Our journey to Jianna

Well, we are in the final stages of planning our trip. We thank you all for taking the time to check in. I am not sure how often I will be able to update you, but I will do my best to put in at least 15 minutes a day.

We have been very busy. With Christmas and preparing for the trip to get our precious Jianna Mei. I have been off of work for a few days and have really enjoyed this time with Karen and Abby. I went with Abby to gymnastics yesterday. She is a fantastic little tumbler. Then to McD's for lunch and home intime for a nap.

Well friends, here somes the end of an incredible year. We are packing like crazy because in 3 days we will be headed out for China. Thanks for all of your kind words, thoughts and prayers. Keep them coming we are not home yet. Actually, we have not even left.

I may update you as to how things are going yet more before we leave. Jianna feels so close that I could just reach out and grab her. I am more in love with her than I was yesterday. Isn't she just so beautiful?!?

Well, here it is the night before we leave to get Jianna. Karen and I had a great day with Abby. She is going to make such a great big sister. The butterflies are busy in my stomache, but I will not let any amount of fear keep me from looking forward to holding my darling Jianna in my arms and listening to her cooing or crying (we will see which it will be).

Hi everyone. Well here we are in Beijing. The main difference is that most everyone does nnot speak English. Karen and I are having a great time. We got in around 2:00 pm Beijing time (around 8:00 pm the previous day) Spokane time. We checked into our 4 star (the rating is pretty generous) hotel called the Novotel Xin Qiao (sound like “sin chou”). The bed is hard, but they make up for that by making it really big. I mean football field size. Anyway, we had Pizza Hut last night (to soften the transition), but followed it up with a popular Chinese Cherry Cheesecake. Nothing like diving into the culture!

Back to the action…We woke up and went to an incredible breakfast buffet that had eggs, bacon, cereal, dumplings, toast, fresh fruit (some of it is still a mystery) and many other things (like drinkable yogurt). We ate so much that we left saying that should last us until dinner (yeah right!) We just got through having lunch at this food court in the basement of this big mall that was as much a feast for the eyes as it was for the stomache. We both ate and had sprites for $5 (total!)

The most incredible thing that we did today was visit Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. They were incredible. Words can’t begin to explain the grand scope and detail that these complexes are built on. It snowed about 2 inches yesterday and we had blue sky and sun today. Thanks God, for answering Karen’s pleas for heat. We spent 3 hours at the Forbidden City and then went downtown to look for an internet site (hey look everybody, I found one) and some shopping. China has really embraced commercialism and capitalism. These people are very nice, but they like to make money or try to get more out of you (I am talking about the business people). It is said to be the Chinese way that you have to negotiate every price. Even in the department stores (How do they get anything done).

Well, jet lag is starting to kick in and we will go back to our hotel and try to catch up some more.

It is only 4 days until our precious Jianna is snug in our arms. Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts. They continue to sustain us as we cope with not knowing the language. It is really not too hard (well, it is for Karen, but I am proud that she is trying really hard).

By the way, we took the subway today and Karen said that it was just like the ones in New York and Paris. Go figure!

Hey Abby, we love you and miss you so much. I hope that it is not too much longer before we get to sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star again. Here’s a kiss from mommy and me. SMMOOOOCCCHHHH. Maybe Auntie Ruth can help you to get it.

What an exciting day it was today. We visited the Lama Temple. An actual working Lamasery. Not the Llama animals, a buddist temple used (even today) for training buddist lamas (again, not the animals, think Dalai Lama).

We ate lunch at a Tibetan Restaurant named Makye Ame. The cost was about $15 for both of us. We had Yak butter tea (this stuff was so good, I wanted to get another pot), a small order of Lamb ribs (very spicy, but worth the burn), and mixed vegatables in cheese (see Abby, we are eating our vegetables, you should too!). We had a Tibetan beer too, not much beer, but a lot of yellow tainted water (it did have a slight beer taste, so we were not too worried). This is my favorite meal so far.

Last night we did have Peking Duck, which I liked, but no one else did. If you have nto experienced it, you take a slice of the duck (that has crispy skin) and dip it into a sauce, then place it into a very thin pancake. Top it with thin sliced onions and cucumbers, wrap it up in the pancake and presto, one little Peking Duck taquito. Quite tasty, although I ended up being the only one who liked it. The others liked the sweet and sour pork (very much like the stuff found in the US Chinese resaurants).

I did not have a dream about Jianna last night (maybe a reaction to the Duck or Butter Tea), but she was heavy on my mind. I am very prayerful (even at the lamasery) of bonding with her and helping her to know that we love her and want her to be comfortable. All of your prayers are appreciated. Karen finally slept about 6 hours last night. Although it was hard turning off Indiana Jones, the first movie on HBO that I did not mind watching. The only other English channel is British CNN with 24 hour Tsunami updates. Please keep all of those people in your prayers and donate time and materials as you can. There will be many orphanes resulting from that devistation who need people to reach out to them. May God give them peace and healing to their lands.

I love showing our picture of Jianna to the Chinese people (I made a little card that says that we are adopting her). Everyone is so happy for us, mostly for her. This brings peace to my hear that wonders about this country. There is high rate of divorce here too. But many chinese people are starting to adopt these children. It does not matter to me where they end up. Best place is with their biological family, if that is healthy. From then on, I hope they each find a loving environment to become all that God has intended for them to become. Much like our children.

Sorry for the diversion, we saw some ice skaters yesterday. The most entertaining was a chair-like contraption where two people sit (one in front of the other) and the rear one propels them by using 2 small sticks. It is funny to watch, we almost went out and had some fun ourselves but it was too cold for Karen.

Just a few moments to add something before having to get ready for the trip to Changsha. My thoughts are focused on Jianna this morning. One member of our group (Tal) said yesterday that it is hard to imagine what trauma these dear children go through when they are brought to us for the first time. We are so different from what they know in looks, language, smell, etc. Then they are left with us. None of their friends or care givers around to comfort them.

Jianna, I know that you do not know us. Your mother and I have been praying for you since before you were born that God would place us in your heart and you in ours. That He would comfort and prepare you and us for this special moment. And that we would rest in the truth that His grace is sufficient for even this incredible event. Dear child, we love you more than you know and will do whatever we can to help you through this and anything that comes up in this life.

As we flew from Guangzhou to Beijing last week we looked out from the plane and saw only a sea of white clouds below. As if God wanted us to focus on the vastness of heaven and not on earthly things (like looking for towns and cars, and fields). When we landed and woke the next day, it has been nothing but intense sunshine. It is as if He were continuing to call us to know that the vastness of heaven reaches even to where we are, that He is here and wherever we will go. I know that He has brought us here for a purpose and Karen and I are dedicated to letting Him lead.

Dear Jianna, in a precious few hours we will be holding you in our arms. I have prayed and longed for this moment and I am so close now that I can almost smell you. Everyone that we show your picture to in Beijing thiks that you are beautiful, and smart. I agree, and so much more. So much more. Sweet dreams my dear child. Daddy loves you!