Sunday, February 4, 2007

It was a beautiful Sunday here in Beijing. God has been so good in providing us with very mild temperatures which is unusual for this time of year in Beijing. We wore our heavy coats , long underwear, earmuffs, and gloves and were quite comfortable. Many did not even wear this much as the temperature was so mild. Shannon does not like to be cold though!!!

We so enjoyed our worship this morning at the Beijing International Christian Fellowship at the 21st Century Hotel. This was a bilingual service in Mandarin and in English. From what we understand, it is a church run by the Korean Christian community here in Beijing. Only foreign passport holders are allowed to attend and not Chinese nationals. It was held in a large auditorium in the 21st Century Hotel seating around 5,000 people. It was our privilege to worship with believers from all over the world!!! And hearing the name of Christ proclaimed in Mandarin (Ye Su) and English (Jesus!!)

Other than the name of Jesus, the other recognizable Mandarin word was syair-syair (Thank You). A heart of thanksgiving and praise is recognizable in any language!!! It reminded us of that Sandi Patti song-“Love in any language, fluently spoken here”

A line from the message this morning was “when we cooperate with God , God’s Glory is revealed” We have been so in awe of how God has revealed Himself to us over the last 2 years and can’t imagine what this would look like if we gave Him our FULL cooperation!!! We joyously anticipate being united with our Chinese daughter – a desire he placed in our hearts many years ago and tomorrow it will be reality!!!!!

This afternoon after church, we went to a jade factory where they cut and carve the Jade that China is known for. We picked up a heart shaped pendant for Lottie.

We then went on to the Great Wall!! Wow, it was quite awesome!! We did not realize it was as steep as it was in places. And of course we saw only a small section and it was quite impressive. The views from the heights were amazing. Although a little clouded at times by the smog of Beijing. We realized how out of shape we are as we were huffing and puffing as we climbed and our muscles were trembling. At least Shannon’s were anyway!!! Battle’s may have been too, but he might not admit to it!!! There was a neat tradition of married couples coming to the wall. They would hang a lock on a rope tied to the side of the wall and throw the key over the wall as a symbol that their marriage was a forever thing!!! What a neat covenant marriage tradition!!!

We left the Great Wall and headed to our last Chinese dinner in Beijing. We have eaten four family style Chinese meals while here in Beijing. We love Chinese food, but looking forward to a quarter pounder with cheese at the golden arches in Guangzhou.

We have just packed our luggage to be taken to the airport. We get up bright and early to head to the airport at 6:30 in the morning. We fly to Guangzhou and arrive around 12:00. The babies are to arrive around 4:00. We packed the diaper bag tonight so we will be ready just in case they arrive early!! Wow!!! Lottie will be in our arms tomorrow afternoon!!! And our next post will be pictures of her!!!! Until then…!!!!!