We will be in Chongqing tomorrow evening. Because we don't know what the Internet access will be like at our hotel, we may not be able to post as often. We will get pictures of Gracie out here though. I am fairly certain that the Internet will be available but wanted to put this out there just in case you do not hear from us in the next day or so.

God Bless and please continue to keep all of us in your prayers! A Big Thank You to all of you who have sent notes!! We love them!!!

We went to a local resteraunt for dinner tonight. We ordered 1 entree per family and shared family style. What a great assortment of food. We were very adventurous and tried a number of items.

Josh and I both learned how to eat using chopsticks. We had no silverware and didn't leave hungry!


The tea was brewed in drinking glasses... each glass came to us with the tea leaves we ordered and hot water was added.


No one spoke English so it was a bit of a challenge ordering. We got everything we had thought we ordered however we did get tripped up on the "fried noodles"... they brought us a bowl of ramen noodle soup! LOL

We celebrated the sucess of our authentic Chinese meal with Baskin Robbins!


Tarita and Lisa


Conway and Anne

Around Beijing:

Day 4 - Beijing

Well today is our last full day in Beijing. I can't believe we leave for Chongqing tomorrow afternoon!! We will start the day out by visiting the Great Wall and head to the afternoon for a late afternoon flight! We will be in Gracie's hometown tomorrow evening! We will welcome Gracie in to our family first thing the next morning!

But back to today....
Our group visited the Forbidden City and Tianenman Square. We had already visited both of these sites two days ago and frankly I wasn't to thrilled to go again. But wow... we saw so much more today! I think it had a lot to do with our Bethany guide Joy. She really explained a lot and gave us some free time to explore. We saw so much more and really enjoyed ourselves. I am amazed that thousands of locals flock to these sites every day. And there are no rides! I guess living in Orlando has jaded me a bit when it comes to attractions. It seems like you just don't go someplace unless the rides are good. LOL!

At Forbidden City - Imperial Garden


Imperial Garden - Forbidden City


Ed and Josh at Forbidden City


Our Bethany Group


The Olympic Countdown is On!


Scott and Anne, Ed and Josh


We also toured a Hutong. We all took rickshaw rides in to a neighborhood called a Hutong. A hutong is an ancient city alley or lane typical in Beijing, where hutongs run into the several thousand. What an eye opener. Some of the homes were really quaint while others represented poverty we just don't see back home. Residents rent these homes for very modest fees (kind of like rent control)and while they cannot change the outside they can do whatever they want to the inside. The one we visited had crown molding and wood floors. Very nice. But from the outside? It looked war torn. Our guide explained that the government is currently doing work to restore the outsides as well. This was evident as we drove by some of the other Hutongs.

Ed's Ride


Lisa and Josh in Ricksaw


We are about to head out for dinner with some of the group... and then it's creative packing time. We need to have our bags outside our doors by 7:30 am where they will be picked up and deliverd to the airport. We head to the Great Wall at 8am... we are very excited abou this trip! Who knew we would one day see the Great Wall? Who knew we would one day adopt a baby from China! What a trip this has been so far!

Enjoy today's pictures!