Here is another video!

Here is another video of Olivia first thing in the morning after waking up. Videos take a significant amount of time to load so we will only load a few. Hope you enjoy. We are going to breakfast and will call you boys when we return. Love you!!!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hGjJVFLaRs

LOVES TO EAT!

I have to tell you about how Olivia acted when we went to this restaurant. She may be small, but she LOVES TO EAT!! We ordered her some congi, but it took them like 15 minutes to get it to us. While we were waiting, Olivia got SOOOO mad. She was yelling and screaming, really. I had to get up and walk with her. And to make matters worse, our food came, which was sushi NANA!!! and she was trying to get across the table and get our food. Oh she was soo mad. We finally got some rice brought out and she ate that, so finally she was calm, but for the next 25 minutes all she did was EAT!!! And when I had to stop feeding her to feed myself, she got mad even for the spit second it took me to get my sushi, put it in soy sauce and put it in my mouth!!! Oh my, we have and eater on our hands!! It really was funny. Wish we could've gotten it on camera, but it was very had controlling her and then taping her!! Just thought you would get a laugh out of that. Needless to say, if we put her in the high chair, we better have food waiting for her or we are in trouble!! :0

Hibatchi night, well Japanese night!

Some people really did sit like the Japanese do...we didn't, high chairs wouldn't work well!!!

Some of our group and where we ate

More of our group at the actual hibatchi grill

She doesn't look all that Chinese, but she can eat with chopsticks!!! She liked this and we thought it was soo funny! She's eating rice.

Funny picture, sorry about the snot, we have had a lot of that lately!!!!

Here I am again!!

Thank goodness she took a nap because that's all I wanted to do. She did good, slept for about 2 hours and then Anthony took care of her while I slept a little while longer and yes, I am feeling better today but Anthony is starting to feel kinda bad! Thanks for the prayers!

Her in her first dress with stockings on!! She loved them and so did everyone else. She looked really cute. Sorry this one is blurry!

Another cute shot of her outfit!

This is her night outfit. She looked really cute in green! Daddy says she has looked good in every color but I think this is my favorite color on her so far!!
Well, these pictures were taken yesterday, the day I felt horrible, but we are just now putting them up. We will probably be able to put more up tonight, your morning, but then we aren't going to have internet for 24 more hours, so...enjoy today!

Pictures of Medical Exam and in the Hotel Room

Little Angel!!!!!!!

See my name on my shirt!!!

Waiting for the Doctor. They waited on all of us in one hour. Don't you wish American doctors were that courteous!!

Mysty and Jodie Sweet holdind their precious new babies!

I can hold my own bottle! (well...sometimes)

Medical Exam

The medical exam went just fine, except Olivia doesn't like people forcing her to hold still. She was awaked from a dead sleep by a woman doctor undressing her and poking around on her belly, head, neck and spine. She was fine with that because Mama was with her all the way. In the next room, they checked her ears, nose and throat. Needless to say, she bit off the tongue depressor and she has no teeth. She did not want the doctor poking around in her ears. Everything was fine, just a snotty nose. Last, they weighed, measured and took her temp. Temp was normal. Weigh was 16 pounds 4 oz (7.4 kg) and her height was 26 3'8 inches (67 cm). We went chopping a Carre four, which is the french version of Walmart. We got some juice, drinks, candy and baby supplies. Mysty is feeling really sick. She is asleep with the baby. Tonight we are going to a fancy Japanese resturant (hibachi steak!!!!) and sushi!!! I hopeshe is feeling better. Our first 24 hours of internet will soon be over. We have alot of paperwork to do this afternoon. When we get some free time I will let you know we are back with a blog. I want to put up some pictures so I will try one blog after this with photos. If I don't get it up in time, we love you and will see you soon. We are praying that the Marriage conference is going well. Love you all. REV TONY

A longer video

Here she is eating her "treats" that melt in your mouth. She LOVES these things. I guess I better stock up. She keeps looking back because she hears me in the bathroom making her bottle. She does have to know where we both are at all time though. Sorry not much talking, but you can see her little personality and her eating by herself and sitting up nice and tall!! Sooo sweet. Oh, she had a dirty diaper too!! Man, not so sweet!! But hey, she's pooping, so we are happy! Crazy being happy about that huh? But you understand! Hope you like it!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS7r77BvmV8

Surprise!!!!

Lets try it this way! Click on this link! or cut and paste for a fun surprise!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hbzpgv4H8k

More Pictures of Olivia and Company

Better Internet connection means more pictures!!!!!

We are up and running in another City!!!

WOW!!! What a day! Mysty and Olivia are taking a nap. I think Mysty is feeling a little under the weather.(sore throat and tired)Good news and bad news. The good news is that we have internet access. The bad news is that it cost extra (about $13 a day. We decided to limit our use to the times when we would have more time to talk to you guys back home. So Sunday we will not have access. We will keep it for the next twenty four hours andthen renew it again sometime tommorrow. So maybe we can speak to several of you by phone in the next 24 hours or maybe after that. NOW on to the great news. Olivia is changing everyday. As I was reading your comment about day five and six, Julie, I smiled. Olivia smiles most all the time now. She even got down on the floor to played some today. It is like she is blossoming before our eyes. The pictures at the airport show her tounching our faces. It seems like this is her way of getting to know us. Every Chinese person we talk to say that Olivia is "lucky baby" but I am convinced that we are the lucky ones... no we are the blessed ones. She is an amazing little girl. She has my heart in the plam of her hand. I have often wondered if there was room in my heart to love a child that was not biologically my own. God has placed this child in our lives in the same way that he placed our biological children in our lives. She is my child! I cannot explain what has taken place in my heart. I just feel so much love for her and so blessed by God to have this opportunity. IF you ask me if all of this was worth the trouble, I would say, "I'll do it again if that is what God wants." Bro. Joedy, it is AWESOME. I want to say thank you to all of you for praying and writing comments. They get us through the day. And we feel the prayers, even around the world. As for being exausted, we are getting plenty of rest. Traveling is hard but we are in good shape. And we will have alot of free time next week before we return home. I have more good news. The new hotel has a Starbucks and a McDonalds. We ordered 2 big macs, a double cheeseburger, three fries (Olivia likes them) three drinks (no free refills) and a milkshake all for $7.80. Sounds like my kinda place. Olivia fell asleep in Mysty's lap while she was eating a fry - it was the cutest thing ever. She really seemed to enjoy the plane ride and wanted to look out the window. We are having a great day and look forward to talking to you all soon. We love "yall" (southern term for those of you that don't speak plain english)Keep praying and I'll putup some pictures.

By the way, I am having trouble remembering what I told you and what i didn't. If you have any questions just ask in the comment section below and I will post you answer asap!!!! Love ya REV TONY

Last night in Changsha, Hunan, China

Well, we were told our plans for tomorrow. We have to have our luggage outside the door at 7am (6pm your time tonight) and we leave for the airport at 8. Our plane leaves as 10 (so say a little prayer around 9, bedtime, for us). Olivia has started running a fever, not too high, but almost 100. Her nose is really runny and she is kinda fussy, but today was the best day so far. She is really funny. She isn't the only one sick, there is one little one that had a 103.2 fever today. They are all having runny noses and pulling or rubbing their ears, so it could be ear infection or just teething, who knows???? We have a Dr. appointment Saturday (Chinese people work 7 days a week!! Yikes!!) so we will find out then. I do have antibiotics so if she does have an ear infection, then I can give it to her and have her well by the time we get home. I also have ear meds, so I will get her fixed up for all you before you get your grubby hands on her!! HAHAHA

We don't know how the internet is going to be in Guangzhou, but I am counting on it being just fine, fine enough to be able to post really soon. It might take a little while, but I am hoping to have pics of her first plane ride up before you get up Friday morning. It might be that afternoon, but we will try to get back as soon as possible.

Here are a few pics to leave you with though. Again, your prayers are being felt TREMENDOUSLY!!! Thank you!!!
Thank you God for all the blessings that have been given to us!! If ever we wondered if You were there, this whole process has taught us that You are always there!! Keep us safe through all the next 5 flights to get us to our family and friends safely. Again, YOU are Almighty and we will continue to praise YOU for YOU are worthy!!!

We love you all and can't wait for this week to go by fast!! Bye until tomorrow!!




This "picture" was embroired by hand by a man. It took him 15 months! The WHOLE thing is embroired, even the background (except for the flash light in the middle, sorry, Anthony didn't think it would turn out without the flash!)It is gorgeous. Just thought you might like to see how beautiful!!

This one Anthony says is for you Russ. She's getting her first ear full of Christian music and guess who it is??? Yep, Chris Tomlin. She really liked it! It might not look like it but she kept the earphones on for a while!!

This one is just cute. Recognize the outfit Joy?? It's still pretty big, it's 9 months, but I thought she could wear it for a little while!! They are supposed to be capri's and it's pants right now!! :)She looked "American" Anthony said...really cute though!!

A mommy blog!!

Mysty and olivia at the embroidery shop. The Hunan province is famous for its elaborate embroidery. We had to get our baby girl some fancy Hunan embroidery.

Anthony and Olivia walking to KFC in downtown Changsha. KFC MORE FRIES and Mashed potatos!!!!
Hey guys, sorry I haven't written all the mushy mommy talk, but Anthony decided he loved this blog and kinda took over. That's okay, he's good at putting the pictures up and writing and that gave me more time to spend with Olivia.

I don't want to say everything that I have felt over these past 6 days, from just getting on a plane for the first time to seeing the babies when we drove up to just a few minutes ago, holding my precious little girl and her falling asleep in my arms, but I will say a little!! The rest is left to tell in person.

The touring before we got the babies really was a great time. Anthony and I just sat around, when we weren't soooo busy, and just be with eachother. We talked about how different it was going to be but how TOTALLY excited we were to be doing this, a chance of a lifetime. All the things we saw were really cool and interesting. I know for sure that this way of living is hard. There were no beggars because China doesn't allow beggars, they are taken care of by the goverenment, but there were people EVERYWHERE trying to get us to buy things from them and bidding against eachother. I just can't imagine doing this everyday just to feed my family. There are mostly women doing it and the kids are just running around.

When we got on the plane to come to Changsha, the emotions were sooo crazy. When we got here, we saw a very run down place. There weren't any decent buildings or homes, they all looked unlivable. I just thought, oh my goodness, this could've been Olivia's life. I can't imagine all these baby girls and boys here that will have no way of bettering themselves because they have no opportunity or money to do anything for themselves. Again, what a blessing to be able to do this! Anyway, as we got into the "town" we saw this gorgeous hotel in the midst of these horrible buildings, it was amazing! Well, we got into our rooms, got a little settled and made ourselves go to lunch! Time STOOD STILL!!! Finally it was time to go!
This was the longest 15 minute bus ride EVER!! As Anthony said, when we pulled-up there they were, and I just started crying. All 10 couples were ALL balling like babies and trying not to run over eachother to get out of the bus. Anthony even said, "Move people. MOVE!!" (joking, kinda!:) One of the guys said, "All the relationships we have made and now we want to run over eachother and yell at eachother!!" He was joking too.

Walking into the room and seeing all 9 (one baby wasn't there yet) against the wall, I lost it. I just skimmed looking for Olivia, but I just looked at all those babies lined up and looking at us. It was like we were picking out the best puppy and you know how the puppies look at you like, "PICK ME!!" and just all curious?? That's how it looked. Those babies had no idea what was going on, but NONE were crying! Oka, me and most of the others, balling!!! Then when the Langley family was called, they picked-up the baby that we had picked out almost immediately and the baby that we had been looking at for a month now. Those gorgeous eyes that had my heart as soon as I saw them, were the eyes of my baby girl. What a complete feeling it was...to finally hold the baby that I thought was our Olivia for a month!! Can't even explain the feeling! Then when I picked her up and she didn't cry AT ALL, that's what I prayed for, just made me know that God hand-picked this baby girl for us and she was perfect~! Yes, for that split second, she was perfect!! :) Then giving Anthony kisses just minutes after seeing us, oh my goodness, that made me cry more.

These 4 days have not been easy. She still won't play on the floor without screaming all crawling to one of us because she thinks we are leaving her. She always has to know where BOTH of us are. If I hand her to Anthony, she looks to see if I am leaving and if I don't speak to her she screams. Same for Anthony giving her to me. It's really sad! The orphanage didn't tell us the right information about her bottles. They said she likes them like paste NO!!!!! She likes them a little thick like Chase had to have it when he had reflux, so I know how to do that!! They said that she had a ready smile...NOPE! We finally got her to smile, but it wasn't until Wednesday! Joy, you asked about markings, well, she does have a vaccination mark that Linekar (our guide) has, but she also has 2 more under that which we don't know what the are. They are pretty jagged, but they are deep! That's something that we just will never know about. Her skin is beautiful and white!! (For a Chinese person)Linekar asked why she was so white, and Mei Mei said that it was good for them to be this white because Chinese people think white skin is the most beautiful!! We already knew that huh??? She really is beautiful and will melt your heart, just wait and see!

She is a spicy girl!! She has a temper and we already see that. She flings her head back when she gets mad and her cry will hurt your feelings. She loves to snuggle and be close and loves to hold fingers. Just the other day I was cradling(SP) her and she turned to look for Anthony. Anthony came over and laid beside her and she held his finger and then within minutes was fast asleep. I looked at her and just cried thinking about her mom and how hard it must have been to give birth to her and then give her away, within a few hours. To think how much she is going to miss, how smart and how beautiful she is! I just cried! Thank you to that mother, for without her having the strength to do that, she wouldn't be ours!!

Well, just wanted to say a few words from a mommy stand point. I have much to tell you all. Thank you to you all for posting comments. It is getting us through this time, really. It makes us feel so good to open it up and read them all...please keep them coming. We love you all and can't wait to come home.

We fly out tomorrow at 10 am, 9 pm your time. Please say an extra prayer because first of all it's another flight, and on China Air!!!! Also, it's Olivia's first flight and ours with a baby. She is already rubbing her ear, so if she is getting an ear infection, the popping is going to hurt really bad, so pray for us okay? We will be in Guanghou until Wednesday!! Then off to Hong Kong and them HOME!!!!! Our Saturday is her Dr. appointment, I will let you know how much she weighs and all that afterwards.

Love you all and HAPPY BIRTHDAY LANA~!! Love you very much!!

Until later!!

Happy Baby this morning!!!!

Artifacts

Weapons - Bow and Arrow and Crossbow
href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bry3KuK22Jo/RszFpbrv2II/AAAAAAAAAaE/z6PqKNsY2fM/s1600-h/P1040147.JPG">
The little statues were placed in the tomb to represent the servants that would wait on the royal family in the next life.

Museum Picks

On Wednesday we went to the Hunan Provincial Museum. The museum houses an exhibit of a tomb that was dated back to 100 BC. China has alot of history. The pics are of the artifacts found in the tomb. AND THE MUMMY! She was the wife of the Prime Minister of the province. She was well preserved. Unlike the Eygptians, they left the body intact (organs and all) and embalmed by wraping the body in tight bindings and using an acidic fluid to keep the body moist and kill bacteria that may cause the body to decompose. When the mummy was found, her skin was still moist to the touch and she had been dead for around 2000 years!!!!

Well preserved huh? Just kidding, this is a maniquin of what she may have looked like in her traditional dress.

This is a picture of the coffin chamber. We were looking down from the second floor and it sat in the basement, so you can get an idea of how big it really was.

THE MUMMY!!!!

HER FACE!!!!

Bedtime in Langleyville-China!

My dad use to say that all the time. BEDTIME IN LANGLEYVILLE!!! Now Langleyville is spread out all over the globe! This is what bedtime looks like for the newest Langley. She falls asleep after her bath while MAMA rubs lotion on her. SOOOO CUTE!

Pics from Wednesday

Olivia has officially chosen this toy as her favorite. It is good to use to calm her down in a pinch. She loves the noise it makes and, apparently, the way it tastes!!!!

We thought you all would like to see what she looks like with a bow in her hair, well sort of?!!??!??!?

First ride in a stroller. We went to the provincial museum for the Hunan province!! We saw a real mummy!!!!

Pictures of Olivia

Included in this blog are different pictures from our first three days with Olivia. Many of you have mentioned having a difficult time picking which is your favorite. Well, it is my job to make your life more difficult, so here are some more.

How beautiful am I???

See, she already has a model pose. That's good because she's so pretty she could be a model.
These were taken in the playroom here at the hotel. It's pretty nice, but everything went into her mouth and that made me a little nervous, but taking it out meant screaming, so I opted to just pray for the germs to go away!! :)
This picture is of her first official bath. I kinda wiped her off the first day, but she hated it, so I didn't get to give her a real bath. Well, as you can see, she still hates it!! That is not a smile, that is her bowing back like she does and screaming. She hadn't worked up a big scream yet, so this is her before I let it out face!!
How beautiful is the one of her in the towel?? This night, after I dried her (which she is fine when I take her out of the bath) I laid her on the floor on the towel and got lotion and started putting it on her.....and she fell asleep. I stopped rubbing the lotion on her legs to see what she would do and she opened her eyes and looked at me like what are you doing?? It was funny. I finished putting the lotion on her and she went straight to sleep and didn't even wake up when I was putting her clothes on!! Sweet baby girl!!

The rest of the families

Mary

Samantha

Avery

Clarification!!!

After reading your comments (Joy), Mysty said I didn't do a very good job explaining things. First, that photo of us in front of the China Air plane with the olimpic mascots was taken monday morning. We where on the way to Changsha, the city where we met Olivia. You did not see the baby because we had not met her yet. Next, we go most everywhere as a group. THe bus picks us up and we travel as a unit. Here is our Schedule from Monday morning. We left Bejing at 7:20 on China Airlines to fly to Changsha. It was a two hour and ten minute flight. We arrived around 10 am and unloaded and a bus drove u to the aiport. We checkedin and got settled and ate lunch in he hotel "Western" restaurant. I ordered a hamburger - first American food - Mysty ordered a club sandwich. It wasn't backyard burger, but it was good. This is a five star hotel so they won't let you do anything for yourself. They unfold you napkin and place it on your lap. I JUST WANT TO CARRY MY OWN LUGGAGE!!!!!! Bell boys eveywhere! We met at 2:40pm to go to the civil affairs office to meet our babies. You know what happened there. After we left, we went to the baby store to buy formula and diapers. Very few speak English and everyone stares at the strange caucasions with Chinese babies. Each store has way more workers than they need. each shopper has an employee to help them. This was a small store and had probably twenty employees. Walmart was different. But they still had many more workers than our Walmarts. After the baby store, we returned to the hotel and filled out paperwork for the next morning. We ate room service that night. I ordered deep fried chicken with french fries and tautar sauce. I thought it was strange when they had tartar sauce with chicken, but you guessed it, when the food arrived, it was fish. LOST IN TRANSLATION. Other couples had similar problems with other dishes. They do not know how to cook our food!!!! But it was pretty good though! Olivia went to bed a 6:30 pm and slept completely through the night until 5:10 am we all got up with her and spent time together and called our families. Our breakfast is provided in the Western restaurant. The hotel has a food court with many different local resturants. This is where Olivia sat in the high chair in the picture. She likes rice, congee, and eggs. (too bad Zack) After we ate, we got on the bus at 9:30 to go back to civil affairs to make us Olivia's legal parents. After we left the civil affars office ( we where there for about an hour and 15 minutes. much more effecient than out government. We had an appointment and we were the only ones there. Imagine that!!!!) we went to Walmart and McDonalds. Walmart is two story with the first floor of walnart on the second floor of the building. You could go upstairs with the cart on an escalator. It was not a stair escalator, it was a ramp and the buggie tires were made to lock into the escalator so it would not roll down. Everything was real cheap. We spent about thirty dollars on diapers and drinks and snacks. It would have cost u about sixty dollars back home. The numbers are the same so you just give them the right amount of money on the sceen. They don't speak english. All of the items have english on the somewhere. When we went to McDonalds, we just pointedat the pictures and one lady spoke a little english. Here's the best part. THE FOOD TASTED EXACTLY THE SAME! We were in heaven (well maybe thats language is a littl strong, but you get the idea) We then came back to the hotel to spend the rest of the day (at about 2:30 pm) We ate gain in the Western resturant where we celebrated the Bday of one of our new moms in the group. THe buffet included western foods (french, american, and cantonese) and some Chinese. They had grilled beef (little pieces of steak) duck, chicken, fried shrimp, tater tots, grilled frog and steamed seaweed (anybody want the recipe)It was good and the always have tons of fruit, rice and noodles. olivia went to bed at seven thirty and I went to bed at 8:15?!?!>!! Mysty went to bed about 11:30 because she was posting. olivia woke up a few times, once to eat, and went right back to sleep. We woke up this morning at 6 am. Olivia is all smiles today. Very hppy to see us again. I wonder what she has been through? Today we go on a tour of the city at ten. It will last two hours and we will return. That is the story. If you have any questions just post them in the comments section and I will try to answer them. Love you all an thanks for your prayers! Anthony

A few more

Paige

Others on another page. Had problems loading them on this one!

More families

Gracie

Brooklyn

Other babies in our group!

I thought that some of you would like to see some of the other babies that are here with us. There are 9 families, including us, from the Chen Zhou orphanage and one baby from another orphanage very close to here, so...here they are!!


Laney Katherine

Molly

Ella

Firsts!!!!!!

First Pair of Shoes!!!!!! Funny face! Not tears!!!!

First meal in high chair with mommy and daddy!!!!

First trip to WALMART!!!!! Yaaaah!

First McDonalds French Fry!!!! AMERICAN FOOD! Thank you LORD!!

Making it Legal!!!!

Today we took a trip to the Civil Affairs office to make us Olivia's legal parents. We filled out an all Chinese application for adoption. We also gave the Chinese agencies their fees. (Adoption donations and notary cost and we paid for her Chinese passport)Part of the proccess was that we had to answer the question, "Are you happy with your baby?" DUUUHHHH!!!!! I guess it was a fornality, but our answer was yes!!!!! We had to sign the papers and put our thumb prints on the form. Olivia had to put her right foot print on the form as well. She thought it was all very intriging. She is defintiely a Langley. INTO EVERYTHING!!! AND CURIOUS!!!! She has to touch everything. One of the highlights of ti time is that we get to meet the nannies from the orphanage and ask them questions about the baby. They said olivia was very active and very smart. When we walked up to them, they always smiled at Olivia. It seems like they will miss her. Here are some pictures of the proccess.

More Pics

The Hotel

Daddy loves me!!!

A Good Nights Sleep

We left for the Civil affairs office around 2:40 yesterday afternoon. When we arrived about 20 minutes later we saw the orphanage nannies walking into the building with all of our babies. There were ten families in all. When we finnally unloaded the bus we were all teary eyed and anxious. We rode the elevator up to the meeting room and when we arrived, out babies were all sitting across the back wall on the laps of their nannies. After only a few seconds, I (Anthony) was able to find Olivia. I prayed it was her because it was that little face that I have seen in my dreams and thoughts for the last 4 weeks. Mysty saw her a few seconds later. They called our familes up one by one, and we had our passports and letters checked, and then they called our babies Chinese names, and then handed them to us. Chen Li Jian (Olivia) was very interested in the whole proccess. She watched the lady as she looked at the paperwork. And then she looked Mysty right in th eye as she took her. We had the anticipation of alot of crying, but Olivia changed all that. Because she was so calm and accepting of us, we cryed for joy only momentarily. After that we were just marveling at her calm and joyful attitude. She is wonderful. She gave me kisses on her own almost immediately. She is loving and likes to be held. She likes toys and seems to be teething. She is a little fussy at times but only when she does not have oragel and when we put her down. She went to sleep at 6:30 pm and woke up at 5:10 am. ELEVEN hours. What a good girl!!!!! We finally got here rice ceral mixed to a consistency that she would eat, and she ate four ounces. She is tiny. From the bathroom scale, which is in KG, we think she weighs about 15 to 16 pounds. Tiny girl. Hunan province girls are known as spicy girls. SO IS SHE. She is into everything. We will tell you more later. As for now more picturs and much paperwork today. Also, we get to give away all that money we brought today. Thank goodness. Tired of carrying around a small fortune. Cameron, she took a picture with Gideon. Chase she sucks on her fingers just like you. And Zack, when she sits up, she rocks like you did when you were a baby. And she is very nosey like all of you (especially Cameron) And she just said DA DA.HAHAHAHAHAHAHa. Love you all. Thank you for sharing in this happy moment and our long journey. Anthony

Olivia's Got a New Family

We are going to bed. The connection is really slow, so it takes a long time to upload. We will post again tommorrow.

More Pictures of Baby Girl

Mysty will post information about the day a little later. I will put up a few more pictures but she is asleep. Here is our little angel.

More Pictures of Gotcha Day

GOTCHA!!

More to come!!!!

OOPS one more page

General Mau, the biggest attraction here. It's the front wall to The Forbidden ciy.
Me and Anthony in front of it. We also took a group pic that we have...it's wonderful. Paid for it, but was worth it.
Look at all those bikes!!
The white buiding is China's White House, not really very important here! :)

Just so all of you know..we have to be in the lobby of the hotel at 5:40 to go to the airport. We don't know when we are getting Olivia, but the plane ride is 2 hours and it's probably going to be raining so pray for safety for us! We are very excited and can't wait to post pics of her. Until tomorrow!!!

Last of Sunday

Kayla and Emma, also here to get siblings, both girls though and Special needs also!

More beautiful rooms and buildings in Forbidden City!

Sunday pics 3

Is that the future Miss America?? Well her name is Grace and she is almost 3 and is here to get her 2 year old brother. She's beautiful and loves to smile. I have many pics of her!

The KFC here!!

Beautiful buildings in The Forbidden City. I have many more, but will show you in person!!

Sunday pics 3

Jade carvings, yes beautiful!! Just some of what Beijing looks like and a clown delivering flowers. Sherry, our guide, didn't know what to call him, we had to tell her. I guess they are not very common here!!

Sunday pics 2

Are the twins not GORGEOUS?? Oh they made me want Olivia more.
The other 2 pics are of a revolving door at the place we ate. It had flowers in it...really great idea and beautiful.
The other 2 are pics of the streets right before we got to The Forbidden City. See the bikes??? That's a HUGE means of travel here. Some are scooters, others are just bikes!! Very healthy and strong people here. They have alot of perservence!

Sunday pictures

Pics of church. They have to have church in a hotel. It was huge though.

Day 3, Sunday

Well, today wasn't as interesting as yesterday. It was alot of walking and oh my goodness at the people!!!! (By the way, I meant 1.3 million cars not billion on one of my previous remarks)We went to church this morning. It was really interesting, with one problem...Anthony and I and another couple got separated from the rest of our group and went into the bilingual service!! It was fine for us, but they had an interpreter and repeated everything, so it made for a long service and kinda interupted the message. It was good though, he talked about how we need to be disciples and go and preach the message to the world. It had alot of funny things too, but oveall it was good . The highlight was there were twin girls sitting behind us and you can see the picture I took with them. The one that is asleep is Rachel and the other one was Rebecca....wonder where those names came from????!!! They were 15 months old and had an older brother about 4. Beijing doesn't have a 1 child policy!! They were sooo cute, but I had a surreal moment..They said I could hold both of them and take a picture, but when I took Rebecca, she cried and turned back to her mom...I have a feeling that is what it is going to be like tomorrow..I almost cried!
So then we went to the jade factory, very nice...VERY expensive, but glad we got to go. You can see some of the jade statues, beautiful. Then we had lunch...can we just say WE WANT MCDONALDS!!????!! We are so tired of this type of Chinese food. We just want to go to Red Sun and eat! Oh well, then we went to the Tinamen Square and The Forbidden City. It was nice, but we were ALL so ready to get back and it was the same thing over and over alot! The information was cool, like the Emperior had a lady for every night of the year!! OH MY! Anthony said he can only handle one, what need is there for 365?? Neat things, lots of information, but WAY to many people.

We ALL got very angry with people coming up to us IN OUR FACES and asking us to buy something. Some people even got their shirts pulled on and that was just annoying. Because there are so many people, there is no personal space...Joy, you would go BONKERS!!! I would suggest you NOT come here! If it got me and Anthony a little angry, it would get EVERYONE angry. It's just they are really rude here. They push you if you are in the way and there is no excuse me!! It's really so different, and I am just ready to go and get my baby!

Beijing has very beautiful things like statues and trees and buildings. It has many bike riders and beautiful little girls and boys running around! It was very interesting being here, but I am ready to go to Chen Zhou!

Pictures are on next page. Tomorrow, when you open our blog, you will see our Olivia!! YEAH after two years, we finally get to hold our baby girl!! Oh my goodness, it's really real!

UNTIL GOTCHA DAY TOMORROW!! Love you all.

Boys, this is the one day I will really miss you and wish you could be here for, but we are videoing and you will get to see everything. We love you and miss you very much. Be good and do good getting up in the morning and being at school. WE LOVE YOU!!!