Passport Prep

We went to TJ on the fast train- 200mph/i334kph fast. We took a van there and back last time and it was about a 2 hour drive and the train ride was 26 minutes. It is so smooth and much like an airplane inside. It is not available everywhere you go, but BJ and TJ each have over 10 million people so it leaves every 15 minutes during the day- pretty nice way to travel, at 9 USD each way.

We caught a taxi to get to the passport office- which took about 5 minutes- and were dropped off in a sea of Chinese waiting for passports or visas. It was like the China Embassy in SF but bigger and crazier. We met a young man there who walked us through, with a few other families who are adopting. 2 families from Australia getting 1 CLP son each, about 1 year old. It has taken them 5 years to complete this process. We met a French couple who were picking up their 5 year old son to add to their 7 year old daughter, who they adopted 5 ears ago and this one took 5 years to complete as well. Now they have 2 Chinese children, living in France and no bio's. We also met a lady from Colorado who picked up her daughter 1 hour before we met her. John, for sure, is the oldest we have seen being adopted, but I guess that makes sense since he is the end of the line. He is still very quiet about the whole thing.

I was able to purchase a ticket for him, this afternoon, on the same flight as we are on- I am not sure why it would not give me those options this am, but maybe it is just because you were praying that this would happen. I will believe it when we arrive and there are no issues, but I purchased the ticket with FF miles, so if everything goes as planned we will be getting his flight with no cash out of pocket- now that would be a giant answer to prayer- God is so good.

Tomorrow we are going to tour the Great Wall and a jade factory- that should be fun and very cold. Tomorrow evening we are doing the acrobats.

Mary- our guide- says that she thinks that John is happy, he is just really hard to read. We are teaching him important things like always putting down the toilet seat. I think we will start reading with him and let him follow along and read it back to us. T is a little over whelmed with how much English he doesn't know, but it is much more than many know when they arrive.

Line to catch a taxi at the train station.

Chinese Dairy.

A little building going on in China.

More Cranes.

Tianjin.

When the trains comes to the end of the line someone goes in and switches the seats around. Notice the ones behind her, on the right, are facing the other direction.

China Farmland at 200mph.

China City at 200mph.

That's Fast.

Mary, our guide, and T in the train.

Dad and John.

Mom and John.