Gotcha Day

Gotcha day is the day you receive your child. And receive Bennett we did! The day started with flight further South in China. We were met at the Nanjing airport by our very capable guide Jane. We were quickly whisked to our hotel for a few minutes before jumping back on our bus to pick up our children. We arrived at the office to see everyone waiting. Jane mentioned this office was more relaxed than some. So, there was no offiicial presentation of our children. We walked over to the child that matched our photos and introduced ourselves. We were able to play with Ben for some time before we had to pick him up. I think that was much better for all the children. There were three boys and one little girl. The girl cried a bit but over all, things were peaceful. Ben was chatty and giggly as we played with a few toys I had picked out for our first meeting. The nannies did not need to tell us that he is very active. We figured it out fairly quickly. He is tanned from playing outside. His hands have a line where his coat sleeves end.

He surprised me by being interested in his new clothing. He was very excited to put them on!

Bennett came with a bag of things we sent in a care box in January. We were so pleased to see he had received the blanket, toys and most importantly an album of photos of his new home. The nannies were looking at the album with Ben when we came in. It's what Brad and Ben are holding in the video. We also got back a camera that was included in the box. We look forward to a view from Ben's life at the orphanage. They gave us one photo from his second birthday in January.

We had a preliminary round of paperwork on gotcha day and today we files out the last parts. It was so nice to have the rest of the day free! We got time to ease our dusty little boy into the bathtub.

Sunday Stuff

Eastern section of the Great Wall near the Gobi Desert

We were glad for the sun that warmed the mountainsde

Prettiest bathroom yet.

Last day before Bennett!

Beijing really is an incredible city that is 3,000 years old. Kilometer after kilometer of amazing high rises with new ones on the way. You can forget you are in a communist country.
Our hotel has 26 stories and I was surprised how easy it was to walk down.
We toured the the Tienanmen's Square and the Forbidden City. It amazed me how huge the Forbidden City was. We kept going through layer after layer of courtyards as well as hundreds of years of history. We ended the touring here with a rickshaw ride through the historic old town section. Let me tell you, there is no room for a bus to get through there.
Tomorrow we will with travel to the Nanjing with one other couple who has been with us here and meet up with two more families who did not choose to tour beforehand. We will get our children Tuesday afternoon. Yeah! Please pray for smooth transitions!

Some great links!

Here's a web site from one of the families who has done a better job with photos and stuff;
http://web.mac.com/raybeltran/Beltran_Family/%22East_to_Eden%22/%22East_to_Eden%22.html
They are one of the seven families here and they can't wait to pick up thier daughter, Eden. Their daughter Olivia has a great site too:
http://web.mac.com/raybeltran/Beltran_Family/Olivias_Blog/Olivias_Blog.html
We will be in a different Province than us but we will be together again at the last part of our trip in Guangzhou (pronounced "won jo".)
We have so appreciated getting to know these other families in our group. I can't image doing this without their part in our story to bring Bennett home. It has made our time here so much richer as we have been encouraged by thier own life stories. A bunch of us decided that while the touring has been great, we are all ready to move to the next stage of picking up our children!

P.S. We can't see the blog after we post or read comments until we are home.

Weekend photos

Chop sticks really do work when you don't have any other option!

Luggage by the pile. I wonder what percentage of the stuff we
brought along came from China in the first place!

Interesting street scene

Meet Joi, our Bethany guide in Beijing

Wonder of the World

The sun shone and warmed our visit to the Great Wall today. We took a gondola up the mountain and walked on a section of it. I pictured in my head a more flat surface along the top that was not based on reality. It had very steep ups and downs; some parts with high steps and other sections were just a steep slope. There were some women in heels climbing!
We had dinner at McDonald's and saw many Chinese families who all had one child. The menu was somewhat different. Instead of fries, I had corn for a side and a taro pie for dessert. Corn seems to be a favorite here – it was in the spaghetti sauce yesterday! Taro comes in different things also. The fish sandwich and fries were identical to U.S. McDonalds.
The last family to join our group includes parents, four children aged 12 – 17 and two grandmothers. The parents are both doctors, which is a comforting thought.

Sorry - photos later!

Bicycles and More Bicycles

Got out to the grocery store for bottled water and snacks, we got to check out the neighborhood here in this part of Beijing. LOTS of construction going on. Traffic is busy, darting everywhere with horns tooting. The most interesting part of street life was along the edge of the road: all the bicycles, mopeds, rickshaws, scooters and other contraptions.
Our group of seven families is about 30 people. We have a tour bus that shuttles us around. We went to an acrobatic show this afternoon. Incredible show of talent!
There is another group of families here at the hotel who are from Sweden who are in the adoption process. They have their children already, so we are enjoying seeing them around!