Feeling Rested Today

Our morning started early, for us. But we slept hard and woke refreshed today. The city is beautiful but today is hazy so the view from our 8th floor room is limited. The architecture is a great mix of ancient and modern out our window. The restaurant last night was actually in a really old building that used to be the post office. It was bright and clean and the artwork was amazing. I felt like I missed a lot of the good stuff because I could hardly keep my eyes open.

The flight over was fun. I sat next to a French Canadian from Ottawa who was traveling to Beijing to meet his girlfriend. She's one of the coaches of the Canadian Paralympic Teams. I can't remember the name of what she coaches, but it sounded like blind bowling and dodgeball put together. He was laughing as he tried to explain it to us. He was so touched by our reasons for travel, and I made sure to point him to Christ with every explanation to his MANY questions. Pray with me for Terry - that the Lord use the things I shared to soften his heart to the adoption that is just waiting for him into the family of God!

In the airport, we met our travel companions Brittany and Bayley. They are another Living Hope family from Maine. Bayley is 12 and so grown up and cute. They will be with us here in Beijing. We look forward to getting to know them better today and tomorrow. We'll meet back up with them in Guangzhou at the tail end of the journey.

Also at the airport, we met Matt and Jodi. It's such a small world: Jodi is a fellow "Falcon," class of '88. AND a communications major. I didn't recognize her, but I'm willing to bet we had at least one class together in our overlapping years on Campus! They are from just north of us and left their three kids in the care of grandparents also. It was fun to compare stories and we all agreed that all the sets of grandparents involved in our two stories ROCK the WORLD!

About the pictures above: our hotel is gorgeous! The room itself is much like our Hampton Inns. But the lobby and the public areas are so lush and rich. The colors are very intense here, saturated if you will. And in the lobby is a wall unit full of delicate, intricately painted china vases and urns. They are breathtaking. The picture does NOT do them justice. The staff are all very well-trained and very hospitable. This momma is not used to being waited on hand and foot like this. I would tell you that I could get used to it, but I am just a little uncomfortable with it. I don't totally know all the finer points of etiquette in situations like this, so I just smile and say thank you as graciously and profusely as I can!

We're off to our whirlwind walking tour, so this is it for now. Enjoy the pictures! Oh, and if you could pray for me: I'm having some problems with my allergies. I think it was the 14 hours in the frigid recycled air of the plane. I am hoping that I have it under control now, with all my meds! I am definitely glad I brought extras, that's for sure!

Off to take Beijing by storm. Hugs to you all. Thanks for all the comments - keep 'em coming. We love the connection it makes us feel with all of you.