Beijing - Day 1

We arrived at our hotel, Holiday Inn, at midnight-thirty last night, thankful the 14 hour flight was behind us!  After getting settled in, we finally climbed into bed. Sleep was deep but choppy, kept waking up for some reason and we were up and moving around 6am. Short night. 

After a visit to the huge breakfast buffet here at the hotel, we met up with our guide Ivan for the day's events.

We started the morning at a jade factory store where I purchased two Zodiac Ox jade pendants for the boys when they are older.  I also purchased a jade family ball, it is quite amazing how they make these.

Next we went to the Great Wall.  It is quite foggy today so, unfortunately, we were not able to see the amazingness of the wall.  We all climbed, over 300 steps, to the first tower, tower number 8.  Mom and Aunt Sharon's legs were done by then.  Therefore, Ivan and I left them behind to rest and we trekked up another few hundred steps to the next tower, number 9. Then we turned around and worked our way back down.  Going down is an awkward task due to the steep steps. Thankful for the many squats I do weekly, my legs felt pretty good. Only had slight shaky calfs when I was done. 

Can you find me?

After working up a slight appetite we were taken to a copper factory called the Yu Long Friendship Store, we learned about how copper vases are made.  It is quite fascinating and the vases are beautiful, then we ate at the restaurant located behind the store.  Sounds kinda scary huh?  They served us about 12 various Chinese dishes that we could self serve from.  The sweet and sour chicken was good. 

By then it was about 1pm and we could have come back to the hotel but what fun would that have been, there's a lot of Beijing to see and not a lot of time to see it; so, our guide had our driver take us near the 2008 Olympic stadium called the Birds Nest it's architecture was neat, wish we could have gotten a little closer.  We also drove by the Water Cube, which is where the swimming events of the Olympics took place.  I was not able to get a very good picture of it.  I believe it lights up in different colors at night, which I'm sure is very neat.

To finish out our touring for the day, we visited a silk factory store.  We learned about how silk is made and that there are two different kinds of silk, single string and double string.  Who knew?  We saw how they make the silk duvet blankets.  I would have loved to have purchased one but they weren't cheap and I just don't have room in my luggage right now. 

After returning to the hotel at about 3:30pm we all took a nap.  For dinner, we decided to venture out and found a KFC. It took us a while to find it as it is inside a huge multi-layer shopping center.  Ordering was interesting but we accomplished it, after being cut in front of at the register multiple times.  Thankfully, they have a menu they bring out for foreigners and we were able to point at what we wanted.  I think mom and Aunt Sharon were happy to have some "American" fare after our Chinese lunch.

We aren't scheduled to meet our guide till 1pm tomorrow so we will see how productive we are tomorrow morning.  Looking forward to the big buffet breakfast again!

Check out pictures of today: http://wewereledtoyou.shutterfly.com/pictures

We made it

We arrived at our hotel about 6 hours ago, rested a few hours and are up and moving.  Today we will visit the Jade store and the Great Wall!!!  This all feels like a dream, I can hardly believe I'm here.

3 more days and till Tegan time!!!
7 more days and till Corban time!!!

Now 3 full weeks in China....

We received Corban's travel documents!!! YAY!!!  But, they were not able to add Corban onto Tegan's consulate appointment; therefore, Tegan and daddy will be returning home on the 17th.  Corban's consulate appointment is on the 17th; therefore, he and I will be 2 days behind them, returning home on the 19th.  Not thrilled about traveling separate but at least it is only 2 additional days. I was worried it was going to end up being almost an additional week. God is good, it's all His plan!

Tomorrow begins the 3 week journey!!!

Testing Post via Email

I am testing the posting via email option just to be sure I know what I’m doing.  That way, if I can’t get to the blogger site to post directly, I can email posts instead.

Corban's TA is confirmed

Our agency received notice that our travel has been approved, yippee. Now a slight problem, the actual TA paperwork paperwork likely won't arrive at the agency till Friday. I leave on Saturday.  Therefore, they may have to turn around and send the documents back to China so I receive them there.

Another potential problem is, if the paperwork doesn't arrive till Friday, we won't receive confirmation of Corban's consulate appointment till Monday.  We hope the consulate will piggy back him onto Tegan's Nov 15th appointment. If they cannot, Corban and I will likely have to stay in China for several more days while daddy and Tegan fly home on the 17th.

Either way, we will have the boys and that is all that matters!!!! PTL

100 Wishes Quilts

While we are waiting to travel, and to create a special gift for the boys on their baptism day, we are working on a project with which we need your assistance. We are creating a “100 Good Wishes Quilt”. There is a tradition in the northern part of China where they make a Bai Jia Bei, or “100 Good Wishes Quilt” to welcome and celebrate a new life. It is a custom to invite 100 people to contribute a single square of material. The 100 pieces of material are then sewn together into a quilt that contains the luck, energy, and good wishes from all the family and friends who contributed a piece of fabric. The quilt is then passed down from generation to generation.

HERE IS WHAT WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO DO:

(1) Choose any 100% cotton fabric that you like.

(2) Cut two 5" x 5” squares of fabric. Before you cut the fabric to size, please wash, dry, and iron it.

(3) On two acid free 5" x 5” pieces of paper or card stock include your “good wish note”. The wish design can be as simple or elaborate as you would like - let your creative juices flow. Please also include why you choose the fabric and your name & address. We will then have one for each of the boy's quilts and memory/scrapbooks. You can share the same wish (and material) on both or a seperate wish (material) to each.

(4) Please take a picture of you/family with the quilt pieces and good wish notes.

(5) Place the 2- quilt pieces, 2 - good wish notes and 2-photos in a plastic bag and mail them to us. (Pelase send me a private email message for our address to tnjdowney @ msn.com  - remove the two spaces)

IDEAS FOR SELECTING FABRIC SQUARES:

(1) Select a fabric that is meaningful to you.
(2) 100% cotton fabric is best as it washes and wears well.
(3) If there are several members in your family, each family member is welcome to do this.. In China, these quilts were originally made from the garments of family and friends surrounding the child with luck and good wishes.

IDEAS FOR GOOD WISHES NOTES:

Think about what you would wish for a child to have in their life? Some ideas are good health, perseverance, compassion, a sense of humor. Good wishes may include a poem, bible verse, favorite quote or saying, advice etc.

Please take a few minutes from your busy schedules to help us create this very special keepsake. The miracle of this adoption has been helped and nurtured by so many of you and this will be so incredibly meaningful for us as well as our new arrival. 

We currently have 50 squares for each of the boys' quilts after the adoption celebration our church held for us, so we are half way there.  I would be thrilled to have more than 100 wishes for each of the boys.  I want them to know they were thought of by many, even before they physically joined our family.

Thank you !

China Itinerary

Oct.30: Arrive in Beijing @ 11pm

Oct.31: Visit the Great Wall

Nov.01: Visit Tian An Men Square and the Forbidden City, acrobatic Show in the evening.

Nov.02: Leave Beijing, arrive in Shanghai

Nov.03: Meet Tegan in the morning, visit orphanage in afternoon

Nov.04: Adoption paperwork

Nov.05: Visit the Yu Garden, the Bund and the old Shanghai.

Nov.06: Leave Shanghai, arrive in Guangzhou

Nov.07: Meet Corban in the afternoon

Nov.08: Adoption paperwork

Nov.09: Apply for boys' passports

Nov.10: Visit the Six Banyan Temple. My husband arrives in the morning, mom and aunt leave in the evening

   

Nov.11: Pick up boys' passports.

Nov.12: Take boys' VISA photos, then do medical and TB test for them.

Nov.13: Visit the Safari Park.

Nov.14: Pick up TB test result.

Nov.15: 08:30am visa appointment and oath-taking ceremony at the Consulate.

Nov.16: Pick up the visa in the afternoon. Leave Guangzhou for Hongkong by train after picking up the visa.

Nov.17: Leave Hong Kong on 10:45am flight, arrive at airport back home at 5:45pm