Suzhou (earlier in the week)

After we visited the orphanage a few days ago, we went into the old city. Suzhou is pronounced Sue Joe. It is where the orphanage is and where AJ was found. It is evidentally an affluent area. It is located on a river and in the past they used boats to transport people and cargo. They still use boats for tourism.

They have a well known candy shop in Suzhou and we went there with the boys. AJ of course was yelling something we couldn't understand and our guide said that he was yelling candy, candy. Candy is kind of pronounced like "tung". We bought the kind that our guide recommended at it was very interesting. It wasn't super sweet like at home. My favorite was the pine nuts covered in sugar. Yum. Neither Aron nor AJ liked it so I got the whole bag to myself. AJ loved the plain old lollipop best.

The candy shop

We also went to a beautiful garden in Suzou. It was built 600 years ago by a rich family who wanted a beautiful place to walk and rest. It was really neat. It was this green, lavish garden stuck right in the middle of the city. We didn't feel like we were in the city. It was a zig zag shape and must be on a hill because we climbed steps. The garden is actually pretty small but the layout makes it feel larger. AJ had a good time running around there.

Suzou garden

musicians in the garden

The musicians in the garden were very good and the man was singing in the Wu dialect, which is what AJ would speak if he grew up here. Aron really enjoyed the instruments. He wanted to ask if he could try them out but refrained. Bummer, I kind of wanted to see him in that nice little dress.

We were happy to see Suzou for AJ's sake. We can kind of tell him about the city and he can see the pictures of where he's from. I wonder at all the little children in the orphanages and what they could be. I wonder if there is the next astronaut there or the doctor who finds the cure for cancer or the next Billy Graham or a missionary to a remote tribe. It's hard for me to think of all the possibilities the children are missing. Most of all, knowing the Lord and living for Him. After a trip like this, it makes you realize just how small the world is and how very blessed we are to live in the USA . I know that we have our problems, but we have our freedom. Freedom to go and be anything we want to be. Opportunities to share our faith and meet together. Things we take for granted every day of our lives. Don't knock America. Pray for it. We have a unique nation. One we need to preserve and support. Thank God for all you have and his provision for you. Be content, because let me tell you, we have all we need. We are not begging on the street. We can get the surgeries we need. We have a vehicle we can get to work in. If we don't have work we can look for more. We have opportunities. Take them and go for it. There are those who need help and I hope that I will be more proactive in helping those in need. Every country has needy souls and I know that in my own life I want to make it count. Make it count. Be a light to a world that is so desperate. Blessings to you all. We'll see you soon!!!

October 30, 2008

We are in Guangzhou now! Yippee! We flew in yesterday. Guangzhou is our final destination. The American consulate is here. This is where we received AJ's visa to come into the United States. We went to the consulate today and we were sworn in. You raise your right hand and promise to take care of your child. It was rather emotional for Aron and I. It was our last step in the adoption and now we can come home. We are so excited to see our family. The room at the consulate was full of adoptive parents and kids. It was so wonderful. There were 35 families representing 22 states. We met one couple. I would say they are about 55 years old. They are here getting an 8 year old daughter with dwarfism. She is soooo cute. She is about AJ's size. She is their 7th child from China. They have 6 boys at home, all adopted from China. They are incredible. Our 9 families from Bethany are all here together again and we all received our children's visas today... 9 more children have their forever families. Sorry no pictures allowed at the consulate.

We are staying at the most beautiful hotel. It is about 80 degrees here and there is grass and palm trees and sunshine. It is gorgeous here. Our hotel is right on the river. As we drove to the consulate today our guide said that Guangzhou has a lot of millionares here. Also, a lot of migrant workers from other provinces. She said that the gap between rich and poor is growing here in China. She works for Bethany and is a lawyer. Her husband is also an attorney. She has 2 children and they go to university in the states. She is really good and handled all of our paperwork here in Guangzhou. All we had to do is go and swear today... I mean swear in. hee hee. Tomorrow is a free day and then Saturday we fly out for home. China has been quite the experience, one we won't forget. Some things you see in China:

Go Go Boots everywhere

Old men carrying birds

Bicycles built for three

Corn on the cob

moms and
daughters eating lunch

October 27, 2008 We visit the orphanage

We went to the orphanage today. It was about a 3 hour car ride. We went with the other family who adopted a boy from the same orphanage. The boys did very well riding that far. We arrived at the SWI (social welfare institute) at around 11:30 am. THe orphanage is a SWI because it houses orphans and the elderly who have no family. It is about 3 or 4 buildings in size. We started off in the office building. Aron and I knew right away that the staff were not very familiar with our boy. They talked with him only minimally and he did not like them at all. We met the director and she seemed very professional and kind. We liked her very much. After a short visit with her, she took us to the toddler room. We were not allowed to take photos inside. I will try to describe to you the room. As we ascended the stairs AJ was crying, which he doesn't do very often. He was saying mama and some other words and our guide said that he was saying mama tay, mama tay. SHe said that he was saying mama here, mama here. He was very upset. We entered the room and he would not be consoled. THere were around 40 little toddler sized beds in rows of 8 or so. They were filled except for 2 I believe. One child was crying and a nanny was trying to comfort him/her. I could not tell how many of the children were girls and how many were boys. They all had very short hair. Our friend's little boy started to take off his shoes to go get in his bed. He knew right where his bed was. The nannies pointed out his best friend to him and they hugged. The best friend is being adopted and his parents are coming in Dec. Many of the children looked not so much sick as just gaunt and lifeless. The stared at us and I felt the hopelessness there. I started to cry. There little faces are so precious and they need a family so badly. Tom, our friend, the other adoptive father was gently waving his hand back and forth. I think that he was praying over the children. Aron had to take AJ out of the room. He's too young to understand what was going on. As the rest of us left the room, there was a child holding out his arm to us. THat image is permanently etched on my brain. I will not forget what I saw. I do feel that the care givers were genuinely kind, but there are just too many children to care for properly. We saw just the tip of the iceberg. The director said that they have 300 children ages infant to 16 years old living there. And to think there are hundreds of orphanages around the world with the same numbers. Lord, help them.

After the tour the staff served us lunch. It was delicious. The director provided answers to our questions and we took some pictures.

Back to AJ. The director told us that since AJ's surgery he has been living in foster care. THat he only came back to the orphanage 2 months ago to prepare for adoption. His foster mom also checked in here every few months to make sure she was doing a good job. Our guide said that they will absolutely not tell us the foster parents name, and we cannot meet them. It seems that his foster mama did a very good job. He was loved. I am so thankful for her. If only I could tell her. The nannies at the orphanage wear pink scrubs and the administrators wear blue pants and jackets. The picture I have of AJ by the polkadot dinosaur there is a woman next to him in a dress. I can only assume that she is his foster mama or other friend because she is not an orphanage worker. I hope that we are right and AJ has a picture of the woman who loved him so well. I do not know why they return the children to the orphanage prior to the adoption. Probably, to keep the foster family anonymous. I asked our guide a lot of questions about the secretiveness of adoption and she answered many of them. She is very comfortable answering my questions and I am thankful. There are many social and cultural issues here involving unwed mothers. That's a story for another time.

We are glad that we got to see the orphanage and the tremendous need here in China. It is an experience we will never forget. Will you join us in praying for these orphans?

October 26,2008

Hey all, we are doing well here in Nanjing. We finish up the adoption in Guanzhou which is southeast if here a couple of hours by plane. There is a trade show in Guanzhou right now. The hotel rooms are around $300 a night so they kept us here a few extra days to avoid the expensive hotel stay. We are enjoying the area but are anxious to finish up. We miss our kiddos at home! We go to the orphanage tomorrow. It is about 3 hours by car. Aron is a little concerned about the visit. AJ is doing so well and Aron doesn't want him to be confused. I think it's important to see where our little man lived and talk with his nannies. We have some questions for them and things that AJ might want to know when he is older. Pray that all will go well and AJ will not cry when we leave. I think it might be good for him to say goodbye and for us to take him away.

Aron has a little cough and runny nose so he decided to walk to the pharmacy today. Well, he made it and the sweet little Chinese girls couldn't understand him so he coughed for them and they nodded their heads and led him to some medicine. He brought it back to the hotel and every last word on the package is in chinese. I told him if he takes it he may never wake up. Ancient Chinese secrets might be in that box. We will show it to our guide tomorrow and ask her what's in it. Maybe it will cause him to start speaking mandarin, who knows!

We ran out of calling cards and so we asked the front desk where to go to get more. She wrote down the address so that we could give it to the cab driver. Well, we hailed a cab and showed him the paper. We could tell that he wasn't sure about taking us and another man came up and looked at the address and they started to shout at each other. So Aron said"get out of the cab". I grabbed our 34 pound baby and the backpack and in one smooth motion jumped out of the cab. Aron was outside trying to figure out what was going on. When he figured out that we should not drive with him and I jumped out, the cab driver drove away. So, we went back into the hotel and went to the business office. One of the clerks there spoke English pretty well and called a cab for us. The bellboy came and got us from the office and told the driver where we needed to go and to wait there and bring us back. It was a good distance away (about 20 mins.), but finally we made it. After 3 different clerks helped us and 2 separate offices, we successfully communicated that we needed phone cards. We took our old one to show them, but they thought something was wrong with it and that we needed help getting it to work. Aron was able to tell them that it was all used up and we needed more cards. Well, they sold us 3 new cards for 120 yuan (about $20). The cards have 100 yuan printed on each card. They gave us a deal I guess. Anyway, we will get about 120 minutes for that $20 plus $10 cab fare. Not bad. It was definitely another China adventure. I'm not sure I want to ride in a cab again. By the way, seatbelts are optional and no carseats here. I held onto AJ for dear life.

We went to the zoo today. It was just a small one but AJ and the other family here with us enjoyed it. They usually have pandas at the zoo but not today. Our guide was unsure why they were not there.Bummer, I wanted AJ to see the pandas. We had fun seeing the monkeys and the tiger show. Man, I'm not sure they pay that young guy who "trains" the tigers enough money. He's probably 100 lbs. soaking wet and in the caged area with about 10 tigers. Scary!! They also had trained monkeys and bears. They rode bicycles. It was pretty cute.

Tonight we went to this amazing mall. It's right around the corner from our hotel. It has Nike and Adidas and many cool stores. It's 5 stories high with fountains and waterfalls. Just beautiful. We ate at Papa Johns for supper. Yummy! Well, we have to call home with those crazy cards we worked so hard for.

October 25, 2008

We went to the park!!

Our guide Linda said that although there is probably a little play area at the orphanage, AJ is too small to have played there. She thinks it is likely the first time he's gone down a slide. He is a typical 2 year old. He went down once and then we couldn't get him off. He went back up and down over and over. He laughed and laughed.

There was a Chinese lady there who wanted to know where the boys' Chinese mama was. She kept asking our friend Tom and following him around. Finally, our guide went over and spoke with the lady and told her that the boys were orphans. That we were their parents. She was very curious and asked Linda many questions. We are pretty sure that a lot of the people here do not know of the existing orphan situation.

We also met two young mothers from America there. They both had a small child and are here at language school. The one gal seemed especially homesick. They were fun to talk to and made us miss home even more.

We went to the lake and they have birds there. I mean big birds...like emus and peacocks and cranes. Aron was pretty brave. He fed them little fish out of his hand. Not me! The one emu started to follow me around and so Aron threw it some food to distract it so I could run away. AJ thought it was so funny. He is not speaking Mandarin according to our guide. He is talking his own language she said. It is very funny though. He laughed and jabbered at the birds and chased them. Aron had to rescue him several times. He is fearless! THe guide told us that he looks so happy. She said that usually the babies at the orphanage are small. Since he is so big he looks like an American baby! It's funny the misconceptions people have about each other. She said that when she was small, she was told to stay away from the Americans because they eat little kids. She is only 30 years old. She said that it's only been in the last 20 years that the Chinese have really started to accept foreigners. She is very bright and has a lot of potential. It is very difficult to change jobs once you are in a profession or skill. Most of the time you do that job for your entire life. When the next generation has a child the grandparents take care of the grandchild so that both parents can work. They often live all together. Very different culture. Here are some pic's of our bird adventure.

Chinese baby talk

AJ is starting to talk. It is so funny. We are almost certain that he is saying some things in Mandarin. He repeats some phrases and it's so funny to hear him. He says what sounds like Da Doo all the time. We are going to ask our guide tomorrow if it means anything. Maybe just Chinese baby talk. It really does sound Chinese.

AJ is still eating like a horse. He also enjoys the outdoors. We just walk and walk. This morning he pulled me by hand towards the revolving door. I thought he wanted to go around in it, so I kept pushing and he tried to step outside. When we got back around to the inside he started to cry. So, I pulled on his shirt and told him that we had to go get his jacket first. He came willingly. We were told that the Chinese always want their babies warm. So even if it's 80 degrees outside he needs a jacket. We don't want a little Chinese lady chewing us out. After we got our jackets on we went outside to the markets again. Today, a woman stopped me and spoke to me in Mandarin. I have no idea what she said. We started to draw a crowd. Aron had gone into a shop and I was waiting outside. I told the lady that we call him Neo Neo and that broke the ice. All of the people started to laugh.

We had a lot of fun getting to know AJ today. It's amazing that he doesn't speak our language or look like us but that he is starting to trust us. Love has no language. When he looks at me, I always smile and kiss him. I think he is starting to know that he is with us to stay. He even called Aron Baba today. He is slowly warming up to Aron. I am really enjoying being the favorite because soon I know that Aron will win him over with treats and tickles.

We took AJ to a noodle restaurant tonight and he ate like crazy again. I just can't make myself eat the food here. So, I ordered plain rice. It was good. Around the corner from our hotel is a Haagendas Ice Cream store. We treated ourselves after dinner and AJ had chocolate ice cream. It is so funny watching him experience new things. We are back in our room and AJ is in his pj's. We are getting ready to call the kids at home. We miss them so much! We are now getting a little antsy to be home. Tomorrow the guide will take us to a lake and a park.

October 24

We are in our hotel room playing and watching the World Series in Japanese. Not very many English speaking channels here. We were out earlier for a walk and here are some pictures of us in Nanjing, the capital of AJ's province.

We bought AJ a drum, kind of like a rattle.

He likes his lollipop

Dad tickling AJ's neck

October 23, 2008 It's Official AJ is a Palmer!

Hey all, today we went back to the registration office to sign the paperwork. They let you have 24 hours to "decide" if you want the child. Like duh, we haven't waited almost a year to say no now. I guess if the special needs are more than you thought or think you can handle they give you a kind of grace period. We went to the office and signed and put our thumbprints over top of our signatures. The registrar gave us our official adoption papers, now we just wait for his passport. The nannies were there and when they came up to him to say goodbye he grabbed onto me. He wanted me not them!! It was so wonderful.

If we thought we were celebrities before that was nothing compared to now. We walked around the shops today and we were stared at so much that I did get a little nervous. I even picked him up and carried him. He is heavy!! We also went to Wal Mart today. It was very nice and 3 floors high. We even took the cart down this moving belt, kind of like a downhill treadmill. The carts lock, of course. AJ pointed at the fish crackers so we bought him a little box. He ate them like he hasn't eaten in weeks. He shoveled them in. He is very much like a baby. He eats and sleeps. We were told that even though they are fattened up for adoption, they have no stamina. They are not used to running and playing. It does seem that he gets tired easily. I always hold him for a while and then I put him in his crib. He took a 2 hour nap today. He also had his first bath. He liked it except for the hair washing. I shampooed it and the he took the washcloth and put it on his head and cried. I don't think he likes the rinsing, so I just sponged it off. Now he smells like a baby!

Right now he is sitting on Baba's lap coloring. He goes back and forth from right hand to left hand. He also likes to copy. Aron taught him the thumbs up and he does it. He also gives 5. We are really doing well. Tomorrow is a free day so I think we'll just hang out and go for walks and take naps. Thank you for all your prayers. We are so blessed!

October 22, 2008 We have AJ!!!!!

Oh, you guys, You know how you envision something happening and you have expectations? Well, let me say we had the most beautiful meeting day possible. AJ is soooo beautiful! We walked into this little rather rundown building and the other family with us saw their little boy right away. We didn't see AJ. We were looking around and looking around and then he came down the stairs with his nanny. He is sooo chunky. We both crouched down and smiled and said hi and I laughed and cried. He is so healthy and fat! And he definitely uses his arm. Aron took him from his care giver and AJ immediately tried to hit him. We laughed. He seemed very attached to his nanny. And she to him. That part does make me sad. She kept saying,"this is your baba and your mama". He checked us out quite a bit and then we hauled out the toys. We started to play catch with him and he actually laughed! He is still scared of Aron and will give him a wide birth or (girth) hee hee. He came to me right away and I was tickled. He even put his arms up to me already. He came to me last night with his bear that we sent him a few months ago and said"mama". I of course melted. Someone has definitely been telling him about us. We got in the van to come back to the hotel and he fell asleep on my shoulder. We had prepared ourselves for quite a lot of crying and I'm sure there will be more, but so far not too much. We keep him distracted with toys and walks and happy meals. He loves chicken. Man will he and Jake bond fast! He is not potty trained and he still drinks a bottle, although he will not drink one for me yet. The social worker said that they may not eat for a day or so because they are mad. But, when he's hungry he'll drink his bottle. I'm not worried. He's 2 1/2 and eating people food. I'm sure he doesn't really need the bottle, but we'll play it by ear. Last night I rocked him. He does love his pacifier. I layed him in his crib at 9:30 and he's still asleep now. It's 7:05 am. He slept all night! I was prepared for those bouts of tears but the kid sleeps like a log. He's pretty funny too! Aron rubbed his own head and then rubbed AJ's head and did it over and over. AJ started to laugh! He is a happy baby. They called him Neo Neo (sp?) It means "strong like bull" ! Isn't that funny? Well, we have to take "bull" down to breakfast. Here are some pictures of our little man!

October 21, 2008 Last day in Beijing

We leave at 6:00 am tomorrow for Nanjing!! Nanjing is the capital city of Jiangsu province. We will receive our little man at 2:30 in the afternoon in Nanjing!! Yippee! Tomorrow we get our baby. Today we asked our guide how to say particular names in Chinese. Like mother sounds like MaMa. I think that one is universal. Dad sounds like BaBa. Older brother sounds like gu gu. And, older sister sounds like jia jia. It was fun to say them even though I know we don't say them correctly. We had a lot of fun today. We went to the Summer Palace. It is kind of like a resort place for the emperor in ancient times. It is on the edge of a lake and quite peaceful. The grounds are extensive with gardens and buildings. They just recently opened up the Buddhist temple there. It was just renovated for the Olympics. It was very interesting and the Buddha in the pictures below is the original. Again, we couldn't believe that we were just allowed to roam around and take pictures. It was so interesting . This is the place where one of the emperors was under a kind of house arrest. He was young and his grandmother ran the country behind the "screens" as our guide put it. She had him stay at the Summer Palace and he could not leave. Also, his wife and favorite concubine lived there, but he was not permitted to see them.

Here are some pictures of the Summer Palace.

By the way, you can click on the pictures to make them bigger. After the Summer Palace tour we went to Silk Road. I bet you can imagine what they have there. You got it, silk! and pearls, and name brand clothing and scarves and bags and you name it. It was fun, but I was a little overwhelmed. The shops are in little cubicles and the sales people stand in the aisles and and ask do you want scarf or do you want tie or do you want jacket. The only thing is many of the shops have the same items and all of them are yelling at the same time. If you show any interest they will even walk behind you down the aisle and repeatedly say "hello". I don't know if foreigners use the tactic of walking away to get the price reduced but they evidently think so. Even if we were genuinely uninterested or wanted to shop around they would follow. I learned not to ask "how much" unless I intended to buy. We bought a few things and then decided to head back and pack. We took a taxi with another adopting couple. You stand along a driveway and the taxis pull up alongside. Well, we got in the taxi nearest to us and the driver kept pointing to the taxi in front of us. Evidentally you're supposed to get into the cars in order of who pulled into the drive first. So, we all got out and got into the taxi in front us and off we went. Gives new meaning to the game Chinese fire drill!

When we got back to the hotel I went down to the spa to see if they had any openings. Of course, they did. I was told to get a foot massage from a man named "Michael". Our social worker had one done and recommended him. He was a very funny guy who I believe is blind. His English is excellent and we talked the entire time. He is from an island between Taiwan and Vietnam. It's called Hainan (sp?). He learned how to do Chinese massage at the hospital here. He said that they use Chinese massage to treat many diseases. Since I work in the medical field, of course I was very interested. He said that certain areas of the feet can be linked to other areas in the body. As he was pushing on my feet there were areas that were tender if not painful and every time he would ask "does that hurt". You know what? They did hurt... he was right every time. They don't diagnose illnesses with the feet "thing" but it is a good indicator of diseases. Hmm. I was impressed. He said that in China the physicians use 4 methods to diagnose. 1) Look at the patient 2) Smell the patient 3) Touch the patient and 4) Listen to the patient. Wow! that's a novel ideal.... just listen to their complaint and you learn a lot about them. Anyway very interesting. Aron walked me down and Micheal asked him if he wanted his feet done too and Aron said Nahh. Michael then said, "Well, women love themselves very much!" That was so funny. We do spend a lot of time primping don't we? Well, bye for now. We have to meet our guide at 6:00 am. We'll post as soon as we can. It depends on if AJ takes one look at us and screams his head off or if we can bribe him with cookies. Hey, cookies work for me! We'll see!

October 20, 2008 Beijing

OK, so now I know why the Chinese are so thin. They WALK everywhere!! My calves are killing me. How much room do you think an emperor needs? Well, evidently he needs a whole city. We went to the Forbidden City today. It's named that due to the public not being allowed to enter in. The last emperor lived in the Forbidden City until 1927, but was done with his reign in 1911. The city has been open to the public since then. It is crazy big and Aron and I were shocked that the government let's people roam free inside. We entered at the South Gate, very near Tienamen Square. The city is basically concentric squares protected by a moat. Every lion statue, phenix statue, brick and door have a meaning in China. They are very superstitious. It was fascinating to see it. One of the emperors started his reign at 4 years old. The previous emperor chose this little boy and the night the emperor died the little boy had to spend the night with the dead body. It "completed" the dead emperor's life. YIkes! Poor kid. Our guide is a fabulous historian and has so much info for us. These are the pictures of Tienamen Square the Forbidden City.

After the Forbidden City Tour we went to "old" China. We went to the housing area where the people lived before the high rises. It was very interesting. We even got to enter one of the homes and visit with a woman who has lived there for 40 years. She is just getting electric heat this fall. She has heated her house with charcoal for 40 years. She also uses the communal potty across the road. No indoor bathroom. This type of house is called a hutong. We took a hutong tour by rickshaw today and we saw our lives pass before our eyes. Evidentally they drive rickshaws like they drive cars. WILDLY! I thought for sure we were on 2 wheels half the time. We seriously passed between an oncoming truck on the left and a parked car on the right with inches to spare. Our little Chinese driver was pedaling for all he was worth and my hair was actually flying back. We were really moving. We had a young Chinese man as our hutong guide and he called himself Oscar. He was so funny. The hutong tour was very interesting and we tipped our rickshaw driver well. He really earned it! These are pictures of the rickshaw and the hutongs.

We got back to the hotel about 3:00 pm and then went to the Bank of China. You take a number and wait until your number is called. OUr guide went with us thank heaven because we had to exchange our new bills for Chinese money. The teller did examine the bills front and back for any folds or writing on them. She accepted every bill! Praise the Lord. Our guide let us put the money in her back pack but she didn't want to cary all that money. We are a bit nervous about traveling with it but we have no choice. So would you pray for our safe travels?

After the bank my brilliant husband thinks we should walk to the McDonald's for dinner. He's hankerin' for a Big Mac. It gets dark around 5:00 and it's dusk when we leave. I'm a little nervous about this. I thought that there would be more racial diversity here but there really are very few white people. We kind of stand out. Anyway, it can't be that far, so off we go. It was a good 20 minute walk. We almost gave up but then those golden arches came into view and we nearly sprinted the last block. The food tasted almost identical to American McDonald's. Don't worry Mom we didn't drink the fountain pop. I know the ice may not be purified water. But the fries were soooo good. When we leave it is dark. There are still rickshaws, bicycles, motorbikes, mopeds, home made 3 wheel jobies... all over the place. In China, vehicles have the right of way. Pedestrians, look 4 ways before you cross the street. One piece of advice from our guide was "do as the Romans". I know, she's pretty funny. So, we pretty much crossed the streets with the crowd. One time we went and could only make it half way. There were 2 Chinese next to us and they were laughing at me because I was screaming. Aron took my arm and said "don't look just run". Man, this chubby lady hasn't moved that fast in a long time. We made it to the other side!!
My husband could be a world traveler. He wants to enter the Amazing Race. He thinks we could win.
Tomorrow the first set of parents leave to get their little ones. They are soooo excited. We were joined today by a lady who is adopting a 13 year old girl. She has a husband and 10 and 6 year old boys at home. Her mom is with her. She is soooo wonderful to be giving this teenager a home. There really are very few options for orphans here. There are 16,000,000 people in Beijing alone. Aron was told that they need to create 9,000,000 jobs a month here in China to keep their economy growing. Wow!! These orphans are so alone. I wonder at the despair a birthmom would have to feel to relinquish a child. It makes me sad. I hope that I will do for AJ what she couldn't do for herself and child. There really are very few options here. I pray that she will know in her heart that he is loved and cared for. I hope that someday we will meet in heaven and share a smile. I pray that she will find hope.

Tomorrow we go to the Summer Palace and maybe the silk factory. Oh Aron, hang on to your wallet! It will be fun to see but I am getting anxious to meet our boy....1 more day!!

October 18, 2008 Beijing

We are having a great time across the world from you. Today was packed with sightseeing and shopping! First thing this morning we set out for the Great Wall. It was about an hour and a half from our hotel. We went from skyscrapers to mountains in about an hour. The wall is incredible. It is at least 4,000 miles long and was started about 600 b.c. We rode the cable car to the top. Aron just loved that (he's not fond of heights). We walked and walked. The place was wall to wall people...no pun intended. At one point we were in the middle of a group and they just shove to keep the group moving. It was crazy. Again, personal space is non existent here. It was funny...on the bus ride back the wives sat across the aisle from their husbands, instead of next to each other. We all did it subconciously, but laughed that we had had enough closeness for one day.

We spent a couple of hours at the Great Wall and then we were off to the Cloissonne factory. It is beautiful pottery making. They first form a vase or bowl or plate with copper and then make a pattern on the vase with copper wire. The designs are very intricate and tedious. Next, enamel paint is dripped with an eyedropper onto the designs very carefully. It is placed in the kiln and then re-enameled and put in the kiln 5 more times. Then the wire is buffed off to make the vase perfectly smooth. They have created this type of pottery for 1,000 years exactly the same way. We learned that the enamel painting is the highest paid job of the process. They earn 5,000 yuan a month (approx. $700 a month). The girls bending the metal earn about $350 a month. It is really beautiful work. We couldn't believe the amount of work that goes into each piece. BEAUTIFUL!!

After the pottery factory we went to lunch and on the way we drove by the Olympic Village. This is "The Bird's Nest". These buildings are huge. We also saw the "Water Cube". While it was neat to see, I was a little saddened that now thes buildings are empty. Our guide said that it took over 5 years to build them. The village where the athletes stayed...the apartments are for sale. Hopefully the buildings will be put to good use.

My last personal adventure of the day was going to the bathroom in the floor potties. Yikes, I almost had to yell for Aron to come and help me up. Man, I should have done some squats back home to prepare my quads for getting off the toilet, I mean floor!?! I ran back out to get my camera. I know a little gross taking a picture of the toilet. These are my feet by the way. We ladies just giggled and giggled about this. I will never look at my toilet at home the same way again!!

So long for now. Tomorrow we go to the Forbidden City and take a rickshaw tour. Oh that poor little Chinaman. We will have to tip him big (again no pun intended). He'll definitely earn it!! We might have to show mercy on him and let him stop for breaks! ha ha. 3 days until baby day!!