It's been a couple of weeks! And lots going on. The children have all been involved in lots of activities. Chad and Jen left us last Thursday. We had such a great time with them. I was able to meet them in Beijing, on Sunday, March 30th. I'll never forget the look on their faces as we drove into the Hutong alleyway as we got close to the hotel. They were quite pale, thinking that our hotel would look like the rest of the area. They were ecstatic when they realized that the hotel was actually quite beautiful! We had a terrific time going to try Beijing Duck, climbing the wall at Simetai, and checking out the Forbidden City and Summer Palace. I think maybe their favorite part of the trip may have been the fake market. They seemed to be highly entertained watching me bargain for their stuff. At one point a lady was so unhappy with my price that she threw the clothes at me! I kept telling her that she didn't have to sell them to me if she was that unhappy with the price, but she still wanted to, so I guess it was OK... Chad and Jen even got into the spirit, and did fairly well on their own! At one time, in Nanjing, Jen had Jay translating for her as she bargained for a necklace. They were a great team! It was fun to get back to Nanjing where we could spend time with the family.
I guess I should pause here to insert our "brown sugar and chocolate chips" experience at the airport. Well, Chad and Jen hadn't understood what I meant when I said 40 kilos total. They thought it meant each bag, not 40 kilos total for the 2 of them. It's very confusing and easy to misunderstand. Anyway, they had lots of bags, and all full of the brown sugar and chocolate chips I had asked my Mom to donate for a big fundraiser we are doing for Hopeful Hearts. We weren't sure how we would get it all to Nanjing. We decided to put ALL 19 (4 pound) bags of brown sugar, plus around 40 cups of chocolate chips in our carry-ons. We knew we would have to act like they weren't heavy at all. Of course, Chad got the heaviest. I imagine it was more than 60 pounds! The taxi driver couldn't pick it up to put it in the car! Well, we got to the airport, and we all acted real cool with our bags. Chad acted like it was nothing! Of course, they were a little worried about all of that brown sugar. I got sent over to the security desk. The two soldiers (who Chad swears were about 16 years old each) tested it all for explosives, and I used my best smile and Chinese to explain that I can't get these items in Nanjing, and my brother brought it to me. They wanted to know what you make with it, and I don't know the word for cookies, so I said, "cake". They smiled and sent us on our way! I couldn't believe it! Well, it was our little miracle! I won't pretend it wasn't funny to watch Chad lift the bags into the overhead, and we were a little worried about all of that brown sugar falling through and onto our heads!
So, the next day, Chad and Jen were kind enough to come to my Hopeful Hearts fundraising luncheon. Yes, Chad was the only guy there. It was at a big hotel, and there was to be a fashion show. I had worked a long time on this luncheon, and couldn't get out of it. I was also in charge of a fashion show for the luncheon. I had asked Chad to be in the fashion show, and I think I may have used up any favors I may ever need from him on that day. Yes, Chad is now famous in Nanjing. I had told him that he would never see anyone again, but he kept running into ladies from the luncheon who recognized him. He's a famous runway model now! He really almost made history as he nearly tripped on the step he didn't see with his sunglasses on! Anyway, he was the star of the show. Thanks Chad!!!
Mike turned 39 on Friday, April 4Th. He actually had a day off because of a Chinese holiday, so we had a fun day with him. We took Chad and Jen to a couple of sights and to lunch. Then, for dinner, we took the whole family to the Timpanyaki Japanese restaurant that was all you can eat. Boy were we all sick! The best part of the day, were the fireworks we surprised Mike with. Jiang (our driver) helped us get some huge fireworks, and we stopped at a park to shoot them off. We are talking Meuller Park fireworks. Pretty crazy! I think it was the highlight of his birthday! Luckily a man asked us if he could have all of the used fireworks after, so we didn't have to try to dispose of all that.
I of course dragged Chad and Jen around the whole time they were here, not wanting them to miss out on anything. We had a blast. The family loved hanging out with them. We miss you both so much! Thank you so much for coming all this way to spend time with us. We will never forget it!
