Monday, August 4, 2008

How about this....

Met someone on the internet who has recently moved from Canada to China on a 2 year teaching contract. They have 2 children. I have been following her excellent blog on yahoo. She is making lots of contacts and has very graciously invited us to visit when we travel in March. How cool is that? I love the internet and fellow Canadian adoptive families.

She is in Huangdao, outside of the city of Qingdao, Shandong...........I had to look it up on a map. It is a beach town just south of Beijing. I know there is a famous mountain there and it would be interesting to do the hostel thing again and to know someone there would be bonus. I am going to investigate and see if we can add it to the itinerary and if the budget and time at Hope allows.

Friday, August 1, 2008

Week of the Olympics........


The summer Olympics open on the 8/8/08.........eight is a very lucky number for the Chinese.
Lots of Chinese travel being featured on TV and in print and lots of everything Chinese in general. Kind of fun for us! 

I will work out an itinerary for us in the fall so I will know day by day where and what we will be 
up to. I want us to do the Great Wall, of course. We never did see the Forbidden City or have a Hutong tour so would like to do that. Not too interested in the shopping but will get the girls Chinese names painted in a bottle because Isabel cherishes that souvenir from her trip this year.
This is just part of the fun of the entire trip for me.

We have had updates on some of the children we grew to know and love in that brief time on our Xi'an trip. Hop over to the 2008 trip and read on. I am trying to prepare my heart for this trip. It is hard not to fall in love with the children at the foster home and I worry that they will not find a family. What will become of them? How will their lives play out? I am still grieving for the little ones at Starfish. Part of me thinks they will be okay no matter what but of course we don't know that and it can be difficult in China without the support and love of a family.  It can be difficult anywhere in the world when you are alone. At least for now they are not and that is a comfort. They are being cared for and have a home with lots and lots of brothers and sisters and many Mommies...........and tons of volunteers loving on them.