Great Wall of China and Jade factory

Hello everyone, I don't even know where to begin because our day today was so packed full of adventure it feels like the last 15 hours was actually 2 or 3 days. First of all I will just let you know right off the bat we still can't upload pics. But don't worry. Tomorrow we fly to a new province and if we still are having trouble then I will email my pics to a friend and she will post them for me. So either way I will make certain we get Annabels pics up tomorrow. I know that is what Grandma is waiting for isn't it???? Well one of our stops today was the Jade factory. It was amazing to watch the workers form beautiful pieces of art out of a block of Jade. We had a class on how to determine the quality of a piece of jade. I bought a beautiful bangle that I will wear and pass on to Annabel when she turns 16. We also did some shopping for the kids. But I am not sharing what we bought them. haha After lunch we headed off to the Great Wall of China. I can sum it up in two words...Oh My!!!! We climbed as high as we could in our alloted time frame. I am exhausted tonight because of it. But it was spectacular. The smog made for some not so nice photo opportunities, but it was still an amazing adventure. Both of our meals today were in group settings. It was so much fun getting to know the other families. We all head out at 5:30 am tomorrow to our prospective provinces. We check into our rooms, unpack and then it's off to meet Annabel. I still can't believe it. Before we started all of our adventures today we attended a church service. The visitors (us) were not allowed to attend church with the Chinese. They are allowed to freely worship but we cannot attend the same service. The service was great. You could just feel God's presence there. Mark and I both could not contain the tears. We feel so blessed and overwhelmingly amazed that God has chosen us to raise Annabel. Well I am headed off to pack. Marks bag is still not here so we just went shopping and bought him some new clothes. It's pretty amazing when you can buy t-shirts for $1. The bell boys are coming for our checked luggage tonight so that we dont have to leave any earlier then 5:30am. I can't wait. The next time you hear from me I will reporting on our first day with Annabel. Kids, I just know you are going to love her so much. I can't wait to talk to you both soon. God Bless, Mark and Tamara