Saturday

It's Saturday night, and we had a long day in Beijing. Mike's not sleeping well, but he seems to do alright during the day. He is thankful for the blessing of Starbucks in our hotel. 

We visited the "Forbidden City" and the Great Wall of China. They were both impressive in scale and age. It definitely kept us busy. We didn't walk a lot of the Great Wall as the place where we started was straight up many, many uneven steep stairs. It was an amazing view, but it reminded us both how little we have actually worked out in the last year.

We have also eaten quite a few different things today including "black fungus," fried milk, and a few unidentifiable vegetables. Lunch was in a restaurant over a jade store. It was pretty neat to learn about the jade carvings. There was a hand-carved jade castle. It took one person 3 years to make it, and it only cost $61,000.00. Amazing! Then dinner was at a restaurant that specialized in roasted duck. Mike and I like the way the meals are served "family style" on big lazy Susan's.

Tomorrow we wake and leave the hotel at 8:30am to catch a 10:55am flight to Emery's province. We are supposed to be ready to go straight from the airport to meet her. We are so very excited!!! I can't believe that it is really happening and that we will be holding her at this time tomorrow. Please pray that we are able to rest tonight and that we take in every moment tomorrow as it comes. Please also pray for both of us as we know that it may be a very emotionally hard day for Emery. Pray for her and for us. There are 3 other families we know that are traveling with us tomorrow, each with their own amazing story and a precious child whose world will drastically change in a few hours. Please pray for these families as well!

We love you all and can't wait to share pictures with you!