Beijing

We have just finished two exhausting and marvelous days seeing the sights of Beijing. We had a very nice travel guide and a van/driver take us all over from 8am until 7pm both days. The food has been delicious and the shopping fun, but climbing the Great Wall on a beautiful clear day with warm temperatures and blue skies was our favorite time. We have all learned to love tea and even learned the special way of making the yummy teas that the Chinese make. Our rickshaw ride today through an older and poor section of Beijing was most fascinating and fun. We have now viewed how the emporers for centuries have lived and also how the common people live. Tomorrow we will fly to Guangzhou and get ready to meet Caleb YuDong on the following day. We are so excited to meet him and give him tons of kisses and hugs as soon as he will let us.

arrival in Beijing

We have made it safely to Beijing and are all doing well, except for fighting the jet lag. We are experienced travelers and have been through this jet lag thing before, but were totally not able to stay awake until bedtime tonight. I finally dragged myself out of bed at 7:30 pm to shower and snack a bit, but George and Noel are still sleeping. I wonder how early they will awake. So, pray for our health (we all have a bit of congestion) and for the jetlag. Tomorrow, we have a full day of sightseeing around Beijing ending with the Acrobat Show tomorrow night. So, that will force us to regain some sort of schedule. Kathy (our agency rep here in China) met us at the airport and brought us to our hotel. We talked the entire way and she answered questions and also talked about the week ahead. She told us that the caretakers for Caleb have been preparing him well for the adoption. She also helped us learn how to pronounce his name, and Bethany did the best with that. We are going to have our guide the next couple days help us practice some basic words and keep working on the name, too. We found out that YuDong means Universal/Eastern. I am still in the jetlag fog, but it seems to have a wonderful meaning of where he began his life and also that he will one day understand the world as a whole and will know the Creator that made the universe and that created him and loves him. We flew over the arctic from Chicago to China and were thankful at many times there was no need for emergency landings. We even had a wonderful look at part of the Great Wall while flying in, about 30 minutes before landing. We will update again after seeing more of Beijing tomorrow. Thanks for following along on our journey.

A Surprise Baby Shower for Caleb

Last night I was meeting a few friends for dinner and when I arrived, there were about twenty friends and my daughters there to surprise me with a shower. They totally overwhelmed and surprised me with their support and love. Caleb now has lots of toys, educational toys, little boy toys and clothes for when he comes home. It was also great to spend some time with my friends before we embark on this great adventure. The journal decorated for the adoption trip and the scrapbook all ready to fill in the appropriate details and photos are awesome. I also was pretty excited with the wooden letters that spelled CALEB and the photo frame with Mommy and Daddy on it. I know he will enjoy those special things one day that tell of his story in our family. Caleb even got his own rolling carry on filled with fun activities for the trip.

On the invitation they used this well known quote:

Not of my flesh, nor bone of my bone.
But still miraculously my own.
Never forget for a single minute.
You didn’t grow under my heart, but in it.
-Fleur Conkling Heylinger

We leave for China in one week. Thank you dear friends for the support and encouragement!
Thank you Jesus!

Picture of Caleb

This is my new little brother! i cant wait to see him! im goin on the china trip with my parents and my big sister...man hes 1 lucky boy...to think about all those kisses hes gonna get! :) We adopted another boy from Ukraine when i was only 9 years old. my sister was 12 then. he got a lot of kisses. that was about 3 1/2 years ago. he is now 10 years old. he still is getting lots of kisses and hugs. more than my bio brothers anyway (they dont really like it when i kiss them). he fits in so well with our family and i know caleb will be the perfect 8th day of the week. That's what we call our family-the 7 Days-Since our last name is day. Well now I have to go to bed. I'll write again later. Bye
-B-e-t-h-a-n-y- :)

Travel Plans Are Made!

We are leaving San Antonio on October 28th for Beijing. We will have two days to sight see in Beijing and then head down to Guangzhou to meet our son. Our gotcha day will be November 2nd and we will be staying in the Holiday Inn Shifu, a new hotel with larger rooms, etc. George and Noel will head home on the 11th, and the rest of us will come home on November 15th. We are so excited to meet our new son and brother. Grandma and Grandpa will come to Texas to take care of the boys while we are away. We are thankful for their help!