Beijing day 1

Tonight as I sit here in this beautiful hotel my mind is racing....thinking so many things that I'd like to share with you all...too many to really put into words....and often so hard to express too. So...I'll share a little about our day today and some of my thoughts.

Our day began with a short meeting with our Bethany worker and then we were off on a long day of touring and shopping. We started at the Cloisonne factory...and shops :) ...had lunch at a nearby Chinese restaurant (Natalee now understands what we've been telling her for so long about trying new foods even if they look different - she didn't do too bad - fortunately one of our dishes was sweet & sour pork so that was good)....then a long ride to the Badaling section of the Great Wall. Natalee's first words were "cool". She was pretty overwhelmed I think....just the size and grandure of it all but also the people! She loved the gondolla ride up the mountain....Mom however didn't fair so well. :( Even though I've done this before on our first adoption trip, it didn't go so well (I didn't have my gondolla buddies Tim & Margo to keep my mind off the ride and make me laugh). My dislike of heights combined with motion sickness and a very sensitive "system" all sent me to find the first restroom I could at the Great Wall. Let's just say that I've added another very unique location that I've needed to use the facilities!! It was not a highlight of my trip...but I did feel much better.

We walked for quite awhile on the wall...which is incredibly steep and I don't remember being so winded and weak-knee'd before...I guess that's what 6 more years does to the body. Natalee fell asleep on the ride back to the hotel but perked right up when we got back. Our guide gave us a map of our neighborhood so we decided to take a walk to find some supper and a few groceries. Her "few blocks" were quite long but we found a KFC and grocery store.

We've realized that over the past 6 years since we've been here the price of everything has drastically gone up (as it has everywhere) .... but we were looking for a nice piece of jewlery for Kyle's mom at the restaurant/store we ate at for lunch...anyway...we were looking at a jade/silver bracelet. The lady pulled it out and placed it on the counter for us to see...then she explained that it was some specific type of jade set white gold. I asked the price and she said some astronomical number in yuan so I did the conversion on the calculator to find that the cost was.......ready Mom?.......$6,256!! Yes, that 6 thousand and some change! So...sorry we didn't get you a jade bracelet but does the thought count? :)

It's been a good day...tiring and tomorrow we go to Tiannamen square, Forbidden City & Hutong tour then rest at the hotel and to an acrobat show in the late afternoon. Continue to pray for us...safety & good health...bonding with Megan....health for Megan....we'll keep you updated and please post comments, we'd love to hear from you too.

Thanks!