We're on the other side of the WORLD!

Here's an excerpt from mom's journal...

"Tuesday morning we were up at 5:00 and ready to leave by 5:30. I had envisioned the travel to Beijing as being dull and boring - no such luck. It was quite an ordeal to get through security. With six in our party, the line gathered quickly behind us as we found our baggies of liquid, took off our shoes and sweaters, and removed all electronics from bags. Sweating profusely before seven in the morning is not my idea of a good time... but in no time at all, it seemed we boarded the plane and were on our way. This was Phoebe's first flight, and she was such a joy to watch. During takeoff, her eyes swelled as she squealed with delight. In Washington D.C., we transferred to the monster plane that took us to Beijing. We had slept only four and a half hours the previous night, so we were running on empty. I thought hopefully we could catch a little rest on the plane. But somehow that didn't work out for most of us.

There was a Chinese grandmother with a girl a little younger than Phoebe, maybe six or seven. I noticed she was pushing this little girl and barking harshly at her. I had read about girls being treated like dogs - unwanted, a nuissance. But to see it played out with my own eyes really upset me. The mindset that girls are a burden, is so very foreign. And there in that circumstance, I saw it with my own eyes, shamelessly displayed, abusing the dignity and rights of a helpless child. On the plane this woman yelled further at this little girl, and slapped her cruelly in the face, just eight feet away from me. It was sad and angering. I smiled at the girl whenever she walked by. I so desperately want her to know that there are kind people in the world. This fuels my love and appreciation for Ruby as I am educated as to the country she's coming from. Oh, how will I wait until Monday morning to hold her (Sunday evening there at home)?"

When we arrived in Beijing, we met Joy (our wonderful guide from Bethany, the adoption service) at the airport. That afternoon, she walked us to the grocery store that's down the street from us. Beijing is so hustly bustly. Riding in taxis is pretty interesting because they're crazy drivers here. It's actually pretty fun.

We're getting a LOT of stares from people because they love to see Americans. One of the things that has been really new to us is the fact that EVERYONE is the same nationality here. In America, you see all these different kinds, colors, shapes, sizes of people wherever you go. So that's been neat. It makes me feel really foreign.

When we finally went to bed, we'd been awake for 24+ hours, excluding little catnaps on the plane. It was so bizzare to leave at 1pm in the US and arrive 12 hours later at 1pm in China. We basically just skipped a nighttime and lived two daytimes in a row. It was strange. Thankfully, we're getting on track with our hours now. We're pretty tired tonight though, even though it's not even 7pm yet right now.

Today, we went to the Summer Palace with just our family. It reminded me of the TV programs and things that I've seen about the Forbidden City - lots of reds, blues, and yellows, incredible architecture, and those cool Chinese roofs. It was really beautiful. We bought the first of our souviniers at the shop there. While we were there, we had to walk a lot, up & down LOTS of steps. At one point, Phoebe turned to mom and said, "My legs are vibrating, and the palms of my feet are hurting." :)

Then later today, we went and saw an acrobatic show, which was unbelievable. It was so impressive. We bought a DVD for 50 yuan, which is like $6-ish, I think...

We're having a really great time. We met some families in our hotel who are also here with Bethany Christian Services to adopt. It's nice to be here with other people who are on the same kind of journey we are.

We took a ton of pictures the past two days... Enjoy!

At the airport...









In the airplane...


This Chinese man in the picture with dad was really nice. His name was Alan, and he and dad kind of got to know each other during the plane ride.





Pictures of Beijing...

<-- A cool picture of the citaaay....




That is the building where we went to see the acrobatic show. For some reason the computer didn't want to import the pictures we took inside during the show... I don't know why. I'll just have to try again later to upload those.





<-- These cute little vans are everywhere...





This sign is actually an ad for the olympics in '08. I think each one of those cute little thingies stands for one of the five rings.










The electrical wires are all swirled and bunched up in some places...
I thought it was so cool to see the signs. -->

An add they have up in front of where they're building stuff for the Olympics. ^

Part of the big thing they're building for the Olympics.








The Summer Palace...










We rode on one of those awesome boats. :D












Thanks for reading everybody. We love you!

Abbie