The Great Wall

This is our CCAI group. There are 18 families adopting in our group. It's a really big bunch. We didn't hardly all fit on the bus today. 15 Families will be going on to Chongqing at 4:30am tomorrow morning.

Today we toured jade & cloisonne factories, hiked on the Great Wall, and saw some Olympic venues.

The Great Wall was about 2 hours from Beijing. The Beijing area is very flat, but it seemed like we had just rounded a turn and 'bam' there were all these mountains. The Great Wall stretched as far as you could see. The steps to were really steep and some were as much as 18" high. That's why they say that you climbed the Great Wall, instead of walking on the Great Wall.The Wall is divided by turrets. It was my goal to make it to the first turret. Greg climbed about 2 more sections than Dad and I. We were happy to just let him go on up to take some pictures.

This is how you feel when you're done at the Great Wall.
Coming down those steep steps is not as easy as it looks. We each had a 'hero card' made with our picture on it, since we climbed the Great Wall of China.

Hear are a couple of pics from our hotel.

Tomorrow is Gotcha Day! We leave the hotel for our Chongqing flight at 4:30am. We are told we'll get those babies around 5:30pm. That's 5:30am Ohio time, Sunday morning. Please be praying for Chloe tonight. She is going to have a very long day tomorrow. Little does she know, it will be her first day with her forever family.
"For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jer. 29:11