I get to say that I have been in Japan too!) 

5/17     Arrive in Beijing  (arrive at 10:30 pm - China time) Yes, one very long trip!

5/18     Tour Beijing: Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, Hutong Tour, and optional acrobatics show

5/19     Tour Beijing. Great Wall

5/20      Depart Beijing for Zhengzhou (another flight)           

Go to the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

5/21     Gotcha Day! Meet Lucy for the first time!!! : )
            Sign the Guardianship Agreement.
            Take Registration Certificate photos at local photo shop.
            Return to the hotel. Meet with Yisha to prepare registration paperwork.  
 
5/22     All families: Take a bus to the registration office to complete the Adoption Registration in the morning. Then Free time and rest.

5/23     Travel to city where Lucy is from to apply for her passport in person at the public security bureau.  In Jiaozuo we will also complete more paperwork

  

5/24     Free time or rest.  Optional tours may be available.

5/25     Free time or rest.  Optional tours may be available. Receive notary documents in the afternoon and possibly get passports.

5/26     Leave Zhengzhou for Guangzhou (where U.S. Consulate is)

5/27     Free day in Guangzhou.

5/28     Take bus to clinic to complete your Lucy's visa physical and visa photo taken this morning.  

5/29     Free day in Guangzhou.  

5/30     Meet with CCAI representatives to prepare paperwork for the Consulate appointment.

            

5/31     Today is our Consulate appointment.  (Big day!!!)

             In the afternoon we will go to the U.S. Consulate to take the oath. 

6/1       A CCAI representative will go to the U.S. Consulate to receive Lucy's visa packet
            Also, we prepare to leave for home.

6/2        Depart Guangzhou for Beijing. Stay in hotel and prepare for our final flight home with Lucy!!!!

6/3        Final flight home with our new daughter (It is going to be another long day of flying and now Lucy can say that she has been in Japan too.)

These 19 days in China are going to be a whirlwind filled with emotions, stress (at times), and hopefully lots of joy! I ask those that are reading this to keep us in your prayers each day as we go through this journey of bringing Lucy home! Your prayers are precious to us!  

Soli Deo Gloria!

           

Why Do You Doubt Me?

"Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?'  -Matthew 14:31

I was just reading this yesterday and it hit me like a punch to the stomach. Peter was walking on the water out to Jesus, as soon as he saw the wind, he was afraid and he began to sink. He cried out, "Lord, save me!" Then it says, IMMEDIATELY Jesus reached out his hand and caught him!

I am at the same point Peter was when he saw the wind and became afraid. We still have not been given the o.k. to purchase our plane tickets to fly to China to get our daughter and I am afraid, I have little faith, and I am doubting. Our agency is waiting to get the definite answer to the question of how long it will take to get Lucy's passport paperwork completed. We have been told that we may need to be in China an extra 5 days because the county that she is in right now is known for taking an extra 5 days to complete what needs to be done. (So, if you do the math, that means a typical trip takes 16 days + 5 extra days = 21 days over in China! Yes, possibly 21 days away from our other 3 kids! I know!) However, for whatever reason, no one is giving our agency a clear answer if this is the case for Lucy. So, originally, we were told to plan on leaving May 16th. After many days of calling and emailing our agency with no news, I am doubting that we will get to leave on May 16th. We may have to wait until the next travel group leaves which could be May 23rd or May 30th or maybe into June. Who knows!? I have been told that if we do not get an answer by Monday, we will NOT be with the May 16th travel group. Each day that goes by and I have no news from my agency brings another knot in my stomach. Our homestudy agency called me today and said I need to start doing some paperwork to update our homestudy because it will expire in June. I am glad she is staying on top of all this because I didn't know it has already been a year since we did our homestudy.

Most China adoptions happen like this: you get your travel approval, you get an appointment with the U.S. Consulate in China, you get assigned a travel group, then you start looking for flights and head to China. This obviously is not our case. Why? I do not know.

So reading this encounter that Peter has with Jesus makes me relate so much with Peter. All I see are waves, wind, storms. Why do I doubt the sovereignty of God? Why do I doubt His goodness? Why do I doubt His ultimate control over His creation? Why do I doubt Him? Jesus has said to me, "Laura, You of little faith, why do you doubt?" And He is right there to catch me and hear my cries!

"I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from ALL my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame." - Psalm 34:4-5.

So, we do what we do best maybe not the best.......we wait. All prayers for patience, complete surrender to the One who is in control, and perseverance for me would be appreciated. I know this is not about me in any way, but this is getting tough to go through.  Jason reminds me, "It will all be worth it!"

Giving it up to Him!!

Travel Approval

Guess what was emailed to me this evening........

"Wonderful news - today we received a travel approval for your family!"

Yes, I am on cloud nine.....more like cautiously on cloud nine because also in the email it says there have been some changes to the process of obtaining a child's passport in the Henan province (which is where Lucy is) so more information is needed to know how long that process takes. Ugh! The number one thing I have learned throughout this process is that this is all out of my control. There is not one thing I can do about it. It brings me to place of complete surrender to Him who is in control. However, I cannot help but be excited. Yes......cautiously excited. I am praying for a quick passport process. We have no travel date yet, but our last approval has come in. Yippeeeeeeeee!!!!

Before bed tonight, my 7 year old was just smiling and continued to say, "oh I can't wait. I am so excited to see Lucy. At first I wasn't very excited, but now I am so excited." Those words do this mama's heart a lot of good.

We are coming Lucy.....very soon!

 Of course I must end with a song of praise! This song has spoken to me over and over the past weeks. I crank it up when running. So many truths in these one liners that she sings. Crank up the music and praise with all your heart!

All the WORLD will praise your GREAT NAME! Soli Deo Gloria!

Article 5

April 10, 2012 - Today we received the following email from CCAI: "We just received an update from our Guangzhou staff stating that they have picked up your family’s Article 5(s) (signed 2^nd acceptance letter) from the Consulate and now it is off to the CCCWA. The Article 5 typically takes about 2-3 days to be delivered to the CCCWA. Once the CCCWA receives this document, they will have all that they need to issue your family’s travel approval. The CCCWA typically takes about 2-4 weeks to issue a travel approval. Once the travel approval arrives families typically leave for China about 10-21 days later. We see this update as great news for your family as you are one step closer to getting you to your little one in China!"
Woo hoo!!!! The "important dates" calender to the right as you scroll down is filling in. We are still just waiting on that travel approval. I'll be honest, I am impatient. This waiting is dreadful (Have I mentioned that before? ha!!). Jason and I have checked off most items from our China shopping list. We are ready to go!!! One more step, Travel Approval (TA), and we will be off. Oh! I am so hoping that it will only take 2 weeks to issue the travel approval and that we can leave in 10 days after. Lord, grant me patience!

One last picture as a family of 5

Soli Deo Gloria!