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The first thing I learned when arriving in Beijing: Whatever your expectations are, just throw them out the window. Despite that, things are going so well!

I have to be honest though, when we first got here, it was quite confusing. We rode a train for 10 1/2 hours from Shenzhen to Beijing. When we arrived in Beijing, we met Adam, the guy who arranged for us to be here. He then took us on a 2 hour metro ride to meet Bill, one of the owners of Morning Star, the orphanage where we live. It's crazy to be handed off from one stranger to another and you can bet
that Kendra and I were a little stressed out.

Bill drove us to the orphanage since it's not close enough to a metro station to walk. He took us into our room and I think my jaw dropped to the floor.It's not an awful room or anything. It was just not what I expected.There is an office with a curtain on the far side. Behind the curtain is The Corner. In The Corner is our bunk bed.We sleep in an office behind a curtain. Haha! It's such an awesome concept! They are bringing us a wardrobe to put our clothes in and a refrigerator as well. There is a kitchen here that already has a fridge, but I guess they want us to have our own.

We went to bed really early because we didn't know what to do and no one was really telling us anything. We were both trying to be positive because honestly, it wasn't easy to be at first, being totally in the dark about what was going on.

In the morning, we woke up early and got ready. We waited around for a bit, then Lynsay came and filled us in as well as arranged for us to register our location with the local police as is the law here. We are here to help with all the transitions that are going on at the orphanage in the next few months. There are 8 kids here right now. Each of them has or had heart problem(s). The oldest is 5 and the youngest is around 9 months.We were able to spend the afternoon playing with the kids and helping around the orphanage, and it was the best afternoon I've ever had! I already love these children. They are so darling! They just want to be held, played with, and given attention.I know it's going to be so hard to say goodbye in only 3 months. I'm already dreading it.

Kendra and I also went out and rode a bus and then the metro for a bit to wander around in the area near our home. It was fun and we were really proud of ourselves for being able to go out and not get lost. We went to the grocery store and just wandered the streets a bit.

The nannies that are here right now call me by my Chinese name, 宋佳媛 (Song Jiayuan). It's so great to me! I mean, maybe that's loserish, but I really love answering to them when they say it. It's a part of me, and now, I'm making it a bigger part of me. I hope to really improve my Chinese since I'm living with 8 other Chinese women.

These women are so amazing to me already. People are still celebrating the Chinese New Year until Monday so several of the nannies went home. That leaves those that stayed to do all the work 24/7. They all seem really positive and happy. They love these babies and they take such good care of them. This is really a great place for these miracle babies.

I am so glad I get to be here. This experience is really going to change me, I can already tell. I know I'm going to come away a better person. I don't know why things didn't work to go to Xi'an, but I do know that this is where God wants me now, and I have faith that it is entirely for the best.

I like living in the suburbs of Beijing. The street food is delicious and I haven't seen any other white people. It's not the Beijing I visited last June, it's a whole new place entirely. Today was really warm and after going to the store to buy food, I walked around without my coat on. The sky was blue and clear. Clearer than the Utah skies when I left. They may not be true, but I don't have anything to compare the sky with really. The only sky I've seen lately has been in Utah and China, and let's be honest, neither place has great air quality.

Tomorrow, we'll go to church with the branch. I'm excited to meet them all. Branches are really fun because everyone is so friendly and welcoming and everyone relies on each other so much since we are in a foreign country away from family.I know I will love it, and tomorrow night, we are taking a night shift with some of the babies to give the nannies a break.

It's firework season right now. During the new year, it's tradition to light off as many fireworks as possible. They are so loud and mostly they seem to be firecrackers. The new year ends with the Lantern Festival on Monday, but I guess Beijing doesn't really have a place they do that at according to my sources, which is too bad, really. I would love to see that.

Even though I've been here for more than a week, I'm still working on staying up later than 9 o'clock. It's pretty hard for me! It's 9:20 now and I'm fighting not to go get ready for bed right now.I just hope the things I have written make sense. I'm not completely with it and I'm real tired! I've probably forgotten some things and if I remember them in the morning, I'll add them in.