Irish Stew

Already we are on the fourth day of this trip and have moved on to the next leg. We spent a couple of days touring Beijing and then today we flew to Shenyang, home of Jia Qing! We meet him tomorrow!!

Yesterday was a very busy and full day. We went to the Great Wall with the kids and then went to a Chinese acrobatics show. Even though we did not get home until evening and had been gone all day, it was worth it to see the sights. The Great Wall itself is absolutely incredible. It is very steep in some places, but flattens out in others. The areas that are open for tourists can be climbed, but it is also a workout. We had blue skies again and a beautiful day. The scenery was gorgeous and we were so happy to be there!

I feel so lucky to be able to visit this incredible place and to bring our children here.

The pictures do not really capture its beauty.

After seeing the sights, we had a late dinner and watched TV in our hotel room for the evening, going to bed pretty early. We are still jet lagged and I woke up at 2 am and was up for at least 2 hours. The kids were also up at various times during the night. It is hard...each night it gets a little easier, though. Maybe we will be set once we are ready to come back home; then we will start all over with the adjustment again!

This morning, we had a bit of a later morning before we had to then pack everything up and go to the airport to fly to Shenyang. The flight was very short. I think it took longer to get things packed in the car and to actually drive to the airport than the time we were on the plane. The flight attendants served these prepackaged bean paste buns and water to everyone, but I think they were simply required to do so. They basically tossed a few packages at every seat as they practically ran by with their cart. Thirty seconds later, they were picking up trash and empty packages. By the third pass a minute or so later, they were telling us to put up our tray tables and get ready to land. So, it was a short flight.

We got settled into our hotel and checked a few things out around here. We've never been to this city but it reminds me a little of Lanzhou, where we were when we adopted Caleb. Unfortunately, it's pretty dirty with a lot of pollution (like Lanzhou) but it also has some very fascinating aspects about it (also like Lanzhou). There is even a Starbucks and a KFC less than a block away, so we took advantage of that this evening.

In all, we are happy to be here. We are now on the second leg of the journey and the most important one, in my opinion: we are in Jia's city. Somewhere, tonight, he will go to bed and it will be his last night as an orphan. His family is now in his same town! Our guide who sent us his updated photos from a few days ago said that he knows we are coming for him and he is very excited. Tomorrow morning, we will meet our guide at 9:15 and then go over to the Civil Affairs office where JQ will be. Tomorrow, we meet our son!!