journey of joy

Saturday, March 22, 2014

Forbidden City & Great Wall

Wow. What a day! I think I feel a little more like we are in China now after climbing the wall but it all has not sunk in. We both awoke at 5am and could not go back to sleep. Hopefully we can do that in the morning again since we leave at 6am for the airport. Yup, that means we are flying to Guizhou where Joyah is. Tomorrow is Gotcha Day!

Today we visited The Forbidden City, the emperor's palace. It went on and on, so many buildings, courtyards and people! It was another beautiful day in the 70s. It was so crowded there I had to fight into a bathroom stall. In the US, women make a line and take turns going to the stalls as they open up. Well, I did that at first until I realized I would never get in. I staked out one stall and fought off 2 others trying to squeeze in between. Good thing that I am taller and bigger than 95% of them.

It took another hour by bus and crazy traffic to reach The Great Wall. Our entire group of 3 families made it to the top of the section we were on. The steps are so tall and steep! It took us over 1 hour to climb up and 30 minutes to get down. In the picture of us at the top, you can see below us a tiny parking lot. That is where we started!

Our day ended with another hour and a half drive through traffic the reach the hotel area. We ate a traditional duck dinner with the group and now it is time to get ready for tomorrow!

Friday, March 21, 2014

Summer Palace & Olympic Park Sights

Today started at about 3am when my body thought it was time to be up. The time change has not been too bad but I think we are still tired from 24 hours of travel.

We visited The Summer Palace where emperors once vacationed. Many pieces we saw were dated back to 1600AD. The weather was beautiful with low 70s and low smog index.
Next we visited the Olympic Village of 2008 and a shopping market. Shopping here is not exactly relaxing. Many booth keepers will touch or grab you to take a look at what they are selling.

We also experienced crazy traffic on our travels today. Red lights and lane lines are suggestions here. Traffic was also held for a Michelle Obama motorcade on our way to dinner. The food has not been too crazy so far and we are getting much better with our chopsticks. Tomorrow we are headed to The Great Wall.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

We are in Beijing!

We left a little over 24 hours ago for the airport in KC and now here we are finally ready to sleep! So glad we packed Ramen Noodles to eat in the room. You have to boil water in your room before you can drink it anyway. Thank you Lord for safe travel. We are supposed to visit Olympic Village and The Summer Palace tomorrow. Good night here, Good morning there!

Thursday, March 13, 2014

We have Travel Approval!!

Joyah is 17 months old today and we received word this afternoon that we are approved by China to travel! Wow! In fact, we most likely will be on a plane next Wednesday, March 19th but we will find out for sure in the next few days. We are excited, nervous and feeling a bit hurried. The boys were so excited to hear the news and Jonas (who will be 8 years old tomorrow!) prayed for our safe travel tonight at supper, which I really appreciated. I am a bit nervous about traveling so much.

God is just so good! We will be in China for at least 2 weeks and should be holding our little girl about 3 days after we arrive in the country. I will update soon with specifics but here is a new picture we received last week of Joyah Mi Ni!

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Waiting for Travel Approval!

Joyah is now 16 months old and we just completed the last bit of paperwork with the National Visa Center to get her home! We are waiting now for travel approval from China which should come in about a month or so. Exciting stuff! We have been busy preparing her room and trying to navigate the enormous amount of travel information. Josiah (5) recently was cleaning toothpaste out of the sink for a very long time. James asked him why he was cleaning so much and Josiah replied that, "if the house isn't clean, Joyah won't know that she is getting a new home". Quite sweet :)

Many of you may like to hear the story of how God matched us with Joyah. I recently wrote an article for our orphan ministry newsletter that I would like to share. Thank you for your prayers!

Happy Chinese New Year 2014!

We had a wonderful time celebrating Chinese New Year this past Friday! Some friends taught us about the New Year traditions and celebration last year and we enjoyed creating our own celebration and feast this year as we thought of our daughter Joyah Mi Ni. We are even starting to get the hang of using chopsticks ;)

Paperwork is in the process of going through US immigration and the National Visa Center so we still have no dates for travel other than the estimated April or May to be able to bring Joyah home. Just more waiting as usual.