We started today (Saturday) off in sunny weather with temps below 30.  Brrr!  We walked

and walked to stay warm as we visited Mao’s Tomb, Tian An Men Square and the

Forbidden City. It’s hard to really soak up all the ancient history here, but we gave it a

good try!

We enjoyed a wonderful Chinese acrobat show this evening that the girls particularly loved.

Again, the pictures should speak for themselves (cause we be too tired to do much

describing!!)

After lunch we visited a local Starbucks for a much needed fix.  While inside, I overheard

heard an American gentleman talking to his friend about scene 1 and 2.  I walked over to

Eleanor, our guide, and told her of their conversation, jokingly adding, “could he be a movie

star or something?”  She turned, looked and gasped with an excited, “Why yes he is!” 

He had been noticing our girls by now so we walked over and introduced ourselves.  Turns

out Jonathan Kos-Read, known in China as Cao Cao, was born in Seattle, grew up in L.A.

and has been working in China as the “American” in Chinese soap operas for 10 years. 

He is a very popular TV and movie star to the Chinese people.  He was happy to hear we

were adopting one more China treasure, as he and his Chinese wife just became first time

parents.  Who knew you could go to China and meet an American movie star!  J He even

autographed Lia’s adoption baby book for us.  How sweet was that! 

Tomorrow afternoon we fly to Guangzhou, about 3 hours south and receive Lia the following

 morning.  We can hardly wait!!  We’ve met a few other adopting families while here that

will be flying down to Guangzhou tomorrow too so we’re looking forward to knowing some

people when we arrive.  It’s a small world. 

Love from the Brooks Bunch