Saturday, May 31, 2014

Beijing

We arrived in Beijing at 11:30 pm.  We met up with our guide, George, and were on our way to our hotel.  Once arriving, we dropped our bags and fell asleep very quickly!  Yesterday was spent touring parts of the city--Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, a Hutong, and a silk factory.  There are many, many people everywhere!  This is a holiday weekend, so Tiananmen Square was particularly busy.  We have not been able to really get a feel for just how huge this city is because the smog is so thick.

Today we will get to see the Great Wall and a jade factory.


En Route
The Forbidden City




Imperial Garden at the Forbidden City
The Forbidden City

Hutong

Hutong during our Rickshaw

Food Market

Market-Yes, these are spiders and centipedes!  No, we did not eat them!

Snacks




Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Well, here we are.  Tomorrow morning Tommy and I will be boarding a plane to begin our journey to our little Allison in China.  It is amazing how we have had over a year to prepare and are still frantically finishing up today.  My mind is just swimming with lists, and my emotions are all over the grid.  The lists are made for our moms, a calendar of the boys' activities is printed, and notes are written.  Suitcases are packed full of clothes, toys, snacks, and meds.  The carry-on is ready with all important documents copied.  Seven gift bags, seven pieces of tissue paper, and seven gifts are ready to be prepared for seven people we don't yet know.  We are finishing up our list of questions for the orphanage staff and wondering how we can possibly ask everything that we will want to know over the years.  We are doing everything we can to prepare for this event, and when the moment arrives, I imagine this will all fade from my mind.  All that will matter is that we will finally have our little Allison, our little Min Ru, right in front of us.
Tomorrow we board that plane and begin our adventure.  We will have a whirlwind tour of Beijing before heading by train to our little girl in Nanjing.  We will keep you posted!