Bright Lights

One of the ways Tom and I serve at church is working at the Connection Table where visitors and newcomers come to get plugged in.  It's more fun than anything because we love meeting new people and talking about all the awesome programs National Community Church offers the community.

But our favorite thing is getting to know the people we work alongside with.  Arnie is over the Connection program and the more we get to know about her and her compelling story, the more incredible she is.  She is from Kenya where she grew up without a father in the home which opened her up to ridicule and danger.  Female genital mutilation is still the norm for 17 year old girls and when she refused, because she had no father to protect her, the elders in her village came after her.  They tied her up with plastic and burned her.  She has the scars on her hand.  She escaped but her family was terrorized by these men, and when they thought she was hiding out at a friend's house they burned the house to the ground killing Arnie's friend.  She eventually moved to the US where she was basically used as a slave by another family until she was rescued by a set of grandparents living in America.  Her story has so many ups and downs and yet her belief in God has kept her alive and strong.  Her family will never be able to live in the village where she was born nor will she ever be able to go back there.  She is working and studying nursing in DC but is trying to be open because she feels God is calling her to go back to help others in her country.

We met another wonderful woman yesterday as well named Nicole who is the senior advisor for  PEPFAR which is the The US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.  She sings with the worship team so we got to meet her between services.  Again, an amazing story of her work in Africa dealing with the children who are either suffering from AIDS or the aftermath of parents and family members suffering from HIV AIDS.  Treatment, prevention, education, etc…her job encompasses it all.  What we continually find in meeting these amazing people is their passion for what they do and their continual reliance on their faith to lead them not only in their personal life but in their work life as well.

It is energizing to be surrounded by these mostly 20-somethings who serve at church because they want to.  Mom and dad aren't around forcing them to go to church at 9 am Sunday morning.  They show up in droves at our Second Saturday Serves where at 9 am on one Saturday a month we meet near the  Capitol and volunteer for a few hours.  They are students, interns or staffers on capitol hill, working for influential non-profits, intelligence agencies and every other job you can imagine might exist in the nation's capital.

We truly consider getting to know these folks to have been our greatest gift during out stay here.  They are so amazing and whenever I feel myself getting cynical about what our future holds, if these are the people who will be leading us…..we're in great hands.

American Friend Farewell Picnic

 Saturday was gorgeous except for a wind that came ahead of an incoming rainstorm later that night.  Fortunately it didn't ruin our last American Event that was held on the Georgetown campus.  Tom was the grill master for the event and did a bang up job with the burgers, hot dogs and veggie burgers.

 Alexis had a birthday party to attend so she wasn't there but Zimo came by before he had to go to work.  He's looking for job so he can stay here through the summer.  Alexis is leaving May 3rd to go home to Singapore but will back in the fall.

 The students played water balloon volleyball then had a good old-fashioned water balloon toss which they really enjoyed.  It has been so fun getting to know these students and we're looking forward to seeing them through the summer or when they come back next year.

Extended Easter Weekend

We started our Easter weekend off with a beautiful Good Friday service at Lincoln Theatre.  A lot of music and readings from the Bible of the last supper and the crucifixion. Very theatrical in nature.  Also, just some quiet meditation and prayer time with lovely music in the background.

Saturday morning we Metro'd into the city to help set up for the Easter Eggstravaganza that National Community Church puts on for the Capitol Hill neighborhood every year.  It's in Lincoln Park, all free and it's done just to bless the community.  Easter egg hunts plus games, face painting, popcorn, cotton candy, water, and photos with the Easter bunny.  I borrowed some of NCC's photos since they were more beautiful than mine plus once things were up and running Tom & I were working the registration tables and didn't get to take any photos.  We figured we had at least 2000 guests come through!

 Originally was going to blow them up myself with my inordinate amount of hot air but we discovered a pump and that was MUCH easier.

 Our friend Mitch filled in for a few minutes while Tom acted as cameraman.

 Finished product!

 Pastor Joel with another bunny down and then the REAL bunny made an appearance.  Apparently he couldn't hold his ears up!

This is our cute friend Dave who is from England and works as a butler for the ambassador at the British Embassy.  He lives there as well with his darling wife Katy.  She is Pastor Joel's assistant and basically these two were in charge of this event.  Tom had first met him last year on a bike ride and  both Dave & Katy are very calm, even tempered and delightful.  Perfect people to put in charge!  We worked all day and helped tear down and deliver stuff back to the storage units over by the Nationals Ball Field.  Lots of work out in the sun but a beautiful day and we had a great time!

We went to the early Easter service Sunday morning and worked the Connections Table for newcomers.  They were also serving famous mini pop tarts from Ted's Bulletin just down the street.  All sorts of flavors but peanut butter/bacon?  No thank you!

Back home we packed up and drove to NYC to pick up Taylor who turned 21 on Saturday!  We also got to meet his dog Zima (Slovic for "winter") and take her along as well.  Taylor has Monday and Tuesday off so we needed to find a hotel that accepted dogs and wasn't TOO far away for a quick vacay.  My first choice is always the beach so we headed to NJ.  Close to the beach and close to Tom's sister Marie so we could see both!

 Not only was it Zima's first time at the beach but her first time in a car.  She's a city dog after all!

 Tom decided to do a little training while we had her out but the beach isn't exactly a place with few distractions!  This was a section of beach specifically for dogs.  Taylor dropped his phone somewhere a long the way and fortunately a good Samaritan found it and between phone calls we tracked each other down for a hand off.  LOVE good people!

 She got plenty dirty between the water and sand so after a Petsmart stop we headed to Marie's and gave her a good brush and bath.  Grilled some burgers and had a yummy dinner sitting out on the patio.

 We took a drive through Margate on the way back to the hotel and stopped for ice cream at this neighborhood joint.

 Cute vehicle parked in front of our hotel…...

 Tuesday after breakfast we headed to Ocean City where dogs are allowed on the beach in the off season.  The plan was not to get the dog wet and dirty again but while walking out on the rocks she fell into one of the cracks and got soaked again! So at that point we let her run free and she chased birds up and down the beach.

Wrapped up the trip by getting a bag of subs for lunch at Marie's, another bath for the dog then hitting the road for NYC mid-afternoon.  After dropping Taylor off we didn't get back home until after 10 pm. Quick getaway but great weather and a grand time.

Malaysian Lunch w/ Alexis

 We're nearing the end of the school year at Georgetown and Alexis asked if we could have lunch at Malaysia Kopitiam in Dupont Circle.  She said it is comfort food for her as it is the cuisine most like that she has in Singapore.

Of course she arrived with cupcakes for me and Tom and I with a small Easter goody for her.  I had her order for us as I hadn't a clue what might be good.  She started with Soy Bean Milk and Grass Jelly for drinking.  I've had soy milk before but the other was a dark cola looking drink until you stirred it up and it had jelly like chunks of thick grass in it.  It is popular in Singapore because it has cooling agents good for the warm & humid weather.  We also had a Curry Puff which is like a potato filled biscuit.

 She ordered two chicken dishes for us to share.  Hainanese Chicken Rice and Nasi Lemak.  One was a pretty simple chicken with rice cooked with the chicken fat and the other was a much spicier chicken with coconut flavored rice served alongside with pickled veggies.  They had all kinds of awards on the walls so I'm sure the food is very authentic.  Had some left over so I sent it with Tom for his lunch today!  She said they don't really prepare food like this at home as it is time consuming but they just run downstairs from their apartment and buy it from the many food stands along the street.

I love talking to Alexis because she's so insightful and has a very advanced vocabulary.  It's funny because she never uses words like "confused"….instead choosing to use "perplexed"….which is a word I've probably used five times in my entire life, if that!  Have loved hearing about her school adventures, her take on Americans, her family and her country.  She's preparing to leave mid-May but will back in August and I know our relationship will continue.  She's bringing her parents here for a visit then and I can't wait to meet them!

Easter Dinner at Georgetown

We're coming to the end of our American Friend time at Georgetown U.  Neither of our students were there for the dinner Saturday night.  Tom had lunch with Zimo in Old Town on Thursday and I'm meeting Alexis for lunch this week but both had other plans for Saturday.

It was fun to watch them dye eggs for the first time….

 We had yummy traditional meal with ham, lamb scalloped potatoes, veggies and Tom & I brought a large fruit tray.  The students LOVE fruit and they LOVED deviled eggs.  Good thing someone had brought several dozen.  Tom was the honorary ham carver.

 After dinner they had an Easter egg hunt out in the hallway and through the food court of the Leavey building.  Chuyao Xu won (with a little help from her friends) and won the awesome bunny.

 We were out walking Sunday and saw these folks heading toward Eastern Market.  Celebrating Palm Sunday in the neighborhood…...

Cherry Blossom Saturday

The all knowing weather people predicted that Saturday would show off the cherry blossoms at their peak so we decided to get up early and take our bikes into town to see for ourselves.  We had friends who were there at sunrise and said the crowds were already out in full!

The earliest weekend Metro leaves at 7am so we hopped on with our bikes and got off at Waterfront.  This is where we used to live and bike so it was great.  Plenty of people already out snapping photos and taking in the scenery around the tidal basin so we took our time before riding over to Hains Point to bike a few loops and get some good mileage in.

 We then headed around the monuments and into the city for the Cherry Blossom parade.  We pretended for a moment that maybe the parade was about us!

 We stopped at a Dunkin' Donuts stand where they giving out free donut holes and small iced coffee samples.  Yummy!

 We locked up our bikes to this tree and planted ourselves on a cement…well, planter to enjoy the parade.

 One thing we have noticed about DC parades is that there are incredibly long breaks between different performers.  Like 10-15 minutes.  So we'd had our fill of bands and balloons so headed back out to just enjoy the ride.  We stopped to enjoy a little underpass graffiti then headed to the Navy Yard area.

 It was a perfect day for riding.  In the 70's, sunny and definitely spring-like.  We wrapped up by riding into Anacostia then jumped on the Metro there.

 Our first long bike of the season.  About 5 hours worth….but a lovely way to get a good work out and enjoy some fun along the way!