Beijing Day 2

We started the day with a visit to Beijing International Christian Fellowship (BICF) and participated in their Sunday worship service. The message was about the Great Commission - very appropriate and challenging when you're visiting a foreign city, especially Beijing.

Next, we headed off to the jade factory. Wendy finally got her "dream jade bangle" that we didn't get the last time we were here. All of the employees were enamored with Grace and the store's manager gave her a beaded bracelet. She loves it! The "cuteness of Grace" probably contributed to the good discount that we got on Wendy's bracelet.

A traditional Chinese lunch with our new friends was delicious. Then, we were off in the heat of the day to visit the Forbidden City and Tian'anmen Square. We started at the back of the Forbidden City (forbidden for commoners to enter and forbidden for the emperor to leave) and walked through to the front. Because of all of the steps and stone walkways, we left the stroller behind. Grace did very well at the beginning but needed a nap about halfway through the two-hour walk. She gradually got heavier and wetter on Wendy's shoulder as the heat of the day took its toll. It's a good thing that she's a peanut! The Forbidden City is still being renovated in places as Beijing gets it ready for the world with the 2008 Olympics. Scaffolding was up on a few of the buildings but with 9,999.5 rooms, there was still plenty to see. The architecture, craftsmanship, colors and attention to detail are amazing! It's hard to believe that it was built in only fourteen years but will take forty-six years to restore.

We walked out the entrance of the Forbidden City to Tian'anmen Square through large crowds of people, vendors and beggars. We had a photo of our group taken here in the center of the Chinese government and then, went to a Chinese dinner. Grace enjoyed watching the fish, octopus and snails in the restaurant's tanks but we didn't tell her that they were part of dinner.

We catch a flight to Nanjing in Jiangsu Province very early tomorrow morning to get our little boy. Please be praying since we are the only family traveling to this province. Also pray that Peter will know the love of the Lord and his new family tomorrow.

Click here for today's pictures.

Beijing Day 1

We had no problem meeting our guides at 8:00 this morning since we are still on our 12-hour different time zone. We were up and ready to go hours before we needed to join the group!

This weekend is an interesting time to be in Beijing since many things are closed or have limited availability. The government has cancelled some flights at the airport and only cars with odd license plates may drive on odd-numbered days, even on even days. All of the changes are being tested this weekend as Beijing prepares for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Because of these changes, the section of The Great Wall that we visited when we were here for Grace's adoption is unavailable. We drove to the Mutianyu section outside of Beijing today and it was great! This time we got to take a cable car part of the way and both the view and the Wall were incredible!

After our Great Wall visit, we had a traditional Chinese meal for lunch. Yummy! Grace is always content if rice or watermelon is on the menu. She lucked out today and got both!

Next, we visited the government-run pearl factory. Our guide, Sherry, gave a gift to Grace of a beautiful pearl bracelet. She loved it and couldn't stop admiring it or telling everyone how beautiful she is. Cute girl!

After shopping for pearls, we visited the Summer Palace. Last time that we were here, a special event had closed the lake. Today, we were excited to see boats on the water and we even took a dragon boat ride!

We left the Summer Palace and headed to the government-run silk factory. We had lots of fun shopping and checking out the beautiful silk comforters, shirts, dresses, pajamas, etc.

A Peking Duck dinner hit the spot as we finished up the day! We're getting to know the other families traveling with us and they are a fun group. On Monday, we will all be splitting up as we go to our different provinces to meet our sons and daughters. We are the only family going to Jiangsu and then, we will meet up with everyone again in Guangzhou! It was a full day and we definitely won't have a hard time sleeping tonight - we're beat!

As we were talking with our folks tonight (Skype is amazing!), we were realizing that our Saturday is coming to an end and we only have one more day until we get Peter. It's hard to believe that the day is almost here!

Check out pictures of today's sightseeing here.

Good night.

We've Arrived

We have made it to Beijing. It is 5:00 pm our time and 5:00am your time. We are still on am side of the timing and we are pooped. Gracie had a few 2 to 2 and a half hour naps. Dave grabbed a cat nap or two and Wendy knit a lot (no sleep was coming her way). Gracie was great, she played and ate.
Tomorrow we will visit the Great Wall, the Summer Palace, a silk factory and a pearl factory. We are also going to have a Peking Duck dinner. It is a packed day. I hope Gracie takes a nap on the bus.
Well, we are off to bed already. We are beat. We will post again soon.

Leaving Soon!!

Well, It is after midnight and I am up writing a blog entry. Everyone is asleep except me. I cannot sleep. I am so tired but I cannot stop my mind from racing. We are leaving in the morning to drop off our dog and be dropped off at the airport. We are on our way to pick up our son. WOOOHOOOO!!! Now, if we can just be in China without that long flight, it would be so much greater. Oh well, we just have to tough it out! I hope Gracie will enjoy the flight. When we flew back from China with her, she stayed awake the entire 27 hour journey. We got 3 cat naps out of her and that was it. Needless to say, if she was up, so were we. Dave and I were exhausted but she put on a show for everyone at the airport. I am hoping we get a few hours of sleep out of her this trip. She is so excited that I have a feeling she is going to be wide awake the entire time again. Thank goodness for mini DVD players. :) We will post again once we get into Beijing. I added a picture of Gracie for those that have not seen her in a while. She is growing up so fast. She has fun saying that she is going to be a "big sister". It is going to be so neat to see the two kids together. The excitement builds. :)

One Week

I woke up today realizing that one week from right now, I will be watching Peter sleep and you all will be finding out about him and looking at pictures. It was so neat to know that friends and family were getting to wake up to meet Gracie as we were putting her down to sleep on the day that we got her. Now we get to experience that again. Our little boy will be winding down as you are starting your day. He will have had a very hard day being passed off to people he doesn't even know. He will be confused and scared but he will be one of the most loved people on this planet. His new mommy, daddy, and sister will have spent the day trying to help him feel how loved and special he is and how excited they are to have this new addition to the family. That is what we will be doing one week from today and I can't believe it is almost here. God is so good to us!

Our itinerary for China

Our trip has us traveling to Beijing, Nanjing, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. If you'd like to see where we will be on a map, click here.

Our itinerary will be:

•Thursday, August 16 - Depart for Beijing
•Friday, August 17 - Arrive in Beijing
•Monday, August 20 - Morning Flight to Nanjing - Afternoon - Meet Peter!
•Friday, August 24 - Afternoon flight to Guangzhou
•Wednesday, Aug 29 - Depart from Guangzhou to Hong Kong
•Thursday, August 30 - Depart from Hong Kong to home!
•Friday, August 31 - We're home with Peter!

Travel Meeting

Yesterday we had our travel meeting with AWAA. We met our group through a phone conference and got all the details for our trip. There are 19 families in the group. We will not be the only ones traveling to Jiangsu, there is one other family going with us. Wendy is really excited that someone else will be joining us. We were told that the weather in China is hot and hotter as you travel south. So... we are going to be a bit warm while there.
It is hard to believe that a week from today we will be leaving for China. One week from Monday we will be holding our son. We are so excited and nervous at the same time. Please pray that we can get done all that needs to get done before we go and that our hearts will be at peace.

We are going!!!

We have a definite date and our travel times. We are leaving Aug 16 at 12:32 pm from Dulles and will get back on the 31st @ (get this) 6:32 am. We were able to save thousands and I do mean thousands of dollars doing this. And guess what else :)!!!!! We have to spend a night in HongKong so guess where we decided to stay. :) You got it... Hong Kong Disneyland. We can't believe that God has worked out every single detail of this trip and also included this amazing little present for us. We are VERY BLESSED!!

We've received our TA!

Yesterday afternoon, we received the call from AWAA that we've been waiting to hear. We have our travel approval (TA) for China and we'll be leaving on August 16th! We'll soon be on our way to get Peter!

Now that we're getting closer to the trip, we'll be updating the blog much more regularly. So make sure to bookmark this page!

Beginning the Journey

As most of you know, we are currently in the process of adopting a special needs boy from China. We are thrilled to let you know that we received our referral on February 12, 2007 and our pre-approval from China on May 1, 2007. Now that we have our pre-approval, we are telling all of our friends and family about our son!

We have decided to name our son Peter David after Wendy's uncle who passed away a few years ago and include XiCheng from the name he was given in China. His full name will be Peter David XiCheng Major.

Peter has already had surgery for a congenital heart defect. He will also need surgery for a minor genital defect. He is a beautiful, healthy boy!

We are anticipating that we will travel to China as early as July, 2007. Grace will be coming with us. She is excited about being a big sister even though she is only six months older than Peter.

Our adoption journey is one of faith and we need prayer to continue to walk in faith. Continual prayer for the rest of our journey is greatly appreciated.

We will continue to post here on the "Journey to Peter" blog as our journey progresses both here in the U.S. and as we travel to China. We love you all and are glad that you are able to share this journey with us.

As a side note, if you would like to follow our old "Grace from China" online journal about our daughter Grace's adoption, click here.