We are here....and with internet!

We made it to Beijing without any problems.  The flights were uneventful, just long.  Our hotel room has wireless internet, ours however wouldn't connect.  The ladies at the office will appreciate the fact that our computer wouldn't work:)  Conway called the ever wonderful Dan Parrish and he helped him figure out the problem.  So we are 7,000 miles away from home and Conway is still working computers!

We got up and ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant and then headed out to a day of sight-seeing.  Our first stop

Tian'anmen Square

and the Forbidden City.  The outside temperature was the same as it is at home, around 95 degrees.  I bring this up because I cannot describe how many people were there.  The population of China is around 1.3 billion people so everywhere you go there are crowds and people shoving and pushing.  It was so hot!

The square and Forbidden City were so beautiful.  The architecture and colors were amazing.  We learned a lot about the history of the emperors and how everything stopped in 1949 when communism came to power. 

Some of the stops that we made were to the pearl factory, where Madeline modeled a beautiful pearl necklace and our guide taught her to say "Daddy, you are so handsome".  Of course we didn't buy anything because Delta airlines took all of our money:)  We also saw the Summer Palace and the bird's nest, where the Olympics were held.

Our guide is Sherry and is great.  All of the touring is so well planned.  We have a great travel group also.  2 families from Tennessee, one from New York, Florida, and Georgia.

We ended our day of touring with a Beijing duck dinner.  The food is very good however we couldn't identify several things:)

Today we are going to church and then to the Great Wall.  We hope to get back to the hotel early and relax because tomorrow is the day we have been waiting for!  We leave early in the morning to fly to Nanning and should meet Hannah in the afternoon.  Lord willing we will have internet access in our room again and it will hopefully work.

We hope all is well at home.  Thank you again to all who are helping and praying for our family while we are gone.