Trump can't touch this wall
Ben loves waffles so much he eats them right off the fork. No time is spent cutting them, that would be uncivilized.
Bono, you in there?
After an authentic Chinese lunch from Burger King we returned to town for a quick nap, and then a solo family adventure searching for laundry soap. We managed to navigate two underground crossings, two malls, and a non-english supermarket, but we did it. I even managed a few bites of really real food from Mr. Lee’s (Guide approved) for dinner. Benjamin held out for a granola bar, but with my two futile chop sticks I pushed through. Kristi on the other hand mastered the chopsticks and ate quite well. Show off.
I ate all of that with chopsticks. Actually I ate some of it... but all that I did eat I ate with chopsticks. #roomforimprovement
Ah sweet sleep. Normally I’d whine about a double bed to share with my beautiful bride but last night was an exception. After 20 hours of travel having a place to take my shoes (and socks) off and sleep was quite welcome. I chose my side of the bed (Actually it was chosen for me while I was in the powder room and came out to two sleeping humans - Ben had his own double) and fell asleep for the night. As tired as I felt sliding into the sheets it was bit fitful for all of us considering we went to bed at 8:00am local Michigander time. At any rate we were up to enjoy breakfast and make our way to the Great Wall.
We’ve been told that the sunny high 60’s weather is quite rare in Beijing, but it made for an incredibly beautiful day to explore a piece of history. My details are sketchy, but with the sea on one side of Beijing the Emperor felt it necessary to build a wall on the other three sides of the city to keep him safe, hence the Great Wall. Even though we were on restored pieces ofthe wall it was clear how much disdain there was for the Mongolians, right down to the channels for rain run off dumping the water only on the Chinese side of the wall. Portions of the wall were noticeably tilted towards China and away from Mongolia. We walked long enough to see multiple watch towers, signal towers, and Ben even tried to find what he was looking for in a canon. I guess he and U2 have something in common.
We made our way back down from the wall via the slowest slide I’ve ever been on. If you can manage the 40 seconds, you’ll see why. LEAN FORWARD LADY!
Well that about wraps the day, here are a few more photos. Some exciting captions might include:
- Men's room at the great wall?
- Ben races a girl and ties.
- Two butts and a no smoking sign.
- Room with a view.
- Flash Benny's post BK workout.
Why I'm adopting
This is Madeleine. If you are super cool and know different stores you'll recognize that this is at Meijer. I have to believe it is the Holland Meijer on 16th street, which could potentially be one of my homes away from home, but that is a different story altogether.
I hope my kids don't read this some day and get the wrong idea, but Madeleine is probably our most "planned" child. It isn't that the others weren't expected, I just think we thought about this one a little bit more than the others. We often joke that her personality and stubbornness puts quite the ! on our little biological family of three, and if you know her I think you'd probably have to agree. In March of 2016 we were a family of five, four of us were happy with the way things were and life kept buzzing along.
I love business. I'd probably be an awful business person so I'm grateful at this time that I have a boss, but I love business. My bookshelves smell of rich mahogany and I have many paper bound books relating to business. If ever I hear a motivational speech or sermon regarding stepping out in to the unknown I'm always thinking business. My wife, on the other hand, wasn't. She was thinking adoption. For two months we'd leave church feeling excited and challenged and Kristi would mention that she was feeling empty, or like she was missing something, I agreed and thought to myself "Start a business, build a money bin, spend my weekends swimming like Scrooge McDuck". She was thinking adoption (insert face palm).
Adoption has always been something that Kristi and I have thought about, and it has always been something that we'd do "later". I also seem to remember a parent (one of mine) telling me that they wanted to adopt too but the other spouse didn't think that was a good idea... considering I was something like 18-20 at the time I think that's probably best. Maria is five years younger than I so that could be quite the age gap for the adoptee. Anyway, adoption has been in the back of our minds for a while. I'm just a bit of a chicken and looking at the bank account and the job situation (not a complaint Mr./Mrs. Boss) it just didn't seem like it was going to happen.
Then one day we went to church. Usually I'd say church is a good thing, but in this instance I have to question a few things. To be fair, our church has been preaching for the last few months on following God's will and doing what He asks us to do. Most of the time we took the message and though oh that's great we should really apply that in our lives... oh look squirrel, doughnuts at Meijer, message forgotten. Then one fateful Sunday in April the message went back to the picture of a raging river that the priests and to jump into prior to God stopping the water and allowing the Israelites to cross on dry ground... picture raging rapids and just jump in to certain death before God calms the waters and your sandals land on dry sandy ground. No trust issues there right? HA! But the Israelites did so, the river stopped, and off they went. They trusted God to make something happen in the unknown because nothing new/good/cool/brave happens in the known. As we walked out of that service Kristi was obviously thinking. I was thinking. I wasn't comfortable, but I knew what we had to do. The time to adopt is never going to be "right", however God told us both that morning that the time is now.
A good friend asked what I thought about the adoption because Kristi has been the vocal one regarding this. As a good friend should know (YES I'm looking at you when I say this) I'm the quiet one, unless the words that come out of my mouth are ridiculous, snarky, borderline irreverent, or otherwise add nothing but immaturity to the discussion - so OF COURSE Kristi is going to do the talking. That said, I certainly felt the calling that morning to adopt, and while it scares the ___________________ (choose a noun) out of me, this is my (our) unknown that Kristi and I are jumping into. I look forward to meeting the son that up until last month I didn't know was waiting for me. I'm anxious to make a difference in the life of one small child who is currently in a home with other children looking at a life that is finite. At some point he will age out of the system in China. How amazing will it be (ok... let's hope it is amazing for him too since we are basically swooping in, picking him up and leaving*) that a young three year old boy who right now doesn't know life outside an orphanage is coming to Zeeland, Mi. What a shock that will be...
So why am I adopting? Because God told me to, and until He says otherwise (today's sermon) that is what we are going to do. I guess that little exclamation point at the top is going to have some company.
* Have you seen Batman the Dark Knight? Because that is how I envision this going. There is a great scene where Bruce Wayne kidnaps a banker from another country and then deposits him at the local Police station. Adopting like that would be cool. Highly illegal I'm sure, but still cool.