Day 4 - Travel to Zhengzhou

It is late Sunday evening and we have had a long day of travel to the city of Zhengzhou in Henan Province.   Zhou said good bye to us at the Beijing airport and will be traveling with the White and Sheridan families to a different Province where their children are.  We were feeling all alone then we met up with a group of 7 American families from another adoption agency that were on our flight.  They too will be meeting their children tomorrow with us.  We had a very smooth flight and our new guide "Cindy" met us at the Zhengzhou airport.   She will help us throughout our stay in Zhengzhou.  She is very sweet and she tells us she has helped many families through the adoption process.  I asked her how many orphanages there were in Henan and she said about 200.  That is so hard to believe and so sad.

We are all so excited to finally come to the end of our journey to Ziliang!  It's hard to believe our "Gotcha Day" is almost here!   We will meet him at the Provincial Adoption Center in the morning at 10:00!  Although it is a happy day for us we know it will be a very difficult day for Ziliang.  We are praying for him to have courage and peace throughout this process.  We are also thanking God for his provision and call on our lives.  When people tell us how "lucky" our children are that we adopted them, we reply "we are the lucky ones that God has given the provision and privilege to be their parents".   In the words of Mother Theresa  . . . . "God does not call the equipped . . . . . He equips those that answer the call."

I'm so excited and happy my family is coming tomorrow!

Day 3- Hutong

Our final stop for the day was the tour of the "Hutong" or "Old Town" area of Beijing.  It is a  historical neighborhood of Beijing located next to the Forbidden City.  We got to tour it's narrow streets by rickshaw then have lunch served in one of the homes of the locals.  We were very appreciative to be able to share this experience with the girls.

 Our driver loved Shu Shu!

 We were guests at this home.  The house consists of a kitchen and living space only.  Sometimes their might be a small bedroom.  There are no bathrooms or showers.  Everyone in the Hutong neighborhood uses a community bathroom and shower.

 Our travel group enjoying lunch together.

 Delicious homemade food!

The kitchen area.

Back on our bus after a long day!

Day 3- Silk and Pearls

The next stop was the silk factory where we learned how a moth lays eggs that turn into silk worms and how the silk worm then produces raw silk.  Shu and Jie were very intrigued by the demonstration and had lots of questions!  The production of silk originated in China and remained confined to China until the silk road opened.  For more than 2000 years the Chinese kept the secret of silk altogether to themselves.

Pure silk is very expensive in China.  A queen comforter will cost you over $450.00!

Our next stop was the Pearl store.  Learning about cultivating pearls was just as fascinating.  We did not know that a fresh water oyster at an "Oyster farm" could produce as many as 23 pearls!

This sales girl had fun helping the girls pick out a bracelet to take home!

Day 3- Beijing

Everyone was up again between 3:00 and 4:00 am waiting for the day to start and very hungry!  We just cannot get used to the time change here.  We waited until 6:00 and went down to breakfast where our friendly hostess Marguarite greeted us.  The staff here are very kind and attentive to the girls.  They all stare at them and say "Beautiful and Lucky girls".  Shu and Jie do not like all the attention but are being very polite and answer them with a simple "thank you".  I am so thankful they love Chinese food so much because we have been eating it for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

After breakfast Zhou had another very busy day of sightseeing planned for us.  First stop was the Temple of Heaven.  The weather is just awful here.  Cold and windy with a snow/rain mix.  We didn't want to get off the warm bus!  It is a beautiful park with gardens and trees surrounding the temple buildings.  We really enjoyed the area at our last visit but we are not able to truly appreciate it today due to the weather.  The girls are being great, not complaining about anything and we are so thankful they are being so positive despite the cold weather.