Beijing--the first stop on our China journey

The past two days in Beijing have been unbelievable and overwhelming! What a beautiful country China is. The people are warm and welcoming. The Lord smiled on us in a big way when Michael showed up to take us from the airport to our hotel and he informed us that he was going to be our guide and take us all around Beijing privately. We told him we had signed up for the public bus tour, but he said that we had been upgraded. So, we have had private one-on-one guide service in Beijing. He took us to the Summer Palace first (which was beautiful). We were able to ride this dragon boat on the lake, and it was acres and acres of gardens. Then, he took us to the Temple of Heaven. Finally, we went to the Forbidden City. To see these places with my own eyes that I have only read about in books was incredible. It amazes me the work ethic, precision, back-breaking labor and dedication the Chinese display toward their beliefs and traditions. Every site we have visited has sent that message home to me more and more.

Today, we hiked a section of The Great Wall. It was exquisite!! I will write more about this later, however. Geoff has great pictures to upload and I'll do it all at once.

For some reason, my photos are not cooperating and uploading tonight. Geoff has taken so many great shots. I will have him work on it tomorrow. Stay tuned. . . much more coming soon!