Going to Chongqing and our day on 9/15

Hey friends and loved ones, Just a quick blog and we will update later while you are sleeping :) Remember we are 13 hours ahead so it is 5: 30 a.m. on the 16th here, it is 4:30 p.m. on the 15th at home. Yesterday the blog would not work so we need to catch up. Anyway, we are leaving the hotel at 6 for a flight to Chongqing, Claire's province. Can you believe we get her tomorrow ? 2:30 p.m. is Gotcha Time! But anyway, we saw Tianamen Sq., Forbidden City and climbed, yes climbed straight up 1000 ft straight up the Great Wall, it was amazing, will post pics later. God is so good to have chosen sweet baby Claire for us. I just cried and cried on the bus yesterday when our guide Michael was telling us why the mothers have to abandon these sweet babies and what to expect from tomorrow Gotcha Day. So, we are packing the lap top and must go but I will blog later. Love to all, MA and J

Pics from 9/14//2007

All Day September 14th

Dear loved ones and friends, We just got in at 8:30 p.m. from this morning leaving at 8 a.m. Our day was full of things to fall in love with China! We started our day by bus with a tour guide named Jerry. He was very kind and sweet the entire day. The first place we went was the Beijing Zoo to see the pandas. They were awesome! By the way, we have NOT gained 20 lbs in our pics, in fact we have lost but we have our money belts tightly strapped to our tummies and pinned to our jeans. The morning was super super foggy and rainy. Basically we got wet and rained on all day today. So, after the Beijing Zoo we went to the Summer Palace, a beautiful, peaceful place. We stayed there for a long time and when our bus stopped we got mobbed with tons of people trying to sell goods, fake rolex watches and purses. Jason got a kick out of the sellers, they made him laugh and laugh. China is absoultely beautiful and we wanted to love it for Claire. I can say we do! After the summer palace we went to a traditional Chinese restaurant for a 10 course meal . It was pretty good but we were careful what we ate. The guide then took us to a real pearl market. We all got educated on buying good real pearls, many good buys. After lunch, we went to the Temple of Heaven. It was built in 1490 and was constructed of wood, amazing for sure!

All Day September 14th Pics

Pandas inside at the Beijing Zoo. We bought Claire a Panda unmbrella and Panda slippers as one of her 18 gifts of life.

Friday September 14th

Our Journey has gone well so far. Since we've been in Beijing the weather has been in the 60s with misting rain and fog. Beijing is a very big city, but we've only seen a small area as we've stayed within the circumference of our hotel. There are many many buildings, but we have not seen any near the height of the ones in downtown Dallas. There are a lot of cars and bikes, but the traffic is no worse than traffic in Rowlett at 5pm. The people have been very nice, especially the young people who are very curious or want to practice their English. We went to Baskin Robbins and Subway for dinner yesterday. The young guy working at Subway asked a lot of questions about my t-shirt. His English was limited, but he got help from the other workers. After Subway we went to Baskin Robbins and had ice cream. The whole time we were there the three young girls behind the counter leaned over the counter with big smiles on their faces and watched our every move.

Our route to China was different than what I expected. We flew northwest over Utah, Idaho, Washington State, Mount Rainer, the Canadian coast, the Alaskan coast, across the Bering Sea and then down off the Russian coast to Tokyo. Between Washington State and Canada the outside temperature was -70 degrees at 40,000 feet. Before we arrived in Japan we flew through a snow blizzard. The Tokyo airport was small about the size of Love Field, but there is a larger airport in Tokyo.

Today we will tour the Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven and Beijing Panda Zoo and tonight we will go to the Chinese acrobat show. We will be out most of the day so there will be no updates until later. All is well. Thanks to all for the prayers.
Jason

Beijing Pics

Jason as we are crossing a bridge. We went to the Poly Art Museum and Jewelry market and had dinner at a Subway with Baskin Robbins Ice Cream too. Love, MA and J

Pics from China

We just stayed near the hotel today since we tour all day tomorrow. It was cold, 60's and rainy today. We video taped things for Claire and went to the jewelry market and grocery store. The dragon is in our hotel. Everyone is treating us like royalty. They just smile and say hello to us, they do everything for us like push the elevator button. We feel a little lost with the language but are already loving China. Coutdown to Claire, 4 days! Love to all. MA and J

Day 1 in China, Sept. 13

Hey guys, We are well rested and have just finished a yummy Western Breakfast. Yes, we were starving. The plane ride served us lots of food, even cheese pizza but we lost a day in travels. Anyway, we ate pancakes, omelet, potatoes, cereal and more. It was just like home except we ate some fried rice too, Jason too :) So, today we are resting, going to walk around our hotel and just relax. Here is our schedule for tomorrow:
8:00 Leave for Summer Palace, Bejing Panda Zoo and some other sights then we go to a Chinese Acrobat show so we won't be back until late tomorrow night. Our day is your night and so on. Thanks for the emails and comments, we are getting them. Well, off to the bank for currency exchange and some waters, waters. P.S. We are eating lots of snacks, homemade fudge, rice krispies and cookies compliments of Becky and Brooke and tons of pb crackers. Love to all! xoxoxo P.S. We also met many new adoptive friends one couple from Austin, update ya'll later ! MA and J

Welcome to Beijing, We are here!

Well guys, we made it to Bejing. It is 5:30 a.m. Chinese time on the 13th. That was so weird losing a day flying. We made it to the hotel fine, and now we are waking up to start our day. The email/blog situation is tricky, only lets us on for a few mins at a time. So, we hope you know how much we love all of you. The prayers were with us and we had NO problems traveling, except the guy next to us for 13 hours on the plane, he had some bodily issues, ha ha ! Well, we hope to send pics later and see Bejing. 4 days closer to Claire! We are getting your emails but may not respond. Love to all, xoxoxoo MA and J

1 Day Until the Plane to China!

Dear friends, We are leaving at 12:05 tomorrow, Tuesday Sept. 11, 2007 YEAH! We are so excited ! See you on line and with baby Claire in October! Love, MA and J