How Have You Bin?

Bin ("Bean") is my new brother and my parents' foreign exchange student. I had the fun of meeting him for the first time over Thanksgiving.

Lia and I were a little bit nervous about having him. My parents warned me that he has eaten them out of house and home. They have also had difficulty motivating him to get off the couch. Plus, the week before Bin had a "hot noodle accident" that landed him in the hospital (long story).

So anyway, Lia and I were anxious. Our children, of course, were not. Anna Rose had a friend she could play Wii with. Dave Dave had someone he could show his cars to. Bin also took easily to them.

Our anxieties were quickly quelled. He really was a great house guest. And it was Thanksgiving so there was plenty of food.

The highlight for me, though, was watching Anna Rose. I was washing the dishes one afternoon when I heard from the other room: "Bin, do you believe in God?" Bin answered: "No." Anna Rose then asked: "Well, what DO you believe in?" Bin answered: "Games." "GAMES!?!" said Anna Rose. "Why would you believe in Games?" Bin didn't have an answer for that.

I peeked in at this point. Anna Rose had walked over to the Nativity she had made out of Legos earlier that week. She grabbed Jesus from the manger and carried it back to Bin. "So you don't believe in Jesus?" she asked. "I don't know him," said Bin.

Anna Rose couldn't believe that piece of information. So off she ran. A few seconds later, she handed Bin a Bible. She opened to the picture of Baby Jesus. "I can't read yet, so you will have to read it to us," said Anna Rose. Bin tried to explain that he was not the best at reading either, but Anna Rose would not be deterred.

And so that is the reason Bin is reading the Jesus story to my children on our couch.