Another Visit to More Dear Friends

While I lived in Virginia I had the joy of worshiping at New Hope Presbyterian Church in Fairfax, VA.  Jennie and Dave Coffin would extend very warm hospitality to me and that hospitality turned to friendship.  It was a great pleasure to have my kids spend time with these two dear saints and to be in their fellowship again.  If you click on the link above, Pastor Coffin has some very useful resources on his site. We were talking about how people leave an indelible mark on you.  The Coffins taught me to seek to render the judgment of charity at all turns, to warmly show hospitality and to observe the sabbath -- just to name a few. I am so grateful God put them in my life.

 

Jennie, as some of you know, is a wonderful potter and made me my original dishes when we first got married, and has made me a second set since over the past 15 years many of the first set sadly broke.  Take a look at Jennie's pottery She ships anywhere and her work is truly beautiful.  Her mugs feel incredibly comfortable in your hand when you sip on your coffee in the a.m .  She does wedding registration and special orders too.  Design your own plates, etc.   She showed us some of the tools of her trade.

 

 

 

 

 

Jennie has a very fascinating collection of brushes she uses.  The hair on the brushes are made of all different sorts of things.  One even uses human hair (that of a child).

 

 

To put a cherry on top of the whole time in the D.C. area, the Lord provided a beautiful snow storm (the first for Virginia, and Delaware this year).  Just enough to make it beautiful and yet little enough to safely make our way home.

 

 

 

 

Lincoln Memorial

 

As we were walking up the stairs we heard a "street preacher" on the corner of a huge marbel slab preaching the gospel. 

 

Of course the view looking down the steps is lovely...

 

And on our way to the car we saw the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial...

 

 

 

 

 

Glass Harp Old Town - Alexandria, VA

If you have never heard a glass harp being played, I would encourage you to watch the link below.  This Christian man happened to be in Alexandria when we went there on Saturday to view my friends pottery in a nearby gallery.  I had seen him before, in years past, but thought it would be too cold for him to play.  But there he was!  It's an amazing instrument.  He played Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and more.  Truly beautiful.

Glass Harp Being Played in Alexandria

 

American History Museum

 

The violin was carried by soldier in the Civil War and was hand inscribed on the back where he went.

 

The girls enjoyed admiring the beautiful White House china that has been passed down through the generations by each first lady.  Then of course there were the ball gowns worn by the first ladies.  The one Francesca is standing next to in this picture is Mary Todd Lincoln's.

 

 

Dorothy's slippers...

 

 

 

A Visit with Old Friends

 

Our resting place that night was our old friends the Bryants.  Aerin, the mom was my old roommate and we stood up for each other in our weddings.  The children had a lovely time reaquanting themselves.  Then Francesca and Caroline played us a duet which was a real pleasure.  Finally, we wrapped up the evening with a round of Telestrations.  If you haven't played this game, it's a wonderful family game.  You can even mimick it with several pads of paper.  You sit in a circle.  Each person comes up with something they want to draw and writes it in words down on the first page.  You then turn the page and draw what you chose.  Once everyone has done that you pass to your left and each person looks at the drawing (not the word) and on the next available page writes the word or words for what they believe the drawing to be.  And so on, next person does a drawing and then the next person the word and so on until your pad of paper returns to you.  It's great fun to see what comes of it all and it is espcially fun if you can't draw and if you have children who are still learning to spell!

Air and Space Museum

 

In God's providence, there was a new display, at least to me, out in front of the Air and Space Museum that illustrated the distance between planets.  Ironically, we have been studying space in science with our co-op and had recently attempted to demonstrate the distance between planets using toilet paper stretched out along the street.  Pretty fun, but this was on quite a grander scale.

 

 This exhibit went on for a couple of city blocks to illustrate the distance between the different planets.  Take XX of steps to the next planet.  It was an excellent idea to give a spacial understanding.

 

 

Then inside the museum, there was of course an exorbinant amount to see.

 

 

 

 

There was an exhibit on the Wright Brothers and they showed the sheet music that was written to acknowledge their achievements.  You could listen to the music as well.

 

Here Addie is learning what it feels like to be a gyroscope.   Which was helpful as she had just purchased one as a souvenir.

 

 

 



Library of Congress

 

Our next stop was the Library of Congress.  My girls were very anxious to see this place....all those books in one place :)  But I had never been in the outer hall before and it looked like a slice of Europe.  The paintings on the ceiling and the columns.  Absolutley beautiful.

The Library stores one of the three complete copies of the Guetenberg Bible that exist in the world.  There were paintings surrounding the exhibit the illustrate the process of making a book and then Gutenberg at the very end of the cycle of paintings. 

Supreme Court "Stop"

On the way over to the Supreme Court, we passed the Capitol building, which is a beautiful site.  I remember when I was working there how my Dad told me to be leary of the day you pass it and don't admire how beautiful it is.

 

 

Our first stop was the Supreme Court.  They were reparing the columns, but it was still beautiful to see.

 

I thought it was interesting that the above engraving of the 10 commandments

is on the Supreme Court room doors.

Where We First Met

A little over fifteen years ago, Ron and I met on a blind date in Union Station in Washington, D.C.  The picture below of our girls is the place we met - right infront of the Godiva Chocolate store.  Over Spring Break we were able to see many sites and sounds in D.C. I will post each "stop" along the way separately.

As I mark time with this blog, I can't help but stop to honor my dear husband on our 15th Anniversary with this particular post.  He is the truest friend I've ever had.  I was commenting to one of my dear friends down in D.C. about the wisdom of God in giving me Ron.  His love is faithful and consistent and his wisdom, insight and understanding have been a great source of comfort to me as we face lifes blessings and sorrows together.  Ron has taught our family to look to Christ and to give him thanks for all His many blessings.  He is my beloved and my freind and I honor him for that and praise God for Him!