First Day in Beijing

We got to Beijing on Thursday night.  Our long flight out of Seattle was delayed for an hour due to problems with the air-conditioning system.  We thought for awhile that they were going to have to put us on a different plane (brought from another airport?) but thankfully God heard our prayers and that didn't happen.  While we were waiting, we met up with my adoption friend Whitney and her family, and hung out with them while we waited in line.  They kept telling us we could go sit down, but we weren't about to give up our place, haha.

Since we were very late, we were worried that the driver we'd hired online to pick us up would not be there.  But he was.  It's been fun this time, trying out our Chinese.  Jim asked the man, "Ni shuo yingwen ma?"  (Do you speak English?)  The man grinned and said "Nope!"  So I said, "Women shuo yidian zhongwen."  (We speak just a little Chinese.)  He looked at me funny, so I added in English, "but apparently not well".  Haha.  But then I told him "Women de feiji wandian."  (Our plane was late.)  He totally got that and started rambling on in Chinese about it, to which I just smiled, haha!

Our hotel here in Beijing is the Novotel.  It has an international flavor, as we heard several different languages in the elevator and at breakfast.  The breakfast is good, although they don't cook their omelettes all the way!  The pool is small but fun.  We have walked around the neighborhood and found places to eat, including Dairy Queen.  (Keelan got a picture of that for you, Brittany!)  The traffic is as crazy as the other cities we've been to, but there are way less bikes and scooters.  

This tea place is next door, with the teapot suspended in the air.

On Friday we walked several blocks to Tiananmen Square.

These are the sights we saw along the way.

We're On Our Way!

 Bags were packed last night and we were on our way at 7am this morning.  (Much better than last time, when we left at 3:30am!) 

Our first flight was from Denver to Seattle.  

And now we're sitting in the Seattle airport waiting for the long flight to Beijing.  Please pray that the car we booked to take us to the Novotel hotel will be there when we arrive!  :D

Skyping

Last night we Skyped with Samuel for the last time before we will travel.  He was wearing the same shirt that he had on in the very first photo we ever saw of him.  :)

One More Week

One week from today we will be on our way to China!  It's kind of strange, since last time we left 6 days after TA, but we're not as rushed this way, and probably much less stressed.  We have booked all flights, both across the ocean and in China.  Hotels are booked, in Beijing, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.  Train tickets purchased, trip to House of Grace scheduled.  Every day we check more things off the to-do list.  

Please continue praying for us as we are in the last days of having our family as it is.  Pray for Samuel as he goes through his last days at House of Grace.  Pray for each of us, that God would continue preparing us for how our lives will be changed.  Pray that He would knit our hearts together as a family.  Thank you, friends.

AAC at the Denver Zoo!

Have I mentioned that we LOVE our adoption agency?  They have family events every couple of months, and it is so much fun to see old friends and meet new ones every time.  Today was the AAC family day at the Denver Zoo!

Brittany and Brad have a zoo pass, so they met us there.

AAC friends!  Cynthia and Emma, Caylie and me, Vickie and Maleah & Willow and their cousins.

 AAC Staff -  Nicole, me and Caylie, (Of course my eyes are closed, haha.) Christie, Alexa and Karen.

And more AAC friends!  We met Emily and Dave at our adoption training in the fall of 2012.  They brought their little Olivia home from Korea last year.  Regina from AAC is with Emily.

My friend Juleanne.  She has 3 beautiful China girls. 

Caylie and LiLi, Juleanne's daughter.  These girls are from the same orphanage in Fuzhou, Jiangxi.  They also were in kindergarten classes across the hall from each other this year.

I didn't take a lot of animal pictures, but the giraffes are my favorite.  :)

The last thing we did was take a ride on the carousel.  Last year we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs for the AAC event, and Caylie was TERRIFIED of the carousel.  (See this post!)  This time she started out the same, clinging tightly to the post with that look on her face.  Jim and I kept telling her how fun it would be, but she did not believe us!

However . . . as SOON as the ride started, she started whooping and yelling about how FUN it was!  Silly kid!  

It was a fun day.  :)

First Reservoir Day of the Year!

We used to get season passes to Aurora Reservoir every year, and we would spend hours out there a couple of times a week with friends.  But friends have moved away and kids have grown up, and we don't get out there as much as we used to, by far.  We got a pass in 2013 when we brought Caylie home, but last year we were too busy.  This year I'm thinking Samuel will enjoy going, so we got a pass again.  We went out for the first time on Tuesday.

I'm going to email these pictures to Samuel, so he can see where we'll be!

Cute baby Tessa.

Tessa and Brittany.

 Justin and Caylie building sand castles.

The water is still pretty cold for swimming, but they ventured out a little bit, because I told them I wanted a water picture for Samuel, haha.

We're Going to China!

Flights are booked!  We are headed to China on the 24th!  We got our Travel Approval on Monday the 8th, and our Consulate Appointment date the next day.  Flights were booked yesterday with the help of the fabulous Katie at Adoption Airfare.  And now we're working with our agency's in-China rep on hotels and in-country travel.  We're on our way!

We had planned to be leaving the first week of July, and Samuel had it written on his calendar that he would meet us in Guangzhou on July 6.  So it was very fun to celebrate with him last night the news that we will instead meet him in Guangzhou on June 29!  He is very excited, and so are we.  While we were Skyping, we showed him the room and bunkbed he will share with Justin.  He had a big grin on his face the whole time.

We will fly to Beijing on the 24th and spend a couple of days there visiting the Great Wall and other touristy sites.  Then we'll fly to Guangzhou on the 28th and meet Samuel the next day.  We've had fun talking to him about all the things we will do there.  He is especially happy to know that we can go swimming at the hotel every day!

Please pray for all of us as we get ready for this journey.  The adoption "process" is almost over and the real journey is about to begin.  Pray for Samuel's heart as he leaves everything he knows and comes to a place that is so different.  Pray for him as he becomes family with us, and grows to understand what it means to have parents and siblings.  Pray for our other children, that they would have much grace with their new brother, especially in the early days of newness, tiredness, and language issues.  And please pray for Jim and I, that we would stay attuned to God as He leads us in this new adventure.  Thank you, friends.