Leaving Beijing

Here is the latest on Tracy and Jeremiah:

Yesterday we visited the Jade Factory, The Great Wall, The Olympic Park (the Bird's Nest and the Water Cube where Michael Phelps swam in the Olympics), and a Chinese Acrobat Show. We had another traditional Chinese lunch - it was very good. Last night, we went to Pizza Hut with some of the other American families. Tracy is very happy because she gets to spend time with all of the little girls :)

We slept great last night! We just finished eating breakfast in the hotel. We are leaving Beijing and flying to our son's province, Zhengzhou, around noon today. We have about an hour and a half flight and then we will drive to our hotel. There are 35 people with us, so we're enjoying getting to know the other families and children. This morning I got to hold Julia Day, a 3 year old that was adopted as an infant. She sang some beautiful songs to me and it really made my heart long to hold Phillips.

All of the babies and kids (one year olds through 13 year olds) will be brought to the registration office tomorrow afternoon to meet us. The best part of our trip so far has been that we got to spend out 40 minutes talking with one of the adopted girls, she is 13, and is from the same orphanage as our son. We were so blessed to have two translators with us and we stood together at the Olympic park and I got to ask all kinds of questions. The girl hadn't smiled the whole time but when she found out we were adopting a little boy from her orphanage, she lit up. The older children help take care of the younger ones, and our son was one of the babies she took care of.

She said she plays with him everyday! She must have told the translator 5 times, to tell me that he is "chubby"...he is "fat" and she would puff out her cheeks to show us with a huge smile. She said over 100 babies/children live in their orphanage. They give him one bottle in the morning and fish soup for lunch. When I asked what else they eat, she said "sometimes we get rice". She also told us at 10am and 3pm they sometimes get "cake" but I think that was changed in translation. I asked if our baby ever got to play outside and she said, "no, the mommy - the nanny- gives them some little toys to play with in the room." She also shared that our son is very terrified of men, and she pointed to Jeremiah and said "he is soooo tall, your baby will be scared of him". She also shared that our baby was very "unlucky" and now he is "lucky" because he will be with an American family who loves him so much. The orphanage has been telling our son, that he is going to America on Monday (we will get him Monday) and that he is a "very lucky boy". The 13 year old girl had tears in her eyes and smiled at me and kept saying, "I knew you were coming to get him, but I didn't know I would get to meet you. He is so lucky. Now he will have love."

We will try to post pictures and an update as soon as possible when we get him!

Busy in China!!

Hello, this is Tabitha, once again. I received another e-mail from Tracy tonight. She writes: Good morning from Beijing, China. Yesterday we visited Tienanmen Square. The presidential brigade went through while we were there! It was a
beautiful day despite the heavy smog covering. We toured the forbidden city for hours. We went to lunch at a traditional Chinese restaurant...we sampled many dishes: duck soup, steamed cauliflower, pork meatballs, sliced beef, sprouts, rice, etc. Jeremiah had a Chinese beer and I had a coca light - diet coke. We also toured the silk factory and watched how they spin the silk. I bought a watch from a "mosquito" street vendor for two dollars because we spent the first day not knowing what time it was because we are so used to our laptops and cell phones. We also experienced a rickshaw ride - very fun. We toured a traditional Chinese home...no bathroom! They have to use the public toilet that about 10 families share down the street. Some of the homes do have solar showers (I thought of my mom - she has a solar shower on her deck to shower off when you get out of the lake).

Today we will visit the great wall, the jade factory, the bird's nest and the
water cube (Olympic swimming). This is our last night in Beijing. Tomorrow we
will fly to Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan. There are 35 Americans in our group! We will all travel together and they will bring the babies to use at the
registration office. I say "babies" but some families are adopting toddlers, like us, and older children. There are a mixture of boys and girls being adopted, all with special needs, some very mild and some more severe. Many of the families have been here before and are returning to adopt their second Chinese child.

We have enjoyed getting to know the other families. We have been surrounded by some great men and women of faith. I will share more when we get back.