We had an uneventful trip to Beijing. Dennis caught a few short naps but I never fell asleep. We arrived in Beijing and were greeted by our friend, Ping, who got us to our hotel. We met up with her husband and went out for dinner. At this point I was going strong and Dennis was fading fast. By the time we went to bed it had been 26 hours since we had last slept. We slept well. We were up briefly in the night but overall were sound asleep.
Today Ping's family and Tracy took us around Beijing. We saw Tienanmen Square, the Forbidden City and the Temple of Heaven. For supper we went out and had Beijing Duck. The highlight of the day was the time with our friends. We got to know Ping, Francis, Alex and Tracy when there were in Madison at the University. Tracy headed home tonight on the train but Ping, Francis and Alex will join us tomorrow morning to go to the Great Wall.
We are doing fine with jet lag. We are tired tonight but it is almost 9:30 here. We will post some pictures later but we need to get to bed as we are heading out early tomorrow. We have had some problem getting to email so you may want to stop back here for word of how we are doing.
We will be with Brooke in just a few more days. Wow, it is almost here.
Dennis & Ellen,
ReplyDeleteSo glad the jet lag is managable. Hope you enjoy the food. The Great Wall was awesome. When we were there it was 8 degrees- the coldest Beijing had been in a long time. We are thinking and praying for you and reliving our own adoption experience as we track with you.
We remember the fear and uncertainty of the first meeting. We met in the ninth floor of a grungy hotel in downtown Shanghai. Before we In our group we gathered the families together and read Ephesians 2:10 and reminded each other that this was a good work that God had prepared in advance for us to do and that as God's workmanship, our families had been sovereignly prepared for this event and even if it didn't turn out quite the way we were expecting, this too was part of his eternal plan.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Lots of love and prayers,
Steve and Pam Benedict
You are seeing some awesome sights! Enjoy the Great Wall experience. Did you have the duck feet after the duck? They weren't bad. :) I picked up a beautiful mini set of jade instruments from Shanghai. It was a great memory of my trip there.
ReplyDeleteThe day is almost here! I check everyday to see the news and can't wait to see pictures.
I think of you several times during the day. I am also thinking of Brooke and the transistions ahead for her.