Day 5 in Beijing

Macy slept from 5 PM last night until 5 AM this morning. She was worn out. Brad went to bed at 7:30 - w/o dinner....so that is a miracle. We opted to not go to dinner tonight even though it was the famous Beijing Duck dinner. We just couldn't. I felt I needed to do what was best for Macy so we just stayed in. Brad was so wore out too. I slept from 8 until 5 am - so I am getting there on the time adjustment!

TODAY we went to the Great Wall of China. It was AMAZING to actually be there climbing it. With the mountainous elevation there was a wonderful cool breeze that made it a very enjoyable time. We climbed to the 2nd or 3rd observation deck - I am not sure and just sat down panting. Macy told me her legs hurt about halfway to that point and wanted me to carry her. Too bad for her. That didn't happen! I was doing good to make it myself. The first halfway up is like a steep slanted ramp with very few steps so it is harder than steps. And it is hard to breathe. The air seemed thinner or something. We took a break at the "top" (as far as we went) and had a snack....we needed some nutrition to get the energy to walk back down! Some in our group went all the way to the top of the area where we were.

You MOPS girls and my SS class will love this...I am facilitating getting our entire travel group together for some discussion time. I used the mic on the bus to talk to our group to see if everyone would like this. It is so hard to actually stop and hear each other's stories while we are here b/c we are running all the time! This is the part you will like: I TOLD THEM WE WOULD START WITH A FUN QUESTION LIKE: THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE PARENTS - WHAT IS YOUR GROSSEST MOMENT SINCE HAVING CHILDREN? I also said we would probably ask Maggie and Rosa if they have any gross moments of adopted babies pooping or puking on them or something. You know.....questions ONLY I would ask! :) Also we will be sharing how all of us came to decide to adopt and why China; And Maggie and Rosa say they like to study all religions even though they don't believe - so I thought it would be neat to have several people share WHY they believe the way the do...Good idea huh! We learn so much from each other and about each other when we have group time discussion. I think one of my passions in life is facilitating relationships between people. I LOVE IT!

We visited a Jade factory today and learned a little about it's making. The real deal is very expensive. I could really care less. I don't want to spend a lot of money on some thing I might lose. ;) I think I'll wait for the cheap fake jade we can find lots of in Guangzhou. I'm sure Lesia would have loved the real thing though! :)

We are "sleeping in " in the morning and then flying out to Guangzhou. 3 hour flight. Then on Wednesday we get Mia!!!!! That is what I am READY for!

By the way - I may have already said this - but all of the tabs for blogger are in Chinese so I can't figure out which one is "edit" for when I look back at my typos and misspelled words. So bear with me! I know my mistakes have been GREAT b/c of my level of exhaustion and jet lag. It was either post it imperfectly or post it not at all! So I can not be a perfectionist while here in China!