Forbidden City

Jana and I visited the Forbidden City on our last day in China. It was a million degrees outside and the Forbidden City is ginormous, but we had a blast taking it all in as fast as we could. We had an hour and a half to take in what could have easily taken a whole day. I have lots of pictures to share (soon), and this is one of my favorites from the trip to the FC.

Dayspring Worship

Worship was amazing at Dayspring as always. One of our great worship leaders was Mitch Hull. Our last night of worship he led worship out in the field. Here are a couple pictures I took. Check out this talented young artist on myspace at www.myspace.com/mitchhullmusic

Lamu's

Here are a couple of pictures I took one night in Lijiang. We had dinner at Lamu's House of Tibet and then walked around the city for awhile. It was a great night.

Cassie and Jon's wedding

Here are a few pictures from our good friend's Cassie and Jon's wedding in Arkansas yesterday. Jana was smoking hot in her bridesmaid's dress! Christian was the ringbearer and did awesome!

Olympics

When we were in Beijing, Jana and I found these really cool Olympic shirts at an addidas store for the boys and me. Thanks to my mom for taking this pic. The boys were as excited as I was for the shirts. The second picture was taken by Jana at Caleb's t-ball game that took place the night after we got back from China. He is such a good little ball player!

Stone

This is one of my favorite pictures that I took in China. I love the character of this old stone sculpture. This picture was taken on July 9th in Baisha village just outside of Lijiang. The village is populated by Naxi minority people and was formerly the capital of the Naxi kingdom. We had an outstanding time in this village. Some of our most unique sights and experiences on the trip happened during the couple of hours we spent here. This picture was captured as we were touring the Dabaoji Palace within the village. We saw some incredible unrestored frescoes that were over 500 years old (no pictures allowed). I'll post more pictures of our time in this village soon.

Friendly People

Everywhere we went in China, people were so friendly. More than once people asked if they could take a picture with us. We were always more than happy to say yes, even for these nice young ladies.

Hiking

Here are a few pictures Matt took for us. The first two are at Tiger Leaping Gorge. The third is outside Lijiang by a Naxi village. In the background in the distance is Jade Snow Mountain.

Naxi Village

One day we rented bicycles and rode them 40 minutes out of Lijiang to a Naxi village where a large number of Naxi minority people live. We got lots of great pics out there. Here are some women we encountered along the way. One even invited us to her house and provided us with hot tea and snacks. She then proceeded to get out a couple of traditional Naxi outfits and played dress up with Matt and Betina. We got a kick out of the fact that she had a cell phone. Cell phone service there is dirt cheap, and probably much better quality than we have here. Besides seeing people going about their business around the village, we got to witness a large group of ladies dancing together...that was entertaining to see.

Tiger Leaping Gorge

Here are a few pictures from Tiger Leaping Gorge. I have tons of great pictures from here to share. The first one is Matt and me taking in a great view at the gorge. The second one is an amazing waterfall I hiked up to. The third pic is a stunning waterfall that Matt and I hiked down to. It was an incredible experience to hike back into that waterfall. Thanks to Jana for getting these great shots!

Back Home

After an amazing 17 day trip to China, Jana and I are back home! We had a blast on this once in a lifetime type of opportunity. Jana took this picture of me at the Forbidden City in Beijing just hours before we flew out. It pretty well sums up how I feel today as I try to catch up on rest after this great trip. I've got tons of pictures from the trip to share, so be looking for those over the next month.

Blogging

Hey everyone, there won't be any new picture blogs up for awhile (tear), but I am currently amassing quite a catalog of pictures and plan to have LOTS of daily posts starting again July 18. Come back soon, and check out any older stuff you haven't seen yet!