May Day Weekend

Was hoping to sleep in Saturday as we had no plans but my eyes sprung open at 5:45 AM as usual.  I got up to check emails etc. then joined Tom for some leisurely reading through the morning.  Next thing I knew we had both dozed off for a mid-morning nap which I have to admit felt quite luxurious!  I have never been a napper.  I can't seem to get the timing right where if I do accidentally fall asleep I don't wake up feeling groggy and grouchy.  But THIS particular nap seemed to be on the mark.  We both woke up feeling energized so threw on our shoes and went for our first outdoor run of the year.  My indoor treadmill runs never seem to have the same effect on my body as a good old fashioned outdoor one and my legs are feeling it this morning!

After showers and lunch we decided to head into town because they were having an open house at Fort McNair where Tom's office is.  This is Grant Hall where the Lincoln conspirators were tried and hanged.

 The Conspirator film tells the story of Mary Surratt and the others and the filmmakers donated the costumes and props so they'd be here where the trial actually took place.

Robert Redford!

 The gallows were out along where the tennis courts now stand with a cement wall that extended out from the building.  There were a couple of historians who had all kinds of stories they shared so it was all very interesting.

 We left the car parked at the base and walked up to Nats Stadium for the annual Opera in the Outfield. It's sponsored by Mars, Inc. so there's plenty of candy hand outs to be had which we avoided but did sample the non-dairy chocolate they were handing out which was yummy!

 They allow people to bring in coolers to this event which broadcasts opening night live from Kennedy Center (The Magic Flute) so many people come early to get one of the coveted areas on the field.  We come early to get a good seat under the covered area and at about 6 pm when a heavy 5 minute rain hit we were glad we did!  We brought books and people watched until the show started at 7 pm.

 There's a new vegan food stand so we had a grilled veggie wrap and a portabello sandwich for dinner. Both yummy but ridiculous ball field prices!

As you can see Tom was riveted by the opera.  Actually, I wasn't crazy about it either so we packed up at intermission and headed back.

 On the drive home we saw a man just getting out of his car on the side of the road with a large jug to go fill with gas.  Tom got out to see if we could give him some help as that road is very busy and very dark.  We gave him a lift to the gas station and back to his car plus gave him a few bucks as he had talked about being down on his luck.  He blessed us over and over and told us God would bless us with a miracle.  Awesome!  We're keeping our eyes open!

Back home in Utah I missed a Saturday baby shower for niece Jordan Lee and Nixon's 2nd birthday party but fortunately lots of cute photos were shared so I didn't feel quite so left out.  Miss all the fun family stuff.

Sunday we picked up all the coffee stuff for church from Ebeneezer's at 8 am then worked the connection table.  I helped with the 2-3 year olds during the second service then we came home, and like complete slugs read, napped (yep, again!) and I planned menus for the week.  Tom finished reading "Papillon" so he and Nic can have their own little book group.  Love having a quiet sabbath.

This and That

So here's what has been happening this week.  I dropped and broke the last dish from my wedding stoneware collection.  Still have the serving components but this was my last bowl from the daily use stuff.  Lovely blue Pfaltzgraff pattern.  Pretty good for 34 years!

 After finding ourselves slowly sliding back into bad eating patterns we watched another Netflix documentary Forks Over Knives, I talked with my friend Karen who hosts my Thursday AM women's group and is a 3 year vegan, cleaned out the fridge & cupboards, hit the library shelves and Tom & I both have committed to a plant based diet for at least May.  No meat, no dairy, no refined sugars or other crap.  Wish us luck!

 Every Thursday morning I drive by the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria on my way to my small group.  Have never been inside but need to put it on the list.  It looked especially pretty and green yesterday after two days of hard rain.

 Met up with Kristin and our international students for a quick visit at Ebeneezer's near Union Station as they are all wrapping up finals.  Alexis and Michel both leave for home next week….Alexis to Singapore until August and Michel to China for just 10 days before coming back for an internship this summer.  We talked and laughed about all kinds of things including the stuff they like best about the US.  A lot of their choices had to do with Georgetown U.  Small classes, professors who seem genuinely interested in them and who have office hours!  They love the openness and friendly people in the US and the freedoms we enjoy.  It has been such a blessing to see our country through their eyes this year!  We also talked about their plans for their lives.  Michel mentioned she'd like to have 3 children while Kristin and Alexis both said they were only interested in possibly adopting 1 child each. Michel said she didn't think someone could possibly love an adopted child as much as one they had given birth to.  I explained that I was sure anyone with adopted children would say they loved that child as much as their natural children and told her about friends with their own children who recently adopted 2 boys from Ethiopia and our gay friends Kirt and Jerry who after much work, money, and jumping through legal hoops, had adopted a darling baby boy and are completely "over the moon" in love with him.  I of course had to explain what "over the moon" meant!
A few minutes later a darling blonde woman sitting at the window you see behind us came over and said "I couldn't help but hear the word adoption about six times in your conversation and I just need to show you something".  She pulled out her phone and showed us the photo of a darling African American baby and said "We adopted this baby a year ago and yes, we love this child as much as our other children!"  She then told us to turn around where a friend of hers was standing with another African American child near a stroller and said he was adopted as well.  She couldn't have been more joyous or charming in her explanation.  After she left Michel said…."And that's another thing I love about Americans.  Never in a million years in China would someone sitting next to you come over, admit they were eavesdropping and show you a photo of their adopted child!"  Ha ha ha!  Good for you outgoing Americans!

Teri, Kristin, Michel and Alexis

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!