Busy busy busy!

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind! Here's the text version of what has been going on with us. Hopefully in the next few days I will get some photos up too.

Philly
We went to Philadelphia with Chris the last weekend in May through the first week of June for the ASMS conference. He worked, we played! It was so wonderful to be with him for much of that time we would have been apart. My parents came down to join us for a few days, and they came with me and the boys to my grandma's house in New Jersey for a couple of days too. We already want to go back to Philly to do some of the things we didn't get to do this time. There is just so much to see and do there! We tried to find inexpensive, kid-friendly activities. Some of our favorites were the SEPTA transit museum, the Please Touch museum ($2pp on Wednesdays from 5-7pm, opposed to $15pp if you are over age 1 normally), street vendor pretzels for fifty cents, Independence National Historic Park including the liberty bell, the U.S. Mint, Franklin Court, the seaport museum at Penn's Landing (pay-as-you-wish on Sundays from 10-12!), and riding various forms of mass transit including the historic PCC trolley car. Overall my impressions were that the people are friendly and helpful, and they care about their city. We took a bus through some neighborhoods that looked old and dilapidated but even there were signs that the people were making an effort to rise above poverty and take care of their city. For example I was struck by a plastic K-Mart bag tied to a chain link fence. My first thought was "that looks trashy" - and then I realized it actually was a trash bag, purposely hung there by a bus stop that had no garbage can, and that people were actually using it - there wasn't any litter in the area! Now around here in our relatively well-to-do suburb the bus stops have no trash cans and for the most part the streets we walk in our neighborhood are strewn with trash. Other things about Philly - we tried the famed cheesesteaks and were not impressed, but otherwise the array of dining was fantastic. And the boys loved the blue Benjamin Franklin Bridge across the Delaware, and the statue of William Penn atop the old city hall. We could see it from all over and they constantly pointed at it and shouted, "There's William Penn! I see William Penn!" And last but not least, we went into Macy's, formerly the famed Wanamaker's, to buy a wedding gift for a friend. Did you know the largest pipe organ in the WORLD is housed in a department store? It truly is, and they truly play it, and it truly sounds amazing. You shop and all around you these beautiful tones are reverberating making you feel like you're in a cathedral. A must-see if you go to Philly!

Home Improvement
While we were there my in-laws called: "Do you mind if we go to your house and install a new banister while the boys are away?" "Take out our cruddy old iron thing and replace it with beautiful colonial-style oak? Go right ahead." Then they called back. "Can we varnish your floor too?" So we returned on Thursday night to a vastly more polished (ha ha) entryway. Then the next day they temporarily left while we had some other guests for the weekend, and on Monday they came back. Our bathroom floor had been sort of bubbling up, which is never a good sign. We had to see what was going on under there. Turns out our toilet wasn't sealed properly and unmentionable filth had been seeping out into the floor for several months. We never smelled anything, but there we had it, and the floor had to come out. So my father-in-law spent three days working nonstop to tear out the floor, replace it with ceramic tile, and put our bathroom back together - without leaks. (Did I mention Chris was traveling again by now? It was just a little hectic at our house!) Between the shiny floor, the banister, and the tile bath, some parts of our house are actually starting to look a little classy now - what a difference! And my father-in-law also found time to do a few other more minor projects too, while the mortar was setting and the grout was setting, etc...what a servant he is!

Guests
Besides our amazing carpenter parents, we also had the pleasure of hosting the Haywards, friends from Minneapolis who are preparing to go on the mission field. They have an almost-two-year-old son named Jacob who was instantly buddies with Joshua and David. It was an incredible time of reconnecting with David and Katie, encouraging one another in the Lord and having long conversations about missions, marriage, parenting, education, and the list goes on. (Katie actually came with a list of topics but I don't know if we got through all of them!) These wonderfully generous friends even babysat for us for a wedding we went to on Saturday night for the first couple we met with for premarital counseling (remember the gift we bought in Macy's in Philadelphia?). It was so wonderful to spend time with the Haywards before they leave! It will probably be a long while before we get to see them again.

Wrap-Up (for now)
So thanks to my mom and dad and grandma, and Chris's mom and dad (hope the new GPS helped get you home speedily!), and the Haywards for an amazing couple of weeks. This weekend we caught our breath and relaxed - we went to Renee's student recital Saturday morning, the Gaithersburg community chorus concert outdoors Saturday night (and have been singing "Seventy-Six Trombones" ever since), and played two Scrabble games. For the record, Chris snapped his losing streak with two wins. And another happy birthday to my grandma (June 11) and my dad (today)!!

A final thought - today is Flag Day, which is the day that Betsy Ross's original United States flag was ceremoniously unveiled and publicly displayed. We went to her shop on Arch Street just a little over a week ago! It's amazing how much American history is preserved not far from our doors. Imagine how it would be to live in Europe or Asia, where the history that is preserved is many hundreds and even thousands of years old! Ok, I guess I'm turning into a history nut, but it's really interesting and fun and helps develop a deeper appreciation of the places we visit! And I think it does help me to worship God more when I consider myself in the larger context of the globe past, present, and future, and his plan unfolding.