Beijing to Zhengzhou

Today was our last day in Beijing and it was awesome.  China seriously just gets better and better.  We have been so amazed and in awe of how beautiful and intricate and thoughtful and special this place is.  For our last day in Beijing we started the morning off in Tiananmen Square.  I don’t know why exactly, maybe the history that’s taken place there, but I was really looking forward to seeing the square and it did not disappoint.

One thing I found so impressive were the guards on duty who rotate every hour.  They stand so tall and still.  I also had no idea they did a flag ceremony every morning and every sunset…every single day.  That is wild.  Another thing we all loved was the painting of Chairman Mao who’s eyes followed you wherever you went.  Creepy!

Afterwards we went into the Forbidden City which was huge.  I feel like that is how to explain everything in China.  Massive.  Ginormous.  Large.  All applicable.  And the details were crazy.  We couldn’t believe after lots of walking we still were not actually in the Forbidden City…only through the gates leading to it.  To think this place was meant for one family…so crazy.  Cindy, our guide, said it would take 3 full days just to see 60% of The Forbidden City.  Wow.

Two things I personally thought were so interesting:

1. Female lion statues show a baby under one of the lion’s paws.  Male lion statues show a ball under one of the lion’s paws.  The rest of the day Harper was calling male and females like it was her job 🙂

2. There are zero plants of any kind…grass, trees, flowers, etc…at all in The Forbidden City until the very end when  you enter the garden.  Then it’s like whoa!!!!  Incredibly gorgeous and again we want to come back in the spring to see it in bloom.  And the tree below is over 500 years old.

Harper and Hudson took plenty of selfies.  Harper even got Ms. Cindy in on the action.

After we finished our family got on a van and the other two families headed for lunch.  Our train left first so off we went to the train station.  When we got loaded in the van it hit me, we’re going to Zhengzhou and our son is there.  I immediately got teary eyed and wanted to capture us all in the van together.

The train station was a bit chaotic.  Our guide could not go in with us so it was a little stressful manuavering around and figuring out where to go.  Plus we had to haul two suitcases down a giant stair case to our train.  When we got to our train gate and sat down moral was low.  I will be honest if there’s one thing our kiddos are struggling with its all the attention from other people they are getting.  Photos and stares and touching has started to really bother them so Josh and I are having to step in more and more and it actually pushed one of them into tears today.

Once we got settled onto the bullet train every one started to perk up.  We ate some treats and chewed gum.  The kids rotated time on our iPad.  Josh taught Harper how to play Sudoku.  And I journaled the whole train ride.  We we’re headed to our son and I wanted to remember what the ride was like…white buildings with red roofs, rows and rows of green farmland, tall skinny trees that resembled upside down brooms, dirt mounds, windy dirt roads, white greenhouses, city buildings, gray skies, power lines in heart shapes, large blue canopies, water canals, interstates, developments everywhere and a sinking sun by the time we finally arrived 3 hours later in Zhengzhou.

When we arrived in Zhengzhou our new guide Wendy was there to meet us.  She is super nice!  We went straight to our hotel, got settled and then Wendy, Harper and I went out to pick up some dinner.  We had our best dinner yet tonight…spicy tomato noodles, small pork dumplings and cooked broccoli.  Delish.  We went over some paperwork for tomorrow morning, I packed our little guy a bag with his blanket, cookies, cheerios, oyster crackers, a ball, a few small cars and plastic animals, stickers and a cup for water and we got together some gifts for to give officials and nannies.

And now I sit here exhausted, barely able to keep my eyes open and yet my stomach is just turning with nerves.  Tomorrow.  Tomorrow at 9:30 am we head out to meet our boy.  I just keep covering his little heart, mind and body in prayer.  Asking God for supernatural, unheard of things…to work miracles.  I am grieved over the loss he is about to endure and simultaneously elated I get to be his mama.  Praying tonight we would feel Jesus so close to each one of us tomorrow.  Praying God would simply be His mighty self and sustain, lift up and love us like He always does.  Tomorrow will be such a beautiful, bittersweet day.  Cannot wait to meet our son.