The Second Day O' The Trip

Sorry so slow! I'm vacation now, and thought I'd try to catch up a bit so that I won't have to do as much as when I get home.

So, the second day of our trip, a Friday, we slept in because we got back to the hotel soooo late the night before! Around ten, I think (it's been over a month, so I'm not sure...) we hoped in her car and drove to the Metro station. We paid, and got on the metro to Arlington National Cemetary. I haven't really done much with the pictures. I've only edited two, but there's a lot of potentional! I'm sticking a few favorites on here, then a slideshow of all of them.

It was amazing to be at Arlington National Cemetary (ANC) but it was so horribly HOT that day! I thought I was going to melt into a pile of sweat when we were on our way to see the changing of the guards.

But I felt even more so standing there, watching.

At the begining of the ceremony, this guy asked us all to remain silent and standing during the ceremony out of reverence and respect.

It was about this point in the ceremony that "the guy" stopped it. He said "Young man, stand up." Apparently, a pre-teen kid had decided to sit down. Big trouble. I was impressed, though, that he stopped the ceremony to make him stand. It was awe-some.

I'm going to go ahead and stop with these for now...
check out the slideshow below for the rest.

I felt even MORE hot and sweaty when we made our way up to Arlington House. And I do mean "up" --it was uphill the whole way...so many steps! If I were more like my mother, I'd tell you exactly how many. But alas, I am quite the opposite of my mamma.

There was a nice garden at the house. But there was also construction. So not a whole lot of pics there.

Arlington House, the former home of Robert E. Lee and his family is located atop a hill, providing one of the best views of Washington, DC. George Washington Parke Custis, Lee’s father-in-law, originally built the house as his own home as well as a memorial to George Washington, his step-grandfather. Arlington House is now preserved as a memorial to Robert E. Lee, who helped heal the nation following the Civil War.

There was an amazing view.

And here we are. :)

I was so releived to be heading back to the metro.

The rest of the pics from ANC:

After ANC, we got back on the metro and went to the Old Post Office Building. On the way we passed Starbucks..and Melissa requested a picture.

I have some memories of that particular Starbucks, and I'm not sure that I'd call them fond. Or happy. Or pleasant. See, last time we went to DC we went to this Starbucks.. (Melissa's gonna kill me, lol) she ordered her drink...who knows that it is, it's too complicated for me ;) ...and we waited a while and they finally gave it to her..and it wasn't right, so she sent it back..and she still didn't like it but we were running late to see the Washington Monument at 1, so we left..and on the way we passed a barnes and noble...with a Starbucks in it. So we went up and she doctored it some more. It was crazy. And a wee bit embarrassing..for me at least. :D I don't think ANYTHING embarrasses Melsisa.

 The Old Post Office Building. We ate lunch there. We also went up in the tower... :)

The view from the tower.

Downstairs of the building, where we ate lunch.

After lunch, we decided to try to make it to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. We got about as far as to the Washington Monument before hitting a few "road blocks:" -heat, confusion, etc... we weren't able to tell exactly how to get to the monument. We were also tired.

So we went ahead and took the metro to Union Station for a while. We decided to go see "Meet Dave." It was funny. Aftewards we grabbed some ice cream, which we ate while walking around the huge..foyer? building?

Then we decided to try again for the Jefferson Memorial. It was late afternoon at that point.

We wandered around a bit, coming oh so close! But we ended up just hailing a taxi to take us. It turned out to be the perfect time of day to go, though! It was amazing. God really worked it out.

He was TALL! ;)

Amazing view!

Great quotes on the walls. 

A personal favorite...more amazing view.

 I don't know if you can see it very well, but it was awesome...
the sunset..the plans taking off infront of the sunset..totally beautiful. :)

Here I am. :) HUGE pillars!!!
(which, consequently, make me look small. pretty cool. ha.)

Here are the rest of the pics. I hope you enjoy!

Keep your eye out for more posts coming soon! :)

Tata for now!

Happy Anniversary Mamma and Daddy!!

(taken September of 2007)

Today, August 3rd, marks my parents' 23rd anniversary! It's very exciting :)

Let me tell you a story that I know only parts of...

The first thing I remember my Mom telling me about first "meeeting" my dad was when she was on her way to an all-day sporting event sponsored by Word of Life. It was a group from her church, and they were short a few players. My dad, at this point, was unsaved, but was excellent at sports...all of them. So they went by, early one Saturday morning, to his house, throwing rocks at the window (I believe), to get him and his brother, Steve, to come with them to make up the rest of the team. My mom didn't know anything about my Dad at this point, but she knew Steve, since they were the same age and in the same grade at school. My Dad was about 18 and my Mom was about 15 or 16. So out come my Dad and uncle Steve. My Mom said her first thought was, "Uh oh" because Steve, the one my Mom knew a little, was a bit of a trouble maker. So naturally, she expected my Dad to be the same. But, she told me, she ended up thinking to herself, "I better watch it --I may end up marrying that guy!" 

When my Dad was growing up, his Mom sent him to Sunday School at a Methodist church not far from their house. My Dad's main motivation for being so faithful to it was the attendance record -he wanted to win the prize. So when, one week, he was too sick to go, he just decided to not go back. When he was in 6th grade, he was outside shooting hoops in the grade-school playground when he told God something. He said, "If You show me a way that I can know for sure that I'll get eternal life and go to heaven, I'll do whatever you want me to." At this point he's thinking he may end up having to shave his head and pass out tracts at an airport; but if that meant eternal life, he was willing. That Word of Life event that I mentioned earlier? That was the first time my Dad heard the Gospel. The same group of kids got my Dad to come to several other Word of Life programs that year. Finally, sitting in the Salem Devil's Gym (with the words "DEVIL'S DOMAIN" painted on one wall), listening to the speaker, he felt God speaking to him, telling him that if he didn't surrender now, go foward now, accept Christ now, he might never have another chance. So he did it. Right there, in the "Devil's Domain" my Dad gave his life to Christ.

My Mom grew up in a Christian family and got saved when she was young. Her family was very active in the church, her dad being an organist and both parents talented in instruments and in singing. They went to the only baptist church in the small New Englad town. When my Dad got saved, he started going to the baptist church. He learned so many things! For one, that Jesus did not chose a crown of thorns like he was taught at the Methodist church. In fact, he didn't even find out till much later that Jesus was coming back --boy, was he excited! He also found out that his lab partner, someone who he had sat next to since 6th grade, had been a Christian..and gone to that church. Not only him, but others! And they had never told him about Christ.

I believe that it was around this point that my Dad asked my Mom out...and she was so excited! She ran downstairs and asked her parents..and they said yes! She was so happy! So they had their first date... :)

My Dad was eager to learn all that he could, so often, after he would bring my Mom home, he'd stay up late talking with her Dad about spiritual things, learning all sorts of stuff.

That autumn my Dad went off to the state school for college. My Mom was still in high school. Sometimes on Fridays my Dad would come back early and meet her at her locker after school...she would look foward to it so much. He'd stay all weekend and they'd spend time together. Dad would also talk with my Granddad a lot, still learning as much as he could. Dad began to feel God leading him to become a pastor. My grandparents both went to Bob Jones University and suggested it to my Dad. After one semester at the state school, he transfered to BJU...hours and hours away.

Finally the time came that my Mom went to Bob Jones University... majoring in French, minoring in art. An exciting time :) My Mom was so head-over-heels that she (by her own admission) didn't focus on her school work like she should have. As a matter of fact, she can hardly speak French now. (don't tell her I told you!)

And my Dad proposed. They were at home in New Hampshire. They went to see the play of Little Orphan Annie, then took a walk along the beach, where he proposed. Obviously, my Mom said yes. They ate a late dinner at a small restaurant in the coastal town which is no longer there, sadly.

So my parents started asking my Grandfather for permission to go ahead and get married....but he would tell them to wait a little while... at least until after my Mom finished college. Finally they wore him down...and the date was set: August 3rd, 1985. My Dad had graduated that spring, and my Mom would be graduating in 86.

My Gramma made the wedding gown and bridesmaid dresses. They were beautiful... (I'll post a picture when I can scan it in) The ceremony was at what's now called The Ridge Church...

They honeymooned at Cape Cod...and the seashell sand was atrocious!

Returning for my Mom to go to school, they rented a little apartment in a house in Greenville. 5 Years later, I was born. At that point, my Dad was working for the local rescue mission, had interned at a local church, and many other things. When I was only a year and half old, we moved to VA for my Dad to pastor his first church...and the new adventures began. :)

Over the past 23 years it's clear that God has blessed their marriage. I may only have witnessed 17 of the 23 years, but I've seen enough to know that God is in it. I've seen that when God is put first in a marriage, the marriage blossoms. Marriage is not easy work...I know this. But God brought them together, held them together, and will keep them together, because they are His.

Happy Anniversary Mamma and Daddy!!

The Trip - Day 1

I was going to edit and fix all the pics of my trip for ya'll, but my editor isn't cooperating, so I'll give ya the basics for now.. :)

Well.. we went to... King's Fest! King's Fest is at King's Dominion, it's a Christian concert festival with lots of artists...for three days, July 10-12. It was the first time I'd ever been to King's Dominion. Melissa is the one who took me..it was just her and me. We stayed about forty minutes north of Doswell, where King's Dominion is. I'll explain why later.. for now.. the first day...

First day, Thursday, we drove to the hotel, then ate lunch at a mexican restaurant, and then went to LifeWay, where we spent wayyy too much time..like an hour. lol. Then we took off for King's Dominion. We walked around some... did a few things... and I rode on my VERY FIRST ROLLER COASTER!!! That's a huge thing. I don't like roller coasters. Still not sure how I feel about them. But I rode the Rebel Yell.

And afterwards, we couldn't resist the funnel cake...with a diet coke. What a thought!

It was good, but I was spoiled by fried dough at the Rochester Fair last year. :D Melissa sure loved her funnel cake, though. Good thing we did, too, cuz it was EXPENSIVE!

So then the concerts... BarlowGirl was first. They were awesome!

I just think this is cool!

This guy was totally rocking out with ALL the BarlowGirl songs.. even "Average Girl!"

After the BarlowGirl concert we waited a little while to see them as they signed and such. Then I bought a bag of theirs, and we ended up standing in line for QUITE a while for them to sign it. We were able to get a picture together, too...very cool!

We had some time to kill before the Casting Crowns concert (we didn't go to all of the concerts) so we did the swings...

and the carousels...

Then on our way back to the concert at 10pm, which was to start at 10:15pm, but it had already started! EARLY! We were a little lost at first, but finally started in the right direction...and we started running! Made it right before they ended the first song.

Unfortunately, I didn't use flash for the pictures because I thought I wasn't allowed to... but I was. So not many pictures came out.

 They have an awesome drummer guy.

Day two coming soon.