Today we started our day off with a tour of the Cloisonne Factory in Beijing. Cloisonne is an art that has been around for between 700 and 800 years. Copper is formed into it's particular shape, and then these meticulous little ladies take thin strips of copper, bend them to their desired shape, and then glue them to the copper item to form a pattern. Then, they take an enamel powder mixed with water and fill in the areas between the copper strips, and then they fire them in a kiln. They were beautiful!! It was amazing to see what these ladies had made. They were making vases, bowls, plates, decorations, all kinds of stuff!
We then went to the Great Wall, which was situated between 2 sets of mountains, which we can't remember. Scott said the Jeng Dong mountain when I asked him what the names were, but he was WAY off. There was no DONG in the name!!! It's been funny to hear him pronounce the names of the cities that we will be visiting! The Great Wall was so crowded. The first set of stairs there was just shoulder to shoulder people, sweating and pushing. It was stressful!!! But, when Scott and I got past the first set of stairs it was much better. We got quite a work out! I was the first one to reach the highest point in our group! There was only one more person that even tried, and it wasn't Scott because he was down aways puking because he had gotten so hot and was working so hard. We had gotten our pictures taken several times with Chinese people; everyone is very interested in Scott's goatee and bald head! This one young kid had taken Scott's picture earlier and then saw him again, this time puking, and he started to take his picture! I was laughing and pointed my finger and said "No, no!!" Later, a beetle flew into my ear, and thanks to Erin Bollhorst who had told me a story about a beetle burrowing into someone's ear, I flipped out and hit it . In the process of flipping out I hit my earring and it flew over the Great Wall. I'm like, "Seriously?" So, I took the other one off and threw it over too!! Going back down was just as hard as going up. My legs felt like noodles and I was just waiting for them to give out. I accidentally kneed an older Chinese man and I'm pretty sure he cussed me out in Chinese! I just smiled and said "Sorry!" I mean, really, what are you going to do?!!
So, here we are back at the hotel, ready to collapse!!! 2 more days and we get to finally meet Mary. It's very surreal to think that we are here, touring China, and our daughter is just miles away waiting on us. We figured out that Mary will be the youngest child in the whole travel group, which consists of about 19 families. Everyone is so nice and it's wonderful to hear their own stories, of how God has worked in their lives and throughout the adoption process. Tomorrow we will go to the Forbidden City and Tienenem Square. We are looking forward to it being our last day in Beijing. One day closer to Mary!!
*Note: Jill and Scott are unable to access the blog or Facebook while they are in China. Both applications are blocked. They can see your comments on Facebook because they are sent to her email, but they are not able to reply to them. Even though they are unable to see your comments on this blog while she is in China, please still write some! If you have trouble, you can send me (Stephanie) a message, and I can tell you how. It is very easy! They are excited to be able to have this blog to look back on when they get home, and they will be able to read each of your comments then. Also, they will be able to print all blog entries and comments for Mary's baby book as well so that Mary will always have them.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
Pictures from the Chinese Acrobatic Show!
Jill wanted to share these pictures from the Chinese Acrobatic show that they attended on Friday afternoon!
Friday, July 30, 2010
Today was a long day! We started the day with an orientation meeting at the hotel, with all 15 families that are traveling with us. We then went to the Bank of China and exchanged our U.S. money for Yuan. I made myself look like an idiot. The girl who was helping me apparently asked me to let her know how she did when she was done exchanging my money. So, I bent over at what looked like a microphone and said in my loud, slow, American voice "You did a very good job". She started laughing at me and I didn't understand why, until I saw the box with buttons that I was supposed to push instead. I felt like dork. But, oh well, I'm sure it's not the last time I will look like a dork here in China. There are 7 families in our travel group that are adopting from the same orphanage, so we all wired our money to that orphanage so that we don't have to carry around all of that money. It's good to know that part is done! After the bank we went to see The Flying Acrobats, which were an amazing group of what looked like young kids that could bend, twist, and jump pretty much any direction!! I did have trouble staying awake, however, so I'm sure I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have! We ended our day with a trip to the Chinese restaurant in our hotel. We thought we were ordering one dish of bbq pork, and they brought out like 5 different dishes, soup, and fruit. We tried it all, but did not continue to eat it all. We visit the Great Wall of China tomorrow, so I'm heading to bed to rest up for that big trip. Thanks for your prayers!
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Welcome to Beijing!
We made it! We are here in Beijing, China! We've been up for over 24 hours now and are getting ready to go to bed, as we are 12 hours ahead of Indiana! We rode on a 777 plane, which held over 300 people. We watched movie after movie, which helped the time go a little faster. We arrived in Beijing about 1:15 pm China time, finally made it to our hotel, exchanged some money, went to a Chinese grocery store, ate at our hotel, and now are ready for bed. We thought the driving in Mexico was bad, you all should see the driving here! I'm glad I am a passenger in a large vehicle and not driving a little car like everyone else. We've met a lot of families in our travel group, so it's been nice getting to know them. So many wonderful stories of how God has worked in their adoption process; it's been great to hear them. We were able to Skype with our children just a bit ago, so it was wonderful to get to see them and hear their voices. I didn't realize how emotional I would be today, just arriving in China! Tomorrow we exchange more U.S. money for yuan and then go see an acrobat show. Scott seems to be making himself fit right in by using his Spanglish; he speaks English but with a Spanish accent to the Chinese people, which are incredibly difficult to understand. He is cracking me up!!! Keep us and our kids in your prayers please, we're missing each other already!!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
And They're OFF!
Good morning! Jill was so busy yesterday getting everything ready to leave that she was not able to type up the travel details for today, so she asked me to do it for her.
Their flight left the Indianapolis International Airport this morning at 6:15 a.m., and they arrived safely in Newark, NJ at approximately 8:09 a.m. As they were checking in this morning in Indianapolis, they met another couple who would be making the flights with them to China as well. They are from Avon and are adopting a 3 1/2 year old little girl. Once they arrived in Newark, they enjoyed breakfast together with this couple, and are now just hanging out at the airport until their flight leaves for Beijing, China at 12:10 p.m. It is a 13 hour flight. They will be arriving in Beijing at 1:50 P.M., July 29th BEIJING time. This will actually be 1:50 A.M., July 29th INDIANA time.
Please be in prayer for travel safety for Jill and Scott today. Also, I know that they would welcome and appreciate prayers for Benjamin, Luke, and Hannah as well. As I'm sure you can imagine, it was a very difficult "see you later" last night. Although at this time, this little family is now in three very separate places with the kids being here at home, Jill and Scott in route to China, and Little Miss Mary being cared for in the orphanage in the Jiangxi Province, we know that our God is able to protect them and bring all of them back together!
Psalm 121
1 "I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore."
Thanking Him for His Promises,
~Stephanie
Their flight left the Indianapolis International Airport this morning at 6:15 a.m., and they arrived safely in Newark, NJ at approximately 8:09 a.m. As they were checking in this morning in Indianapolis, they met another couple who would be making the flights with them to China as well. They are from Avon and are adopting a 3 1/2 year old little girl. Once they arrived in Newark, they enjoyed breakfast together with this couple, and are now just hanging out at the airport until their flight leaves for Beijing, China at 12:10 p.m. It is a 13 hour flight. They will be arriving in Beijing at 1:50 P.M., July 29th BEIJING time. This will actually be 1:50 A.M., July 29th INDIANA time.
Please be in prayer for travel safety for Jill and Scott today. Also, I know that they would welcome and appreciate prayers for Benjamin, Luke, and Hannah as well. As I'm sure you can imagine, it was a very difficult "see you later" last night. Although at this time, this little family is now in three very separate places with the kids being here at home, Jill and Scott in route to China, and Little Miss Mary being cared for in the orphanage in the Jiangxi Province, we know that our God is able to protect them and bring all of them back together!
Psalm 121
1 "I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore."
Thanking Him for His Promises,
~Stephanie
Monday, July 26, 2010
Why This Blog?
Five years ago, God laid upon our hearts (and slapped us in the face!) that we should adopt a little girl from China. We went to a concert in Louisville, KY, and listened to Steven Curtis Chapman give his little talk on China adoption. I left feeling as if we should pray about it and see where God would lead us. A couple of months later, we went to the same concert in Indianapolis, and got to, once again, sit through his talk. I vividly remember sitting there in Conseco Field House with tears rolling down my face as I felt this was truly what God wanted us to do.
Not long after that came Mother's Day, and, again, I remember running early that day through the neighborhood and I thought to myself, "I do not want to spend another Mother's Day without our Little Miss Mary!" So, I ran home and told Scott we needed to adopt, and he said, "Who am I to argue with God?", and thus our journey began. Obviously God's timing is much better than mine, because I went through 5 more Mother's Days without Little Miss Mary being here with us.
So now, here we are, 5 years later, getting ready to embark on a journey that God has planned out for us. It's been a long wait, but God has been gracious and patient with us, and I know that He specifically picked out Mary for our family. We can't wait to get our hands on Little Miss, to finally get to hold her, squeeze her, kiss her cheeks, hear her little voice, and love the living day lights out of her!!
Please pray for our family, as we will be away from our 3 precious kids for 2 weeks as Scott and I travel to China to bring Mary home. It will be tough being away from them, but we know God is in control and has gotten everything covered!!
Enjoy following our blog, put together by my creative, beautiful, best friend Stephanie McCrary. She's the brain behind the blog and I can't tell you how much I appreciate her taking this on for me!!!
Not long after that came Mother's Day, and, again, I remember running early that day through the neighborhood and I thought to myself, "I do not want to spend another Mother's Day without our Little Miss Mary!" So, I ran home and told Scott we needed to adopt, and he said, "Who am I to argue with God?", and thus our journey began. Obviously God's timing is much better than mine, because I went through 5 more Mother's Days without Little Miss Mary being here with us.
So now, here we are, 5 years later, getting ready to embark on a journey that God has planned out for us. It's been a long wait, but God has been gracious and patient with us, and I know that He specifically picked out Mary for our family. We can't wait to get our hands on Little Miss, to finally get to hold her, squeeze her, kiss her cheeks, hear her little voice, and love the living day lights out of her!!
Please pray for our family, as we will be away from our 3 precious kids for 2 weeks as Scott and I travel to China to bring Mary home. It will be tough being away from them, but we know God is in control and has gotten everything covered!!
Enjoy following our blog, put together by my creative, beautiful, best friend Stephanie McCrary. She's the brain behind the blog and I can't tell you how much I appreciate her taking this on for me!!!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
A Note From Stephanie . . .
Hi, everyone! This is Stephanie. You won't hear from me much, but since Jill asked me to create this blog for her, I have a little to say.
I started blogging a couple of years ago. Jill told me then that she would want a blog to keep everyone updated for when they were in China to get Mary. Of course at that time, a couple of years had passed since all of their paperwork had been turned in, and the excitement of "the time" being close was seeming to fade. The wait seemed never ending. A couple of MORE years later and here we are. The wait is over! In just over 48 hours, Jill and Scott will be on a plane heading to China to receive their precious, beautiful, baby girl.
I can clearly remember (and this won't surprise those of you who know me and my memory) sitting in my classroom at school one evening, very pregnant with our oldest daughter, Elaina, writing a "reference letter" for Jill and Scott. This letter was to be mailed to Bethany Christian Services explaining the relationship that my husband, Jeff, and I had with Jill and Scott and our thoughts on their character and parenting. We spent most all of our time with Jill and Scott and their kids, so this was a very easy letter for us to write. I remember closing the letter with telling the representatives from Bethany that in just a couple of short months, Jeff and I were going to become parents for the first time, and it was our desire and our prayer that we become the Godly parents to our baby that Jill and Scott were to their children.
It was an honor and privilege to write that letter that evening on behalf of Jill and Scott. Almost 5 years later, it is again an honor and privilege to be sitting here on my couch, creating this blog for Jill and Scott . . . and for YOU, too!
This morning at church during our service, I was so very full of joy. I sang my heart out in praise to God, thanking him for all of the blessings in my life, specifically this morning for my dear best friend and the journey that she was about to embark upon. I knew that this would be the last Sunday for a few weeks that I would be sitting next to Jill during the service, and more importantly, the last Sunday that I would be sitting next to her without Mary in her arms! I kept thinking how in just a few short days, her life would be drastically changing with such an indescribable blessing!
At the close of the service as a congregation, we sang, "God Will Make A Way." Wow! Praise be to God! I had goosebumps! For those of you who do not know the song, here are some of the lyrics . . .
"God will make a way
Where there seems to be no way
He works in ways we cannot see
He will make a way for me
He will be my guide
Hold me closely to His side
With love and strength for each new day
He will make a way....He will make a way!"
Praise God! HE made a WAY! What a long 4+ years it has been. I know at times, it has been an exciting, hopeful, road for Jill and Scott, but I also know that there have been many times over these last years that have been filled with hopelessness and sadness as they started to question if the little girl who they had grown to love in their hearts would ever really be a part of their family. God made a way! God made a way for Mary to become a precious child in the lives of Jill and Scott, a precious baby sister in the lives of Benjamin, Luke, and Hannah, and a precious gift from God to all of us who know and love this family so very much. He worked in His time and in His way. Thank you, Lord, for your never ending faithfulness, for your goodness, for your graciousness! Thank you for making a way!
Jill will be emailing me daily updates to post to this blog. From here on out, the words that you read will be her words. I will just be keeping up with the technical part of it all. She and Scott will be able to log in and see the comments that you post while they are in China, so please don't hesitate to fill their comment box up! There will be some uncertainty during their travels and of course, while getting to know an 8 1/2 month old baby girl who will all of the sudden be theirs. How encouraging it would be to them to hear from all of you!
Thank you all for loving them, for supporting them, and for uplifting them in your daily prayers.
~Stephanie
I started blogging a couple of years ago. Jill told me then that she would want a blog to keep everyone updated for when they were in China to get Mary. Of course at that time, a couple of years had passed since all of their paperwork had been turned in, and the excitement of "the time" being close was seeming to fade. The wait seemed never ending. A couple of MORE years later and here we are. The wait is over! In just over 48 hours, Jill and Scott will be on a plane heading to China to receive their precious, beautiful, baby girl.
I can clearly remember (and this won't surprise those of you who know me and my memory) sitting in my classroom at school one evening, very pregnant with our oldest daughter, Elaina, writing a "reference letter" for Jill and Scott. This letter was to be mailed to Bethany Christian Services explaining the relationship that my husband, Jeff, and I had with Jill and Scott and our thoughts on their character and parenting. We spent most all of our time with Jill and Scott and their kids, so this was a very easy letter for us to write. I remember closing the letter with telling the representatives from Bethany that in just a couple of short months, Jeff and I were going to become parents for the first time, and it was our desire and our prayer that we become the Godly parents to our baby that Jill and Scott were to their children.
It was an honor and privilege to write that letter that evening on behalf of Jill and Scott. Almost 5 years later, it is again an honor and privilege to be sitting here on my couch, creating this blog for Jill and Scott . . . and for YOU, too!
This morning at church during our service, I was so very full of joy. I sang my heart out in praise to God, thanking him for all of the blessings in my life, specifically this morning for my dear best friend and the journey that she was about to embark upon. I knew that this would be the last Sunday for a few weeks that I would be sitting next to Jill during the service, and more importantly, the last Sunday that I would be sitting next to her without Mary in her arms! I kept thinking how in just a few short days, her life would be drastically changing with such an indescribable blessing!
At the close of the service as a congregation, we sang, "God Will Make A Way." Wow! Praise be to God! I had goosebumps! For those of you who do not know the song, here are some of the lyrics . . .
"God will make a way
Where there seems to be no way
He works in ways we cannot see
He will make a way for me
He will be my guide
Hold me closely to His side
With love and strength for each new day
He will make a way....He will make a way!"
Praise God! HE made a WAY! What a long 4+ years it has been. I know at times, it has been an exciting, hopeful, road for Jill and Scott, but I also know that there have been many times over these last years that have been filled with hopelessness and sadness as they started to question if the little girl who they had grown to love in their hearts would ever really be a part of their family. God made a way! God made a way for Mary to become a precious child in the lives of Jill and Scott, a precious baby sister in the lives of Benjamin, Luke, and Hannah, and a precious gift from God to all of us who know and love this family so very much. He worked in His time and in His way. Thank you, Lord, for your never ending faithfulness, for your goodness, for your graciousness! Thank you for making a way!
Jill will be emailing me daily updates to post to this blog. From here on out, the words that you read will be her words. I will just be keeping up with the technical part of it all. She and Scott will be able to log in and see the comments that you post while they are in China, so please don't hesitate to fill their comment box up! There will be some uncertainty during their travels and of course, while getting to know an 8 1/2 month old baby girl who will all of the sudden be theirs. How encouraging it would be to them to hear from all of you!
Thank you all for loving them, for supporting them, and for uplifting them in your daily prayers.
~Stephanie
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