We went to church this morning at the church designated for foreigners only called Beijing International Christian Fellowship. The service was wonderful and the worship was really refreshing. The pastor preached about “Private Sins” and his focus this week was on the two sins mentioned in the Sermon on the Mount of anger and lust. After this very compassionately delivered and hard-hitting message, we all took communion together as a congregation. They sang many vineyard style songs, and it brought tears to my eyes worshipping as I thought upon the fact that He had blessed me with a little girl that is so precious to Him, and He trusted me to parent such a wonderful gem from Him. The timing of having church the day before Gotcha Day could not have been any better planned. I could not think of any better thing to do in response to this blessing we are about to receive than to take communion and worship our baby’s Creator and her Father in heaven, Daddy God!

Here are some photos from the church service:

After church we went to lunch at a restaurant that served a traditional Chinese “family style” meal. After lunch, we went shopping at the Jade Market where they showed us how Jade was made.

Then, we went off to the Great Wall to spend the afternoon hiking this wonder of the world! Sarah and I hiked to what I believe was the second plateau! Boy, was that hard! The stairway went pretty much straight up and the stairs were built in all different sizes! It was difficult, but when we got to that second plateau, it was all worth it! Man, what a view!

Here we are at the Great Wall:

Here is a picture of the hill we climbed on the Great Wall:

On the way to the wall, Sarah opened her Bible and it opened to the verse in Psalm 18:29 that says:

“For by you I can run against a troop, by my God I can leap over a wall.”

Wow! What timing! It not only brought to my mind the fact that He gave us the strength to climb that monstrous hill at the Great Wall, but also He is faithful who called us to parent Rebecca Catherine Jiayi Battle, and He also will equip us and teach us all along the way how to effectively scale the seemingly sometimes insurmountable wall of what right now is the unknowns of our coming era of parenting her together!

God is good and always on time!

Tomorrow, we get up at 4:30AM to leave and head to breakfast by 5:40AM so that we can be on the bus by 6:20AM to go to the airport and fly to Wuhan. The babies arrive at 3! Tomorrow is Gotcha Day!
Rebecca Catherine Jiayi Battle in Hubei here we come! We love you so much already and can’t wait to hold you in our arms for the very first time, and tell you we are your Mommy and Daddy, and we will always love you!