A couple of weeks ago, Dave and I went to Minneapolis for a long weekend. Our son, Chris and his wife, Annette, were getting their Master's degrees from seminary and we went up for the ceremony. I'd never been there before. They have visited us since they got married almost 3 years ago and, of course, we went to Wisconsin for their college graduation and wedding. I had never been to Minneapolis before and made all kinds of plans for sightseeing. The only thing I got to do was a trip to the Mall of America. We spent most of our time just visiting with them and her sister and her family. We also helped set up a reception for the kids after the ceremony. We are so very proud of both of them. They both graduated with honors and Chris won the Faculty Academic Award for having the highest GPA among the Masters of Theology students who graduated with honors. That came with a $500.00 prize which will really come in handy. Chris has worked at 2 jobs in addition to going to school and has earned everything he has worked for. He and Annette eventually want to go to China as missionaries or perhaps to teach English there. Ultimately he would like to teach in a Bible college over there once they open the country to missions.
Sunday there was an interesting day. It was Mother's Day, the first one I had spent with him in 5-6 years due to school. He and Annette came over to the apartment we were staying at (her parents' who were at her brother's college graduation) and made breakfast for us. Then we went to the church where Chris is the youth pastor. It's a Chinese church and most of the service was in Chinese with a translator. So Chris gave the sermon and it was translated into Chinese. The hymns were sung in English and Chinese at the same time so you needed to lip read the translator's lips to make sure you were on the same verse! Then the 4 of us went out to dinner at a Chinese restaurant with the pastor and elder and their wives. It was quite enjoyable.
I really liked the Mall of America but I'm not sure I'd go back and spend a few days there just shopping. There were some different stores there but I only bought one thing. Well, 2 if you count the lego set I bought for Chris. There was an Alpaca Only store where they sold sweaters and scarves and such for very inexpensive prices. I bought a long-sleeved hoodie for only $29.00. It was knit by someone in Peru. I hope it's not a sweatshop type thing. I'm hoping it's more a co-op where women are empowered to help themselves and their families.
All in all, it was wonderful to see the kids again. I hope the next trip I can see a bit more on Minneapolis.
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