Star Struck!

Forget Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie. No Julia Roberts or John Mayer. Today I was star struck by the Great Wall of China. I know sounds quite silly, right? But I have always wanted to see the Great Wall! The girls and I studied the history of it for several days and it is just an amazing structure. The smog and snow made it not such a pretty day, but it was still incredible to me. Jeremiah hiked quite far, Gracie, Lou and Eli hiked to the first tower. Madi Beth made it halfway up the steps to the first tower and made me turn around. So I just spent the rest of the morning looking at it. I guess I’ll have to come back another time to hike it further.

We visited a Jade Factory today and it was beautiful and interesting. Seeing as how I am not much of a shopper, it was quite stressful finding the right jewelry for everyone. So I hope those of you that wanted Jade really like what I picked out. Those sales girls are also quite aggressive at following you around and making sure they make the sale. That seems to be a common theme, the aggressiveness of making a sale, whether you are a street vendor or working for a nice store. Bob learned his lesson yesterday and so did the rest of us. We didn’t look anyone in the eye unless we intended to buy!

Lunch at a government “encouraged” restaurant with a huge souvenir shop and then on to see the Birds Nest and Water Cube. By this point it was so freezing cold we just snapped a few pictures and jumped back on the bus. Did I mention it snowed last night?

The last event for the evening was a Chinese Acrobat show. No pictures, but it was pretty incredible! Our guide George says the Chinese have to start training b/f the age of six when their bodies are still flexible enough to bend this way and that. The girls absolutely loved the show! And I have to admit, it was pretty interesting!

Speaking of George, we love him! But Sara, you are so right. Once the talk of the concubines began, I got a little concerned. Luckily when I asked the girls what they learned from George, they said they couldn’t always understand him very well. Whew!

The kids were still photographed quite a bit today and Eli has learned to tell them “no more”! He eventually gets tired of having his picture taken and will bury his head in our shoulder so that no one can see him. It is quite hilarious! There wasn’t as much picturing taking today as there was yesterday. I think everyone was just too cold! The picture taking made me kind of sad though. My kids all have bright, blue eyes and Eli has sandy blonde hair. Of course, I am their mother and I think they are beautiful. And I realize to people in China, they are very unique. But to have so many Asian people stop and comment “they are so beautiful, and those eyes are beautiful” or to Eli “he is a chick magnet” and for them to think beauty is in the color of their eyes or hair made me sad. We have another little girl in our group who was adopted from China several years ago and I think she is beautiful! She watched today as people were taking pictures of my kids and I wondered what kind of impression that gave her. Did it make her feel less pretty? I’m sure she wondered what all the fuss was about. I hope she does not feel inadequate or any less beautiful, because I think her brown eyes and dark hair are just breathtaking! Beauty is in the eye of the beholder? I am glad that I know where true beauty comes from, from the heart, the heart of God.

We leave tomorrow for Zhengzhou (pronounced JenJoe), Henan! On the way home this evening, I mentioned to some of the other couples that we have been so busy sightseeing that it has taken my mind off of getting the baby. But now that we are leaving tomorrow for his province, the nerves have started to set in. Then Bob and Gary and some of the other men started joking and saying “what baby”? “You mean we are here to get a baby?” “No one mentioned a baby.” I guess it was funny to all of us because we’ve been so wrapped up in the last two days of being shuttled from one place to another and so exhausted at night, we haven’t had much time to think about how much our lives are going to change in the next 48 hours. But they are. Pray for us tomorrow as we pack up to leave Beijing, fly to Henan, and settle in to a new hotel and prepare for the arrival of our fourth son, John Asher!

By the way, as I write this it is Saturday night, February 27^th, the first birthday of our son. We had wanted so much to be with him today to celebrate, but there will be plenty of celebrating going on in two days! Happy Birthday, precious boy. Mommy and Daddy are not far away now!