They're Not Just Shoes

It was a two sticker day at the ENT's office!!! Bethany got to pick TWO stickers after her visit. But the best news is that we are not going to pre op tomorrow. And we are not headed to the surgery center on Friday. And she is not getting ear tubes any time soon! Her ears are clear! She's had a really great couple of weeks with her health. I hope the trend continues!

I bought shoes today for China. Expensive shoes. I hate paying a lot for shoes. I only pay more than $15 or so if I'm buying running shoes. Cause my feet are flat. For running, I need good shoes. So for China, I figure I also need good shoes. Here are my reasons:

• It will be hot. I loathe hot weather. And I'll be darned if I am going to wear socks and bulky tennis shoes all over China. No siree!
• I will be walking a lot. I may at any point be carrying a small toddler in an Ergo on my back or front. 
• Flip flops and the Great Wall doesn't seem like a good idea.
• Flip flops and a street market where they sell scorpions that you can eat doesn't seem like a good idea.
• It could rain and I would rather not have to pack an extra pair of shoes.

So I needed a versatile pair of shoes and I had my eyes set on a pair of Keens. I walked around the store in them trying to imagine myself on the Great Wall or carrying Caleb in the Ergo down the street in his province. I kept mumbling aloud, "I don't know, I just don't know." The salesman kept looking at me like, "What's the big deal, they're just shoes?!". I refrained from interrupting his private judgement of me to tell him, they're not JUST shoes. They're the shoes I'll wear when I hold my son for the first time. They're the shoes that will walk in the place where his Momma and Daddy made the toughest decision of their life. It's those shoes that will take on the smell of the land my son calls home. It's those shoes that will hold me up while I swear to take him as my son and never abandon him. It's those shoes that will set feet on American soil with Caleb as he officially becomes a US citizen. It's those shoes that I will remove from my feet and place in my closet at home before settling onto the couch with my family of four. They're not JUST shoes.

"OK, I'll take them" I finally said. The salesman replied, "You may not be sure now, but you won't regret it once you've traveled in them." I think he's right.......And now I have my China shoes.