Another Big Day

Day 1 was exhausting - but there is no rest for the weary! 

This morning, we got the opportunity to visit the central adoption ministry in Beijing and look at the girls official adoption files. 

A brown box with all their documents (including all the original documents from our dossier that we slaved and prayed over...hello,old friends!) 

Those moments of looking at their files are private; it was a good thing and helps them add to their stories. 

Then it was back to touring - with a visit to the Forbidden City. This is a place in China that is beyond words. The vastness and the complexities are overwhelming, yet the place has an aura of calm even with the chaos of all the people. 

The details on every building - and there are 9,999.5 of them - is unbelievable! 

The city seems to go on forever

They have some products that are only produced and available in the Forbidden City, including ice cream..so of course....

The gardens were spectacular 

 We did a quick stop into a park across the street on the way to dinner. There are so many huge and beautiful parks in the midst of this incredibly crowded city - places of refuge and retreat

Then off to dinner with some new friends! It wasn't actually anyone's birthday - apparently these are standard decorations in case it was someone's birthday! We did Hong Kong Hot Pot for dinner

We also met up with an old friend....

No rest for the weary - tomorrow is another BIG day! 

Beijing - Day 1

All our bags were packed - ready to go - leaving on a jet plane! 

It was a looooong flight! 

11 hours and 4 minutes in the air. 

Plus taxi time

Plus a two hour ground delay at the gate in LA

But so worth it! 

We checked into our hotel, ran out to eat and hit the sack! An early morning wake up call for breakfast - this was one happy girl! 

Then into the van to the Great Wall! 

We went to the Mutianyu section - because ....ski lift up! 

We got there early - and there was no one on the wall! It was almost surreal - we literally had the wall to ourselves for the first hour! The girls were amazed and excited and a bit overwhelmed! 

The views in every direction were stunning - this section of the wall was built about 600 years ago. The restoration has been done with original materials, so it is very authentic. 

We quickly realized why the ski lift up - the inclines and the step on the wall were TOUGH! 

It would not be China without multiple opportunities even on the Great Wall to separate  tourists from their money. This was money well spent....

After the ski lift ride up, and two miles of vigorous up and down hiking...tobogganing down! 

The resort area in Mutainyu is lovely - it was getting crowded when we left, but there was something profound in being on that wall by ourselves. 

When we left, we traveled about 5 km and stopped at a guest house for lunch. We enjoyed the most amazing country style meal - this girl is beyond happy to be enjoying "real" Chinese food (her words - not mine!) 

An unexpected stop on our way - we saw roadside fruit stands on the way in, and asked to stop to get cherries on the way out. We pulled into a stand, the driver got us out the the van, the older Chinese lady running the stand handed us baskets and out guide said "go get cherries"! 

So they did! 

Then onto the summer palace! It is a beautiful place filled with history. Our guide was amazing and really pressed into all the girls to teach them about the history of their birth land. 

Long about 3:00, we were all starting to drag a bit, so we shook it up with a boat tour - the girls loved it! 

The best views are often from the water! 

The corridor at the summer palace is 1/2  mile long, with amazing detailed artwork along the entire thing

We had about 45 minutes between the end of the summer palace and our dinner engagement so we added a stop at the Olympic park and the girls got to see "The Bird's Nest" up close. Last time I was in Beijing, it was 12 degrees and I stayed on the bus - so it was my first time too! It really is magnificent! 

Our last and maybe sweetest stop of the day was dinner - a traditional Peking duck dinner! 

While the food was beyond amazing, what made this dinner so very sweet was that we shared it with a former classmate of Becky's! This family was in the states last spring on furlough, and Becky and Kira became fast friends. It was one of Becky's biggest "wants" that when we came to Beijing, she see Kira - so we did! 

We were exhausted at the end - but in the very best way! 

Fath, Hope, Love in Italy - Hope

To the untrained and unknowing eye, this photo looks like some friends boarding a flight. 

To those who know a little, it's four friends (plus the woman behind the camera!!) boarding an overnight flight to Italy for an amazing 11 day holiday to celebrate a friend's milestone birthday. 

For one, it's hope. 

For as long as I can remember (probably 30+ years), it has been a dream of mine to travel Italy. I've come close - Germany, Austria, but have never made it. 

I had long given up on my dream. Through circumstances and the elements of my world, Italy increasingly became a dream that faded into the recesses of a life filled with other, more pressing considerations and crisis'. 

Being here is the manifestation of hope defined. 

The first few days, while amazing in every way - I could not find the words. I was walking through something that belonged to someone else. 

This time last year, I never believed I could be here. I wasn't convinced that our family was going to survive the trials we were walking through - and if we did survive, I certainly wasn't going to be able to leave all my people for 11 days to fulfill my dream. 

But God. He delivers and redeems and this trip has reminded me in the most tangible way possible that HOPE always exists in Him. For 30 years, He was saying to me "not yet" - so that when I finally got here, it would be so evident that it was only through His power that I was able to come. All the glory to Him. 

I found the word - Hope. 
Hope because God redeems and restores.  

Faith, Hope, Love in Italy - Faith

The old coliseum stands before me - the history held within its walls only partially and sporadically documented. It is a far cry now from the vision it once was when it was constructed in 500 AD.The walls are crumbly and the stones worn and uneven and there is only a small piece of the exterior that still exists. So much has transpired within this place over the past 1900 years that is unseen and unrecorded in human history.

What remains is the foundation and much of the inside  structure - well designed and constructed - intended to withstand the effects of time. Imperfect today with it's cracks and crumbles but still standing. The coliseum is still used today - to put on grand scale opera in the summer. 

So much of what we have seen here enduring the test of times are holy spaces. 

The Duomo - built over hundreds of years. No one involved in the construction lived to see the  completion of this magnificent house of worship. It took over 500 years to build.

The Last Supper - housed in a building totally destroyed by the bombing of WWII - except for DaVinci's masterpiece of God's miracle.

St. Marks Basilica - flooded a thousand times over and built on silt yet still standing strong. The home of the remains of St. Mark - the Evangelist. Protected.

Witness to the strength of the things of the Lord to endure the elements of time. 

Reminiscent of our lives here on earth. Of a life designed to look one way but evolving into something else through the effects of the elements of the world. Families. Friendships. Careers. Life.  Exposed to the elements, sometimes fractured, sometimes crumbling but still standing. The exterior faded but the interior strong and standing. 

A firm foundation. 

Faith.