The Great Wall

Saturday night was a bit rough in regards to sleep.  We all crashed at 7:30 pm.  I was up again at 11 pm.  The kids got up around 4 am.  Thankfully once we showered and ate at the breakfast buffet, we felt refreshed and ready for the day.  There are some interesting breakfast options here including sushi, fried rice, seafood dumplings , and many items i didn't recognize.  We found some more traditional American food though too and the kids were happy.  Today was absolutely perfect weather to go and see the Great Wall.  Temps were in the 50s and sunny. It was perfect for having to climb thousands of steps without being too cold or too hot.  Even with our lack of sleep the kids amazed me. Jake especially seem to have a lot of energy and he was to the top first. A lot of the steps were very steep and in different heights so the climbing at parts was a little more difficult especially for Jake with his shorter legs.  Of course I was freaking out because Jake was teetering off the side of some of the railings overlooking deep drop offs.  And then there's  Luke who thought it was great to see him be adventurous.  People left and right were tsaking the kids pictures.  I was surprised by this, I just figure they must see a lot of tourists in the Beijing area. For the most part the kids didn't really seem to mind.  We do seem to get a lot of stares.  By that I mean someone steadily watching you eat an entire meal.  Some of these types of things I have to remind mysel is solely cultural differences.  A lot of things I would consider somewhat rude back home seem to be commonplace here.  But, back to the Great Wall...,, it really was extraordinary.  We all loved it and may even try to go again once we have jada.  I have to say I was surprised at my lack of physical stamina!  Doesn't running 2 marathons last year mean anything?? Lol.  Apparently not.  I was outdone by my 5 year old.
At the beginning of this day I knew I needed to ask God for his strength to get me through such a busy day on virtually a few hours of sleep over the past 2 nights.  I am so thankful that he did just that.  I've seen God on so many occasions thus far.  Can I just say my husband has been my hero.  He has served each of us selflessly this entire trip so far.  That alone shows me daily Christis love for us. He is my rock but only in the sense that I see Christ in him daily.  Love you babe.
Tomorrow we get jada!!!  We took the high speed train from Beijing to shijiazhuang this evening.  Our two guides Bob and Eliza picked us up from the train station. Elyza is a student here and she's just helping out with the translating and to work on her English skills.  She said she was excited to do this and she's just very interested in those coming to adopt and so we talked quite a bit on the way to the hotel and she seems to be very nice.  This hotel is Amazing!!!  We have beautiful connecting rooms, the bathrooms are gorgeous and the beds are super comfy!  They wheeled in a crib for us which made everything all the more real .  It is Monday morning now and jalyn and I are up And getting giddy knowing a few short hours til they bring Jada to the lobby downstairs !  Here are some pics and a video. from Jalyn.