.: Thursday

We started today with a visit to the CCCWA. This is the central adoption authority in China. I requested an appointment so that we could view Abby's complete adoption file. I expect that we have most of her paperwork, but wanted to do this just in case we were missing something. There were a few things in the file that I had not seen so I was so happy to have this opportunity.

This is Abby standing outside the front door of the CCCWA.

And this is Abby holding her adoption file.

Next, we headed to the Great Wall. On the way, we stopped for a tour at a Jade factory. We watched several artists carving jade and learned some interesting facts. This is one of the jade carvings made by some of the local artists. They said the sculpture took over three years to complete.

Our tour guide found our group quite interesting. We are traveling with a family from New Jersey with five kids. Add in my four and we have a group with nine kids and four adults! The tour guide stopped right in the middle of her tour and asked our group "Sorry, can I ask? How many children do you have?" You could tell she was a bit astonished!

Of course, when we finished our tour, we were shown to a gallery where we could purchase our very own jade pieces! (I am sure they were disappointed with our group, as we bought very little!)

We had lunch at the restaurant attached to the Jade Factory.

We then got on the bus and headed to the Great Wall!

We visited a different section of the wall this time than we did in 2013. The steps were very steep but the views were amazing. Abby was very proud that she made it all the way to the top of Tower #8.

After our climb, we all bought some hot chocolate and tried to warm up!

Thursday evening, it was a boys night out for Josh and Will. I hired a driver and took them to the Kung Fu Show! This was surely the highlight of our trip for Josh!!

This is the outside of the theater...