The Young Family Farm »

oh my.

this update might be short–but not because we didn’t have a full day…but because momma is tired and needs to rest up for a BIG day tomorrow!

sooo….our day today started at 4am. (seriously?) too early for this momma!

we had to pack up and rearrange our luggage to be under 40 pounds for each piece for China’s inter-country flight (this is more than 10 pounds less than what the US and international flights are–so we had to do some rearranging. we also had to buy an another bag the night before just to rearrange as with p and loo packing all their things in a carry on–we could totally add on another bag with no added cost.) by the way–friends…please remind me to tell your the story about buying the luggage under ground for $30–and how the lady rode the suitcase like a horse to show me how durable it was. i’d pay good money to see that look on my loo’s face again!

sooo–we woke up at 4am. and we were out the door in taxis by 5:30 am heading for the Beijing airport. we got there at 6:15ish–checked in–and waited for boarding around 7:30am for our 8am flight.

i was so excited when they served breakfast on the flight because the hotel’s breakfast hadn’t started yet when we left–and we were all hungry. i looooove omelets–but y’all know how i feel about peas. peas and omelets just should never go together. just saying. momma ate it anyway:).

THEN–we arrive in our son’s provence around 11:45am and met our guide. we went to the bank to exchange currency. rico suave ran in to exchange while i stayed in the van with the driver and kids. it took FOREVER–and i mean forever. so i bonded with driver that speaks chinese–telling him all about my life in broken chinese and i even sang him “rock-a-bye baby” in chinese to show him my skills. my kids think i’m crazy:) we are having so much fun together by the way:)

then–we met some of our friends who live here for a late lunch–and had THE best Chinese meal we’ve had yet! yum!

after lunch–we got together and just visited our dear family friends and let our kids catch up and play together (we have been friends for over 10 years with dear friends here–so it’s so fun to get to be together this week and let our kids play together!)

THEN–my sweet friend Kadie and I scooted off for some mommy rest and girl time–and got foot massages for 30 yuan (around 5 bucks). Then we went out to dinner with a big group of friends and all our kids–a DELISH western restaurant. Afterwards–we had a momma shopping outing where Kadie and Sonya helped me load up on everything I could possibly need snack and food wish for Zeke. VERY thankful to have their help in knowing what snacks are typical for 2 year olds here so we can load up on things that he is already used to eating helping making the transition smoother. One of my sweet friends is even having her helper make the typical rice meal for me tomorrow for us to have on hand to feed him. SO THANKFUL FOR ALL OF THEIR HELP!!! AND as if that isn’t sweet enough–we are staying in one of their friends 4 bedroom apartment in the SAME complex as all of our friends here. We get to spread out–AND we have a washer and dryer…so excited about this one as we left our house last Wednesday and it was time to wash some clothes! YAY!

Today was definitely a full day–and on the agenda tomorrow is meeting our guide at 10am at the gate of the orphanage. I’m signing off as that’s just 12 hours away…and I’m really hoping for a good nights sleep:) I can’t believe it’s finally here!! The next post you see from us–will be pictures of us with our sweet boy!! Oh I can’t WAIT! Anticipating our time in the morning with our big kids as we prepare and have time with them before we go. I want to pinch myself as I can’t believe we are really about to meet him. I’m nervous. Excited. Scared. Hopeful. Anxious. Thankful. Humbled. and READY. Hope I can sleep tonight! Thank you so much for standing beside us and lifting us up on this journey to our son!

June 3rd, 2013 at 10am…oh I can’t WAIT!

xoxo!

andrea

DON’T WORRY. We did not skin a cat–nor did we eat one. But we DID “climb” the Great Wall today. Kind of. Today was a national holiday in China and every body and their mother was out of work today and spending time with their child. Most moms work in China–while the grandparents care for the kids–so all the mommas took off today for this special holiday. WHO KNEW that the Great Wall would be such a special to place today–oh my it was CRAZY.

Soooo…the Great Wall is at least an hour north of down town Beijing–and all the taxis and drivers AND our hotel said the only way to get out there was a cab. We got several quotes–and all were for round trip transit any where from $100 to $150. Momma not likey:). So–we jumped on old faithful (aka Beijing Subway). The blue line–to the red line–to the yellow line…3 switch-a-roos and rode it out as far as it would go north. The views were spectacular–and we made it pretty far north for just 25 cents each:). From there we got a cab to take us the rest of the distance for $20–and later found someone to take us back to the subway for less than that–so we made our transit go from sky high $100 to $150…to just around $40. YAY. That’s a really good deal folks. And we had quite a time. We also liked our new friend Mr. Cab driver who nearly took our lives in that time frame more than 100 times—I kid you not.

I did manage to take one picture from the cab on our little journey up…

Jet lag has OFFICIALLY hit us all today. So we decided there is more than one way to skin a cat–and instead of climbing up the Great Wall–we rode a cable care UP and walked down instead…or so we thought we were going to walk down:)

Here are a few pictures of our view today…

We were all so tired–and even with the help of Mr. Cable Car up–we needed help on our way down. We spotted a little ride down–and we took it:)

Here’s some action for you:

Randomly at the bottom of the Great Wall at this exit there were some bears there doing tricks.

THEN we made it home despite a few more near death experiences in the taxi. We rested–then went to an underground shop to buy an extra suitcase because ours weighed too much for tomorrow’s inter country flights so we have to spread some things out in another bag. Thankfully Parker and Laney packed all their things in carry ons so it’s not a big deal coming up with an extra bag.

Later we met up with one of my old college and China friends who now lives here in China–just north of Beijing!

Notice only Parker made it with us to dinner! Rico Suave and Loo bear were OUT with their jet lag by 7pm!! BUT it was nice to have some special time with my friend and my first little Parker-T!

Alright! That’s a wrap folks! Gotta crash myself now! We have to leave the hotel at 5:30am so we can be at the airport at 6:15am for our 8am flight to our son’s province! We should arrive at 10:45. Not sure yet if we will get to meet Zeke tomorrow or Monday!!! But we are officially SO close and we will post pictures as soon as we meet him!

Much love!!! xoxoxo!

Andrea

Oh my glory. It’s 3:30pm and we have ALREADY been to Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City AND Summer Palace. We WERE going to go to the Great Wall today–but I think we’ll save that for tomorrow along with Silk Alley, the Pearl Market and rickshaw rides in the older parts of Beijing. We also have a pizza party to go to tonight to see friends from the States who live here. FUN. Tomorrow we will get to see a friend of mine that lives outside of Beijing as well…so it’s such fun also reconnecting with some of my dear friends from college who still live here! FUN!

Sooooo–today (because of jet lag) we were up and at ’em at 5am! Laney and I went for a morning walk at 5:30 and counted down the minutes until breakfast started at 6:30. All four of us were pressed, dressed and at breakfast at 6:29am:). That’s a FIRST! Haha!! (We all know that’s the real reason I homeschool because we like to sleep in…JUST KIDDING:). Okay–so we had breakfast…which was HILARIOUS watching Parker and Laney go around to fix their plates. There were a few things they recognized, but for the most part I had to tell them what things were and they were sports trying a few things at breakfast time no less. We were out the door by 7:30 and hitting the subway.

You can take a cab for about $5-$20 depending on how far you are going–OR you can take the subway for 25 cents. YOU GUYS WHO KNOW US…know what we did:) We navigated the Beijing crazy subway–and it was honestly FUN!!! Now–we did this all day and never saw another foreigner in the subway station–when in Rome folks! Our first stop was Tiananmen Square. Laney and Parker got broken in to the wonder of being a child with blond hair in China in about 5 minutes. There was a LINE people—A LINE—for pictures with them. We let a few have their pictures and then we had to pull them away. Hilarious.

THEN–we had to wait in line for tickets for the Forbidden City…because–it didn’t open until 8:30am! Can y’all believe we were there that early;)?! My friends and family are laughing at this one I know:). I’m late FOR EVERYTHING and NOT A MORNING PERSON. As soon as I get over jet lag the old me will be back folks;). Don’t you fret!

SO–while I waited for tickets–Richard took P and L to sit in the shade…UNTIL they were once again bombarded for photo ops! He had to run from a crowd and hide them while I got tickets. Rico Suave tried to say it was because he looks like Brad Pitt. HAhahahah. So I got the tickets-and we explored away the Forbidden City…

THEN we decided to travel north of the city to the Summer Palace. OH MY. This is my FAVORITE of all the Beijing sites. Just beautiful to me. I honestly could skip everything in Beijing and just do this…okay–so you have to see the Great Wall when you are here–but I love the Summer Palace so much more than the square or the Forbidden City. We decided to be adventurous and take the 103 bus this time instead of the subway. It was actually so nice to sit down and let the wind blow in our faces–and it’s just as cheap as the subway.

When we got to the Summer Palace, Rico took the children to a secret hiding place this time (hahah) and I made a friend in line named Sure who is a student at the university here. He is trying to graduate to be a guide and he asked if he could get in some volunteer hours with us and be our guide for free–we’d just have to fill out a report for his teacher when he was done. We had a BLAST with him! He was so sweet–shared his father’s faith with us (in Budda) and we shared ours with him. It was a really, really sweet day! Such a blessing!!! He was really confused why we would come here to adopt when we have 4 children–but by the end of the day he got it…and I think we have a new friend. Richard was laughing at me calling me redonkulous sending him off with our email addresses…but you never know. (I met a sweet boy in high school in the airport too–who happens to live in our city in ATLANTA–who stays with his uncle but is only in Beijing visiting his parents. We are going to have him over for dinner when he gets back to Atlanta! So crazy the connections that can be made when you are constantly looking for how can you connect with other people. That’s what we are here for anyway, right?!) Okay–so Sure took us all around on the coolest Summer Palace tour you’ve ever been on. We even rented a boat and went all around the outside of the palace–letting the kids drive too and relax in the wind. IT WAS AMAZING!!! Parker was almost asleep after the hour boat tour!

Okay–you guys who know Rico Suave well–you have to go back and look at him in that pic driving the boat. SUCH. A. DORK. He started driving the boat that way to see if he could get a reaction out of Sure. I was laughing so hard at him being a nerd sitting up straight like that and had to explain to Sure that Rico Suave has problems. So funny!

SOoooo…THEN we took the Subway BACK. We made some friends on the Subway…I was totally pumped that I knew which lines to get off on and change on the other subway line to get to our hotel. We grabbed lunch at McDonalds of all things–and then we went to the underground WU MART (the Chinese version of Walmart with eel and such).

We are now back at the hotel. Rico and Loo bear have CRASHED. P is playing a game on the Kindle. And I’m updating YOU because my best friend Kelly insisted I update. SO…THERE YA GO KEEEEEEELLY. This one’s for you:)

Love you all to the moon and back! Mom and dad—PLEASE keep tagging me in those Facebook pictures and videos of Isaac and Frank. I miss them so much and every time we see little people I miss them more! BUT it’s all for another little person–and it’s going to be SO WORTH IT! I’m not sure if we will meet Zeke on SUNDAY OR MONDAY. I think it may actually be MONDAY…but I’ll definitely be posting pictures the moment he is in our arms. It is SO SURREAL and I can’t believe that we are actually about to meet him…AND that he’s coming home with us forever. It’s just hard to believe. You protect your heart for SO LONG in the journey to your child–and then…you are days away and you keep telling your heart that even now–you can go there. It doesn’t feel “safe” yet to let my heart go there–but we all know that it already has. God’s plans for your hearts–well, they are never safe. Nope. Just as the beaver in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe says himself–Aslan–he isn’t safe…BUT HE IS GOOD. Each step on this journey is a step of faith–toward your little love…taking risks–because they are worth it. It’s so unreal to me that THIS WEEKEND we will be in his city and we are just days away from meeting him now. It won’t be really real until Zeke is in our arms!

Alright. Hope y’all have a great night!

I have so much more to say…but I have to just add that I LOVE THIS COUNTRY. We have been shown such kindness as we have lived among the people today in the subway, buses and walking the streets. Such sweet moments with strangers and new friends–reminding me of my love for this place. I think it’s amazing how He writes our stories…and how this country has had a sweet place in my heart for so long. Little did I know the story He was writing…TRUST HIM FOR YOUR STORY!! He writes the best ones!

Love you all!!!

xoxo!

Andrea

We made it safely to Beijing!! We have been up for more than 30 hours…so we are about to CRASH! It’s night time here–so we are going down for the count so we are rested up for our big day on the town tomorrow! P and Loo are doing great. Loo got sick on the flight from Tokyo to Beijing–she gets motion sickness–so I was impressed how well she did how long she did. She is a happy camper now–walking around singing a song she made up with “Ni hao” in it:)

I’m sure tomorrow night we’ll have lots of pictures to share of our day of adventures!! Can’t wait to grab a shower and GO TO BED! Richard just went out on the street to get us some bottled water. Sweet man came back with a large chicken talon snack for Parker. NICE. Needless to say, Parker didn’t eat it or think it was funny. Bless their hearts that they have us for parents;)

Blessings to y’all! I can’t believe we are HERE!

NIGHT! NIGHT!