March 8

Dear Everyone,

This is a note to let you know that it is presently 11:11 PM and we're settled into our hotel. The Fuhao Hotel (which means 'rich man') is where we are now ready to rest. Our 13.5 hour flight ended up being closer to a 16 hour flight but everyone managed very well. We were seated very close to each other in groups of 2 or 3 which made the flight enjoyable. The airline provided us dinner, lunch & dinner again....with buns inbetween plus almonds, drinks and snacks so we were all too well fed! Once we arrived we were met by Ken and Alice....we had a tour of Beijing by night as the trip from the airport to the city core was approx. 40 minutes. Interesting facts were shared about the population and the laws to limit who drives per day due to the 5 million cars on the road. At our hotel by 9:45 we sat into a full meal at round tables with too many options to dine on. C. is holding up well with assistance and everyone else is perfectly fine and excited to be here!

I'd love to blog but we're on dial up at the hotel so it is an email for now but please watch for pictures on our blog if/when we locate faster internet.

Thanks AGAIN to all the parents who transported us to the airport! We really appreciated this as you got us to the airport in time to select excellent seats on the plane which is a blessing on a 16 hour flight.

It's now time to sign off and say good night because it's been a long day!

Thanks again for your prayers & we'll keep in touch daily!

Sincerely,

Mrs. VV