Teachable Moments From My Savior: Our Journey to Caleb 2007

Continuing Our Journey to Caleb - Day 5 - May 7, 2007

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Good Morning to all! It is about 5:30 am and this is our last full day in Beijing. It will be a very full day but as I awoke this morning, all I could think is that tomorrow we fly to Guangzhou, Caleb's city! We are now 2 days and counting till we get our son! They have kept us so busy these last couple of days and now it is almost time! We were talking at dinner last night about "Gotcha Day". All 9 families will get their children at the same time so we will all experience the joy together. We have become very close with all these families in just this short amount of time. I am so in awe of our Lord how he knew what families to place us with. The kids have had a blast and Matt and I are forming great friendships with these families. Three of the couples are getting their first child, one family is adopting their second daughter, and four families are adopting for the first time although they have other children. We are trying to plan out how we can take turns filming each others "gotcha" moment. We are all so excited! Most of these families have been logged in to the CCAA since October 2005. This has been over a 2 year process for them. But now the moment is about to arrive! Please pray for all of us getting ready to be united with our children. Some of these children will have to travel several hours to get to Guangzhou to be with thier families. I am so thankful that Caleb is in the same town and will not have to endure a long trip to get there.

As I spent my time in prayer this morning, I thanked God so much for giving us this opportunity. My heart is so full of gratitude and praise for blessing me with this wonderful family I already have and now to be adding another precious soul to it. He is my strength and I give him total praise and honor!

Have a wonderful day and we will update tonight after our big day at the Great Wall and shopping!

Love to you all!

Allison

(Part 2)

Today was our last full day in Beijing so we went out with a bang! We took a long bus ride to the Great Wall! It is incredible! First we took our group picture and then we had a choice to go two directions; the easy way or the steep, more difficult way. Guess which way we went? That's right, the steep, more difficult way. The easy way had so many people on it, so we decided to try the other way. Most of us got about half way up and enjoyed the view from there but the other half made it all the way to the top. Matt and Ben were among the brave souls who trekked all the way up. I was so worried that Matt was having to drag Ben up there but Matt said it was the other way around! I know they will sleep good tonight. It is so funny that at different stages of the Wall, the street vendors are there trying to get that sale. One of them followed me all the way to the bus, trying to get me to buy some hats. "50 yuan, 2 for 50 yuan, 4 for 50 yuan." Even after we got on the bus, we saw him out the window trying to get my attention. I guess if we stayed there any longer, he would have paid me to take the hats! Well, we finally headed to the Cloisonne Factory and that was amazing how intricately they design those beautiful pieces of art. Everything is done by hand and is spectacular! We ate lunch at the restaurant in the factory. Guess what was for lunch? CHINESE! We are really getting tired of the same thing for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We are ready for some good 'ole American food. When we get to Guangzhou, we will have more options!!!!

Next on the agenda, the Jade Factory. We were given a lesson on jade, how to decipher real from fake, carving and design. These are very talented people. After the lesson, we were given the chance to shop. These are also persistent sales people. They don't let you shop alone, oh no! They follow you around. It is so funny! After the final purchases, we boarded the bus and headed back to the hotel. They took us by the site of the 2008 Olympic games and we were able to get some pictures. They are very proud be hosting the games and are working hard to make it happen. During our long bus rides today, Rosa and Maggie gave us lessons on Chinese money, flowers, Olympic mascots, and Maggie even sang us the Chinese national anthem and the US national anthem in Chinese. That was wonderful!

We got back to the hotel and had about an hour before we were to leave for dinner...you guessed it, more CHINESE! Okay, I love Chinese food, but enough is enough. One more spoonful of rice was going to make me scream. Callie and I opted to stay in the hotel, watch a movie and order Pizza Hut. Praise God! Pizza Hut delivers right to your room! Tears of joy overwhelmed me! Ben and Matt wanted more Chinese, so we wished them well and enjoyed our pizza! It was very good!

Tomorrow we fly to Guangzhou and we cannot wait! We get to sleep in and take our time packing up. We will leave the hotel at 12:30 and our flight is at 3:00. We will do paperwork Wednesday morning and get our children in the afternoon. It is almost time! Please keep us in your prayers! It has been a wonderful time and we praise God that we have all been well.

Thank you for all the prayers, we sure do feel them! God is so good and we are in awe of our journey so far! Good night one more time from Beijing, we love and miss you all very much!

Matt, Allison, Ben, and Callie