Thankful.

A few weeks back, Liz and I found a park not too far from school that has a hill in the middle with a lookout tower on top. If you're there on a clear day, it's a pretty cool place from which to view the surrounding area as well as the mountains in the west. 

Last week Wednesday, we decided to head to that park after class to see the sun go down and take some pictures. In spite of the biting winter wind, we were met with quite a good view once we reached the top. Although this city is crowded, I sometimes forget how big it actually is until I see it from a new perspective. 

Kind of like how I always forget how richly blessed I am until I stop and thank the One who gave it all to me.

I had made a pumpkin pie that morning for the next day, but I had a little extra...enough to make a few little pies for us to eat. Those pies and a thermos of coffee, as well as some whipped cream, made a pretty great snack out there in the cold. 

A mini Thanksgiving celebration, if you will.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.

His love endures forever.

Psalm 136:1

A belated post from 天坛.

I meant to post these pictures about three weeks ago when they were taken. Oops. 

Life has been a little crazy, but I'm sure yours has too so I won't bother to explain/complain.

Anyway, the pictures. 

Liz's brother John spent a little extra time with us at the tail end of his China adventures.

The Saturday he was here turned out to be a perfectly clear day, so he, Liz, and I headed to the Temple of Heaven (天坛) for the afternoon. 

I can't even explain how perfect the weather was. 

Fall is definitely the most wonderful time of the year in Beijing.

 photobomber. and a beautiful one at that. 

___________

Oh, and then we went and bought an entire pumpkin pie for dinner. Just when I thought the day couldn't get any better...

清晨

Let all the earth fear the Lord;

let all the people of the world revere him.

For he spoke, and it came to be; 

he commanded, and it stood firm.

a great trip

I have been to the Great Wall a number of times in the past five years, to several different parts of it and in various types of weather. Indeed it is an amazing place, and I've taken more than my share of pictures to try and capture that.

 Last week's trip, however, beats all the others. 

Amazing weather. Beautiful scenes. Great memories.

Liz's three brothers visited us last week, and one of the things they wanted to do while they were here is to hike and camp on the Great Wall of China. I'm not an experienced hiker, and I much prefer paying to sleep in a bed rather than sleeping on rocks for free, :) but this was a great experience. 

In terms of navigation, hiking there is relatively easy. After all, it's a wall. You can see where you're supposed to go, so it's not exactly easy to get lost. 

In terms of climbing...well, it was pretty hard at times. But worth it. Totally worth it.

Another bonus of the trip, maybe the biggest blessing of all, was the chance to get to know Liz's brothers a little bit. I hadn't actually met two of them before last week (cue sweaty palms), so hiking together was a good, not-so-scary way to spend time together. ;) It was a gift to spend that time with Liz and her brothers, who will soon be my brothers too.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

We got dropped off here...and began walking towards the wall. 

And we found it. : )

 The view from our campsite. Not bad, eh?

Some of us set up camp; others watched. And I took pictures. 

Next up: a few pictures from the following morning.