VACATION!!

Vacation.....that is not a word that has been used often by us. But about 6 months ago, Jonathan decided that he'd like to plan a Washington DC vacation for us.

As time went on and James headed into treatment for his tumor, the vacation seemed to get scaled back more and more - to the point that we even thought we'd have to cancel it. At the last minute, we managed to pull it off - albeit less than we had originally planned.

BUT, we all agree now that it was the best vacation we've had. Instead of lots of sight seeing, we spent lots of time with old friends. THAT WAS THE BEST!!!

Although we knew we'd be going during a hot time of the year, it was definitely hotter than we expected.







We traveled there on Wednesday and by the time we arrived at our hotel, James was pretty sick. The 6 hour drive was harder on him than we anticipated, so he and I stayed at the hotel and rested while the kids went to church at Heritage.


This is James sleeping on his mattress....I can't figure out how he ended up half off before morning.

Then Josh, Johannah, and I met with Helen and Carolyn for late night bowling.









On Thursday, we had lunch with the Canavans and then attended the Marine Barracks Parade at 8th and I with the Dishongs, Cormells, Hodges, and Canavans. Hint: Someone stole all the parking garages. Everywhere that Google sent us had NO parking.










On Friday, Jon and Josh headed into DC to do some sightseeing with a friend from High School while James, Johannah, and I just rested and enjoyed the pool. Then Helen and I went out together to have our hair done (that was a blast) and go to dinner. I realized the truth of the saying that true friends can not see each other for many years and yet pick up as if there was never a gap.





We had planned to drive home on Saturday night, but the heat was still so bad and James had such a hard time with just the short drive to Lottie's house for lunch. Thankfully, Lottie so kindly offered to let us stay with her overnight. We were certainly not disappointed. We had a great time visiting and the kids absolutely loved all her animals. She has two horses, a pig, a dog, and a cat.







Then we got to attend Heritage Baptist Church in Woodbridge all day Sunday, where our pastor is from. WONDERFUL CHURCH!!! Lunch at Old Country Buffet and a naptime for James at the Cormell's house.







I prayed that God would miraculously send a "cold front" for our trip home that night. Although it was certainly no blizzard, it was clearly 20 degrees cooler by the time we hit the road and we were THANKFUL. Made it home by 2 a.m. safely and James did just fine.

Once again....we know that GOD IS GOOD!!!