A few weeks ago Angela started to dream. She thought how it would be nice to have a vacation home with a view to take the kids. After searching, she found one about 45 minutes from here that was built on the side of a mountain. The house follows her taste - it cost RM1.2 million (about $250,000USD, and about 8 times more than a normal house here). So, allowing us to dream, we arranged to view the house.
We picked up Addison at noon from preschool and headed off. We packed a picnic lunch, so here is daddy and Addison under the tree:
After lunch, we headed on. A bit of back story - when Addison was born, we had a party for our neighbors. We didn't want tons of clothes and gifts, so we asked people to donate money on her behalf and we'd give it to a local (what we thought) orphanage. Ashamedly, we kept the money in the jar for YEARS, but today, today was the day we'd make good on our promise. After driving around a bit, we found the place - it is actually a home for severely handicapped people. Before going in, we talked to Addison about what it meant to be handicapped.
We gave the donation and we were able to meet one guy who was happily driving around the compound in his electric wheelchair. I asked if it would be possible for Addison to meet others, and the guy said normally they don't allow it without a proper letter (because he said many were not stable), but he allowed us to go to one dorm full of people constrained to beds.
We walked in and it was very humbling. The room was full of about 30 cerebral palsy patients. All had skinny legs. Many were restrained to the bed to prevent injury. Only 2 could talk. Addison was shy, but did manage to interact with one lady who was able to speak some. She had a bracelet and was all smiles telling us her mother gave it to her.
Addison noticed all of them wore diapers - something that will stick with her for a while.
Afterwards we prayed for the people - talking about how God is the great physician. We're curious to see what she has to say about the place later on. When we were in the car she asked repeatedly for us to go back to the place with the people in their beds.
After leaving we drove to meet the agent to view the dream house - which was literally next door to the handicapped house. The house was nice. The designer did a good job. My (Matt) opinion is that there were many things that the builders didn't do that could have been done to give it that extra touch of being well made, but overall the house was very nice. It had a master bedroom and a loft and a main living room. Under the house was a large open air patio like area with a wrap around bar. The breeze and view were absolutely amazing. The house is on the side of a hill, so there was no yard other than a few areas of grass about 100 square feet in size. Here is what the house looked like according to Addison:
We met the agent at the main gate and followed his golf cart in. After seeing the house, he asked if Addison wanted to ride in the golf cart back to the gate - mom said no and dad said yes, so she rode down the hill in it. Loved every second - enough to draw it as a significant chapter in today's adventure.
We also went to a nearby lake which is actually a dammed up river because it's beautiful. The nearby park allowed Addison to run around and get her energy out.
Below are pictures of the house and the lake:
