Aruba!

So as you can see, I've been very spoiled this year. Jordan and I ran off to Aruba for her fall break. We had enough Marriott points to go for only two nights but it was just what she needed to recharge her battery and unwind. We flew out on a redeye on a Monday night so we got to Aruba in the early afternoon on Tuesday. We checked into our room and went down to the pool. They have an adults only pool and it is kind of the rainy season in Aruba so it wasn't crowded at all. It is so quiet there and Jordan fell asleep and slept for a few hours! She totally relaxed. The next day was overcast, but it was still very warm and probably good because when Don and I went to Aruba for our Anniversary two years ago it was actually quite hot and the sun is very strong. Jordan slept again for quite a while and we just chilled out, read books, and enjoyed not having anything required of us. We snapped a photo of us chilling by the pool. 

The next day we had to leave. I went out to the pool for a little while and Jordie was relaxing in the room but before she could come down, the heavens opened it it rained like crazy. It was okay though because we got ready to go. We had to check out by noon and they recommend getting to the airport three hours early to get through security and customs and our flight was at 3:40 so it worked out great. It's hard to tell in this picture but it was raining. It is still beautiful!


We had a lovely time and even though it was short and sweet, it was wonderful. Jordan fell in love with Aruba much like I did so I think we'll save our pennies and try to get back there again!

China 2018!

Don had to return to China again for business and since I enjoy going with him and I have a Visa I figured I better take advantage of this wonderful opportunity. He had to go to Beijing which is near the Great Wall so how could I miss an opportunity like that! We flew out on a Tuesday here which put us into Beijing on Wednesday evening. On Thursday Don had appointments so while he was out, who did I meet up with but Carol Gu! My Chinese BFF! Carol was the amazing angel who took such good care of me when I was in China two years ago doing the procedure to seal off a blood vessel to direct more blood flow to the back of my eye in an effort to slow down my RP progression. Well, they moved from Changchun to Beijing in an effort to make the hospital more easily accessible as it's way easier and faster to get to Beijing than Changchun. So I connected with her before we left and she came to my hotel and we had a lovely visit. She is incredible. She has the best memory and the best heart. While I wouldn't wish RP on anybody, it has afforded me the opportunity to meet some of the most amazing people. My only regret is that I forgot to take a picture!

So Michael Zhang is an excellent host. He made arrangements to take us to the Great Wall! We also went to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. It was a holiday weekend so I'm not sure if that is why Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City was so crowded but it was! Don and I were joking that the population of Beijing is 21 million and we thought all 21 million were there plus tourists. It was still cool and interesting. But back to the Great Wall. Being a holiday I thought it would be busy there but it wasn't! Michael took us to the Mutianyu section which is a little further away from Beijing so doesn't tend to be as busy as the Badaling section. It was really amazing. Here are some photos.

I snapped this picture at a park in Beijing because it is so iconic of old Chinese buildings. 


We were in Beijing for five days then flew to Shanghai for another three. We stayed in a different area of Shanghai than where we were last year because the hotel we stayed at closed. It was near the river and very beautiful. This first night there Don and I went for a walk along the river and caught this beautiful picture of the moon. It was the Autumn Moon Festival (that's the holiday I mentioned earlier) so the moon was full and beautiful.



Here is a different view of the Pearl and some of the Shanghai skyline. Shanghai is a very cool city wish some great buildings. On our very last day we met up with John Higginson who is a very dear family friend. He came into Shanghai the day we were leaving so we had to meet up with him. We took a picture with the three giants in the background which are skyscrapers that are popular to the Shanghai skyline.


It was so cool to see John and he speaks Chinese so he's pretty comfortable getting around. We had a hard time getting a taxi because the drivers wanted to take people further to make more money. This was when it was good John spoke Chinese because I don't think we would have gotten a taxi without him. We went back to the hotel to grab our bags and then got a taxi to the Mag Lev Railway station. the taxi driver didn't really know where to drop us off so he dropped us off in the wrong place and it took us nearly a half hour to get to our platform. By this time we were getting late for our flight and by the time we got to the counter to check in for our flight they had closed the counter so we couldn't check our bags. In fact, the agent hurried us through security and we were on the last or second to last bus to the plane (because they weren't loading from the jetway.) If we had been about 5 minutes later we would have missed the flight. The cool thing is we got to fly home on a brand new A350! It was only a few months old. It was nice - the seats were comfy, good entertainment system, and me being the airplane geek I am, I loved having the opportunity to be on a new bird. Unfortunately I didn't get a very good picture, but I'm the only one who cares about that stuff!
It was a great trip and I'm so thankful I had the opportunity to accompany Don again. I really love the Chinese people and I keep praying that the government leaders will allow missionaries into that great country. What a blessing the gospel would be in those wonderful peoples' lives.