Our Adoption Journey(s): The Great Wall of China

I am tired. My thoughts are jumbled. Please don't expect anything exceptional or inspirational. :) Our hotel room is very comfortable and we have everything we need. Our bodies have not adjusted to the time difference. It is 4:30pm on Friday right now in Beijing. We just got back to our hotel room and Seamus and Brady are conked out. Our day was extremely adventurous and we are glad to be in our room.

We woke up this morning to a breakfast buffet downstairs. The spread is elaborate. There are foods covering several tables. Omelets and Belgian waffles? Not so much. How 'bout "salted fish" for breakfast? The choices were amusing to say the least but we were happy to see some traditional American style options as well. I ate bacon, corn on the cob, fried rice, and a chocolate muffin with a cup of coffee.

Our sweet guide, Heidi, met us in the lobby after breakfast and we drove to The Great Wall of China. It was truly the most magnificent man-made thing I've ever seen. We took the sky cable up and walked at some length, down the wall, and through several watch towers. On the way down, Brady took a horrifying spill. He literally fell face first and did a front flip on the stone. It's very steep and he couldn't stop his force. He hit his head, nose, mouth, knees, hands, you name it. We were pretty sure his nose was broken and we still think it may be. We took him to a local clinic. There are few words that can describe that experience. The crowd. The chaos. The confusion. The babies. It was awful. I shed tears and thanked my God for the medical care we have at home. The doctor who saw Brady barely looked at him and suggested we go to a hospital for an MRI and an x-ray of his nose. Um, no thanks. We are keeping ice and a close eye on him. I don't believe he has a concussion and if he broke his nose, I'm not letting anyone here touch it. Brady was so upset that this would somehow effect getting Emily. Sweet boy cried at the thought of that. We assured him nothing would prevent that. I think he's going to be fine. Oh yeah, he knocked a permanent tooth square out of his mouth at home, the day before we left, and has to have a root canal when we return. It's been quite a week for my little man.

We have been eating some phenomenal Chinese food. In the states I never like to eat Chinese. That's because I was holding out for the real stuff. Y'all. Yum!

Tomorrow is a huge day for us. We will be meeting our guide downstairs at 7:30am where we will then drive to Harmony House to spend the day with our Emily Hope and the others at her orphanage. We really can't believe this is happening... TOMORROW! We will be visiting her for the day but can not take her with us when we leave. Monday morning will be our official "gotcha day". I'm hoping to blog after our big day tomorrow but there's no telling when we'll get back to the hotel or how exhausted and emotional we may be. I promise to post pictures and updates when I can.

Here are some pictures from today...