Gotcha Day!!!!!!- Here we come Faith(Nov.2)

The anticipation and anxiety builds as we board our plane for Gui Yang, the capitol city of the Guizhou Province. We arrived at the Ramada Hotel at 5:00 p.m. and scheduled the ceremony for 6:00 p.m. After a quick change of clothes and gathering of gifts, we headed down stairs to the meeting room where our little princess awaited us! As we entered the room she quietly sat at a long table with a great look of confidence on her face and a calm countenance. Months of anticipation and longing for her released itself in waves of tears as we awaited our turn. We were to be the 3rd family of 4 to receive our daughter, however Faith had other plans. After the first family(the Schefletti's)received their daughter, Faith hopped off her chair and calmly walked over to us. Thankfully they graciously altered the original plans. There seemed to be no fear and there were no tears from her either. I bent down and hugged her and she called me mama as if her long wait had come to an end. As I introduced her to Daddy, who she called baba and Alissa , who she called Jie Jie she pointed to Alissa's necklace reminding us of her locket we had boughten her at Things to Remember.When we placed it around her neck and showed her the picture of her inside a huge smile came across her face. After the signing of papers in agreement to keep her for the night we headed off to our room and even to dinner with still no tears!
A restful night sleep followed. God had answered our prayers as it seems as if shes always been ours.

Touring Beijing

Saturday November 1st we went on a tour. Are first stop was the Ming Tombs built 600 years ago holding several Chinese Emperors and their concubines of ancient China. A museum of artifacts recovered from open tombs during the revolt of the 80's showed clothing, silver, gold, head dresses, jewelry, ancient writings, and and cooking utensils.








Next we toured the largest jade factory in China run by the government. It was obvious that they are quite skillful in the arts as we observed detailed sculpting of many different designs of all shapes, sizes, and colors of jade.

Our next stop was our favorite,The Great Wall! They say that you are not a man until you have climbed it and boy are they right! Our guide took us to the most challenging section of the wall. It was all climbing without any flat areas as some parts are. Most of the steps were up to your knees! Alissa and I made it all the way to the top! It was a great feeling of accomplishment.

Our last stop was the Silk Factory. They showed us the process of making silk quilts. We saw everything from gathering the silk from the silk worms to then the making of quilts from start to finish. It was quite amusing.