We Are HERE!!!!

FIRST FULL DAY IN BEIJING

We are here!!!! We arrived in Beijing last night around 7, and by the time we got to our hotel and was checked in, it was close to 9:00. We were starving!!! Our flight over was GREAT, but then, the food was definitely airplane food, so we needed a meal. Unfortunately, everything near our hotel was closed, except for the famous 7 Eleven store across the street. Our evening meal ended up being yogurt, almonds, chips, and chicken for Roger.

Our bodies are apparently somewhere between home time and China time, as we all woke up this morning around 4:30 am and couldn't go back to sleep! That just gave us plenty of time to get ready for our day of site seeing. There is one other family in our group that is here with us now. They are the Nasons and are from Indiana. They have a five year old daughter, Zoey, whom they adopted a year ago, and this trip they are adopting a 17 month old little boy. There are six more families in our group who are to arrive by Saturday.

Our first stop was Tian'anmen Square and The Forbidden City. Even though it was our third trip there, and we really weren't looking that forward to going back, I honestly learned a lot today that I didn't remember from our past visits. The history behind it all is very interesting and amazing. Our guide, Jason is AMAZING, and is a walking expert on Chinese history. Tian'anmen Square is where many monumental events in Chinese government have taken place in the past. Chairman Mao's body is entombed in his crystal casket here. You can see his picture in the background of one of our family pictures. Even though there is so much history behind his reign here in China, he actually affected our lives, too. Had it not been for the "one child" policy he enacted during his reign, we might not have ever been afforded the opportunity to adopt our girls. I'm not saying I think that policy was a good thing because I don't think it was good or fair either, but the good that came from the bad is
in the form of Molly Kate, Callie Beth, Eiley Joy, and soon to be Ansley Grace. And even though more than likely all of our girls didn't end up in the orphanage because they were either girls or a second or third child, the abandonment of children was an effect that rippled from his policy.

The Forbidden City was built during the 1400's during the reign of two very famous dynasties here. It is absolutely amazing to see, and the story behind its construction is amazing. I can't begin to tell you, though, all the superstitions that molded the way it was built, and unfortunately even though so many steps were taken to ward off evil spirits as well as enemy forces, it was attacked multiple times, and one emperor was even slain in his courtyard, and by a woman at that! There were places on the wall built to touch for good luck, and there were even specific ways to walk and step across the 12 inch thresholds in each door to ward off evil spirits and bad luck. Men were to step over the threshold with their left foot and women with their right. NEVER was one to step ON the threshold. Many of the emperors from the dynasties who lived in the Forbidden City died at a young age. It was attributed to some having as many as 3,000 concubines!!!

After leaving the Forbidden City, we took a rickshaw ride to one of the community hutongs. Hutong actually means corridor. A hutong is a community shared dwelling. As many as three generations of a family may live in one. These dwellings have narrow corridors that lead outside from one room to another. Rather than being like a house with several rooms, the one we visited to day was made up partially of separate rooms that had to be entered from outer doors. Another part was two stories high with multiple rooms. Hutongs do not have bathrooms in them. Community bathrooms are shared among several hutongs. The pictures I've shared are from the one we visited. . It was purchased approximately 150 years ago by family generations back. To purchase this hutong today, the cost would be approximately $2,000,000 in American money. Yes.....you heard me right. What we would term as almost dilapidated and not fit to live in is considered a GREAT possession in the Chinese culture. Jason, our guide told us, too, that it is estimated that the combined length of the corridors in hutongs across China, if connected, would be as long as the Great Wall.

The family who lived in the hutong we visited today was SO nice and hospitable. It was obvious that they were very proud of their home. They shared with us the meaning of numerous pictures they had hanging on their walls. They raised champion pigeons, and as I was taking pictures, they made sure that I took pictures of their prized pigeons, too. We were served a delicious home-cooked Chinese meal at the hutong, prepared by the family, which included fried peanuts, meatballs, rice, stir fried, onions, peppers, cabbage, green beans, and a couple of dishes that we weren't exactly sure what they were. Green tea and Sprite were served for beverages. We can only drink water if it is bottled. There are so many impurities in the water system here that we would most likely become very sick if we drank it straight from the tap. After our meal, we rode the rickshaw back to our bus, came back to the hotel, and enjoyed a THREE HOUR NAP!!!

Even though our day was a walking history lesson, all I could really think about was our girls and how different their lives would have been had they remained in China to grow up. Of course, they were all in an orphanage or a special care system for children when we adopted them, but it was just hard for me to picture them living in the scenario that we saw today. I once had a lady tell me that they would have been SO much better off had they been able to remain in their own culture. I just don't know about that. Actually, I DO know......NO THEY WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN BETTER OFF. How I know that is best not shared at this moment, but I can say that what we have to offer them is life with the promise of an ETERNAL future. I greatly appreciate the opportunity that the Chinese government has afforded us to adopt four orphans, and am thankful that we can say that three, soon to be four are ORPHANS NO MORE!!!!