Happy Family of Five!!!: Adoption/Travel/Beijing

The last couple of days have been great! It has still been very cold, today coldest yet. Saturday we spent the day at the Cloisonne Factory and the Great Wall. It was an awesome trip and the wall is so unbelievable and beautiful. I must say that it was a little steeper climb than we expected, but we made it! We took a cable car part of the way up and then climbed the rest of the way. For lunch they took us to a restaurant where we were served some interesting, very authentic Chinese food. We did try as much as we could, but it is just not like the Chinese at home! Today we went to Tinnamen Square, Forbidden City and the city of Hutong. Me and Missy thought we had gotten left at the square, but luckily they retrieved us! Forbidden City was a very huge place and very beautiful. It was built in 1407 during the Ming Dynasty by the Emperor. I can't imagine something like this place being built that long ago. We then went to Hutong which is a small area of Beijing and we took rides through the narrow city streets on bicycles, which our guide Daniel called our Mercedes. He was quite funny and we enjoyed his tour. It was very humbling to see how the people here live. They do not even have restrooms in their homes, they have community restrooms, that he said have not been there long. I cannot say enough how much we have enjoyed our travel group. Especially the Valentines who live in our hometown and go to our church. It is crazy we had to go 8000 miles away to meet them. For those of you who know them and go to our church, the next time you see Darren, just approach him and say, "Brad, can we touch your enormous calves and take your picture?" He has been quite the celebrity around here, along with everyone else. We definitely stand out in the crowd. One last thing that has been quite the adventure are riding on the streets with the other vehicles. The laws of the road are only "guidelines" they are not the rule by any means. They drive absolutely crazy and LOVE to honk their horns at everything and anybody. You take your life into your own hands when crossing on foot. It has been a great experience and just way too much to catch it all in such a short time. Missy has been a great travel partner and we have had a ton of laughs so far. Tomorrow is Madie day. We leave the hotel at a bright and early 4:50 am to go to the airport and head to Guangxi/Nanning City. I expect to have her by early afternoon. I am so excited and thank God that this day has come. Please pray for us and pray for Madie and that this transition is as easy as possible on her and that she will start to bond with me very quickly. Pray that we all stay healthy and safe while traveling. I don't think I will be getting very much sleep tonight! I will try to post pictures of Madie soon:) Enjoy a few pics from the last couple of days!