A very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to our dear son Eli, who turns two today. We are sad not to be with him but knows he is having fun! We love you so much Eli and will talk to you soon!
What a day! We have received blessings so abundantly in the short time we have been here and while we are still exhausted, we are seeing God's hand in a mighty way and it's so amazing! Today we were able to visit the Great Wall and climbed to the top. What a priceless experience it was. Not only did we climb the Great Wall, but we did it during Beijing's first snow of the year!! Talk about slippery- eek! It was very cold and kind of scary at times but we made it up and back (with five minutes to spare before our bus left!). At the bottom, we were "attacked" by the Chinese paparazzi (that's right Gilmores, we were popular with the Chinese folk too!! They must have known we were friends since they seemed to like you guys too :). It was hilarious. I don't know how many pictures we were dragged into but they loved us. It was a nice ego booster, although I hope Nathan doesn't let it go to his head.
After the Great Wall, we had a nice lunch with out entire travel group from Holt and visited the jade museum. There are about 20 families with us and five families will continue on with us to Guangzhou on Sunday. We have already made some amazing friends are so thankful God has blessed us with such supportive and loving friends at home and here in China. It makes a world of difference.
After lunch, we continued on to the historic downtown in Beijing called Hutong Lane. We rode in rickshaws which were basically carts pulled by bikes. It was QUITE an adventure. The streets here are very narrow and weren't designed for cars (at least the ones that are more like alleys in Hutong). We had some close calls with anxious cars but our very overzealous driver made sure we received the right away. It reminded me of driving in a car with a certain Adele Hall :). (Love you, Adele)
Hutong Lane was really neat, but very eye opening. We are so blessed to live in a country where we have the freedoms to work and live nicely. It's amazing how much we take for granted. Tonight, we are so thankful to live with the physical blessings God has provided.
After the tour, we came back to the hotel and crashed. The sleep loss finally hit me and I barely made it to dinner. We went to a local dumpling place behind our hotel and ate an amazing dinner for seven dollars. YUM-O!
We just finished off the night with our friends, Susan, Erik and Gabriel. We celebrated Eli's birthday where we had a "cake" for him and celebrated China style. We ended the evening with prayer for their daughter Liana and Jesiah. What an amazing day. Soooo tired... I'm headed to bed here shortly. Tomorrow we will see the Forbidden Palace, TinAmen Square and we leave for Guangzhou Sunday morning. We meet Jesiah Monday. Please continue to pray that Jesiah makes a smooth transition and we are able to handle his transition into our family with ease and peace. I know God has blessed us this far and won't let us go.
What a day! We have received blessings so abundantly in the short time we have been here and while we are still exhausted, we are seeing God's hand in a mighty way and it's so amazing! Today we were able to visit the Great Wall and climbed to the top. What a priceless experience it was. Not only did we climb the Great Wall, but we did it during Beijing's first snow of the year!! Talk about slippery- eek! It was very cold and kind of scary at times but we made it up and back (with five minutes to spare before our bus left!). At the bottom, we were "attacked" by the Chinese paparazzi (that's right Gilmores, we were popular with the Chinese folk too!! They must have known we were friends since they seemed to like you guys too :). It was hilarious. I don't know how many pictures we were dragged into but they loved us. It was a nice ego booster, although I hope Nathan doesn't let it go to his head.
After the Great Wall, we had a nice lunch with out entire travel group from Holt and visited the jade museum. There are about 20 families with us and five families will continue on with us to Guangzhou on Sunday. We have already made some amazing friends are so thankful God has blessed us with such supportive and loving friends at home and here in China. It makes a world of difference.
After lunch, we continued on to the historic downtown in Beijing called Hutong Lane. We rode in rickshaws which were basically carts pulled by bikes. It was QUITE an adventure. The streets here are very narrow and weren't designed for cars (at least the ones that are more like alleys in Hutong). We had some close calls with anxious cars but our very overzealous driver made sure we received the right away. It reminded me of driving in a car with a certain Adele Hall :). (Love you, Adele)
Hutong Lane was really neat, but very eye opening. We are so blessed to live in a country where we have the freedoms to work and live nicely. It's amazing how much we take for granted. Tonight, we are so thankful to live with the physical blessings God has provided.
After the tour, we came back to the hotel and crashed. The sleep loss finally hit me and I barely made it to dinner. We went to a local dumpling place behind our hotel and ate an amazing dinner for seven dollars. YUM-O!
We just finished off the night with our friends, Susan, Erik and Gabriel. We celebrated Eli's birthday where we had a "cake" for him and celebrated China style. We ended the evening with prayer for their daughter Liana and Jesiah. What an amazing day. Soooo tired... I'm headed to bed here shortly. Tomorrow we will see the Forbidden Palace, TinAmen Square and we leave for Guangzhou Sunday morning. We meet Jesiah Monday. Please continue to pray that Jesiah makes a smooth transition and we are able to handle his transition into our family with ease and peace. I know God has blessed us this far and won't let us go.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELI!! WE LOVE YOU!!!
Michelle and Nathan,
ReplyDeleteGlad to see that you met our friends. You will see more of them at the Forbidden Palace and TinAmen Square, be sure to send our regards. One thing I regret was that I never got a good picture of the split pants on the babies, could you grab one for me (preferrably not an "action" shot though).
Thanks,
David
Sure thing David! They scare me but I will take a picture, just for you. :) I'm not sure I can take anymore photo bombardments. Being this famous takes it out of me.
ReplyDeleteYes, the picture taking is so much fun, isn't it? My favorite part is when they hold up their cell phone to pretend to take a picture of the building behind you.
ReplyDeleteScary about walking the Great Wall in snow. Those steps are so steep anyway; I cannot imagine walking down them with a little white fluff in your way. Of course, we brought Juliese almost up to the top and were rather scared holding her hand and praying that she wouldn't trip.
Praying like crazy for you both and for my "adopted" nephew-LOL!