Drum and Bell Towers

Just catching up, while in Beijing we visited the ancient Drum and Bell towers. You climb these steep stairs to get to the top and then have to climb down. Wow scary, took some pics of steps, I don't think by the photos you can appreciate the height and angle of the climb. The towers were used to let the people of Beijing know the time. The bell would ring and the the drums would follow with a sequence that people could tell time by hundreds of years ago.

Introducing Brayden Tian Cai

Looks like we are back up after a week of no Internet. We received Brayden three days ago and he is doing great. Gotcha day was another story, we know he was with a foster family since he was 3 days old,and we knew they loved him and cared for him very much based on the updates we would receive. The morning we received Brayden he cried and screamed for two hours straight,thrashing and crying.It was heart breaking to watch our son grieve so strongly.When we got back to the hotel things started to calm down he seemed to be drawn to Amanda and she was very calming towards him,she was singing to him and it seemed to help. Then it was time for bed,again very very sad he yelled for his "MA" for an hour.it was just heart breaking to hear him.We held and cuddled him and soon he was off to sleep.the next morning things were much better he started to accept us and we saw a smile and giggle,wow that was nice to see.Ok three days later much MUCH better he calls us MaMa and BaBa (father in Chinese) and has been playing with Amanda and Seth. He tells us when he is hungry and is almost potty trained.He has been playing with the toys we brought and mimics Seth with the Kung Fu and Spiderman moves.Things are going much better.We went for a walk to a local park and this women spoke to him in Chinese and he turned his head looked at us and said Ma and BaBa and pointed to us,that was nice and made us feel better that he is feeling better.So here are some pics,I know everyone has been waiting patently for.

Forbidden City

WOW is all we can say. We have been to this magnificent palace several times and each visit is more interesting then the one before. The history is amazing the architecture is more amazing. We spent the day just strolling around by ourselves.This time we were daring,no guide to tell us where to go and no schedule to keep just a nice morning exploring this amazing place.