Beijing Day 2 - Great Wall

Oh man, we had an awesome day at the Great Wall. The pictures will not even come close to showing how large and amazing it is. Where we climbed it was very steep and even scary at times (coming down is scarier - going up is just hard) The steps are all uneven and some are really tall and others are just a few inches high... also they aren't flat, probably a lot of wear on them over the years. Our legs were shaking a little and we held the rail the whole way. (If that helps give you a picture... but I'm not sore or anything - it's just very different from a daily exercise.) We saw the mountains surrounding us and the blue sky and sunshine of the day and rejoiced that we could see this part of the world.




We saw all these locks along the wall and asked our guide what they meant. He said that the people believe that the wall has enough power to grant their wish. These locks symbolize their hopes or dream and if they come true they will come back and find the lock and unlock it to take it back.
We went to an amazing show of acrobatics and were certainly entertained by the crazy things that they could do - the girls could bend in ways that made us cringe and the guys did things that I think could be life threatening but they are professionals and we enjoyed the show. We don't have picture of this but thought you would like to know. (:


Cody did find steak flavored chips while we were there that he liked very much! So funny to see this flavor.
And I have very much enjoyed the beer here. It is a lighter beer and is rather refreshing.
On our way home we past the Water Cube and the Bird's Nest - it is weird to see this in person after seeing this on the tv, everyday we saw Phelps win his medals right here! I love it. You can see all the new add-ons in Beijing that were for the Olympics. I love the architecture everywhere... very modern and very old right next to each other.

It is early morning for us now and we will be heading to the airport at 9am (in 4 hours) to fly to Zhengzhou and be in our baby girl's hometown. We are a little sad to leave our guide here and to know that it will be a long time until we are able to be back... but SOOOO excited to be near our girl this afternoon. Our time is almost here.

Cody and I have had an amazing peace while we have been here. We thought that we would be anxious but we have felt so at peace and rest in our hearts. Thank you for your prayers. God is with us! All along this journey to Mae we have been overwhelmed by the details that God has worked out in a way that we have known He has this all in his hands. I have always known that God is loving, that He is good and that He loves His children, but during this journey my faith has grown immeasurably. The longing for Mae and pursuit to get her that is in my every thought these last few months is only a small example for the way our heavenly Father pursues and loves His children. I have prayed protection and peace for Mae and know that our God was right with our daughter all the way across the world at that very moment and it was not a stretch for Him. As Lyn told me, this is cake for God and so I have comfort in this. We don't have anything to worry about.

Love to you all. The comments are sooooo great to read and we feel so encouraged by reading them.