Today I personally experienced a miracle today... I know we serve the God of miracles, but this was an absolute gift... a miracle moment.
Because of my spina bifida and degeneration of the spine, noticeable since my first pregancy 21 years ago, I have ranged in pain from 0 to "kill me now." It has limited me in my ability to exercise beyond walking around the neighborhood a couple times. At times over the years, I couldn't even stand or walk for even a few seconds... but, in the last few years, God has been restoring my health. Only a few days have I ever walked as much as I walked today... and, I have NEVER carried a baby longer than 1 street block... EVER. Not because I didn't want to, but the pain is excrutiating.
Today though, the Lord, in His supernatural blessing... paid attention to our needs... my needs.
We had no strollers... and, even if we had, we could not have used them.
As we parked in the parking lot, I thought I would ask Adam to help me purchase a wrap from one of the Chinese vendors. I have seen women of all ages, carry kids, of all sizes, even when unnecessary... on their hips, fronts and backs. We found a gal that had some fabric... Amaris wrapped her little body around mine... they wrapped us up... tied the cloth in 2 knots... and, we were off.
The stairs were atrocious... I couldn't have walked those without a baby... yet, I somehow did. Sometimes the incline was 45-60 degrees (my husband is so conservative... there were some that were MUCH steeper than that though).
Here's a look at some other stairs.
We had the amazing blessing of being personally guided by a former history professor named Adam. Adam is a wealth of knowledge and such a kind, intelligent man... fluent in English and fluent in Chinese history. If I were to guess, he is probably in his 50's. He carried our 30 pound backpack the entire walk... he was amazing!
We walked a part of the wall, the Muianyu Great Wall, that not many people walk... we even had to drive 2 hours from our hotel just to walk it. Because is was not a clear day, it was much cooler (although still hot)... but, what we loved, was that there weren't very many people... so, there were many, many photo ops when we had no one around on the wall.
Tyanna loved climbing the wall!
Although Jason carried Gabriella much of the way, Gabriella did walk quite a bit holding his hands. She absolutely loved it.
This couple was absolutely adorable. They are from Hong Kong and are engaged to be married in a year. We saw them later this evening near our hotel getting photographed at the Catholic Church (Remember... two hours away from the wall).
I think walking The Wall was a wonderful bonding experience for Amaris and I... and, when Jason, Tyanna and our guide Adam walked to the end, Gabriella and Amaris and I had a fun time having a snack and water break, a few kisses, giggles, and even some time standing on The Wall all by themselves.
I loved the smiles... Amaris is full of them, but they aren't always captured via camera... but, today, they came out much more frequently...
I got surprise kisses ALL DAY long... I use to have to ask for "kissy kisses" but, since our walk... they have come at unexpected times... she generally grabbes my cheeks and plants a big kiss on my lips... she is just adorable. So, so loveable. And, I feel so blessed that God promised us to her.
At the end of the walk, I had such a fun time bartering with the locals. One of the things I bartered for were the panda bear backpacks. I had two things on my list that I wanted: a cute panda bear and some pink dresses for the girls. The pandas started at 180 yuan each... but, I wanted three... one for each of these princesses, and one for Gia whom we believe will be in our arms around Christmas time. By the end of my bartering... which I walked away from... I purchased THREE panda bear backpacks for a total of 100 yuan... it made up for some REALLY BAD (non-bartering) for those two pieces of fabric we wrapped around our bodies to carry our babies. We didn't care how much we paid for those things... we knew we needed them.
