Home at last

We are home at last! And up early with jetlag. The flights were all uneventful, but somewhat delayed so we had several rushing transfers, just barely making our San Fran transfer to Denver. I think that made for an especially tiring journey. Running through airports alone is one thing, with 7 of us, rushing through security--it was quite a scene. As we came through customs we congratulated FuMei on her new citizenship, telling her she was an American now. She just giggled and looked incredulous. I think she thought we were saying she was now somehow a caucasean. She saw what we think was her first black person in the Guangzhou airport, and was quite curious. So we had a little talk about how people from different places and backgrounds often have different skin color.

We were welcomed by quite a loving crew of freinds which was so encouraging. Thanks to all who came out to give us and FuMei such a welcome. Signs, flowers, smiles, hugs--really a nice homecoming and welcome for FuMei. We are humbled and wish we would have been taking pictures as we came out--such a support you all have been. Our dear friends the McHughs brought our car to the airport so all we had to do was load up and head home. We arrived to a crockpot full of soup and homemade bread, welcome signs, flowers, cards and food for this morning! Thanks to all who helped with this! FuMei was excited to get here and after arrival and a tour, just kept walking around the house, going downstairs then coming back up and in and out of rooms. She got really chatty which was really cute--can't remember her talking so much. She was interested about sleeping arrangements and to our surprise was quite happy and insistent that she sleep in her bed in her and Amy's room alone. Amy was not feeling well and wanted to bunk with Mary. So FuMei happily jumped into her bed and fell quickly asleep. We had a restless night. I don't remember feeling jetlag so much before. We were all out by 7pm, unable to go any longer. By 12 Amy and FuMei were up playing. They went back down at some point and I have been up since 3.

Anyway, just wanted to send a note to all who have been so faithfully following and praying for us. We are amazed at how smoothly things have gone and though we know the coming adjustment is going to be a day by day one, we know God is with us and feel so upheld by the prayers and concern of you all. We are so eager to get back to "normalcy" but wonder what the new normalcy will look like. Pray for strength and health as we face the challenges of jumping back into a full program next week. We love you.

The Sorteberg Seven

Our last night in China

Today felt like a long day. We slept in and had breakfast late. Then we went and saw a tomb of a king from around 220 BC. We were able to walk inside the tomb and even touch the walls. We were just trying to kill time. Came back to the hotel for lunch and a walk around the Island. Then picked up FuMei's visa at 5:00 and had our last Chinese meal at a local restaurant.

We are back in the room now trying to calm FuMei down. She is very hyper this evening, laughing and playing with Andrew. She asked me today if she could sleep in the bed with me. I think she's feeling a little insecure as we prepare to leave in the morning. She also asked if she was coming with us. So pray for her last night in China. She doesn't seem bothered right now by that fact.

We ask for your prayers tonight for our health. James has a fever of 101 degrees. He woke this morning with a sore throat, but that went away right after breakfast and he came down with this fever tonight. He says he doesn't have any other symptoms. But traveling through airports not feeling well is not fun. Please pray with us that the fever will subside over night, and that no-one else will get one.

We must be out the door tomorrow at 6:45am. It will be a long day of travel. But we are looking forward to being in the plane on the way. This will be our last update until we are safe in our home! Thank you for praying us this far. We still can't believe how it has gone and look forward to the days at home as a new family. Blessings, Lynn

Lazy Day--Group Oath

We had a very relaxed day walking around the island before our trip to the US Consulate this afternoon to take an oath with 34 other families. We were bussed across town to the south and were amazed at the miles and miles of high rise apartment complexes. We drove for over half an hour on an elevated highway and as far as you could see were massive high rise apartment complexes, constructions sites, sky scrapers--quite surreal to think of the millions and millions of people stacked up in these concrete residence blocks. Hard to imagine a city such as this. The oath was short and sweet, taken together with all the other families. One family was adopting their 5th child from China. Many of course are Christians and we have had some good conversations with several, some who have had experience with cleft lip and palate kids. Quite surprising how many are here getting their second child and many are special needs kids. Last year the numbers of special needs kids adopted surpassed those of healthy kids.

Tomorrow is our last day here--we are pleased about that. There has not been as much to do and going out about the island that is in such a mass renovation, is like walking though a war zone, add to that all the bikes and cars, horns, and dust and it is rather stressful moving about as a family. We have no special plans tomorrow. It is supposed to cool down and rain so we may be holing up indoors. Looking forward to packing up and moving on. It has been quite an experience for our family and I do think the adjustment to homelife for FuMei will be much easier having had all the healthy interaction with the kids these last weeks. We were told today that as soon as we pass through customs together with her she will be officially a US citizen. How strange. Our many Chinese friends would love it if it were that simple.

Lynn was bathing her tonight and asked her who used to help her bathe. She said her teachers. Lynn asked if she liked them helping her and she said, "No." Lynn followed with, "Why?" and she said, "Because I like you to bathe me." She knows how to make her mom feel good! We wish we could capture her laugh and let you all enjoy it. I'm sure it is not too hard, but it's beyond my present experience with this blog.

Thanks again for your prayers. We were talking over dinner tonight about how many prayers the Lord has answered for us and for FuMei to this point. We are humbled and so thankful.

Red Couch Day

On the red couch at the White Swan Hotel.

The day started off on a bad foot with Amy getting sick. She really hasn't felt well all day in her stomach and guts. She and I stayed home this morning while the others headed off to the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall. They said it was lovely and gave them a feel for being out of the city with less people. I had been there many years ago, so the pictures they took looked familiar to me. They came home about 2:30 and we had noodles in the room before heading off to the White Swan Hotel for the Red Couch Pictures. Some years back someone started a tradition of taking pictures of the adopted families and children on the red couch in the Famous White Swan Hotel. So that's where the pictures are taken. Some of the kids really hated the experience, but FuMei tolerated it at best. Then we went with the group to take a river cruise with dinner. It was nice to see all the lights of Guangzhou and get a different feel for the city at night. Amy has continued to feel bad throughout the evening. She's kept things down, but still hurts in her guts. Please pray that sleep with help her to feel better.

We also went and picked up the girls ChiPaos today. It was fun to see the fabric that was given them transformed into Chinese dresses. David bought a man's coat also.

Tomorrow we are free in the morning and then go to take an oath in the afternoon. It is our last official event here. On Thursday we receive her Visa and pack and prepare for our flights home. We are ready for that! Looking forward to seeing everyone back home. Thanks for your prayers now for our return flights and adjustments to her new home for FuMei.

Off Sightseeing

A new day, and we are having a late start. Yesterday was uneventful, did some walking about the island and had a Chinese Dim Sum lunch and a Western dinner. The evening restaurant had outdoor seating and a big area for the kids to run while Mom and Dad dined slowly. FuMei has quite a sense of humor and we all laughed a lot. We are off today to see some local sights. Thanks for your prayers.

Reality Check

As of yesterday we have been with FuMei a full week and I think we are not only fatigued from the travel, but the reality of the changes she brings to our family is coming clearer to all of us, more so now the kids. Please pray as we all adjust to a new family dynamic. Pray for Lynn and I too who are naturally quite focused on FuMei and need to give more attention to the other kids. One of the kids was a bit overwhelmed last night which is not something unexpected. We all feel ready to be home and are not so enthusiastic about more sightseeing. It is too bad the processes are so drawn out. We had a down day yesterday and we are free today apart from a quick trip next door to have FuMei's TB testspot looked at. We don't have anything tomorrow, then an interview on Weds., getting FuMei's visa on Thursday and we are off Friday morning early. At the same time the down time allows for us to go through some of these growing pains together without a lot of other distractions. Thanks for your prayers.

FuMei is interacting freely with all the kids, playing on the beds, playing feet tickling games, talking and laughing a lot. She has such an infectious and sweet chuckle. Yesterday we all had a good hour of fun with the phones between our two rooms. She loves calling and answering and learned a few phrases like, "How are you?" and "My name is FuMei." Her speech has a sing-song quality that is so sweet, adding cute tones and exaggerated inflections that are so delightful. She is able to pronounce things fairly clearly. We think her poor Mandarin pronunciation is not so much because of her cleft as much as from the fact that no one ever worked with her to teach her how to enunciate properly.

It is early and the rest are all still sleeping. Pray we have a good day and find something the other kids can enjoy. We sure appreciate all of you who are playing such a loving role in this journey with us through your prayers. David

Sunday

We have had a relaxed day, first attending a Mandarin/English service at a nearby protestant church. We met a Christian lady in a local shop who told us about it and she joined us. A good service with a message on Noah. FuMei was good, sat well, but seemed a little tired by the end. We later walked back with the sister to her shop, met her husband and prayed for them both. He has yet to believe.

At a local church.

We had a walk through a nearby market, had lunch and are now back resting. No plans tonight, but all feel the need to lay low. Kids are doing well--parents are a little spent. Thanks for your prayers. The weather today has been especially nice, in the 60s and the sun coming nicely through the haze. This town is alive with people--yesterday we visited a local shopping district that has a street just for pedestrians. It was literally wall to wall people. The Chinese have an expression for that "Ren Shan Ren Hai." Literally, "People Mountain, People Sea," or from mountain to sea there is nothing but people. That was the best experience of that idiom we have ever experienced. Nice for me to be a head above the crowd!

Thanks for your prayers.

Shots and Chi Paos

We got up this morning and enjoyed another wonderful breakfast buffet. We sure are eating well! We had a few hours before we had to go to the clinic for FuMei's check up. They were really quick with getting everyone through in under an hour. She had to have 4 shots and a TB skin test. This was the first time we have seen her cry since we got her on Monday. To us that is amazing! It was nice to be able to comfort her in her moment of fear and pain.

We did find out that she is having difficulty seeing out of her right eye. That is the side that her cleft is on. She completely failed the eye exam when covering the left eye. They then tried to give her corrective lenses to try and she was able to only read the very top letter (the one that is 6 inches tall!) They said it appears she has a lazy eye and poor vision in that eye. We had noticed that she occasionally bumped in to things on the right. We didn't think anything of it, but now it makes sense. Please pray that our eye Dr. in the States will be able to evaluate her vision and correct the problem.


The rest of the afternoon was spent exploring our surroundings. We walked through a Chinese Medicine market and a pet market. It was fun to see all the animals for sale. And these ones weren't for eating! We also found a great shop that sells Chinese silk outfits and bought FuMei a bright pink one and she immediately put it on when we returned. It's beautiful on her. The girls were given some silk for Christmas from a good friend of ours, Edi, and this shop also makes ChiPao's to order. So we are having their's made out of this silk that we brought with. We finished the day with a lighter meal nearby and picked up our laundry and headed home, exhausted.

Tomorrow we have free time. We will attend a church service in the late morning at a Christian church nearby. Other than that we hope to just rest a little. Not so easy when we have 5 kids going stir crazy in the hotel room. Pray for a little rest for Mom and Dad. We are having sweet times as a family, and almost hate to stop and jump back in to life at home. We know life will look a lot different, as we contemplate how to do school and take care of FuMei's needs for speech therapy and other Dr. appointments. Please be praying for that transition for us all. Thank you.

A Day of Firsts

FuMei is really coming out of her shell--today she seemed so much more relaxed and light. She has been talking a lot and revealing a bit more of herself to us. She started the morning with us at the breakfast buffet. She had her first bowl of Cocoa Puffs, which she said was "good eating" on her first bite (in Chinese of course). She then proceeded to put her bacon, ham, and the crushed up yolk of a hard boiled egg into it. And continued eating--also "good eating!" We realized that she has likely had little more than rice gruel to eat. And rice gruel is something that you put lots of things into, including vegetables, meat (if you're so lucky to have it), fish, eggs, whatever you might have. Andrew was positively grossed out and said we will never be able to have people over for breakfast if she keeps eating like that. We had a long chat about what was considered "normal" and how we all have our own cultural sense of what is right, but often times such things are not at all a matter of what is right and wrong. Still, Andrew is grossed out and insists we need to give her a good lesson in what is "right" in terms of breakfast combinations.

Our flight to Guangzhou was smooth--FuMei seemed a little apprehensive especially as we came in to land, but giggled heartily as the plane hit the ground and decellerated. Lynn did some workbook things with her on the plane and she seems very quick to learn and eager for stimulation. We were picked up by the adoption agency reps and brought to our hotel where we had a good play on the beds--she wanted to do a lot of the games we played last night, tickling feet, counting, and laughing a lot. The time we had last night was great for me to connect more with her. She has been a bit rambuncious, but we are delighted to see her loosening up.

She had her first hamburger and fries tonight at a nearby American style restaurant. "Good Eating!" She also wrote her name copying what Lynn had written for her. She is so cute and wanted to hold BaBa's (Daddy's)hand the whole time we walked about the island where our hotel is. We are in the old foriegn quarter of Guangzhou, Shamian Island where all the foreign consulates were back in the last century. All the buildings are European style, but unfortunately with the Asian Games coming to Guangzhou in Nov. all the buildings (and I mean all) are under renovation and therefore covered in ugly scaffolding and blue tarps and nearly all the roads are being redone--that is too bad.

Yet we are all doing well. Thanks for your prayers. We have adoption related things to attend to most of the next 7 days, but there is usually some down time where we hope see some sights and enjoy some local food. This island has an international flavor, lots of foreign tourists, non-Chinese restaurants and lots of adopting families. We are one of 11 families that will be a part of the exiting group next week.

Pray for things to go smoothly with FuMei's physical tomorrow. She will likely have to have quite a few shots and will get a TB test. We hope that we can enjoy the days we have here and connect more as a family. We need wisdom in how we balance our limited attention with the other kids as well.

Thanks for your prayers. We are blessed to have little FuMei with us.

Our last full day in Taiyuan

Today we took a trip to see PingYao, an ancient city near Taiyuan. It was built sometime in the 1300's. It's about an hour and a half from here. Then we road in a small golf cart type car around this old city. It was amazing to see. We had a really good lunch there before heading back to the hotel. In the afternoon we finished up the paperwork and we are set to head to the airport tomorrow morning around 9:00.

This evening we went over to some friends house for dinner. Co-workers from America who have been working here in Taiyuan. It was our first American meal since we left the states. Soup and sandwiches. FuMei enjoyed it all, even the chocolate chip cookies. She has such a concern for others when eating and every time I put food on her plate or offered her something, she said, "What about James", or would pass food out to everyone. It's very cute to see. She played well with the other kids. She didn't even hesitate to go into the other room with them. She has a lot to learn about playing. She walked across the boys legos at one point, but when told not too, she quickly learned to step around them. She also wanted to take the chips home with her. But when I told her they weren't ours she easily put them back on the table. So even though she has some bad habits like that, she learns quickly and is very willing to do what is told.

We saw her insecurity today when we had to take 2 taxis back and forth to our friends house. She was in the cab with the girls and I and she kept asking about Baba and was very concerned that they were following us. She kept turning around. And the joy in her face when the boys all got out of the cab was precious to see. Jumping up and down with joy. So many people in her short life have come and gone, some taken away without her being told. We are so glad to be her forever family and our hearts still go out for XiFeng. I will forever have that last moment from yesterday in my mind as we drove away and XiFeng waved to us from outside, as the tears flowed down my face. Please keep praying for all the orphans there.

Please be praying for our travel tomorrow. I think it's about a 3 hour flight. Then she has a Dr. appointment on Saturday morning with required shots. Sunday is a free day and then more appointments during the week. We are looking forward to being on the last leg of our trip. Thanks for all your prayers.

A day in YangQuan

Meeting Xi Fang. It was hard to leave her.

We have had an amazing day trip to FuMei's birthplace and the orphanage. The countryside between here and there is much like the western US, dry and mountainous. We had a bit of trouble finding the orphanage, but when we pulled in and were struggling to identify where we were, one of the ladies that had brought FuMei to us on Monday walked by our car. We asked her where the orphanage was and up ran a little girl in a pink jacket. Before we realized who it was the lady ordered her to run off to lunch. Only then as she called her name did we realize who it was--XiFeng, FuMei's roommate and friend. Before we could say anything, she ran off up the road to their eating place.

FuMei's teachers and helpers at the orphanage.

We also met Liam whose parents will be coming soon for him.

Eating lunch with XiFang.  Bittersweet for these two friends.

The lady then called the orphanage director who came out in time and invited us to take a tour of the retirement home building where FuMei has been going to school temporarily since the old orphanage was demolished to make way for the new building to be built soon. As we entered, two women were coming out--FuMei's teachers who greeted her very warmly and personally, touching her face. After some photos, XiFeng appeared and the two girls hugged. We got a tour of the classrooms where FuMei has been in kindergarden. We found out that she had not started school this fall as we had thought. We also met some of the elderly folk living there and others working in the orphanage as well as another little boy who is being adopted in the next month by an American family that we have had some contact with by email. FuMei seemed quite relaxed to be there and glad to see her friend.

After the short tour of the facility the director invited us to stay for lunch--so we had a full Chinese feast in a private room with the director, his assistant, our driver and XiFeng who sat next to FuMei. It was an elaborate meal and FuMei and XiFeng both ate heartily--XiFeng especially savoured the Sprite.

We are so amazed to have been able to see the facility and meet XiFeng. We had no expectation that that would ever happen and it was a real treat for FuMei to have that sort of special feast with her best friend. We hope they will meet again someday. It was sad for us as we piled into the van and XiFeng stood outside waving goodbye to us. FuMei was quiet, but did not seem too troubled. We are back now to the hotel, eating snacks and warming up after a walk from a local market. God is so gracious to have prepared this day for her and for us. We also drove by the local hospital where she was left as an infant years ago. We just took a quick picture for FuMei to see in the future when she begins to ask questions. Thanks for your prayers--pray for little XiFeng to get adopted. Apparently her file is in the system and so it is at least possible for her to adopted which was not true some months ago.

As we stand around the computer updating our blog, FuMei was in the background just now and got our attention by speaking out a clear "Hello". It's so fun to hear her English words.

She is a Sorteberg

We spent the morning with local officials finalizing the adoption and getting FuMei's Chinese passport. So it is official--with a few red tape things to take care of tomorrow. We had a good morning--a little tension between FuMei and the boys--she is not used to sharing. Yet yesterday I was amazed to see her making sure that everyone in the room when we were picking her up, got one of her M&Ms. Anyway, all is well. We spent the late morning buying gifts for the orphanage at a local market which we hope to bring to tomorrow. It is an hour and a half away and we hope to see where FuMei was left as an infant, at the back door of the local hospital, see the orphanage at least from the outside and hopefully get some more information about FuMei. The director said he would look for a picture of her before her surgery and the add that they placed in the paper after she was abandoned. We will see what they can produce. Our main hope is just to see something of where she has been living since she was born.

We had noodles for lunch at a nearby shop and FuMei again ate well. Yesterday she said she was unable to use chopsticks and ate with a spoon. Today she was determined to eat with chop sticks. Must be hard to be the only Chinese among a group of non-Chinese who doesn't use them. By the time we were done eating she had mastered it. She is a master at using the squat toilets--she would be proud of herself if she could see the rest of us struggling. We hope to master that too and make her proud before we leave! :-)

She is so cute and fits in so well with the family. She is right now hugging the girls after initiating a hug with Lynn.

Monday Evening

The kids, including the biggest here, (that's David), are now jumping around the beds playing Monkey in the Middle. We have had a wonderful day getting to know FuMei. She seems to be a very confident little girl. I think that comes from orphanage living. She's also very neat and orderly. Folds her coat with her mittens inside, takes care of her things, straightens her shoes in the doorway. She carries her backpack everywhere she goes, probably afraid of it being taken away from her.

Everything we have given her, like mittens and hat, her pjs, and food items she says, "This is mine?" A reminder to me that she hasn't had much of her own all these years. Some of them go directly in to her backpack!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  She is enjoying the kids a lot. She has a contagious laugh and smile. Her voice is very soft spoken, but most things we are able to understand. She has hair almost to her waist, and is more beautiful than we could imagine. She has a very healthy appetite. She loves the noodles at the local noodle shop. (Thanks to Wendy, Meili's mom). She wants to sleep in the bed with Amy tonight, so Mary and I will be sharing an over sized twin bed! Pray for a good nights sleep for all.

Tomorrow we are at the registrar's office almost all day to complete some paperwork and finalize some parts of the adoption. Please be praying that we will be able to keep all the kids entertained and fed during the process. I believe we have Wednesday mostly free. We are still deciding if we want to go back to see her orphanage or not.

Ok, off to bed. Blessings on your days. Lynn

An amazing experience!

Our new daughter and precious Amy.

See that smile.  We are all happy.  No tears.

We can hardly believe how the last 2 hours have gone. God has answered all our prayers. We are back in the hotel with our new daughter. It's almost 1 in the afternoon on Monday. We went down stairs to the hotel lobby at 10:00am and our guide was there and said that FuMei had arrived earlier than expected and was waiting for us at the registrar! That was not what we had expected. So we taxied over there and went upstairs to the 5th floor, and walked in the door and there she was! Looking a little shy at first, but said Mama, Dada and immediately wanted to show us what was in her backpack. She had received 2 of the 4 packages we had sent. I'm so glad I sent 4 of them! So she was pulling out pictures and things we had given her. She is a sweetie. She understands our Chinese very well, I'm so happy for that. Her speech is somewhat slurred due to the cleft palate.

Trying to play Uno with their new sister.

We want to tell you more, and will when we get back, but we haven't had lunch yet, so we need to go. Just wanted to get this off for you who are up late praying for us. Thank you for all your prayers. We can hardly believe how well it's gone right now. Continue to pray, as we know there may be hard times ahead. Blessings, Lynn

Tomorrow

Well, today is the day that we've been able to say tomorrow is the day! We are in Taiyuan now. We had a good day seeing a few sights in Beijing and having Beijing Roast Duck for lunch. Then the rest of the afternoon was spent in transit from Beijing to Taiyuan. It was all uneventful, so thanks for your prayers.

Now we are thinking about tomorrow. We will be picked up at 10:10am and brought to the registration office where FuMei will be brought to us. It's all so hard to imagine still. I'm so ready for the unknown to no longer be unknown. Sort of like giving birth. The anxiety and anticipation of the labor and delivery, but then the joy of the little one in your arms. So many unknowns in this. Please pray for us. It will probably be about 8:00pm on Sunday night Denver time that we will be meeting her. Pray as led.

Trip to TianJin

Today we left in the morning and took the subway to the train station and took a high
speed train to TianJin. It goes about 300KM per hour. So what would have taken almost 2 hours took only a half hour. But when you add in all the walking and subway stops to get to the train station, it makes for a long day. We relaxed at the home of dear friends whom we knew when we lived in Taiwan. David hadn't seen them for 11 years. I saw them in 2005 when I came to China with my Dad. We walked to the channel and the boys ice skated. They had a blast.

With our friends, the Kloppers, in Tianjin.

We will be sleeping in tomorrow and have asked for late check out of the hotel, since our taxi doesn't come until 3:00 to take us to the airport. Pray for safe travels and a chance to unpack and get ready to meet FuMei on Monday morning. When it's Sunday evening in Denver, like 7:00-10:00, those will be the hours that we will be meeting her. Please be covering that in prayer.

A day on the Great Wall

It's been another long day of sightseeing and tears! I think the stresses of traveling in a foreign country really show up when things are difficult. We spent another day out in the cold. The Great Wall was amazing in the snow, but when we attempted to find a place to warm up we didn't have any luck! The restaurant we had lunch at didn't have the heat running. So we had hot soup, hot tea and hot noodles. That warmed our soul and tasted good. Then the heat in the taxi went out! We drove back to Beijing, around the Olympic stadium, and to a friends apartment with no heat. And the driver didn't have hot noodles or soup for us! So when we departed from him we decided to find a tea shop or restaurant to sit in. We had a few hours to kill. The restaurant we chose had hot tea! But the electricity was out. That meant no heat! Of course we had to finish our snack and tea before we could leave, but in the meantime I had a meltdown. Well, I wish it had been a literal meltdown, because then I would have been warm at least. But I had just had enough cold for one day. Even the department store we walked around in wasn't above 60 degrees. We never took our 40 layers off until dinner at a friends house, where we were served a fantastic Chinese meal! The girls said we must be getting old because the cold didn't affect them like it did us. James and Andrew fell asleep in the taxi on the way home and we are heading to bed ourselves. We spent the evening with a group of returnee brothers and sisters, all who spent considerable time overseas and came to know the Lord there, and now are back here living out their faith. Encouraging!

One prayer request. We got a call from our agency today. Our flight from Beijing to Taiyuan on Sunday was canceled so they had to put us on the next flight, which doesn't leave until 4 hours later. I was so looking forward to getting to Taiyuan at 2:30 Sunday afternoon to have some time to gather my thoughts for the next day. Now we don't arrive until after 6:30, probably hungry and only having a few hours until bed. Please pray for that evening and the next morning. I just have to make it work.

Blessings and thanks for your prayers. Lynn

Day One

Tian an Men Square. 

We are back to our hotel after a full day. Though cold, it was a lovely day in Beijing--blue sky, white snow and great sights. We walked though Tiananmen Square this morning and then circled back through the Forbidden City. Our hotel is so conveniently located, just two blocks from the gate into the Forbidden City.

We got Lynn a coat and all did well on our 7 hour walking journey through historic BJ.

We decided against the Palatable Pizza

We just got back from visiting some friends and colleagues for dinner north of the city. Traffic is pretty bad during rush hours, but we have been blessed to be able to use a driver and van introduced to us by our friends. He will take us to the Great Wall tomorrow morning, and past the Olympic Park on the way. We have two more very full days. Thanks for prayers. We're off to bed.

Beijing 2010!!!

Arriving at the airport at 4:00am to head to China.

We have arrived in Beijing. It's now 4:30 in the morning here. We got settled in to our hotel and fell asleep at 8:00pm and slept till 3:00am. The boys woke first, ready for the day. Yesterday was amazing. Our ride came on time and on the way to the airport I realized that I had forgotten my down coat. The temp in Beijing was around 0 degrees. So, I'm still without a coat, but I have my big fleece jacket. First stop today will be a department store to get one. You might think it crazy to forget my coat, but I really had myself and 5 other kids to pack for. Too much on my mind.

The plane rides were long and tiring on our bodies. We actually did fly north from Chicago over the North Pole. It was amazing to follow the little TV on each seat that showed our path. Our seats were booked with a row between us, but as we were boarding I noticed that the Chinese family behind us was hanging over our seat talking to the family in front of us. So I asked them if they were together and willing to move. They were very willing to make it happen, which then gave us two aisle seats! That was an amazing answer to prayer. Another confirmation that He cares for the details in our lives, as I know a few of you were praying specifically for that!
It is very cold here today (pray with us for global warming :-))and we will be doing some walking tours around Beijing, seeing some of the famous sites. Tomorrow it's suppose to snow and we plan to go to the Great Wall. Pray for tea shops to thaw out in along the way. We love you all. Wish you were here! Lynn

Two days until we leave

Just a quick note as we prepare to depart for China on Tuesday morning, early. We praise God for a smooth packing process that really has just finishing touches left, last minute details which we will pull together Monday. Thanks for your prayers as we go. It is just a week from this Monday that we will be united with FuMei. That is hard to believe. Pray for that first few minutes and hours together. We will do our best to write some kind of blog post each day for those of you who want to track with us as we travel. We sure appreciate all the love and support we have received in this whole process. We are humbled and so excited to see FuMei.

One last thing. It was funny, just after the kid's Christmas holiday, Lynn was looking over the curriculum for the kids for this last week (they did school over the New Year week as we will be gone now in early Jan.). They have been studying Ancient History, and the subject starting on Monday was Ancient China. The curriculum encouraged doing some extra reading on the history of the Great Wall--ha! How about taking a walk on it?! It has been an excellent week of preparation for the kids!

Will update you when we arrive in Beijing.