AWESOME day!!!

Ok, I'm going to start out by apologizing. Yes, there are some pictures that I could put up. But the problem is that the camera was left in the OTHER bedroom... where I currently don't have access to. So, this post will be lacking in that area; I'm sorry!!!

Today, we got Amy Meng!!! She is so sweet and outgoing! When we got to the room where all the kids who were getting adopted today were, she came over and pointed to us, recognizing us from the pictures we sent! It was so awesome!

She loves holding hands with people in our family. Whenver we go anywhere, she always finds hands to hold (which is perfectly fine by us!). Mostly, it's Josh (cuz he's kinda pushy like that... no offense meant, just stating the fact) and my mom (which she's THRILLED about!)

I honostly can't tell you how it felt when we met her. If you were looking at my previous posts, I was serioulsy freaking out beforehand. But when we met her, all of my fears were gone! *poof!* It was unlike any emotion I've felt before. Mostly, it was a sense of calmness and love for her; all the fear was gone!

Ok, just showing how good her English is, I kinda forgot to introduce myself when we were meeting her. I mean, she knew that I was her sister, but I failed to tell her my name. So we're walking, and she turns to me and says, "Sister, what is your name?"

Well, thanks again for your prayers!!! Luv ya and miss ya all!!!

We're back!

Ok, so we're back at the hotel now with AMY MENG!!!! Seriously, she is SOOO sweet!!! I'll put up pictures later of her, but I just wanted to say that everything went well. And for those of you who've wondered, she does speak a little bit of English (like simple words and phrases). Thanks for keeping us in your prayers!!! More later!!

34 MINUTES!!!!!

Only 34 minutes until we leave to get Amy!!!! Can you say EXCITED???? (please note my excitement is expressed through all the exclamations). But I am BEYOND nervous and BEYOND excited. I can't BELIEVE that we're finally getting her.... it's been like 3 years since we started the process.

Will she like me???? Will she like our family???? DO I WANT TO KNOW????

I'm having trouble... majorly stressing..... but stressed in an excited way.... is than an oxymoron?? EEEEEEEEEEEK!!!

Goodbye Beijing, Hello Zhengzhou

Today, we left Beijing.... Honestly, it wasn't enough time. Beijing was AWESOME!!! All the people we met there were so nice and friendly. Also, they seriously all adored Josh. Of course, he loved the attention from them, too.
But now, we're in Zhengzhou (pronounced jeng-jo). So far, the only place we've been here is the airport and hotel. But from what we could see during the drive from point A to point B, it's a lot different.
Before I talk anymore about today or anything, though, I'd like to share about our day yesterday; our last day in Beijing.


The Jade Factory

So, the first thing we did yesterday was head over to this jade factory. It was pretty cool! I especially enjoyed the store.

The only thing I bought at the store was a cell phone charm that means "peace". Of course, I can't use it yet since my cell phone is at home :(

In the picture, it's this big pirate ship made of jade. Up close, it's even more fascinating than the picture!!!

My favorite thing there was this huge wall with all these little tiny designs carved out of jade. But, I wasn't allowed to take a picture of it because it was copyrighted or something. You'll just have to take my word that it was amazing.


The Great Wall

The next thing we did was something I'm sure everybody has dreamed of doing- walking the Great Wall of China. Of course, we couldn't walk the entire thing.

I have 2 words to describe this:
1. AMAZING!!!!
2. exhausting!

Everyone in my family, except my mom, climbed to the top of the Wall. It is an intense climb! One thing that makes it really hard is that the steps are so uneven. For example, there would be steps that were literally 18 inches, and then the next step would only be like 2 inches.

After making it to the top, coming down was still pretty hard. My legs were shaking so bad! Even hours after being off of the wall, some peoples legs were still shaking!

But, I would totally do that again! Oh, and did I mention that it was snowing?


Lunch
Lunch was the next thing we did. It wasn't as good as Friday's lunch, but it wasn't terrible either. Except I didn't enjoy that the fish they put in the table was still looking as if it was almost in it's original form.... which meant I felt as if I was being stared at by a dead fish. Not exactly the most appetizing thing. I didn't eat any of, I will admit.


The Olympic Village
We stopped here to take pictures... I was suffering from major jet-lag, and didn't get out of the bus. It was pretty cool looking though! (yes, this means I saw the actual building where Michael Phelps swam).


The Acrobatics show!
I will admit to you, I missed part of the beginning, since I couldn't stay awake. But, that was only like 10 minutes according to my mom! I have no clue how ANYBODY could do this! I would be terrible at it!

There was this one act where these two guys went around on this giant thing that looked like a hamster wheel. But, it was like a double hamster wheel! Then, one of them went on the outside thing and blindfolded himself!!! And then, to make matters worse, he nearly fell off!!!


But now, we are in Zhengzou!!!! There's 9 families in our group here (back in Beijing, we had 11 or 12, but some of the families went to different provinces). There's like 4 kids between the ages of 4-6 here and then there's 4 of us who are between 12-16.

Tomorrow morning at 9 AM (it'll still be Sunday for you- 7 PM) we'll finally get to meet Amy!! I can't wait!! Pray for us!!! Luv ya and miss ya!!!

Ahh.... Beijing!

Ok, I'm going to start out by saying that today was AMAZING! We spent all day going around Beijing, and it was MARVELOUS! Seriously, I could live here (that is, if I didn't have so many awesome friends back home who would be very upset with me if I forgot to return back to ol' Greeley). Just a warning, this post shall be long.

The Food

This is probably the dullest of the subjects, but it is the tastiest (Katrina, you can tell your dad that I still haven't had any cheese... sad, huh?). But for breakfast, our hotel had its continental breakfast- it had everything from Danish pastries to yogurt; just about any breakfast food that you can think of, they had. I must say, it was delicious!
For lunch, we were taken to some Chinese restaurant. If you ever want to get fat, China is the place to go! We were given these little tiny plates, but then they brought the food and place it on your table. There were like 10 different plates of food to choose from!!! And the amount on those plates were A LOT!

First stop: Tiananmen Square

This place is HUGE!!! Our guide said it can hold more than 1 million people at a time, making it the largest city square in the world. Obviously, there were a lot of Chinese people there. It was actually pretty cool, because the people there obviously weren't around Americans a lot, so there was lots of picture taking of us!

One family in our group has this little blonde girl. Honestly, she must have had her picture taken for Chinese people well over twenty times. Someone actually came up to Nikki and asked to have their picture taken with her!

I was in awe of the size of this place- as I said above, it was enormous. If you weren't careful, it would be so easy to get lost. But, nobody did, which was good.

The Forbidden City

This was our next stop after Tiananmen Square. Actually, it's right across the street, so we just walked there.

Oh my goodness, this place was AMAZING! This imperial palace is the largest and the best preserved palace in the world. It was so fascinating to learn about; like which doors were for the emperor to enter, what the different building structures were used for, etc.

When people think of the old China (like, forever ago China), this is the sort of thing that they

would picture. The roofs of the buildings all have that style that is thought of. Again I say, I was AMAZED!!! (I hope that your getting my point about its amazingness).

There was one time while we were in there that Josh became the center of attention. It started out that this couple comes up and asks if they can take a picture with him. My parents agree, and they take the picture. Then, this other Chinese lady sees that they just got a picture, so she comes and wants one with Josh, too. After that, this group of monks (at least I think they were monks) comes and they need their picture taken with Josh. It was so cute! See, even in other countries people can see how adorable my little bro is.

Yuanlong Silk

Yuanlong Silk is a silk factory in Beijing. It was really fascinating to see how they made the silk. Actually, all of us had the chance to help make a blanket (it didn't really turn out... the guide at the factory said none of us would get a job there today).

The best part about this place was the shopping! I'm sure we were driving my dad crazy, because when us girls get shopping, we get shopping! Actually, only Cassie and I got anything; I got a classic Chinese blouse and she got a classic dress. They are so awesome looking!

While we were doing our shopping stuff, Josh made some more Chinese friends. The clerks all thought he was the most adorable thing! (which he is). He was actually acting kind of shy around them, though. But, apparently they didn't seem to mind. By the time we left, he had a circle around him consisting of 3 or 4 of the workers. They also gave him a gift; it was some little trinket thingy.

Hutong Tour
After the silk factory, we headed over to Hutong, where we got like a tour of the actual city of Hutong (like where the people live). But, to get over to the houses, we got to ride on rickshaws! It was so much fun!!! Nikki and I rode in one, Cass and my mom rode in one, and my dad and Josh rode in one. If you have never ridden in one before, it is unlike anything else!

In Hutong, most of the people live in apartments where the paint is all peeling off and aren't in the greatest condition. But, we got to see on the "rectangle houses", which is the most common kind of house. In those houses, people have a community bathroom and showering facility. Another thing about these rectangle houses is that they share a courtyard.

Done!

After we were done with that, we headed back to our hotel, which is where we are now! Originally, we were going to see an Acrobatics show, but now we think we'll do that tomorrow instead. Tomorrow is our day to see the Great Wall of China! I can't wait!

Although this day was AWESOME, may we not forget our reason for being in China- to get Amy!!! And when does this happen????

3 more days!!!!!!!

We're HERE!!!

Oh my goodness!!! FINALLY we are in China!!! Beijing, to be exact. So, Tuesday we flew from Denver to Minnesota, from Minnesota to Tokyo, and from Tokyo to Beijing. Just so you know, the flight from Minnesota to Tokyo was 11 hours long!!! And I discovered I cannot sleep on planes lol.... I got about 45 minutes total on the planes.

What I must say about Tokyo is that it is green!!! I wasn't expecting that; there's like mountains of trees!!! It's was so awesome! Oh, later I'll put up some pictures of the Tokyo airport; they had an oragami museum in it even! Even the bathrooms were amusing!!! (3 types of toilets: regular, the ones that spray you, and a squatty potty...)

Today, we're doing a lot. Such as visiting Tiananmen Square (largest city square in the world, if you were wondering; it holds more than 1 million people at a time!), the Forbidden City (largest and best preserved imperial palace in the world), the Hutong Tour (I have no clue what that is!), and an Acrobatics show.

What else is there to say.... hm... the problem is that there's TOO much to say!!!

Oh! For you movie buffs, I finally saw "The Dark Knight"... or at least most of it. I was watching it after I watched "Mama Mia!". The part I didn't see I'm glad I didn't (Cassie told me about it). I watched that from Tokyo to Beijing... that was honostly the best plane ride!

Well, I should probably get off now... I'll put more up tonight!!! (which will be your morning today... cuz I'm in tomorrow-land already!!! hehehe) TTYL!

Haha

See, now that the packing is basically done, I can have fun with it. Yes, I do realize how dorky this picture looks, but do I care? Nope!

This is the main suitcases that we're bringing. Of course, we still have all of our carry-on's, personal items (which are basically more carry-on's), and then our toiletries bag. So, there really is more. Not that anybody would ever question whether or not this is all of our luggage. But, if you did, now you know the answer. I don't think we could live off of that for 2 1/2 weeks!

Also, please make note of the fear in my face ;) See, the packing really is a scary thing!!! lol this may have been a better picture to put up yesterday, being Halloween, the day of scariness!!!