Such Tourists

"It's funny that growing up in So. California, I was forever making fun of tourist. They took pictures of the stupidest things and just stuck out. Yeah, today we soooooooo were the tourists!!! Somehow I didn't think we would be stared at this much in Beijing but we were. Emily experienced her first taste of "celebrity" when a father was trying to be inconspicuous and get his daughter to inch closer and closer to Emily so he could take their picture together. Allie saw what he was doing, put Emily next to her and posed with a big dorky grin. They were thrilled!!!!

As you can tell from the picture of us in Tienanmen Square it was pretty overcast and foggy in Beijing today. My pictures weren't coming out that great because my new camera doesn't have a "Hot & Muggy" setting!

Since Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City are next to each other and cover 150 acres, we walked through them both in about two hours. I can't begin to describe the crowds of people. The only thing it can be compared to is Disneyland on main street during the fireworks show at the end of the day. I'm so thankful that it's not that crowded everywhere but in MANY places it was worse!

From there we went to the Summer Place. We're getting a kick out of the street vender's. They are pretty pushy but not much different than Mexico. Their are many that sell fruit on these bicycle carts and we are enjoying all the types of fruit we have never seen before. I guess I should say that we are enjoying looking at the unusual fruits because we can't actually eat them!

The Summer Palace gardens were very pretty, even with the fog everywhere.

The lake there is a large but shallow man made lake. It's pitiful but I couldn't help but think "Man that's a pretty tank!"

From there we headed to dinner which was our best meal so far. We were greeted by this huge Buddha. Check out all the cash that people have given him in the hopes of good luck...so sad. Allie referred to it as Jaba The Hut. The food there was wonderful even though we had no idea what a few things were. It cracks me up that you are served on glass of soda with your meal and after that you have to pay extra. So our guides bring in cases of bottled water for us because the restaurants don't care if you bring in your own drinks.

We were almost late to the Acrobats show that finished up our day. They wouldn't allow us to take pictures of any of it but it was great and Emily LOVED it! She seems to really be enjoying everything though! She has made friends with a thirteen year old girl named Meridith who is very sweet. They are so excited to be meeting their new sisters soon!

Tomorrow we will play tourist again after church. Then we' pack up and get ready to leave first thing Monday morning to go to SHANDONG!!! I can't believe we will meet KayLi in one day. Until than it has been great to get to know the other families in our group and learn how God has worked in their lives through their adoptions. He is such an awesome God! To hear the ways that He has called these families to adopt, really helps you get a better idea of how close this is to His heart. He truly is a Father to the Fatherless!!!!!

Thanks so much for all the e-mails and comments. I appreciate your encouragement more than you know!!!!

Love Y'all!