Random photo's from the Great Wall (3)

 
 
 
 

Random photos from Great Wall (2)

 
 
 
 

Now the last photo here is of our new friend Kevin, He is standing there to show exactly how high some of the steps are. Some of the steps you have to climb are anywhere from 16 - 22 inches each and you might have an entire set of steps at these kind of heights to climb, very exhausting. They say that the side we climbed this time is the easy side, well I don't know what exactly was easy. The Great Wall whipped my butt again.>>>>>Todd

Random photos from the Great wall (1)

 
 
 
 

Ni Hao from Wuhan, China

Faye and I departed Beijing this morning, took our uneventful 1 1/2 hour flight to Wuhan. We met our FTIA guide at the airport and off we went. Well we had to get money changed and we asked our guide if we could go to the bank, she made some phone calls and about a half hour later we arrived at the bank, well the funny thing is when instead of going to the counter and dealing with the teller we were met in the lobby with a guy with a satchel and there we stood more or less in the middle of the lobby exchanging thousands of dollars. Not exactly the most comfortable event in a country where you don't know anyone. I walked out of the bank telling Faye that we were going to get "THUMPED" all she could do was laugh.
It is raining in Wuhan, the traffic is just as bad if not worse than Beijing, we arrived at our hotel got checked in and came up to our rooms to get the large sums of money locked in the safe. Then I see Faye hit the bed and grunt, I sat down and these are the HARDEST beds I have ever felt, I thought they forgot to put the matress on the box spring. Not terribly happy about this at all.
We show up to our room and Faye is now out again (sleeping), not feeling good, I want to go roam around but it is raining so that is why you are getting news for Wuhan. Looks like it might rain for the next 2 or 3 days, GREAT!!!
Our guide told us we will meet Gabriella tomorrow at about 2:30 PM, Faye asked if her foster family will be there tomorrow, she isn't sure, so we will have to wait until the moment to find out. We are both getting nervous and wonder what kind of reaction she will have to us tomorrow. Expect the worst, hope for the best is what I think. I think the next 3 days will be very trying for all of us, but at least we have a guide that speaks Chinese that can help us.
No matter the nerves, I am really looking forward to meeting her, I can't wait to find out what makes her unique. I love to hear Alex talk and I am looking foward to hearing Abby talk. Hear those sweet little voices under the covers in their bedroom giggling at bedtime. Alex loves to have her little hunny buns pinched, I wonder if Abby will like that? I can't wait until the girls meet. >>>>>Todd

Summer Palace

 
 
 
 

Sorry as you can see it was quite smoggy today here in Beijing, I feel like most of the shots I took today were ruined by the smog, you couldn't get any clear shots. I had hoped that the rain we got last night would have washed away a little of the smog, but as you can see from the Summer Palace pictures and the Great Wall photo's that Faye posted earlier that didn't happen, It may have actually made it worse. >>>>>Todd

Say what

You know I am truly not making fun of the Chinese, I just think that it is funny how they translate some of their signs. I just don't understand why the don't have a college kid that speaks Chinese explain to them that it really doesn't make sense in english. Just some odd ball signs that I have seen throughout the day. Thought I would share so you can laugh way down deep also. >>>>>Todd
 
 
 
 

Great Wall and Great Sickness

 
 
 
 

Hi Everyone-- it is Faye posting. This is my first post here from China. It has been quite an eventful trip so far. As you know, first our flight was delayed almost 24 hours. But we finally arrived here safe and sound. We got to the hotel about 11 am on the first day and had to be ready for the tour of the Forbidden City at noon. We got back about 7 pm and decided to go for dinner. Me being the experimental type and all, I tried some spicy seafood soup ( it was so spicy you couldn't even begin to eat it) and then I got prawns with shrimp paste. Well, I started feeling bad in the middle of the night and by morning I was sick as a dog. I could barely make it out of bed my body ached so bad and I was nauseated so I drugged myself up ( Cipro, Peptobismol, Pepcid, Ibuprofen, and Xanax) and spent the entire day in bed. I finally got up at 5 pm and felt a little better. I don't know if I had a bit of flu or food poisoning but whatever it was it made me miss the Great Wall and Summer Palace. We fly out to Wuhan tomorrow and will get Abby on Monday. Pray for good bonding. We got a little update on her and they said her nickname is Mei Mei which means little sister in Chinese so I am thinking that we may call her that because after all she will be the little sister. We got to talk to Alex today and she asked if we had her little sister yet. She was excited that she had gotten lip gloss as one of her gifts while we were gone (she gets to open up one gift a day until we get back.) Well, I must go pack. We have to rearrage our bags a bit. Chinese airlines only allow your bags to be 44 lbs and we were a little over that in one.
Blessings to all. Stay tuned for the good stuff.

Did I mention that Faye is a celebrity here in Beijing

 
 
 
 
Sorry, didn't really have time to blog last night, well you know what I do have this morning time, but I have a very important phone call to make home to our beautiful daughter Alexandria. So this will be short once again. As you can see we visited the forbidden city and Tiennaman Square yesterday and we also got to go see the Olympic village, didn't get to go inside any of the stadiums but we did at least get to go see the area, it was very nice. That was one of the things that Faye and I thought we would miss due to our delay. Today we get to go to the Great wall (God please give me the strenght to climb that thing today) Faye is already feeling little under the weather so hopefully she will get to go if she starts feeling a little better. Our travel group is quite small compared to last time, but they are all very nice. We went to dinner with our new friend Cynthia last night and had quite the interesting dinner at a little resturant close to the hotel, ordering food is always a challenge but hey we ate right? Will psst more pictures later, but I have a phone call to make.>>>>>Todd
P.S. Did I mention that Faye is a celebrity here in Beijing, you know that it is funny a couple of different people stopped Faye and asked to have their pictures taken with her. How funny is that, the Chinese are so amused by westeren people.

First day in Beijing, China

 
 
 
 

We made it

Sorry only time for a quick note, we arrived in Beijing 930 we were greeted by our FTIA rep. wisked away to our wonderful hotel where we both got cleaned up. We only have a couple of minutes till we meet up with the rest of our group and we are going to the forbidden city and Tiennaman square. We will be back in about 6 hours so stay tuned. Picturs to follow. >>>>>Todd

Smithsonian aircraft and space museum

 
 
 
 

Oh lord please help me

Well today didn't go as planned, we got up at 3:45am, got to Columbus airport on time our little RJ (regional jet)left as planned bound for Dulles Int'l airport, we arrived on time and all HELL broke loose. First of all we got to the departures board and saw that it our flight was delayed almost 4 1/2 hours, we were supposed to leave at 12:22 pm and now it was schuduled for a 4:45 pm departure, well Faye and I made the best of it and went to the Smithsonian aircraft and space museum. We were both got tired after walking around in there for a couple of hours so we decided to come back to Dulles and lounge around. Needless to say we got back and hung out until 4:45pm and there was no plane in the gate, they kept moving the time back, I believe we finally boarded at about 6 pm. Well now who knew that we would sit there for a couple of hours and then get thrown off the plane with 200 angry chinese people who couldn't speak much english, and then there was Faye who was speaking for all 300 passengers on the flight. Here to make a long story short we are still in Virginia and our flight is now schduled to depart at 0730 on the 9th. We are in a hotel room paid for by UNITED AIRLINES (SUCKS). Our flight last time left at least 3 hours late maybe later. This is Faye and I 3rd flight on United Airlines and not a one has went down without an issue. Needless to say this will probably be our last. We have already received $250 vouchers on future flight for the both of us. Hopefully we will make it to Beijing tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed. >>>>>Todd

Schedule of events

Well we are getting ready, we figured we would let everyone know what our schedule will be like:

4-8-2009 Depart Columbus / Dulles / Beijing, China (4-9-2009)
Spend the next 3-4 days touring Beijing, Great Wall, Forbidden City, Summer Palace

4-12-2009 Depart Beijing to Wuhan

4-13-2009 GOTCHA DAY, we get to meet our Gabriella
Spend the next couple of days getting to know our Gabriella, playing, coloring, watching movies, shopping, sight seeing. Faye will shop.......

4-17-2009 Depart Wuhan to Guangzhou
During the next few days we will have Gabriella's medical exam, visa pictures taken, U.S. consulate appointment. Faye will shop......

4-22-2009 Depart Guangzhou to Beijing to Chicago to Columbus all in a little less (hopefully) than 24 hours. A 3 year old on 3 flights in one day, don't know exactly how thrilled I am about that. In the end it will all be worth it.

For all our friends and families who are following along on our newest journey, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we travel to China and back. We will try our best to keep everyone updated so check in often. See you all soon>>>>>Todd

3 years ago

Three years ago yesterday we boarded a plane to take us on the adventure of a lifetime. In two days, we get to do that adventure all over again.

We won't be here for the 3rd anniversary for our "GOTCHA DAY". We will be in China having another "GOTCHA DAY". April is a very special month for us because that is the month we got to change our names to Mommy and Daddy. That is the month our lives were changed forever and blessed with not one but two beautiful angels.

Here are a few pictures from our long plane ride to China as DINKs ( double income no kids) to the blessed day we received our angel in our arms to the "red couch photo" day we became a family of three and now we soon will have another angel in our arms to make us a family of 4.

Please pray for us as we travel to China again to receive our beautiful baby girl.

GABRIELLA HOPE FUYIN