Friday! What a day!

We all awoke at 5am (little better even thought we were all up and down all night) and got ready for breakfast. We are all making ourselves try new foods each day. I haven't tried one yucky thing yet! Steamed buns with pork today for the win during breakfast! We have a huge variety in the mornings. I had some amazing rice and vegetables, a salad, watermelon, bacon, etc. tomorrow I am trying the noodle soup where you build your bowl and they boil it all. The waitress brought us all some yummy hot cocoa this morning - what a treat! Cindy, our guide, met us at 9am as usual and we jumped in the Mercedes van that I love and we headed to the Junggoyuan pass of the Great Wall. We visited the MuTianYu section last time, but this time it was shut down due to pollution being so bad that the toboggan and things are unsafe to ride in this heavy air. So, Junggoyuan it was and I was happy to see another pass. The ride was about an hour and a half to the district outside of Beijing. We got to see the countryside and it was refreshing.

I decided to do something different than last Great Wall trip and be by myself as Justin trekked up the mountain with the kids. I wanted to walk a little ways and take photos, pray and be alone. I had the greatest time clearing my head and snapping photos. It was very rejuvenating. After photos and walking, I found a bench and just sat in wonder. I prayed and thanked God for my blessings and allowing me to be healthy and in China getting Evie. And then, here comes a little girl about 10, so happy with her family. She was standing next to me and I almost lost it. I quietly wiped tear after tear thinking of my sweet Lily. I hope she is well... and I will never know. So, I said a special prayer for her as well. She will never be forgotten. We love you Lily XinLi. As I was sitting and reflecting, many many people came up to me asking for photos with them. I gave them my camera sometimes and that made them giddy. Totally giddy. It truly feels like I am famous!😂 People come up and grab my arm for photos like we've known each other our whole lives .. and then they gaze into my eyes like they have a crush. It's the funniest thing I've ever witnessed. They love my blue eyes. While the kids were with Justin at the top of the GW, he said people were constantly stopping him for photos. Lol.

I found a small small rock and wrote on the wall .. "to China for Evie".

She is our purpose and we haven't lost sight of that. Our hearts are still so guarded until she is in our arms. I think we will all melt into a puddle when we finally see her!

We left the GW and went to a local restaurant there that many tourists visit. It's usually full in a week advance in the summer. Hardly anyone was there today. China to ourselves - I'm telling you, it's amazing! This lunch was as good as our other meals. We had many dishes on the lazy Susan again. We had a big bowl of rice and a beef broth and tomato base soup that tasted a lot like my gumbo! We put the soup over the rice and I had two bowls! It tasted like home! We had a buffalo-type hot chicken, shredded pork and vegetables, chicken dish with peppers, cauliflower and broccoli, French fries, locally-grown oranges, bean paste-filled spring rolls, sprite and coke. What a delicious meal! We haven't had one bad meal yet and we aren't sick of the Chinese food this go around... we can't get enough! It has been unbelievably good! The waitress came over after our meal and told our guide to tell us this "on such an unfortunate day of birth with disease, your daughter has been blessed with now a wonderful family. She is lucky." We got to explain how we were the lucky ones. Joy loved it, but still agreed that she was luckier one. This has been a life-changing trip for Joy. She hasn't had one scary feeling or anything that we know of. She is in such a healthy place. She invited our guide, Cindy to America to visit at our home and said she would share her bed with her! Lol. Everyone laughs at Joy!
We stopped at the jade factory on the way to the GW and the girls each spent some of their money on necklaces. Anna chose the circle pennant that stands for peace in your life. Joy wanted her zodiac sign, which is the ox because of her year of birth. They bought great quality jade. My new necklace is very special! It is jadeite (high quality) and has the Chinese character for happiness in the center. I will hand it down to Evie either on her 16th birthday, or her wedding day. I haven't decided yet. It's so beautiful.

We made it back to the hotel and got refreshed to meet our precious friend Meilin and Her husband Michael for dinner. They made us reservations at a nearby restaurant to eat a Peking duck dinner. Meilin has been a dear friend to me. I can't even go into detail how much she has helped me during various things in my life. She is the volunteer at Joy's foster home that visited weekly and set up facetimes weekly. She helped prepare Joy for adoption. I can't go into detail how much she means to me. We have texted almost daily, worked together to advocate for children, talked on the phone... she is special to me. We have yet to meet in person - until today!!!! We had the best dinner. Michael and Meilin were extremely generous. We were served Peking duck that was delicious, shrimp (two big plates of huge shrimp), Kung Pao chicken, salad, squirrel fish presented beautifully, Beijing crispy meatballs, 8 treasure fried rice, and several other dishes.. complete with Longyan fruit on the house. What a beautiful time together! We walked to see if food street was indeed shut down, as Meilin heard on the news. It was. The kids were so disappointed as they wanted to see that. We got to show them our hotel we stayed in last time and all the places around that we ate at during June 2015. It was fun to reminisce on our exciting time of adding Joy to our family. The waitress tonight asked why we had three children and wanted Joy. :-(. Meilin answered that we had much extra love. We laughed as Meilin told us that she didn't tell her about Evie because she would stay around and chat too much 😂😂😂😂. The day went so beautifully. Three more sleeps until it's Evie Li time! We are so excited. I don't know about "ready"... will we ever be? Just got to plunge and deal. Lol.

And the funny moment of the day : I bought a pack of two red bags (several packs) to put our scarves in that we brought for gifts. We have to buy gifts for officials, guides, etc. I brought a scarf for Meilin and a red bag as well. 40 minutes before Meilin and Michael arrived at our hotel, I opened the bags and gasped .. I see this.

The bags were HUGE... and pink. Horror. I panicked and then had the idea to borrow scissors from the desk and cut the bags down to size. Oh my goodness... I barely dodged that bullet!

What a day! I am now ready to shower and collapse! Thank you, Beijing, for another wonderful day full of culture, memories, and exciting views.