Progress

We said goodbye to our guide and driver this morning in Beijing and caught a 1-hour flight to the city of Zhengzhou, which means that the moment we have been working towards is one night's sleep away!  There is excitement in the air along with a few messed up body clocks that produce a few grumpies (just being honest!).  Also, just being in a foreign land produces some stress! Appreciate continued prayers for us all.

We did have a fairly relaxed time in Beijing...the highlight being our visit with Ying (former colleague of Peter), her mother, and her precious 7-month old Ruthie!  Since Ying's mom is a professional cook, we ate an incredible lunch there.  (we;ll try to get a picture or two up of this...) So good to see them again. We missed seeing her husband Chris who was out of town on business.

Enjoy the video Julianna put together of Beijing (if it works...).

We do thank all of you that prayed us through the long travel day!  It went so smoothly for all of us! Keep praying. 4 flights down 3 to go!  We are glad to be settling in a bit...actually unpacking the bags so we can find things!  We are not ashamed to admit that we went to Pizza Hut and Wal-mart today, for a little taste of home (somewhat).

This afternoon three of us swam and played ping pong, before having a picnic dinner in the room.

As we were eating, the doorbell rang (yes, there is an actual doorbell), and it was an older woman, uniformed for the hotel, holding a blue banner which said...

Of course, I (Peter) didn't know what she wanted. Was this some ritual, where they came around and bid everyone goodnight?  When I said that I didn't understand what she wanted and yet she seemed to to want to come in to our room, I granted her access, and we all snickered under our breath as she proceeded to place the mat on the floor between the beds, turn back the bed covers, and place a candy and sign which said "Sweet Dreams".  We're definitely not accustomed to such treatment!

We will leave for the civil affairs office Monday morning at 9:20. Hopefully Jack will be in our arms between 10 and 11 (9 to 10 p.m. CST Sunday night). We will have a 4 hour round trip to his city (Luoyang) on Tuesday both to apply for his passport and visit his orphanage and most importantly Maria's. Please pray for this day, and our little guy.  His world is about o be turend upside down--and ours!  We love him so, and we would appreciate your prayers as we begin to bond to one another in the coming days. (CR & PR)

Here are a few scenes from the last couple of days...

Over Alaska

Proof that we were over Alaska

Poor J-N couldn't figure out what time it was on the plane!

We had about the same shot 4 years ago, but with only three of us then! 

(And it was about 15 degrees hotter then!)

The Rider is happier than the Ridee.  So we went to get a real ride...

Rickshaw Riders!

Along a canal 

How many ladies can get on one bicycle? This and other amazing feats at the Acrobat Show. 

The Sanders will be glad to know that yes, this did include the beloved peacock gestures!

We will post more in depth when we arrive in province tomorrow.  

Keep the comments coming, as they keep us going!

safe

we made it to beijing. touring today.  we have no internet.
sorry this post is short writing on kindle with 3g.
keep praying for us
when we get to province internet should be better
until then love to all from JR for all

Cleared for Take-Off

In just a few hours from now we will head to the airport to begin the journey to the Far East (by heading west).  Follow us on www.flightview.com as we take to the air Wednesday morning.  Enter the following Delta flight numbers for the three legs of the trip: BHM-ATL (#1203), ATL-NRT (#295), and NRT-PEK (#617). Thanks for praying us there--our next post will be in a couple of days, with pictures of us in Beijing! (PR)

Travel Map