Day 1, Part 2 - Chinese Linedancing and Suggested Lanes

I did forget to mention a few things about our first day in Beijing. While we were at Beihai Park, Shanna made a new friend. It is so amazing that a smile in any culture seems to communicate "Will you be my friend?" Shanna smiled at this lady doing Tai Chi (we think this is what it is called and spelled) and the next thing you know her face was lit all up and Shanna was linedancing. She had so much fun. And it is pretty obvious that this lady was also having fun. She did not know a word of English, but fortunately for Shanna, about halfway through their dance, Shanna recognized some words the lady was saying. The lady was counting and Shanna realized what she was doing and then began to really catch on. Since I took some video of this also, we are planning to teach Melina "Tai Chi" to preserve a bit of her heritage.

Beijing has also taught us something that we take for granted in the United States. You could easily lose your life on the roads here. Everytime you go somewhere, regardless of how you get there - walking, biking or driving - you really place your life in the hands of another person. This is a trusting in Jesus thing here. I'm reminded of those NASCAR teeshirts that say "Rubbin' Is Racin'". These guys are crazier than any NASCAR driver. They duck into spots that look like a car only 1/2 the size of the one we are in could fit into. And forget about the lane lines - they are merely "suggested" for consideration - no one seems to use them except at intersections.

So far it's been great. We will be going to the Forbidden City and the Great Wall of China tomorrow. More pictures to come. Love to all. Only one more sleep until we get Melina.

Day 1 - Beijing On Our Own

Normally Shanna does all the blogging, but today I thought I (Barry) would write a little because I'm excited about our first day here. First, Shanna and Meredith were up at about 3:30 am Beijing time. They were up that early because they were tired of sleeping. When we finally got to our hotel at about 1:00 pm on 5/11/07 we were all asleep by 2:00 pm. Shanna woke up briefly at about 6 pm and asked if we were ready to get up. When neither Meredith nor I responded, she went back to sleep until we all woke up and about 10:30 pm. Needless to say, we were all tired from our traveling.

We were up for a couple of hours, eating some snacks that Shanna had packed. We were even watching the National Geographic channel - in English. If it were not for the Chinese subtitles, we would have thought we were at home.

Today, we got up early. We would have made Charley McGuire happy this morning - we were awake at about 3 am. But we wanted to get onto a normal schedule so we forced ourselves to stay in bed until about 5:30 am. We all got showers, got dressed and went downstairs for our complimentary breakfast. There was one thing that I thought I would have the most difficulty with and that was the food. I have been pleasantly surprised by the food. Our breakfast was delicious. Meredith and I had one of our favorite dishes - pasta - for breakfast along with ham, Chinese grits (which seems to be watered down rice with bits of ham in it), a rice dish with peas and egg, a very delicious tea, and a great breakfast pastry thing.

After breakfast Shanna and Meredith made a friend at one of the gift shops. She gave Meredith a little present and we tried to go down a little later to return the favor. Unfortunately she was gone, so we will try again tomorrow. We also wanted to do a little walking and we were told by Sim, our Beijing tour guide, that there were some shops and things down an adjacent street from the hotel. We went walking seeing the sites, at least near where we are staying, and did some shopping.


We then went to Beihai Park which was a lot of fun. It has been a beautiful day. Temperature here was about 80 with a stiff breeze. The Chinese people are very talented. We saw a guy writing in English and Chinese "Welcome to Beijing." Both the English and Chinese writing were very artistic - much better than my scratch. Shanna also participated in a dance/exercise. I got some video of this so Shanna can teach Melina when she gets older. Here are a few pictures from our time at the park.




Ted Strawbridge - check the cheek.

Madeline - we miss you very much. We hope you are doing well. We know that Aunt Susan and Uncle Kent are taking good care of you. We will be going to dinner at 6 with some folks from Kentucky. After that we will try to call you at Uncle Kent's. We love you.

We Are Finally Here!

WOW! We are finally here after 45 hours of traveling and Meredith did absolutely fabulous. We are thoroughly exhausted and ready to crash. We began our journey at 4 AM on Wed. We flew to LA and had almost a 12 hour layover. We were able to rest in a room for a little while before eating supper and getting back to the airport. Our plane left LA at midnight....our battery is going and we don't have the right converter. Real quick, Barry had to buy a new computer because his crashed the very first day. :( We had no way of getting in touch with our family so he/I got a birthday present.

Madeline, we love you and wish you were here. Later today you have your rehearsal. I know you will do well.

Please leave a comment on how Nana is doing with her chemo.
We are in Beijing. Tomorrow is a free day and we will do our site seeing on Sunday. Hopefully we can find a converter soon so we can get on the computer again.

Good Morning!

Only 14 more hours before we head to the airport! I am doing last minute laundry and straightening and showing Madeline all her daily chores and how she can help Nana. This day will go by quickly, I am sure.

One and Half More Sleeps Before Take-Off!

WOW! It is finally happening and I am still having a hard time believing that it is truly happening. When I do realize and allow my mind to stop and think, "We are leaving in just a day basically and we will have Melina very soon" I feel this rush of something go straight to my gut. It must be adrenaline..I don't know and I have to stop thinking and get back to what I am doing.
We are packed and ready and I hope I have everything! While we are gone we will miss Madeline's ballet recital (Meredith's too, but she is also missing it). It should be very beautiful. For those in town that can please find the time to go see it and encourage her while we are away!! We would love it!
We found out today that there has been a change in our hotel stay and we won't be at the infamous White Swan hotel the whole time, but will have to switch on May 20. This will probably save us some money, but I did notice that breakfast is not included with it and it is at WS. It is a good thing I brought lots of instant oatmeal!
This past Sunday our pastor asked if the girls and I could come to church early (Barry was already there). What a special blessing it was to have the elders gather around us, lay hands on us and pray for us! I am so excited about bringing Melina to church for the first time! I imagine holding her in her little asian wrap and her hopefully clinging to me and learning to know I am her mommy. Oh how I yearn for her and to bring her home! I pray that she cries...that she has not yet learned that crying is futile, but if she has, that she would learn to cry so that we can comfort her and show her love.
I probably won't post until we get to China so be sure to keep checking! Hopefully, I won't have trouble viewing it so that we can post and keep you all up to date.
P.S. I saw ML in the grocery store and it is such a great feeling having so many of you excited for us. So thank you so much for rejoicing with us when we are rejoicing and for grieving with us when we have grieved! We have had the spectrum of emotions this year, haven't we? You all are the gospel!!