Beijing

Ni Hao! Hi everyone! Sorry it has taken us so long to post. We have been so tired. Faith is really having a difficult time with the time change. She is waking at 3:30 in the morning here and is ready to be up for the day. She has been so good overall. Lots of energy in the morning and literally ran circles around us as we toured Tian'an Men Square and the Forbidden City. We had the quick tours of everything - it was very hot and humid. Peking Duck dinner was wonderful - even better than last time. Maybe we have developed a taste for it!




The Energizer Bunny has nothing on Faith!







But she finally ran out of energy!


We have the pleasure of having Mike's sister Cheryl with us on our trip. Here she is on the Great Wall.





Mike found the going a little steep - no not a staged picture!


On Sunday we were once again up bright and early at 4 am. We had a wonderful breakfast at the buffet (really love these breakfast buffets!) then off to church service at the Beijing International Christian Fellowship church. Wonderful as always! We went to the English only service this time. After service was finished, we were able to meet up with a few people from our church at home, New Life, that were on a mission trip teaching English here in China. They are at the end of their trip and were happy to be in Beijing and comfortable quarters. It was so wonderful to see them! We then were off to the Pearl Market where Faith dazzled the clerks. They all wanted hugs and for her to talk to them, but you know Faith, she just isn't into that. She did smile and play a little with them. We bought some gifts for Molly Yingjin as she gets older, just as we did for Faith. We ended our sight seeing time in Beijing with the Summer Palace. It was more beautiful in the summer and we got to take a boat across the lake (remember, last time, we could have walked across it on the ice!). Very green and lush. We bought some great gifts at the Olympic store there, since the Olympics will be in Beijing next year. One of the animated mascots of the Olympics (there are five) is named Ying Ying, so we wanted to make sure that we got some Ying Ying things for Ying Jin. We were then off to the airport to await our flight out to Nanning. We left Beijing at 8:20 pm and arrived in Nanning around 11:45 pm. Boy, are these late nights to us! Faith slept the whole way, awakened once we landed and had a tough time getting back to sleep. But we were able to catch up with Nathan at home and talk to him and Mike's parents.

Here she is, ready for church!


On the bridge on the Kunming Lake at the Summer Palace.

Cheryl in front of the dragon boat on Kunming Lake.




The plan is to meet Molly Yingjin at 3:30 pm Monday. We will try to update before we go to bed with pictures, etc. We are nervous, excited, nervous, tired, happy, joyful and so ready to meet her! We got some updated information and questions answered which was nice, but no height, weight or size. All the Chinese people have commented on how small Faith is for 2 1/2. I think Molly won't be much bigger, but we will see soon! Thanks for the prayers everyone! We have certainly needed them on this trip and appreciate all of you thinking about us.


Take care,


Tina