South Boston & Oakton, VA

Since I wrote last, we have been in Virginia. One of the cities was only a few miles outside of Washington, DC. We rode the metro into downtown DC and walked for miles (no exaggeration). This time we visited The National Archives(home to the Dec. of Independence and the US Constitution), the White House (just close enough to take a picture), a few of the Smithsonian museums, the Holocaust Museum, and Arlington Cemetery. At the National Archives, the lighting is so dark, and you can not use flash photography; therefore, my pictures did not turn out. Josie bought a souvenir Dec. of Independence. She has pulled it out of the tube at least twice a day since she bought it. I just can't get over how much she loves this kind of stuff. While taking a picture of the White House, we got to see a Marine helicopter land on the lawn. They wouldn't tell us who was being picked up, but when the helicopter took off, there was another one to follow it. Maybe a decoy...perhaps President Bush was on one of them. That was cool to watch! At the Smithsonian, we saw all of the dinosaur skeletons and various famous works of art. We saw some Monet's, Renoir's, and DaVinci's. Of course, Katie & Josie did not realize what they were looking at, but the paintings were amazing. The portraits looked so real, and to think that the sculptures we saw were from so many years ago. The Holocaust Museum was amazing as well. The photographs, film clips, letters, and artifacts were all so touching. It is hard to believe that anyone could be so evil. When one tours this museum, there can be no doubt that the Holocaust did happen.

Previously at Arlington Cemetery, we watched the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns. This time we visited the grave sites of John F. Kennedy and Robert Kennedy. Arlington is definitely a place that should be visited when in the DC area.

Monday, June 23 - Wednesday, June 25th, we are in a missions conference in Lexington, NC. We had previously visited this church in May. This conference has been good. The pastor and his wife are close to our age, so we have had a good time fellowshipping with them. Katie & Josie got to ride horses at a farm of one of the church members. There are several missionary families at this conference with kids their age. They are really having fun getting to know some other missionary kids. On Thursday, June 26th, we will be on the road again headed to Pennsylvania. We will spend the next few weeks up there.