Happy One-Year Gotcha Day, David!

What a difference a year can make!

Family "portrait", one year ago in Taiyuan, Shanxi Civil Affairs office.

We three now.

David, his first evening with us.

Our boy now.

We Are Family!

There have been a lot of germs floating around our house these days, so not much time for introspective blogging. But I can't let today pass without celebrating our wonderful boy! We thank God for his presence in our family every day!

One Year Ago - March 7

We woke up bright and early the morning of March 7th and headed for the Beijing airport. Our destination: Taiyuan, Shanxi and our little Shi Shi!

Our facilitator, Bill, was happy to take photos for us!

Our first aerial view of Taiyuan...

The room in the Continental Hotel that would be "home" for the next week...

The view of Taiyuan from our hotel room window. Smoggy.

The hotel entrance. Note: it was VERY cold!

We walked to a nearby WalMart to buy children's clothes as a gift to the welfare institute. WalMart was quite an experience!

Two Sick Kids

David is recovering from bronchitis and an ear infection, and Abbie is down with a virus that includes high fevers. This afternoon, I found them on the living room couch napping in this position. I had to snap a picture of them - it was so sweet and peaceful.

Until Abbie threw up all over the couch.

Bleah.

One Year Ago - March 5 and 6

We pretty much lost the better part of March 5th in the air, but were able to enjoy a wonderful dinner of Peking duck and a special show. This actor's mask changed before our eyes with some sort of mechanism.
Mmmmmm... :)

After dinner, we were able to Skype the girls!

This was the view of Beijing from our hotel window the next morning.

We squeezed a lot into our only full day in Beijing. First, the jade factory...

Next, my favorite stop, the Great Wall.

Then on to the cloisonne factory.

And finally a stop for lunch with our group!

Then a quick trip to see Tiananmen Square.

I can't for the life of me remember what we did for dinner that evening. But I do remember being filled with excitement as we prepared to leave for Taiyuan the next morning!

One Year Ago - Day 1