last of day 2

The first picture is the room we ate in. The same style was for both meals, they had a BIG lazy Susan in the middle of the table and brought out food and we just shared it. It was filling, but this room was beautiful!! Yes, those are all our people.

The next is a picture of China's mascots, they are cute, but animated. They all have names, but I don' remember them. See the Beijing 2008 thing??

Okay the next ones are of "WAL-MART!!!" It's the craziest thing. SOOO MANY PEOPLE!! And I just want to say, "Got rice??" Looks like sand huh???

We also went to the pearl factory and the silk factory. We got 2 gifts and will continue to buy things but haven't spent much money YEAH!! We probably will tomorrow though.

It's been a good day. We are really tired and some of this might be crazy, but atleast you have some pics. Proabably won't do as many from now on, but thought you would enjoy.

Going to call family now. Send us some comments! Love you all and can't wait until Monday!!! Until tomorrow!!

more pics of day 2

The Cable car that Anthony did so well on..yes it was as high as the one in Gatlinburg Nana!!! :)
The other is another pretty "door" at The Summer Palace. Then the other two are where we ate for dinner. The decorations were beautiful and all the girls dressed like this....pretty huh? Okay, had to take the one of the fish for the UGGHHH factor!! Yes, they put that on the table to eat just like that, yes Anthony tried it, NO he didn't like it therefore I didn't try it!! :)

Last of pics on next page!

Day 2 with more pictures!

Isn't The Great Wall big and beautiful? The next picture is of me and Anthony on a dragon boat at The Summer Palace. It was a neat place, but nothing to write home about, so I won't!! :) NO, it was pretty.

The next ones are of Beijing during our ride. Do you see the Olympics sign?? They are everywhere,they are very proud that the Olympics are going to be here! The other picture is just some buildings. The lady is our guide, Sherry...very good!! Speaks English very well too. She is really funny, we are always laughing!!

More on next page....

The first REAL day in China

Hello again! Sorry, I forgot to put the one of Anthony asleep on the last plane...it was sooo funny. He really couldn't keep his eyes open he was so tired. YES jet lag has set in and Anthony is snoring as I type this now. It's 9:37 pm and we feel like it's 4:00 am and we've been up all day, it's weird!

We started off this morning with a huge breakfast. It was pretty good. Not too many weird things, so it was a good start to the day. Met up with everyone, saw some for the first time. We hav 11 special needs couples here that will stay with us until we leave Monday morning (your Sunday night). It's interesting hearing all the diffrent SN things of these babies, I can't wait until we meet again in Hong Kong and see all these beautiful little girls!

We started off going to The Great Wall. It was absolutely gorgeous. We have a WONDERFUL guide named Sherry (well, her American name) and she told us the whole story. It took alot of man power to build this. It goes from Beijing to the Pacific Ocean!! It was gorgous and HOT!!! We are ALL soooo out of shape. Anthony did well, just needed alot of water and I just wanted to sit down. It's hard for everyone. We were all exhausted when we got down and we only stayed for an hour! BUT..my brave husband rode the cable car!!! OMG! He did sooo good. It was really high up and we would have had to walk it and then up and down the wall and NOBODY in our group wanted to do that. We are not that crazy!! (Pictures of that ride on next page.)

Well, that's all for these pictures. I will post more on the next page. It's about 85 here, but it's REALLY HOT!! It's weird. And Beijing is REALLY crouded. It's the 3rd largest city in China. There is a new rule that has been in place for the Olympics..all even numbered cars can drive on one day and odd on another day. It cuts 1.3 billion cars traveling A DAY and cuts down on the smog. They are trying a lot of new things because of the Olympics and still, it's CROWDED!!

Well, hope you enjoy the pictures!

More pictures of the first day

Jasen took us to the airport and Julie, Alana and Dawn met us there. Thank you to all of you, it made me feel better for you all to be there.

The other pics are of a sign in Japan as we are on moving sidewalks, it was really neat. Those things are pretty awesome, you can walk while you are on them and boy do you go fast!! HAHA

A Japanese man took the picture of us sitting and waiting for us to be called to board the plane. The other picture is of all the people waiting with us for our same plane....then it's our gate with English, Chinese and Japanese writing. When they made announcements on the plane, they spoke in all 3 languages, it got pretty long and pretty annoying!!

So, that's our first day. A pretty good day overall, but the fun starts in the morning. I still didn't see anyone when we got here, they were all in bed, so that will be tomorrow!

Until tomorrow... Boys, we miss you already. I know you are fine and we aren't worrying, just know that we love you very much!!

The ride to China

Well, sorry it's taken so long for us to write, but the whole converter thing just didn't work out. We brought 3, but still had to go to "Wal-Mart" and buy another thing. I really thought that we were going to blow something up..there was smoke and well, a big spark that came of of the plug, but now as you can see, we have it fixed!!!

Well, to start off with, for those of you praying and those of you conerned for me and my first flying experience, it wasn't as bad as I thought. I still don't really like the fact of being in the air with nothing under us and all that stuff, but the last plane ride, I rode by the window!!! YEAH!! It was really LONG we were very glad to be on the ground for a few days. The connections were easy and all of our flights were on time or even early. Japan was neat. Anthony said to me, "Well Mysty, it's official!" I said, "What is official?" He said, "I am officially the fattest person in this airport!!" I laughed out loud when he said that. They were either really little or sumo types, and not many of those. It was a really nice airport and that plane ride from their to Beijing was the best flight. We had TV's in the headrest in front of everyone..Anthony and I played a game against eachother but didn't finish because they served supper. Oh, the suppers, well, they were pretty good. Really small portions, but good. They fed us enough that I didn't eat but one snack bag and the only reason I ate that was because I was nervous. I only took one of my pills, and it was because on the 747 we were in the middle and I felt a little claustrophobic. We saw Alaska from the sky, and a little of Canada and ALOT of the Pacific Ocean, but it was all beautiful in the air.

We made it to Beijing on time but had to wait for another airline to get out of our spot and here, they are on NO time limit, so it made us 10:20 getting through customs and getting our luggage and then 10:30 getting to the hotel. It is a Radisson and it's okay, but I think it's one of the lowest quality we will be staying in. The lobby is wonderful and BIG but the rooms are just okay. Anthony and I do get to sleep in the same bed though and this weekend might be the last time until we get home, so we are glad it's one bed.

WE WERE EXHAUSTED!! And we would have been safer on the plane than riding in the taxi here. They have NO LAWS!! No speed limit, no rules whatsoever and you know when you are driving and someone is coming over into your lane with signal and all, we just slow down right?? Not here, they honk and honk and never move. They will hit someone before they will move, including people. No pedestrians right of way here. Very scarry!! If we lived here, Zack, you WOULD NOT get your license...if you even have to have one here!! HAHAHA

Anyway, we got to our room and was told to be ready to go at 8 so we got about 5 hours of sleep after being up about 26! SOOO.. We are really glad to be here and can't wait to go our tomorrow. Here are some pics from the plane ride and things. Hope you enjoy. Will type more later!! Love you all!!

LEAVING TOMORROW~~

Oh my goodness, can it really be true?? After 2 years of waiting and we are actually leaving tomorrow??? I cannot believe this. I am finally on my way to see my daughter!!!! AGGGHHHH!!
I am packed and I have Olivia's things packed. Anthony was going to pack tonight, but he had his first break-down and didn't really feel like doing it. He just wanted to play x-box and get his mind off of it for a few hours. So.... I painted the hallway and should finish it tomorrow, so that will make me feel better to have that done.
For those of you who are currently in the waiting stage, get ready. I can't even explain the waves of emotion that has happened to both of us. I have talked to a few other people in our group and they said the same thing. It's amazing how many emotions come out. I think I am on the down side of mine and then Anthony starts. He says that he wants to be strong for me and the boys, but he has a huge knot in the middle of his chest that won't go away!! Poor thing!He broke down in front of the deacons at the church and then with me....that's pretty emotional for the leader of the church to break-down in front of his deacons, so you know it must be bad. They all gave him hugs and told him they would pray for him and that everything would be okay, so it helped. Just continue to pray for us...leaving our boys is going to be hard enough, but added to me never flying and Anthony trying to be strong for me is going to make it even harder!
We are very excited and can't wait to post pictures for you to see our beautiful little girl. We are going to try to put something on here everyday, but if we miss a day, we will put something later on.
I will post that we are here and maybe a few pictures of Beijing on your Friday, our Saturday if possible.
Thank you to all of you for all the wonderful encouraging words. I love you all and know that you are just as excited for us to come home so that you too can spoil her.
You all mean a great deal to me and I love you very much, you know who you are. I know you will take care of my boys and that's something that makes it easier for me to leave. I know you love them very much too and will be there for them. I love you guys!
Well, until this weekend, please just pray for safety on the plane, let it be fine the whole way there!!!!! THE PLANE WILL NOT CRASH!! I keep telling myself. Keep checking and I will post as much as possible. Please leave comments, I would love to hear from you all!!
Again, I love all of you and can't wait to let you know how things are going!!So....as of 9:40 tomorrow, we will officially be on our way to be parents to a beautiful Chinese baby girl!!! YEAH!!! Praise be to God and all His glory!!