Love From Afar

A family's love for a child begins long before his or her first breath is taken. Our love for Paige began in September of 2004 when we signed the adoption application with Children's Hope International.

Long before Paige was born, her waiting family (Kevin, Carla, Chelsea and Haley) began to pray and prepare for her journey home. Many months, even years, have passed since the application was approved. Birth and marriage certificates were ordered. Passports renewed, seminars attended, documents notarized, certified and authenticated, all as a part of the journey to bring our baby Paige home.

As we mailed our completed dossier to CHI and then on to China in September of 2005, we began to wonder where our little Paige could be. Is she still developing in the womb of her birth mother? Is she being cared for in an orphanage? Is her little ears hearing sounds that will always remind her of her culture? How long will it take to bring her home? All of those questions, could only be answered over time.


Join us in the journey.


Thursday, May 10, 2007

Summer Palace - Shopping - Peking Duck

Thursday was a good day. The weather was great (not to hot, not to cold, not to humid). We started the day out by meeting 4 other families who arrived early like us. We meet our tour guide Dennis who took us to the Summer Palace for a half day tour. You can see some of the pictures in the next post. After the tour, we went to Carrefour which is the China version of a Super Wal-Mart. We purchased lots of water, a few vanilla cokes and a Snapple.

We had lunch at a tea house between KFC and Pizza Hut. We were actually going to the KFC until I stopped at the tea house to read the menu. We were able to get the other two families with us to try a little authentic Chinese food. Carla and I had a vegetable soup with some steamed dumplings on the side. We will probably have to go back again before we leave Beijing.

Around 4:00, Wendy (previous intern at Yosemite View Lodge) came by the hotel and took us shopping. I was able to practice my limited Chinese by repeating over and over "too expensive" Most of the items we purchased I was able to get them to come down almost 90% from their first price.

After shopping, we met Sharron Wu, who works for the Best Western Global Marketing Group. She took us to a Peking Duck Dinner at a very nice restaurant. By this time, jet-lag was setting in pretty good for us so when we returned to the hotel around 9:00 p.m. we called it a day.

Today (Friday) will be a full day of tours. Thanks for your prayers.

1 comment:

Chris said...

Kevin and Carla,
What an amazing time you must be having. Your family and especially little Paige are in my prayers. Have fun and can't wait to read about the day you all meet Paige.

Blessings,
Vanessa Jasper