smogville

This was the first sight I had after walking out of the hotel.

I grew up in L.A. and have NEVER seen the likes of this. The pollution is so bad that you have to brush your teeth after taking a walk. I opted to eat in tonight simply b/c I didn't want to dirty my clothes by walking across the street.

amazing. g8 has some work to do still yet.

First Day In Beijing

After our 18 hour travel day and crossing the international date line, CHI had no mercy. We were up at 8:00 AM touring the Tianamen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall.

Thus, the coffee in our hands.
It wasn't bad either.

Tomorrow we get Mia.
dan

Dan and Sallie Arrived Safely with All of Their Luggage

I talked to Dan this morning around 9:30 am our time and they had just gotten to their hotel room. Praise God they arrived safely and have all of their luggage.

They got hung up at the airport because another Children's Hope Couple that arrived on the plane did not get their luggage. Dan asked that you all be praying for them. They are really stressed out about it. All of their baby stuff was in their checked bags.

So I am bummed because we have hit a little snag on the blogging. It is looking like our blog is being blocked in China. Dan cannot access it. He can access just about everything else we tried. So I guess I am going to have to brush off my technical skills and see if there is any way around it. We tried some initial URL redirecting and that was not working....So stay tuned.

what a travel day...

We were dropped off at KCI at 6:30 am on Thursday, 1.17 and arrived in Beijing, China on Friday, 1.19 at 10:00 PM. We found our luggage easily - but the other CHI couple that was on our same plane was not as fortunate. All THREE of their bags were missing and, to date, have not even been traced. Please pray for them as they are entirely out of sorts right now.

Dan and Sallie are in the Air Right Now

Dan and Sallie left this morning at 9:00 am and will arrive in Beijing 22 hours later. After an entire day of packing and repacking I think they are ready. Sallie, Mia and Dan's stuff is all spread across three bags so finding something to wear is going to be interesting.

Unfortunately they started out the long trip exhausted. Not having much sleep in the last few days. I am just hoping and praying that they can sleep on the plane. They called me from Minneapolis to say that they were about to board the plan for Tokyo and that all was well so far.

Art that Speaks a Thousand Words...Part 1

Mia, I was out looking for accessories for your room (I will teach you all about the little touches) and I found this to put over your crib. Now I must confess I am hoping to return it and order one in yellow instead but I had to take a picture right now and write this. Yes, daddy is going to tell about how I am the return queen, but I am getting so much better. Anyway, I just saw this and got so excited. When I showed it to Daddy he got all teared up. My sweet you are already so deeply loved.

Art that Speaks a Thousand Words...Part 2

Mia We Are Coming!!!!

We got the approval on January 3rd to buy our plane tickets. Dan will be heading out on January 17 and returning on the 31st. That means that on January 21st Mia will meet her daddy - the man who will think she hung the moon.

As you can imagine, I have gone absolutely crazy with shopping, number crunching, shopping some more, doing paperwork, finishing her room, packing, searching the web for the right things to pack, freshening up on adoption literature (since I read them two years ago), giving Dan daily synopsises on my readings and dreaming about the next chapter of our journey.

Hang on sweet Mia. Just two more weeks. We are coming!