last day in Beijing

Today we woke up feeling iffy. Pepto seemed to help me for the most part. But Bobby has felt yucky all day long. He was a trooper, and he made it through the tour of the jade factory, hiked part of the Great Wall with JD, and then explored the cloisonne factory with us. But at that point, he was feeling pretty rough, so we took the subway home.

The jade factory was cool. We learned about the difference between jade and jadite, and we had the chance to watch carvings being done. The delicacy and detail of the artwork was truly amazing.

Apparently jade is to China what diamonds are to the United States. However, Chinese culture believes that the minerals within jade stimulate health and good blood circulation. They also rely upon symbols within jade carvings to bring them good health, wealth, and prosperity.

The Great Wall was incredible. However, it was humid and very hot, making the steep steps very hard to climb and even harder to descend. Our travel group is mostly fit and in good health, so we were embarassed to see little Chinese grannies virtually skipping up and down the steps while we were DYING from physical exertion.



Walking to the wall was an adventure in itself. Traffic was like nothing I've ever seen in my life. I am really glad we weren't smushed trying to cross several parking lots today. It's crazy crowded and aggressive, and people have to weave between moving tourist buses. Literally, there were just inches between us, and moving buses, and stone walls today. As much as I enjoyed the wall, I am so incredibly glad that part of our adventure is over.

By the time we reached the cloisonne factory, I was really tired. However, it was fascinating to see how much work goes into a piece of that pottery. We watched each step of the process, and I felt guilty to have passed by that form of art so casually in the past after seeing how every single tiny piece of metal is attached by hand, every gap filled by hand,every piece finished by hand. There is no telling how many hours go into a piece of even the simplest cloisonne. I will never pass by a cloisonne pot at T.J. Maxx casually again without thinking of the faces I saw today.


Tonight we are packing, because we fly to Zhengzhou tomorrow afternoon. Please pray for that in-country flight. We are not looking forward to it. The day after tomorrow, we will receive Moses. PLEASE also pray that we will all be healthy by then.

Something really neat is that our travel group is incredible. I LOVE the people in it. We have already made several good friends, and I'm so thankful to be sharing this experience with them.
I must run and pack for that trip. I'm so sorry these updates haven't reached you until today. I've tried to spend time writing every day, so you could stay in the loop. However, I entered the wrong email address for my friend at home, and I didn't realize that until this evening. I'll try to do better from now on.

Love, Bec

P.S. For my friends, I am not checking my email account while we are in China. So, if you want to contact us please use Bobby's email address at church. If you don't know it, please look on the church website. I'm not posting the name of our church here for privacy reasons.

P.S. (2) I'm also including a photo of a weird fish JD ate. Ugh.



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Welcome to our family’s adoption journey. As you read, you will see us stumble and take wrong paths. You will see our hopes surge and fall. You will see the gaps in our humanity, and how our God realigns us to His purposes over and again. We think the messiness of this process is important. Sometimes walking with God isn’t a neat, linear package that can be summarized in bullet points. More often, life ebbs and flows around our plans, while God works His sovereign wonders from it all. We are learning so much through this journey. And we are super excited about our new son. If you’d like to join us, we’d love to have you along for the ride.
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