Saturday, June 6, 2015

A bit of an overload of vacation.....


Yes, these are the bottom of my feet, and these are very icky, painful blisters.  And the reason is a most likely from our day yesterday (with a lot of today thrown in for good measure).  We arrived in Washington DC around dinner time yesterday.  We are staying in Logan Square area (which is supposed to be walking distance to the mall.  It is actually 1.4 miles to the mall - at least a part of the mall.  By the time we got back to the hotel (around 10:45pm) we had walked and walked!  Today we discovered that we had actually walked around 10 miles!  And then we set off this morning and walked some more!  By this afternoon, the bottom of my feet were really burning.  Since I figured that I had some blisters, we stopped at Walgreens and got some blister bandaids.  And just to prove that that is really a Walgreens on every corner.....
Yes, we were in Chinatown!  This has been a really interesting vacation.  It is the second time that we have visited Washington DC so we had a very specific list of things to see that we missed on our first visit.  The 10 miles yesterday were mainly so that Ken could get some night photos of the monuments.  I really enjoyed the WWII memorial which had wonderful fountains. And there is just something special about the Lincoln Memorial at night.    It was worth the very long walk.  We saw much more today than we expected but still have several things to do on our remaining couple of days here.  And all of those things involve walking.  Sigh.  I'm praying that my feet heal overnight and that the blister bandaids help cushion my feet!   And we still have three days of walking in New York City!  

I had a couple of interesting "God- Incident" experiences today.  The first was seeing so many churches around the city. These are churches that have been here for a long time.  Most have dates from the 1800's.    As a matter of fact, there is a really amazing church directly in front of our hotel.   You can't help but know and feel that the presence of God has been welcomed here in our capital.  In spite of what has been happening in the political arena, there is no doubt that God is here and He has always been a part of our government.  Standing in the National Archives today, looking down at the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, the evidence is clear.  The United States were founded on God and Godly principles.  

Then later today, when we were making our second trip to the mall, we were walking towards the Capitol.  A young couple approached me and asked if I happened to have any sunscreen.  They were both already badly burned.  Of course, I had sunscreen in my backpack.  I have never seen people so happy to get a few squirts of liquid in their hands!  I made sure that they got covered to prevent any further sun damage.  It was supposed to rain today so they had not been prepared for the sun and the heat!  I knew that it was all about being in the right place at the right time.  It might not seem like anything really important happened in this event, But I spent the next several minutes praying for this couple (and the older lady who was with them).  They had already walked away, and Ken was busy taking pictures of the Capital, And I was sitting comfortably on a bench in the shade.  It was a really wonderful time of prayer!  I don't know why this couple decided to ask ME for sunscreen!   I guess I just look like a mom/grandma who might be prepared for any emergency?  I saw it as a chance to pray for 3 people that I would not have even noticed, without the sunscreen.  I prayed that they would be touched by the SON and also not suffer with their sunburn. It was a really neat way to end the day.

Vacations are interesting on so many levels.  We started out this vacation visiting the town where Ken lived for the first 10 years of his life.  It was so good to actually see the house where he lived and visit places that he has talked about for 43 years.  I really liked this small town.  It was a pleasant beginning to our trip!  I am sure that there is much more in store over the next few days.  And I can't wait!

Jesus, thank you for these times to get away and discover new places and new things.  Thank you for reminders that you are the foundation of our great nation, Jesus.  Bring us back to our foundations Lord!  Thank you for chance meetings and also the chance to see important places from our pasts.  Jesus, I am trusting and believing in your healing power for that sunburned couple from Minnesota and also my blistered feet!  Thank you Jesus!  Amen



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