Sightseeing

Originally Posted September 16, 2005

We started out early this morning and headed to The Pearl Market. Lots of shopping going on. The 4th floor has very nice expensive pearl jewelry and the other 3 floors is like the flea market. All kinds of private vendors selling everything imaginable. They are very pushy about it too. They started bargaining with you to buy even when you aren't even interested in their product. And they have no definition of "personal space" and you know how well that went over with me.

Tianamen Square

It was so hilarious though.....Jason and I were wearing our buttons with Emma Grace's picture and the people kept stopping us asking if she was our baby and then commenting on how she looked like Jason. Well, I took mine off b/c I couldn't handle all of that, but Jason refused....he was loving the attention. We went down one aisle and I just ignored them and kept walking. When I got to the end, I turned around expecting to see my husband and he was no where to be found. I looked at the opposite end of the aisle and there he was. Surrounded by about 15 girls all up in his face wanting to see Emma Grace's picture. He was just standing there nodding and grinning.

Ling-Ling the Panda at The Beijing Zoo

From there we made a quick stop at The Beijing Zoo and saw Ling Ling the panda and several others. Some of them looked like we felt....exhausted. Then on to The Summer Palace. It was beautiful there. The architecture and artistry work on the buildings is amazing. And the weather has been so beautiful...around the high 70's with a nice breeze.It is still so hard to believe that we are here. It is so surreal to think that after all these long months of waiting, we are only 3 hours away from Emma Grace. Wow!!!

The Summer Palace

Talk to you soon!

Jason & Denise

Memories

As our Gotcha Day nears this Thursday, I have been thinking about our trip to China 3 years ago. In some ways, it seems like just yesterday, but it was so surreal, sometimes it still seems like such a dream.

Anyway, I have decided to take the next week or so and post the blogs from that wonderful trip. Some of you walked through that journey with us and you have already read these, but there are many of you who we were not blessed to know at that time.

I hope you enjoy reliving our experience with us as we take this walk down memory lane.

Originally posted September 14/15, 2005

Well, after many, many hours of flying, we finally made it to Beijing at 2:35 pm (that would be 1:35 am US time). The flight was overbooked, so we didn't have any room to stretch out. But believe it or not, I did pretty good. I listened to music most of the time. And of course, all the snacks we had packed helped out...thanks, CSI!!!!

I can not believe we are finally here!! After all these months, it is so surreal to know that we are just 3 days away from Emma Grace. WOW!!!

View from our hotel room

We got checked in and met 3 other families from our group. They showed us around and got us somewhat acclimated to the hotel and surrounding area. We are staying at the Beijing Radisson. It is very nice.

Carrefour Store

Parking Lot at the Carrefour
We went next door to the Carrefour store (somewhat like a Walmart Supercenter) to get a few things we needed. They have EVERY kind of live creature imaginable. Turtle, eel, sardines, all kinds of fish and many things I could not identify. You just pick out what you want and take it home with you. TO EAT!!!!

Hungry anyone?

We came back to the hotel and ate at the Chinese Restaurant here. It was really good. Donna-I know what you are wondering...Yes, they had chicken feet stew. Needless to say we didn't try that.

Well, I think we are ready to call it a night. As I sit here typing this, Jason is sitting here (in the business center) asleep. We are very tired. It is 7:00 pm and we have now been up for about 27 hours.

Tomorrow we are going to the Pearl Market, Beijing Zoo and the Summer Palace. That should be lots of fun.

Thanks to everyone who has played a part in helping us get here!!! We appreciate all the prayers over the last year. They have been heard and we have felt the results of them.

We love you!!!

Jason and Denise

Hodge Podge

I haven't been on in a few days, so this will be a hodge podge post. Just a plethora of thoughts, I suppose.

Last week was Emma Grace's 2nd week at Mother's Day Out. She loves her new class and her new teacher, Mrs. Rowena. All of her friends from last year are in class with her again this year, so that makes it nice. She has been able to jump right in with her good friends, Claire and Ella. On the first day, Emma Grace and Claire told Mrs. Rowena that they were the only "good kids" in the class. Of course, by the 2nd day during nap time they were "surfing" on their mats. Then the 3rd day, we had the "purple" episode (see previous post). Well, on the 4th day when I picked her up Mrs. Rowena informed me that they had some smooching going on in the church library. Emma Grace and Maverick were showing love to each other and had to be separated. Oh my goodness.....I am really feeling like that "reaping" thing is about to start kicking in. She seriously could not be any more like me if I had given birth to her. Totally proves the whole "nurture vs. nature" theory.

Then Friday night we had a girls sleepover at my friend, Amanda's. Complete with all our children.....b/c all the men had gone on a camping/boating trip. 12 kids and 7 girls. We ate junk food, chocolate, played games, watched videos, talked and laughed ALL NIGHT LONG!! The kids went out about midnight and we all hit the sack between 5:00 am-6:00 am.....only to be awakened at 7:00 am. We...translation-Amanda, fixed breakfast and I finally dragged Emma Grace home about 11:00 am. I tried to get her out earlier but she said, quote..."But mommy, I don't want to miss all the fun stuff". After a little bribing we came home and took a well deserved 4 hour nap.

That's about it for the weekend....as i try to hold my eyelids open long enough to finish this posting. I am realizing that I am not as young as I once was....this all night stuff is not as easy as it used to be....but in the moment, it sure is fun.

6 things

Okay, I was tagged by Chrystal....so here are 6 fairly random things about myself.

1. If I could get my mother to move to China....we would be packing right now!! I would love to live in Emma Grace's birthcountry.

2. I once convinced a Nashville Trolley driver to let me drive the trolley through Nashville!! Seriously, I cant believe he actually let me!!!

3. I am addicted to recipe websites and their e-newsletters....most recipes of course, I never try.....But I guess you could say I love to collect them.

4. I have been told many times that I should hire myself out as a professional mourner....being as I can cry over the simplest things......even at funerals of people I dont even know.

5. I am a "closet" Martha Stewart want-a-be. I love entertaining and fixing fancy foods and a pretty table and pulling out all the fancy China.

6. I was on a traveling puppet team when I was in Bible School. Loads of fun...(mostly)....9 girls traveling across America in a van, ministering in a different church each night.

So, there you go...a little insight into what you may or may not have known...most everyone I know who blogs has already been tagged so I am limited....but I am tagging....Amy , Laura, Tammy, Deanna and Joy (you both need to start a blog)

THE RULES
1.LINK TO THE PERSON WHO TAGGED YOU
2.POST THE RULES TO YOUR BLOG
3.WRITE 6 RANDOM THINGS ABOUT YOURSELF
4.TAG 6 PEOPLE AT THE END OF YOUR POST AND LINK TO THEM
5.LET EACH PERSON YOU HAVE TAGGED KNOW BY LEAVING A COMMENT ON THEIR BLOG
6.LET THE TAGGER KNOW WHEN YOUR ENTRY IS POSTED

Paint??

No, that's not paint....that would be purple marker. Lovely, huh? Yes, this would be what greeted me when I picked Emma Grace up from Mothers Day Out today. She was instructed to use the marker to write her name (which she did), but then after writing it 5 times, apparently she got bored and decided to "paint". Her teacher kept apologizing and said they had scrubbed and scrubbed...to no avail.
The little Picasso is actually quite proud of her work...she is really into purple right now. This morning, she picked out this dress, complete w/matching flip-flops and purple panties. She stated rather happily...."I'm all purple today!" I guess her hands were feeling left out.
For those of you who know me well, you know my aversion to "messes". I am not a huge fan of play-doh, moon sand, dirt, sand, mud, fingerpaints, etc.....you get the idea. Of course, I have enjoyed quite a laugh out of this. I think the tide is about to turn in our house....for 3 years we have enjoyed a rather calm child.....but as her 4th birthday nears....I think we may be in for a wild ride. I 'm holding on tight!!

Great Weekend!!!

It's been over a week since I blogged...but I have been really busy. I wanted to make sure that I shared with everyone the amazing weekend that I had last weekend and all that God did!!

Last weekend was our annual Children's Revival/Family Crusade. It is always a busy time and can be somewhat stressful preparing for it, but ALWAYS worth it!!

Once again, Mike & Vickie Oliver were our evangelists and they are always such a blessing. They are a wonderful example of a couple who are completely committed to the work of the Lord....for the children!! Friday night we had over 250 in attendance and it was awesome to look across the sanctuary and see children from different walks of life all there for the same reason....to worship God and feel His presence and His love. We brought in over 40 children from the area trailer park and apartments who had never been in a service of this kind. I believe that a seed was planted that will continually be watered over time and these children will become mighty in the work of the Lord.

In both services (Friday pm/Sunday am), we were blessed by the ministry of Explosion of Praise which is our children's sign language team, Rock-n-Soul Puppet Team and the children's choir, The King's Kids...which I am proud and blessed to be the director of.

I am so proud of our kids...they were very sensitive to the presence of God and they let Him use them in ministry.

Sunday morning while the kids were singing, the anointing fell and out of 21 kids......I only had about 5 who could sing....the rest were speaking in tongues and worshiping. It was the most amazing thing!! At that point you just throw out the schedule and agenda. It didn't matter what was scheduled next. God showed up and He was going to do a work in His time!!

The children and the entire church worshipped and prayed for close to an hour. The end result......a great weekend with several baptized, 28 filled with the Holy Ghost and the touch of God placed on so many!!

I truly believe that God is about to do great things through the Children's Ministry of The Turning Point and I am so excited to be on the front line of it all.

I encourage you....if you don't have a home church and you are looking for something....Please come visit us. You will be welcomed with open arms and smiling faces and a God who loves you.

Happy Birthday to Me!!

So, how would you like to spend your birthday?? I am guessing probably not the same way I spent mine. Last Friday was my 36th (yikes) b-day and I spent it with 20 kids....ages 5-12....all night long....at a lock-in!! I must be a crazy person.....no, seriously, it was a lot of fun!! It was a cast party and lock in for our musical we performed in June. We haven't been able to schedule it earlier b/c several kids were out of town all summer at grandparents, vacation, etc. So, with the busy month....the event fell on my birthday.

We really had lots of fun....games, food, videos and the most exciting part....an ice cream sundae bar!! It was a hit!!

After much wrangling, coaxing and threatening...we finally got all the kids down in their "beds" by 1:00 am. Emma Grace hung right in there with them. She loves getting to be with "the big kids"

We got up at the crack of 7:30(!!) and got the kids breakfast, dressed and home to their mommas....then we cleaned up the mess.

We enjoyed the night and all the fun....but we were EXHAUSTED!! and the day was not done....we still had a birthday lunch with my family....a visit to my grandmothers, all important naps and we had tickets to the Sounds game for that night. What I really wanted to do was go to bed, but we went to the game and had a good time. After the long day...we were asleep by 11:00....which is very unusual for me....but rest well needed.

It was a busy and tiring weekend...but it was fun and I enjoyed being able to spend it with "my kids"! They are a great group of kids and always leave me with lots of laughs and smiles!!