Another walk up the Great Wall of China

On Friday March 13 we headed off again to the Great Wall for one last climb. Tim researched another entrance that would give another spectacular view. He booked a private car to take us and we had a fantastic opportunity to see it at our leisure. It was extremely cold but Bethany was all bundled up with the pink coat her Daddy bought for her at Christmas time.
Tim buckled her into the Snugli and off we went. It was very steep but this location didn't have the stairs like the other one we went to that did a number on my legs. Hard to believe because it doesn't look steep until you are walking up and if you did not have rubber sole shoes....chances are you would not make it.
As we made our way up, to the right of the wall there was a large worded sign with the logo from the 2008 Olympics....One World, One Dream. I always tend to read personal messages into things that happen or come along in our daily lives. I found this logo to be very significant to our journey. I see it as a reference that Tim and I were at one side of the world and Bethany was on the other side of the world...our union as a family is our dream. I know, sounds corny but it makes allot of sense to Tim and I. We longed for a child for so long and we know that even though she is just a baby, she needed/wanted a family. We stood there overlooking our surroundings and even with Bethany in Tim's arms and in our presence, we still agreed that the dream we had of holding her from the first minute we saw her picture has finally come true. It is still hard to believe that this is our precious little angel. She has brought us so much happiness and in return now has endless love from her parents. Speaking of Endless Love, it was our first dance at our wedding and also what I sing to her softly to help her sleep.
Here are my pictures of our day.....as you can see One World, One Dream is very visible in all our pictures. We can't wait until Bethany is old enough for us to share this incredible journey with her and make her understand how important this statement is to our family.

The weather was so harsh..it was windy and very cold so Tim decided he would not go further than the first point. He stayed behind but I really wanted to go to the next stop. You can see the next point at the top left of the picture above. I had the great urge to go up as a personal goal of accomplishment in seeing more of one of the world's seven wonders....plus I also felt such a love and gratitude to a country that has made our dream come true. I needed to appreciate this world wonder in a private personal moment. I reached the top and as I looked around it was quite a great feeling. I took some time to say a special prayer for the greatest blessing and for the most incredible experience that Tim and I had just been through. I made a promise that this precious little girl will have a life of great health, happiness, education and many many life opportunities with the guidance and protection of two people who feel so humbled by the blessing of having her in our lives.

The winding path to the top

There they were....the loves of my life patiently waiting for me

The rest of our day was a bit more Tim & Liz adventure travel style, with a small modification that we had our Bethany with us. We left the Great Wall and headed back to get some shopping done at the grand Pearl Market. We stopped for lunch and did more browsing than shopping. Once again the vendors were quite aggressive but the experience was worth the trip.

Daddy was on a mission to find the perfect gift for Bethany. Since "abuelito Gabriel" (grandfather in Spanish) bought pink pearl earrings for his precious granddaughter, Daddy decided on buying her a pearl bracelet. We found the perfect one and it was adjusted to fit her. The best part about this purchase was that the whole time Tim was bargaining and looking for the perfect gift Bethany was her usual happy smiling precious self, loving the bling bling shopping just like Mommy. Tim also bought me a necklace matching Bethany's bracelet....he asked that I handed it down to her when she is old enough to appreciate the meaning behind it. Those were our gems of the Pearl Market.

After the Pearl Market we made one more stop to the Silk Market for one last look around where we bought many different teas. We LOVE our tea, especially after the Special Tea Ceremony we experienced.

The day was filled with allot of moving about and at the end of the day both Tim and I were exhausted. We made our way back to the hotel to prepare for our departure the next day and get our packing done. When we arrived at the hotel we were both overwhelmed with the patience Bethany had with her crazy parents trying to fill each moment of our last day with activity. We both came to the realization that we can no longer continue our adventure travel trips because we have to take Bethany's meals & naps into consideration. Our travels will be quite different from now on.....not that we are complaining, in fact we are looking forward to introducing many cultural sights and experiences to her.

When we arrived in our hotel room we took her coat off and sat her on the bed. I sat on the floor at the foot of the bed and apologized to her for having her out all day and taking her all over the place. Although she did get plenty of sleep during the day in Daddy's arms with the Snugli, I just felt it was too much for such a tiny little girl. I was over come with emotion as she looked at me with her beautiful deep eyes and gave me the biggest smile as she reached to me to pick her up and hugged me tightly. I could not stop crying...was it exhaustion from the day's activities?excitement that we were finally going home? or just reality hitting me that this is my daughter? It has to be all the above in addition to my daughter telling me "it's OK Mommy, I had a great day"!

I was able to capture this moment and her beautiful smile. This has to be among one of my most favorite pictures so far because is was the moment I realized and was able to say that I love my daughter with all my heart.

Catching up where we left off

I have to apologize for suddenly stopping to journal our last days in China. As time passed quickly and we prepared for our return home it was not easy to keep up my postings. We are now home safe and sound but I want to finish our last days to complete our experience. It has taken me these past few days to get caught up on the thrill of being home with our baby girl and to try to catch up on sleep while helping her adjust to the time change.
I must say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who has been following ou$r journey. The countless loving messages of joy and congratulations have been the second best part of my days...of course the first has been holding our baby girl in my arms each possible moment.

On Thursday March 12 we said good-bye to our travel group who returned home with their precious girls. We went out in the morning for Rickshaw ride around the old town of Hutong. It was spectacular and quite an experience. It was also extremely windy and cold. Our ride took us along very narrow alleys that we wouldn't see otherwise. Thanks to Tim's research we found this small gem hidden away from the touristic route.

We made the most of our morning but were to be back at the hotel for 3pm because our group families were leaving to return home. We made it back just in time.

Do you believe it is possible to develop close relationships with total strangers in just two weeks? I would have answered that question as no because it isn't always easy to make friends so quickly....friends that you share a strong and personal common bond. It is still unbelievable how six couples with the same desire and longing to have a family would travel on the same airline fro Pearson International Airport all the way, 13 hours, to China for the same purpose.
The wonderful people we met became like family to us for the 2 weeks we spent together. We all had the experienced of our lifetime…together. We shared the same emotions as we eagerly waited for the big day and then the overwhelming happiness of holding and caring for our daughters.
It was very difficult to say good-bye to everyone. We met them in the lobby and as Bethany and I approached each baby and parents to say good-bye, it was so endearing as Bethany and her Sisters said good-bye to each other. They actually made eye contact, smiled at each other and even tried touching each other's hands and face. If I didn't see it for myself I wouldn't believe it. But they did and as you would expect, their mothers cried.

Our journey as a group had come to an end but each one of us were only just beginning our own personal journeys to living the complete happy family life we have all longed for.

I felt that each person who I met was so deserving of such angelic beautiful girls who had just won their parent's hearts.

We do plan to keep in touch with everyone, especially the three other couples who live in the Toronto area. It is only fair to our girls to keep this important part of the beginning of their lives....the fortune of growing up with their Sisters close by.

A day of shopping

This morning we ventured out to the Silk Market for some shopping.

It was complete-total chaos.

You know how much I love to shop, well, let me tell you I did not enjoy today's shopping one bit. It was as if we were being accosted by the vendors. Some even grabbed me my the arm pulling me into their booth.

I was not a happy camper but my main goal was to find some nice original clothing for Bethany. Tim was on a shirt shopping spree while I wandered about with Bethany. Everyone wanted to sell me Chinese dresses for my "beautiful baby".

I made the big mistake of stopping in one booth. Well I didn't really have much of a choice because she reached to grab Bethany and then pulled my arm into her booth. So I gave in and asked to see a dress for my baby. She pulled out a couple and oh boy they were adorable. I tried to walk away several times telling her that I had to check with my husband because he was the one that was going to buy it. This woman followed me to where Tim was and kept hounding me.

As Tim took his time trying on several shirts I sat down on a bench playing and feeding Bethany her cheerios snack. Many people walking by stopped to say that she was beautiful and asking me if she was my baby. Some even said "she looks just like her Mama"...I am getting very used to hearing this and loving it each time someone says it.

No sooner did Tim finish, this woman came right up behind me and literally put her arm around mine and pulled me to her booth. Needless to say, Tim bought 2 dresses for Bethany after much persistence and a huge bargaining session. It really works that I walk away as if I do not like it because that's when they insist on bringing the price right down just to make the sale. This hounding/harassment is way too much for my liking especially when the woman said to Tim "buy 2 or 3 for your baby" but he responded that it was too much and she said to him "it's not too much if you love your baby". So before I could respond unfavourably to that comment I walked far away...and very quickly.

Others tried to grab my arm but by this time I'd had enought so I just pulled my arm away and kept walking as I "firmly" said NO! It worked because they did not speak to me after that....well, they spoke Chinese and goodness knows what they were calling me but as long as they stopped harassing me I didn't care.
Overall, I can't say I was impressed with the quality of the merchandise or the harassing manner of the vendors. But as I've been told, you get what you pay for; however, it was quite the experience and Bethany did score big with Daddy and that's all that matters. As you can see from this picture....Bethany showing off her expanding ward robe, courtesy of Daddy.

Looks like she will be a shoe-aholic just like her Daddy.

On another note, I must say that everywhere we go Bethany attracts people to her. It's not even the adopted child gawking like the Canadian couples in our group. She is absolutely adorable and has a killer smile especially when she opens and closes her hands to say hello. So, that could be it but whether Tim is carrying her or me, people walk up to us and ask us how old she is and tell us she is cute and beautiful. That is not what bothers me, I actually love that. What really bothers me is that they want to hold her! I mean really! They don't do this in Toronto...EVER!
It gets very annoying because one thing about adopted children is that they learn to be held by many different people so they tend to go when anyone calls them. It is different for Tim and I because we are teacher her to go to "Baba" or "Mama" only so she knows we are her parents. I've decided that from now on when someone calls her I will have to tell them to stop that and pull away with Bethany. She is very friendly so we've got allot of work to do on this issue. She has to learn not to go to strangers....family and friends are the exception.
It seems she is the only one of the girls who gets all this attention everywhere we go. No matter where we are we are guaranteed to have a couple/few women hovering around us all cooing over her. Tim always has a huge smile on his face...I have to smile when I see him with her and think to myself.....is he just being a proud Daddy or is he thinking "wow, I have my own chick magnet"...LOL!
OH, but wait, there's more than just the hovering, cooing and calling to pick her up. It started when we were at the Forbidden City. I was with our guide Ting-Ting, I kid you not, that is her name but let me tell you she is the most caring and wonderful person we have ever met. She has been instrumental from the beginning of our life changing experience...we all LOVE Auntie Ting-Ting.

As I was walking around, a couple of older ladies walked up to me and were talking in Chinese to me so I asked Ting-Ting to translate for me. They wanted to know how old she was and when we told them she was 10 months old they started chattering loudly as they looked at each other and nodded. I was very curious to find out what they were saying. Ting-Ting translated to me that the women were saying that "my baby is fat". How rude??? I asked Ting-Ting to respond for me by saying "don't call my baby fat!" but then she continued to tell me that they are very happy and congratulating me because of my good fortune since I have a gorgeous healthy baby. It so happens that in this culture, chubby or "fat" babies represent happiness and prosperity because it means the baby is well nourished and will grow up healthy and very smart. It signifies good fortune that the child's family has enough money to feed her healthy foods. It felt so good to hear them saying such wonderful things about Bethany's culture. It meant allot coming from these elderly ladies and so I didn't feel so bad about them calling our baby girl "fat". You learn something new everyday here in Beijing.

Hey, who called me fat?...I prefer to be called bodacious

We conquered the Great Wall of China

Tuesday March 10 was the day we had anxiously been waiting for....we were climbing the Great Wall of China with our babies today.
Our day was full of full of activity as we also made a stop at the Jade Factory and an authentic local lunch stop before heading up to the Great Wall.

All dressed up and ready to go for the family's first important trip to the Great Wall of China.

One of our first stops was to have lunch and gather enough energy to climb the Great Wall. We had a very authentic lunch and I found this high-chair rather interesting....note no safety belts? But they sure know how to treat the babies in style for meals. Bethany was very good. She had her formula and rice along with some jasmine tea and not a fuss while Mommy & Daddy took turns eating. Let's hope she keeps this up from now on.

OH, I had made it a mission to buy a wall hanging scroll with Bethany's name in Chinese and we found it. Actually, it was Daddy who had remembered me saying this a while back and he was more than willing to buy it for her. Here is the artist writing her English name in Chinese characters while the Princess watched him doing this.....she was really enjoying herself as if she knows it's for her.

The Great Wall of China is one of the seven wonders of the world and this great structure has also been granted the World Heritage status by UNESCO. Now, for those of you who don't know....Tim's goal in life is to visit as many World Heritage sites throughout our travels. I've lost count but we have been to quite a number of them so far. So, this day was to be another one of our accomplishments. And we made it!

The Great Wall winds up and down across grasslands, deserts, mountains and plateaus just like a dragon spanning approximately 6,700 km from east to west. It was built by an army of manpower consisting of soldiers, prisoners and local people. We climbed the Badaling section of the Great Wall which is one hour out of Beijing City. This is the place where Chairman Mao climbed and a monument was placed at the entrance of with his saying "You are not a real man; if you haven’t climbed the Great Wall”. They also estimate 4 hours to walk the full circle of the Great Wall. Our Day was a 2 1/2 hour tour.

Since it is a very steep climb, Tim agreed to carry Bethany in the Snugli. I carried his other baby....his camera bag. Not quite the fair exchange.

Here we are at the entrance of Badaling Point.....and you can see the steps behind us. It was a very very cold day with quite a bit of wind.

While I was getting some pictures in, Tim went full speed ahead. Can you see him in the centre of the picture below at the top of the stairs? He was in quite a hurry!

I finally caught up with him and captured this beautiful picture of him & Bethany.

This is half way up to the first tower. I don't care much for heights and Tim knows me well enough to have warned me not to climb. I saw him start the climb and he waved his arms as if to tell me "no, don't do it"....he didn't think I would make it. If it were not for the fact that he had Bethany, it was cold and I wanted to give him my jacket to cover her...I would not have done it. BUT, tell me I can't do something and I have to do it just to prove that I can do anything if I set my mind to it....especially when I want to get to my baby. I actually thought he was waiting for me as I started the climb. I didn't look back or up, just attempted the climb slowly. The steps are totally uneven making it more difficult on the legs to climb. As I slowly made my way up there were many others of different ages, shapes & ethnic backgrounds. I was among a group of elderly ladies and it turned out that I was part of their group as they talked to me along the way smiling each time I stopped to catch my breath. As I was midway up I looked up to try to find Tim but he was no where in sight....OMG, I had no choice but to keep going and hope to meet up with him at the top. The Ladies and I finally made it and once we got to the top they were all talking so loudly patting each other on the back, catching their breath. When I reached the top right behind them, they all went into a loud chatter and patted me in the back so much that I felt I was going to tumble down the steep stairs that I had painfully just conquered. They found it funny but I just quickly grabbed onto the railing and stood semi-paralyzed along the wall once I looked back and realized that I "was a true man" according to Chairman Mao.

Take a look at the steps from the top view....and the spectacular but smoggy view from the top. You can see the continuation of the wall starting from the bottom along the left.

As Tim came down he was so surprised to see me standing at the first tower. He was worried because it was really cold and I wasn't good for Bethany but she was sleeping so soundly snuggled up in Daddy's chest. As usual, Mommy worried for nothing. But we quickly made our way down.

Once we left the Great Wall we made our way back to the city with a quick stop at the Olympic Stadium. What a spectacular scene. It is one thing to see it on TV but another to be right in front of the "bird's nest". Bethany was again fast asleep in Daddy's arms in the bus ride back so Tim had to stay while I went out to get some video footage and pictures. There were so many people speaking a multitude of languages as I made my way through and it was beautiful.

The first building you see is the Beijing National Aquatics Center also known as "the Water Cube". As you walk around it you see the majestic Olympic Stadium.

What an exciting moment....wish Tim & Bethany could have been with me in the picture.

From here we went to a Tea Ceremony held in a special Tea House. We were given a lesson in a private room just for our group. It was great. Tim and I were in our glory because we love tea and learning the different types and purposes of the teas was a real treat for us. Bethany was now wide away and in her usual best behaviour. Thank heavens for the magical powers of cheerios. Here is our family during the special Tea Ceremony.

After the Tea Ceremony we went back to the hotel to freshen up and change the girl's. We had a special Peking duck dinner planned for our group. They say that you haven't experienced China at its best if you have not climbed the Great Wall and enjoyed an authentic Peking Duck dinner. Tim has just informed me that the city of Beijing was originally named Peking but was later changed to Beijing in the late 1950s. This is where this authentic dish originated. Well, how's that for some history from Timmy Lee?

Since it was a special dinner to commemorate such an accomplishing day, it was only appropriate for Ms. Bethany to sport her red, lucky Chinese colour, dress for the occasion. Of course she was a huge hit as usual for being the best dressed baby in our group. Even Daddy finally changed his clothes and dressed up.

Having learned over the past 12 days that food makes Bethany happy I made sure to feed her when we got back to the hotel room before heading out for dinner. She did not fuss and to entertain her we gave her a piece of apple for her to chew on. She doesn't have any teeth yet but loved her apple.

And then we called it a night right after some play time back at the room............she slept like an adorable baby...oh yeah, she actually is our adorable baby.

Our little Citizen

I have finally conquered "bath time" to be fun time not torture time. It has been very difficult to bathe her but thanks to the advice of Tia Mitzie...bubbles really do work. We played with bubbles first and then slowly made it into her lavish bath tub. She is getting more used to it and even I am enjoying it more.

She puckers her lips all the time and just makes me want to kiss her.....hey, maybe that's what she's trying to tell us. Tim and I can't kiss her enough, especially with lips like this.

It was very touching and hear-warming to see the 3 girls playing together. They are all from the same orphanage...Bethany is the youngest. Here she is with sisters Mya (left) & Ava (right) while the dad's baby sit.

Out on the town with Mom & Dad. What an experience to see booths of kabobs...some pretty strange kabobs. I just didn't feel hungry anymore. Daddy wanted to be around locals and do as the locals do on a Monday night. But luckily, he reconsidered.

Bethany and her other sister Renee getting together in the lobby.

Getting a very important lesson on pearls. Tim was surprised (or maybe just worried) at how attentive she was and did not fuss at all while in the Pearl Shop. Like Mother, like Daughter.

Well, I don't even know where to begin. So much is going on over here and unfortunately our internet service was down for the day yesterday....which means I got some extra sleep.

I am over whelmed with the sites to see on this trip of our life time.

But each day is extra special...I have to say that I've averages at least 90+ pictures a day. Looks like I'll be a loyal customer at Costco when I get home. I wish I could post them all but for now I am posting a few to keep the family and friends up to date on how things are going on here.

I am truly enjoying Beijing. The language barrier is of little importance since the majority of the people we have met do speak and understand some english.

First I will start with the medical check up since I know some of you have been wondering if Bethany has been given a clean bill of health. Well, the medical check up was only a requirement for immigration purposes. It consisted of the doctor measuring height, weight and visual examination. Nothing thorought at all. Since Bethany already has a pediatrician ready to take her on as a patient when we get back home, it wasn't necessary for us to have her medical completed. Tia Mitzie has taken care of setting her up with an amazing doctor. So, up until now, from what Tim and I can see..she is doing wonderfully and there are no issues of concern to us so far.

Since she did not have to do the medical and we travelled as a group, she had a play day with her Orphanage Sisters instead. They interact so well and are all so beautiful as you can see from the pictures above.

Secondly, I am very happy to say that my hard work at getting all our paperwork and documents done efficiently has paid off. Bethany Lin-Zi Lee will enter Canada on March 14 with her Chinese passport and Canadian Visa BUT she has been granted Canadian Citizenship!!!!!

We have completed her paperwork with Immigration Canada and she will have her paperwork done within a few months. We are so proud!