A Clear Sign

Yesterday we woke up to a beautiful, clear day. Sherry said this was what they called fall weather which they only get about one month out of the year. We started out a little later in the morning yesterday and went to an international church service. We had to show our passports at the door, as the citizens here are not allowed to attend. It was great to worship with people from all over the world. There were about eight pastors who each shared briefly on the topic "One World, One Dream" as the Olympics theme was this year, but specifically regarding the unity of the universal body of Christ. Before leaving church, Anita braved using the typical Chinese toilet. This is a porcelain toilet set into the ground which you squat over. During most of our trip, we have waited for the "4 or 5 Star" bathrooms, but sometimes you just gotta go. After church we visited a jade factory and had a chance to purchase jade. It is a tradition here to wear a jade bracelet, specifically a bangle, on the woman's left wrist. This bangle would be then passed to the woman's daughter when the girl turned 16. At $400-1000 per bracelet, we decided we could not afford this tradition! Then we had lunch and headed to the Great Wall. All I can say about walking on the wall is "Stairmaster Level: 10." But what pretty views we had! After that we had dinner and Madison and Anita went to a Chinese acrobat show. It was amazing! The boys stayed in the rooms because they wanted to swim one more time in the indoor pool. It was also our desire to make sure they got to bed early and for Matt to begin packing our bags. Our suitcases were picked up last night at 10:30pm so that we can all get out early this morning for our flight to Jiangxi where we will meet Sinclair! Got to run, got to get on plane, today is Gotcha Day!!!!!