Washington Bound - Excited to Be Back at Our Old Stompin’ Ground

Our three-week project is coming to an end at Shiloh Bible Camp in Donnelly, Idaho. We will be going to Washington soon….and we are excited to be heading back to our old stomping grounds. Our time here in Idaho has been great, and the people we have been working with and for have been a real blessing to us.

We add our fellow MMAPers on this project to our growing list of wonderful Christian brothers and sisters that will be life-long friends and ones we hope to work with on other MMAP projects.

left to right: Ashley & Gloria; John & Carol; Sam & Mary; us; Bill & Mecaila

Our MMAP Coordinators, Ashley and Gloria are from North Carolina, and have been doing MMAP projects for 10 years. They have completed 42 projects around the country and are still going strong. They are an inspiring Christian couple and have directed us all with great expertise. Gloria never sees a stranger and talks to everyone she meets about Jesus. She is like the Energizer Bunny and is a walking, talking light for God.

Ashley fell in love with the camp tractor! He used it a lot on the project.

 

Sam (being Sam) with Ashley and Gloria on our boat outing on Payette Lake in McCall. (Gloria has struggled with the colder climate of Idaho. But after the project ends they will be taking a trip to Texas to attend their son’s Air Force commissioning service. I think she will have a chance to warm up there before coming back to continue projects in the northwest!)

John & Carol, from Montana have been with MMAP for 7 years and have done 28 projects. They were with us in February 2011 at the project in San Bernardino, CA. They met in college in Montana and have been happily married for 48 years. They are devoted to one another and solid in their faith. We think the world of them.

John has a quiet sense of humor and worked well with Jim. Their assignment was to power wash the log fences, repair them and re-stain all the logs – LOTS of logs – as well as the play yard equipment which is made of logs as well. (These log fences and the kids’ play yard were built by MMAPers two years ago.) The abundance of logs came about because of a freak wind shear – a tornado-like wind that suddenly came through the area and uprooted several large trees. As the saying goes:  When your’re handed a bunch of lemons (or in this case – logs) just make lemonade (or in this case – log fences)!
 

 

These two were the “reserved” guys on the project, but they still had a lot of fun.

Carol is an accomplished pianist and provided the accompaniment at our morning devotionals. Since they primarily do projects in the northwest states, we look forward to working with them again.

Sam & Mary (our friends for over 30 years) and fellow Arizonans, are excited to finally be doing their first MMAP project. Sam’s long-time background in various phases of construction is a great asset to the project. He is talented in every stage of repair, maintenance and construction and can tackle any job well. Mary is his biggest cheerleader and a great friend to me. It has been a lot of fun working with them. They are anxious to try another project in October, God willing. We hope we will be able to team up with them next year.

 

Sam was drawing up plans for a new porch for one of the staff houses

A rousing game of Sequence with Sam & Mary and Bill & Mecaila.

Bill and Mecaila are full time RVers and have been with MMAP for a little over a year. They have managed to squeeze 6 projects into this short time. Originally from New Mexico, they now travel wherever MMAP takes them, but maintain a mailing address for now in North Dakota. Although they are ten or more years younger than us, we are trying to get them to check out Sun City in Arizona. Bill is retired from construction and (like Sam) is adept at almost all tasks thrown his way. Mecaila is a bundle of energy – which comes in handy when she needs to corral the two dogs and five ferrets that travel with them.

Mecaila with two of her five ferrets, Sammy and Rascal

One of the projects for us ladies was to clean two of the staff houses. Hey, if you can’t have fun cleaning a house, when can you have fun?
 

 

 
"You girls stop messin' around and get down to some serious work”…..right, boss!

Besides cleaning up the fences and the staff houses, the men also poured a concrete slab to extend the camp basketball court, built a slate floor and wall behind the woodstove in the dining hall and added a huge wood mantle above it, poured two small slabs outside the doors of the facilities manager’s house, and build a beautiful sturdy new porch on the front of the house.

Before work began, the woodstove in the dining hall sat in the corner flush on the floor. After a lot of prep and hard work, the guys fashioned a mantle cut from a huge chunk of wood (10 ft long, 20 inches wide and 10 inches thick). They also added a slate floor and wall surround. The completed job is fantastic!

 

Almost ready for the wood stove to be set in place

The porch on the staff house turned out to be VERY sturdy! Any guesses of the total “weight load” in this shot?

Shiloh Bible Camp was started in 1937. The 14-acre property where the camp is currently located was acquired in 1979. All of the property and facilities have been donated and built by volunteer labor. A lot of the current buildings were worked on by MMAPers in MMAP projects that have been going since 2002.

 

Previous MMAPers helped build the chapel/dining hall. 

Our RV’s parked near the chapel across from the staff kids’ play area.

The camp offers two snow camps in January and February; a spring-blow out in March that drew 251 kids this year; four summer camps for 3^rd-12^th graders; a weekend retreat for junior and senior high students involved in a year-long discipleship program (these kids also serve at the summer camps); family camp over Labor Day weekend; and a fall weekend discipleship camp. For more info on the camp, check their web site at  www.shilohbibleconference.com

Our three-week project was before summer camps started, so we didn’t have campers around. This summer they expect at least 350 kids attending the four one-week sessions. Campers usually come from small rural communities throughout Idaho, with 70-80% from the Boise/Nampa area – although one group comes over from Portland, Oregon each year. The camp is committed to keeping costs for camp low, so Shiloh relies on volunteers and donations. In fact, the program fees are not enough to cover their actual costs, so they rely on donations to support the ministry. And since they don’t ever want to turn campers away, they have camper assistance funds available through generous gifts from donors. They also rent the facilities out to churches throughout the year for church retreats.

            
 

Part of the summer high school camp involves horsemanship skills classes. The camp does not have horses of their own, but just prior to camp Amy Allen, the camp horse wrangler (an InFaith missionary) brought six horses in that she borrows from local horse owners. Zoe was thrilled! She thought she was back at our last year project in Pennsylvania at Miracle Mountain Horse Ranch.

The only full time staff workers are missionaries with InFaith who raise their own support. Gabe Stayton, the Director of Operations and currently filling in as the Facilities Manager was our camp coordinator for the project. His wife, Andrea assists him with camp chores and co-teaches some of the Timothy Charge discipleship classes offered to junior and senior high school students throughout Idaho. Both grew up in the area and both were former campers at Shiloh. After graduation from Boise State, Gabe and Andrea went on to missionary training with New Tribes Missions in Wisconsin.

We feel blessed to have met the Staytons. They are a special family - especially their five-year old son Titus. He is quite a guy – very articulate and totally at ease with all us “old folks”! From the moment we drove into camp, Titus took to Zoe (and she to him) and he became our official “dog walker”. We look forward to keeping in touch with the Staytons, and if God allows us to come back for other MMAP projects, to watch how Titus grows into a godly young man. 

Gabe and Andrea Stayton

Our buddy, Titus

                                                                                                             

      

                                                                 

 

 Titus and Helen instantly hit it off too. Whenever possible they were visiting or walking the dog. Here he clowns around with Helen during a mid-week pot luck.  Helen was in her “grandma” mode and loving every minute of it!

Helen put her grandma creativity to work and made this little woodland creature for Titus.

Donnelly (a town with a population under 150) is over two hours drive down a steep mountain highway to Boise, so we didn’t get back to a large city for the entire three week stay at Shiloh. But the town of McCall is only 12 miles away. It is a charming summer and winter tourist town with a population of approximately 3000 in the off seasons, but swells five to ten times that number with summer visitors and in the winter with two nearby ski resorts drawing tourists in. The surrounding mountains still had a bit of snow on them and the first week of our project was a bit nippy and overcast, with the added excitement of a hail storm one evening (golf ball sized hail!) But as the weather warmed to the mid and upper 70’s and became more pleasant, we took advantage of our days off to drive around and see the beautiful scenery and also take a boat tour on Payette Lake. We ladies headed to McCall for our MMAP “Ladies’ Day Out”. On Sundays we all attended the small Donnelly Community Church, and the MMAP ladies joined the church ladies for their weekly Bible study. On the second Friday of the project we had a special visit from Kerry and Judy Cameron (MMAP Directors.) They made a three hour drive from their project in Halfway, Oregon (near Baker City, OR) to visit with us. We put together an impromptu pot luck lunch – ANY excuse to eat!!

 

         Cascade Lake – walking distance from the camp

 
 

 
 

Historic Roseberry is just down the road from Donnelly. In 1911 it was the largest town in the county of Long Valley, and had everything from flour and saw mills, a beautiful 5-sided Hotel, brass band, baseball team and many schools. A large Finnish population had settled the area because of the free land offers in Idaho and because the weather was a lot like their native country – short growing seasons and lots of snow in the winter. However, in 1914, when the railroad laid down tracks a few miles to the west and created the town of Donnelly, Roseberry pretty much faded away and many of the buildings were relocated to Donnelly. The General Store stayed open until 1939 and then closed its doors. In 1969 what was left of the town was purchased by one family who started reconstructing it as an historic site, moving some of the old original buildings back from Donnelly. The Store and town site today are a collection of over 20 old and historic buildings from all over the valley, including Finnish cabins from early settlers, a Finnish Blacksmith Shop, the old McCall City Hall, a Carriage House, Bandshell, one room School House and much more.

    

Jim checks out huckleberry honey at the general store while Helen tries on hats.                            

 
                               The “Thinker”

Boat trip on Payette Lake in McCall

 

 

                                                                                              
                                        Million dollar homes surround Payette Lake
 

   

 
      Kerry Cameron (MMAP Director) discusses the project and MMAP with us

 
Enough talk….let’s eat!!

Ladies' Day Out to McCall for thrift store shopping, eating and just having fun together.

We also browsed the Christmas Shop and had lunch several times at the McCall Pancake House~
 

  

Mecaila and her plate sized pineapple pancake with homemade coconut syrup

A fi

Helen with Char, the co-owner of another great restaurant in McCall - Chef Geoff’s.

Char says folks make the 3 hour drive up from Boise just for her lattes.

If you ever get to McCall, have Char make you her famous white chocolate caramel latte….YUMMMY!

In spite of a rough start to the summer, this has been a great beginning for our 2012 MMAP season. Shiloh may possibly be a return project in the future. We’ve met some wonderful people at camp, at church and in and around town. All these experiences and new relationships are worth more than words can explain. We are blessed to be able to continue to do this, and wherever God takes us, we know it will be good. Following the “Son” has a lot of rewards!

PTL!!!

Sun City, AZ to Donnelly, ID - A Challenging Journey

This part of the update was “supposed” to read: “DAY 1 - After taking the last three days to pack the rig and close up the house for the summer, we were on the road at 8am Sunday, May 27^th enroute to our friends’ house in Kingman, AZ. It’s only 170 miles – not a normal full day’s drive, but we will be spending the rest of the day at their annual family reunion (seeing their family members that we have not seen in years and eating a lot of scrumptious food.) Then we will take off early Monday morning for the first 300 or so miles of our 1130 mile journey to our MMAP project in Donnelly, Idaho. We should be at the project by Wednesday or Thursday. Our friends will meet us there on Saturday after they stop to see their grandson’s graduation and visit with their daughter and her family in Idaho Falls, ID.” 

BUT……….remember my last update about the “uncertainty” of life???

Well…..less than 100 miles from home, in the middle of the desert heading up the steep grades of Hwy 93 our truck lost all power. Ooops. Jim pulled it over to the shoulder and tried to start it back up. No luck. So we tried making a cell phone call to our Good Sam Emergency Road Service….no cell service….double ooops. After looking under the hood and not seeing any obvious problem, Jim attempted to start it two or three more times with no success. So he got out and walked up the road about 100 or so feet. There he found a spot with minimal cell coverage, and after several calls and recalls, got the message to the Good Sam people. Within 2 hours, they sent a tow rig from Wikieup, AZ, the nearest town (or more accurately the nearest “spot in the road” – about 46 miles from where we broke down.) The tow driver and his family also own one of the two RV Parks in the area and one of the three or four restaurants. Since it was a holiday weekend and the Ford dealer in Kingman would not be open until Tuesday, it was determined we should have the truck and 5^th wheel towed to Wikieup, spend Sunday and Monday at the RV Park and then have the tow driver and Jim take the truck to Kingman on Tuesday. So much for Day 1! We notified our friends that we would not be partaking of the family festivities and we would see them (hopefully) when we all got to the project in Donnelly.

Day 2: I also made a statement in the last blog about our change of plans in being diverted to the project in Donnelly – I said we were going on “a trip to a place we had no intention of going”. Ahhhhh…..and so here we are in Wikieup, Arizona (population 77 according to the 2010 census update) with nothing to do and no way to get there in a place we had no intention of going….and having no idea what Tuesday will reveal and what decisions will need to be made.

However, let’s look on the positive side of this part of our “adventure” -

• ·        The location where the truck gave up had a wide shoulder to safely pull off. Much of the road before that did not.

• ·        The weather had cooled down to the low 90’s, so the two hour wait for the tow truck was not as bad as it might have been if it had been in the triple digit temperatures of the week before.

• ·     Even though we were in an area of no cell coverage, we were able to pick up coverage just a short walking distance down the road.

• ·        We have very good emergency road service coverage. We had just changed to Good Sam and did not have any history of their competence, but the Good Sam operator called us back several times to check on us and also took it upon herself to make arrangements for our stay at the RV Park when they dispatched the tow truck.

• ·        The RV Park could have charged us a premium rate. But fortunately they are part of Passport America, a discount membership that we belong to. The daily rate is only costing us $10!

• ·        As far as missing our friends’ annual family reunion……it is (after all) an “annual” thing, so we will try to be there (God willing) next year.

Final thought for Days 1 and 2 - at the time, Jim was wearing one of his favorite caps: 

                         AND SO HE IS! LET’S RELAX AND GIVE HIM THE GLORY!!

DAY 3: Tuesday – Jim and the tow driver took the truck to the Ford dealer in Kingman. Not good news….we were hoping it was the fuel pump that would cost maybe $400-$500. Oh if it could have been so simple. Seems it’s the high pressure oil pump – besides the fact they will have to take off the manifold to access it, it may have damaged other components as well. The estimate is $3000 and the repair time is at least two more days. So, looks like we will be staying in Wikieup through Thursday, and hopefully on the road by Friday (with three hard days of driving to get to Donnelly by Sunday night.) Praying really hard right now that we are doing the God-honoring thing to continue on with this “adventure” – or should we tuck tail and run back to the security of Sun City? Right now I am having a hard time finding the positive….this is definitely a testing of my faith. I think I need the next two days to think and pray….got nothing else to do…..stay tuned.

DAY 4: Wednesday – Waiting….waiting…waiting….Weather is getting hotter, I’ve cleaned the RV top to bottom, front to back (even though it wasn’t dirty), we’ve watched movies we had recorded on our DVR (oh, did I mention there is no TV service here that we can pick up), we’ve played a round of almost every game we brought with us, and we’ve gone up to the restaurant to watch FOX News on their TV (now…that’s a PLUS!!) We did borrow our friend’s van and Jim drove it back from Kingman to Wikieup so we would have a way back to Kingman to get the truck Then, after my momentary “pity party” of yesterday, we prayed a lot, called family and friends to update them on our situation, requested prayer and also asked for some advice. 

Two scripture verses kept coming to mind –

• The first: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. He promises a straight path – but perhaps not always a smooth one.

• The second: Be anxious for NOTHING, but in EVERYTHING through prayer and supplication, WITH THANKSGIVING make your requests known to God. (emphasis is mine)

 So after thanking God for where we are, we both concluded (God willing) we will continue on.

Wednesday evening the Ford dealership called to say the truck would be ready on Thursday late morning. There were no additional damages and the cost will be $2800. (Thank God for adequate credit options on our credit card. We had planned on picking up some odd jobs next fall to pay for the trip expenses – looks like we will just have to work a bit more than originally planned.)

DAY 5: Thursday - We picked up our “good as new” truck Thursday morning, dropped our friends’ van back at their house and came back to Wikieup to get ready to start out (again) on Friday morning. Today is my birthday, so we decided that the truck repair was my birthday present……..for the next 100 years!  

Dazzo's RV Park and Resturant

Wikieup, AZ 

Rich Dazzo, Jr. - The best tow truck driver around!

DAY 6: Friday - Left early, drove 323 miles to Cedar City, Utah. Spent the night in the Wal-Mart parking lot.

DAY 7: Saturday - Cedar City to Burly, Idaho (424 miles). Another Wal-Mart parking lot stop.

DAY 8: 268 miles -Arrived at Shiloh Bible Conference Camp in Donnelly, Idaho Sunday afternoon.  Praise the Lord!!!

Nearing Donnelly, Idaho (Yes, there is still snow on the mountains!)

Arriving at camp

We leave you with this thought: 

Somebody once said - if sacrifice was easy, it wouldn’t be “sacrifice."

Next blog update (God willing) in three weeks

WHAT THINGS IN LIFE ARE CERTAIN?

Certain (surt’ n): adj. sure, fixed, established, positive

In our last blog I said, “We have a June MMAP project scheduled…in Stanwood, Washington…the June plans are certain.”

Again, I ask you – What things in life are certain?  Perhaps the answer (at least in this life on earth) is – The uncertainty of each day.

Shortly after posting the last blog update on May 1^st (the one sharing our May travel plans and our certain MMAP assignment to a project in Washington for June) we found ourselves at the emergency room of the local hospital. Jim was passing a great deal of blood from his intestinal tract each time he would visit the “little boys’ room”. After four or five episodes of this in just a few hour time period, we decided to call the doctor. Her advice (of course) – “Go immediately to the hospital!” 

After several more episodes while in the ER, they decided to admit him for an overnight observation and do some tests to locate the source of the bleeding. As we waited for them to get the admissions paperwork done, Jim decided he needed one more trip to the “loo”. As he was coming out of the bathroom and back to the ER room, he took a nose dive and passed out. (That, needless to say, gave me some concern!) But as it was later determined the cause of his swan dive was dehydration because of the amount of fluid he had lost over the course of the day each time he took a trip to the potty. However, just to be on the safe side, the ER doc “upgraded” his admit status to ICU for the night with an additional day in a regular room. 

So, after three days of trips back and forth to the hospital, I was starting to wonder about the certainty of things. By the early morning of the third day, the bleeding had stopped and a colonoscopy and endoscopy were unable to determine the actual source. The “medically educated guess” was that the heavy duty anti-inflammatory drugs he was taking for his hip was the culprit. It apparently caused some of the diverticula in his colon to bleed for a time. So until the hip joint can be replaced in a year or two, he is going to have to control that discomfort with less intense medications. BUT the good news is that the test results from the colonoscopy and endoscopy showed no signs of serious problems – no cancer, no ulcers.  

Yet, we wondered how this was going to affect our travel plans. An added side effect of passing so much fluid and then having a colonoscopy resulted in some super sized and very painful “boo boos” with blood clots on his south part (if you get my drift). He couldn’t walk, sit, stand or lay down without being in a great deal of pain. We were just a couple of weeks away from our planned departure, but there was no way he could even consider packing up the RV and driving it several hours each day for a multi-day trip of 1600+ miles to our project in Washington. And then what would he do if we could even get there? How could he do construction work? Should we go…..should we stay….should we delay……OH THE UNCERTAINTY OF LIFE!

After two more weeks of sitz baths, ice packs and doctors’ appointments we were still up in the air on a decision. God had to step in on this one. And so HE did! 

One week before our scheduled departure we got a call from MMAP headquarters. “Would you consider changing the location of your June project from Stanwood, Washington to Donnelly, Idaho? There is an adequate number of MMAPers signed up for the Stanwood project, but the Donnelly project only had three couples and one couple has just crashed their rig and won’t be unable to go. If you can’t change your plans, the Idaho project will have to be canceled.”

“Give us a few minutes to pray about it and consider it. We’ll call you right back.” OK, God….what does this mean? Donnelly is 500 miles closer, and since we would have to postpone our stop at our son’s house in Northern California, we could get there in just three or four days time – giving us 6 extra days for Jim to heal up.  OK, God….we get it. Our plans have a great deal of uncertainty – but yours are always certain. 

So, a quick call back to MMAP HQ, a follow up call to our kids giving them the details of the change of plans, and here we are – packing up for a trip to a place we had no intention of going to. But, if memory serves me from past experiences – we will have some pretty awesome reports for you about why we were “sent” to Idaho.

And by the way, that same day we accepted the change of projects, Jim’s condition took a major turn for the better. The blood clots dissipated, the swelling is subsiding and he is feeling almost as good as new.

The project starts on June 1^st. We will be pulling out of here on May 27^th, stopping the first night in Kingman, AZ at our good friends, Sam and Mary’s then heading north to Idaho on the 28^th. Oh….one more note… when we told Sam and Mary about our change of plans, they changed their travel plans as well. The last week of May they were planning a one week RV trip to see their daughter and family in Idaho Falls then return to Kingman. Now, after their visit with family, they have decided to join us at the Donnelly project for the rest of June. Isn’t God good!

None of this has made our days any more certain, and we aren’t promising any of our plans will remain “sure, fixed, established or positive - but whatever happens is by His design and in His timing. So, I’m praying we will be sending you a great report at the end of June about the Idaho project and all that God has in store for us there. 

Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (Hebrews 11:1)

Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith..(Hebrews 12:2)

Lord, you established peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us. (Isaiah 26:12)

OF ALL OF THIS, WE ARE POSITIVE!!

Since this blog focused on my dear husband (even though he hates to be the center of attention) I have decided to add some of my favorite photos of him. When he sees this addition, he will probably want to “do me harm”…..

Ooooo I’m so afraid….NOT!!

Relaxing on our patio on a warm Arizona evening (May, 2012)

Poppy and Scotti Jean being goofy at the hat store in Seaside, Or Aug 2010

Hugging a cactus with granddaughter, Erica (Jan 2011)

 

Hamming it up with granddaughter, Haddie Joy at Christmas time 2011

Hiking in the White Tank range, AZ November 2010

Working the MMAP project in Pennsylvania July 2011

Alaska Cruise 2009 (Goofy hats and Jim…there’s a pattern here!)

Hope you all can enjoy life as much as Jim does. It's a gift!!

Catching Up On Last Year So We Can Proceed With This Year……. Huh????......What Did You Say?????

May 1, 2012

After a long silence from the “Great Adventure” Blog, we decided it was time to put it in gear – literally and figuratively.  In just a few weeks we will be “On the Road Again” to continue our summer MMAP projects. This time we will be traveling north to the beautiful Pacific Northwest. We have a June MMAP project scheduled at Warm Beach Christian Camp in Stanwood, Washington, and we hope to get a back-to-back July and August project at Camp Berachah in Auburn, Washington (near our daughter in Tacoma.)  If plans work out as we hope (and from previous blog entries – you all know how that might change!) we will end the summer near the California coast at a project in Sebastopol (about 150 miles from our son and his family), then return to Arizona in October. As of the writing of this update however, only the June plans are certain. So stay tuned…….

Meanwhile, we left you all hanging last September with a promise to give you pictures and information on the last part of our adventures traveling around the east coast during the summer of 2011. Well folks, have I ever been late on my promises before? 

“Of course she has,” you’re thinking…….so needless to say, none of you should be too surprised. However, I must admit a 7 month delay from our last update of September 30, 2011 is a bit much – even for me. Sorry……

We arrived back in Arizona a day or two after that last entry, having all good intentions to close out the 2011 blog with a narrative and pictures of the last part of our trip in and around Virginia. But once we arrived home, it seems our “other life” took over and we put blogging on the back burner…..way on the back burner. We jumped into house projects (painting, landscaping and patio building); we got involved in activities with our friends and our church; Helen joined a Spanish class at the Sun City Recreation Center and also started hosting a weekly Bible study for some of the neighborhood ladies. Our daughter and granddaughters came down for a few days before Christmas, and we all drove to our son’s house in Northern California for Christmas (surprising him by walking into his Christmas Eve service without him having a clue that we were coming.) We were joined by our son-in-law who flew in from Washington. It was a great holiday. Our family is such a blessing to us!

2012 found us doing more of the same with friends and church activities and classes and Bible studies along with three short jaunts sans RV: a day trip to Yarnell and Prescott, AZ, a four-day stay at a wonderful time share in Sedona, AZ with friends, Darrel & Darlene (compliments of our other friends, Roger & Esther who were unable to use their time share for that week), and a three day trip to Kingman, AZ to stay with our friends, Sam & Mary.  Jim’s son, Erik also came to our house for a few days to have a pace-maker implanted in his chest to regulate his heartbeat (more on that later.) And our daughter, Meleea and family joined us again for Spring Break during the first week of April.

Wheee……We need to get back on the road so we can slow down the pace! 

However, before I get too distracted……a promise is a promise…..and I did promise pictures and a short narrative of the last part of our 2011 adventures. You’re probably thinking this is “old news” – but my intention was to make the final 2011 blog entry a pictorial to honor our great nation and the brave men and women who have given their all to keep us free. Perhaps my delay makes the message even timelier as we ponder over the daily news and wonder where our future as a great and free nation is headed. I hope you enjoy the following pictures and our comments about these places we had the privilege to visit:

Let’s start with the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC –

 

The famous words of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address causes us to reflect on many things -

Our nation was indeed “conceived in liberty” – but that liberty came at a cost and continues to cost us to this day. I believe our liberty is currently in jeopardy. Don’t forget, it was a mere 87 years from the birth of our nation to a time when men’s ideology of what this nation stood for clashed so seriously, it split our nation in two and brother ended up killing brother. Let’s pray that will never happen again. Read again how Lincoln ended his speech – “this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from this earth.” (Or to quote another American President: “If we ever forget that we are one nation under God, then we shall be a nation gone under.” Ronald Regan)

We move on to a time in our history that is much closer to each one of us, especially those in my generation

The Viet Nam Conflict

 

The Viet Nam War Memorial in DC also caused much reflection on our part. Many claim it was an unnecessary war….who can say if that was so? Many of our friends and relatives came back changed beyond recognition (either inside or outside) – many didn’t come back at all. But what part of any war is necessary? Be careful how you answer that – I think it’s a question that may not have an answer. And history has a way of repeating itself, thus our children and grandchildren echo that same question today and watch with worry and dread as their friends and relatives are sent off to some strange far away land, and mourn with broken hearts as they return battered or broken or not at all. But let it be said that in any war or “conflict” our nation has ever been involved with, the rhetoric “for” or “against” should never overshadow the bravery of the men and women who are willing to give their lives to protect our freedom. Freedom has never been “free”. Praise God for our troops and their sacrifice for us so we have that freedom to stand on street corners or gather in protests to speak our beliefs “for” or “against” freely. God willing, may we never loose that freedom!

 A visit to the National Museum of the Marine Corp continued to put into perspective the sacrifices brave souls have made for all of us over the 200+ years of the existence of this country. 

 

Never doubt that we are a great nation – not infallible, but nonetheless GREAT! Anyone who has no pride in our military or respect for our country should be (in my humble opinion) “run out of town on a rail”.

 

For anyone making a trip to the DC area – this is a “must see”.   The National Museum of the Marine Corps is a lasting tribute to U.S. Marines--past, present, and future. Situated on a 135-acre site adjacent to Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, and under the command of Marine Corps University, the Museum's soaring design evokes the image of the flag-raisers of Iwo Jima and beckons visitors to this 120,000-square-foot structure. World-class interactive exhibits using the most innovative technology surround visitors with irreplaceable artifacts and immerse them in the sights and sounds of Marines in action.  It’s a monument to Honor, courage and commitment.

   

     

This display brought tears to the eyes of my Navy Corpsman husband

 Many of the displays are ultra realistic – even with the temperatures of the room matching the heat of the jungles of Viet Nam or the cold of the terrain of Korea. In this display you walk through the belly of a helicopter (vibrating with noise and motion) to exit the rear of it onto the battlefield where sounds of gunfire and shouts of troops surround you. It gives just a glimpse of the gravity of the battlefield.

These are people we should be proud of....very, very proud!

 

Our final stop in this tribute to our great nation and to the brave men and women who have given their all to protect it takes us to Arlington National Cemetery just outside of Washington DC where we were privileged to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Our pictures do not do justice to such a hallowed place as this. Just looking out across the rows and rows of gravesites causes a catch in your breath and a feeling of both sadness and pride….it’s hard to explain.

 
 

The tomb of the Unknown Soldier

We close with this thought (again from President Ronald Regan):

No arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenal of the world, is as formidable as 

the will and moral courage of free men and women.