Wow, where do I start??? I guess I will begin this post with Hadassah. Friday evening, I decided to have a talk with her again and find out 'really why all this witnessing'? I knew something big was bothering her.
The talk was touching! It seemed that as soon as I asked her the question "why", she broke out in tears and starting telling me about her fears. Watching the movie Courageous really sent her for a loop!!! There were some scenes in the movie that literally scared her to death!!! Death to her joy and it brought lots of fear. The scene especially where the little girl was being chased in the movie by the gang guys and then her father ran to rescue her after the little girl climbed up a tree. This was so frightful for Hadassah. It seemed to scare her so bad that it her mind, she needed to ask EVERYONE she was around if they knew Jesus. She would feel 'safe' if she knew they loved Jesus. Then in her mind, she knew they wouldn't "chase" her. Strangers seemed to all be 'gangsters' to her. There were a few other scenes she talked about. Then we prayed again and we asked Jesus to be her strength. To take away her fears. Give her her joy back. She even prayed, "And Jesus, help me to feel normal again." I really think fear just gripped her when she was in a crowd of people she didn't know or trust!
Well, with all that said, she is doing better but it will be a process. I tried to explain that the movie was made by Christians and that it wasn't a movie to cause fear. It really does have a great message for those who can handle the drama scenes. She understood. (Also, she gave Mike and I money for Christmas to use to buy this movie. She heard a lot about it before she actually watched it, and she wanted us to use the money to buy it. She asked if we would maybe consider another movie for our family library for now!!! I agreed!!!)
Keep praying for her. She will get through these scary feelings but it was a 'real life' lesson, that fear is real! It makes you think things that are not true. It makes you feel empty inside. The opposite of fear is FAITH. Mike and I are excited and hoping that Hadassah will witness out of love now and not fear. A care for peoples souls!!!
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11th Anniversary Trip to NY City ...
Mike and I left early Saturday morning. We dropped the kids off at my dads and rushed to the train station. After we found a seat the "ticket guy" came and asked to see our tickets.?. Tickets??? Um mm, Mike had called someone before we left and Mike was told to just get on the train and buy your tickets as you go. So, that's exactly what we attempted to do!!! Attempted! The "ticket guy" was a tiny bit helpful and when we arrived in Phillie, we had to get off the train and Mike rushed up to buy us tickets to keep on us board. Soon, he called me and said that they need my ID. I grabbed our huge suitcase (which is a story in itself) and headed up the flight of stairs to show my ID. I couldn't find Mike and so after some rushing, frustrated and trying to find landmarks as to where he was, as soon as the ticket lady saw me walking towards the desk, she gave Mike the tickets and we got in line right away. When we got right back on the train (like 10 minutes later), we sat together and laughed and laughed!!! First time train travelers here we go!!!
We got to New York around 11 AM and checked in our huge suitcase in our huge motel! (Mike was totally freaked out when he saw the huge suitcase I packed for the two of us for only 2 days. I was just delighted to use our new BIG suitcase I bought with our Christmas money. I had no idea what our trip all consisted of!!! We didn't have a plan for our short stay other than "if you see something you want to check out, let yourself be heard"!!!)
Our motel was right in the heart of Times Square. The Marriott Marquis, where we stayed, was immense!!! I never stayed in a motel before that had 20 elevators in one spot for all different floors and so many people packing each one out!!! Crazy!!! We were also in the heart of lots of activity. Tons of shops, a few blocks to Central Park, and we were surrounded by huge sky scrapers and huge TV screens flashing all night long!
This was right outside our motel. A picture of it in the night and day!
We walked and walked and walked and did I mention walked some more!!! Everywhere we went we just walked! (Get the picture!?) I was glad I had decent shoes along!!! We started out going to the Rockefeller Center. Mike wanted to see NBC and how that works. There was a tour we could have taken, but opted not too. Then we went to the New-York Historical Society. Because of ALL the walking we had already done, we decided to start with a movie in the Historical Society. It showed history of New York and how New York went from a remote outpost to the center of the world. Neat. After we toured the Society, we decided to grab a cab instead of walk all the way back to our motel. I was laughing so hard watching Mike try to flag down a taxi. No one stopped!!! Then we saw a bus and ran after that to catch it. We got on and went for a seat, but when the driver looked into his glasses and up into the bus mirror, he said, "Yeah????" We turned around and he said that we need a bus pass or pay $4.50 in quarters. Mike said he didn't have that much change and that we had no pass. With the look in his eyes, we both turned around and got right back off the bus. Totally hilarious. We laughed for a long time!!! We did manage to get a cab and he drove us back to Times Square.
Enjoying the New York Historical Society!
Viewing many of these high buildings ...
We walked to Central Park and admired all the surroundings. Lots of ice skaters on the ice rink! The sun was out bright and warm and it made the huge rocks in the park glisten! Horse and carriage rides were all over the streets! We had guys try to sell us a bike ride around the park in their little bike seats! We saw lots of families, runners running the park tracks and kids playing in the sand area. There was a big mall we walked around in and then Mike wanted to see the "Whole Foods" store. It was on the bottom story of the mall and I would not have wanted to miss this site!!! Amazing!!! This grocery store only sells 'healthy' foods. Hence the title "Whole Foods". There was a huge fruit section and piled high with tons and tons of fruit. A section of sushi and people sitting there eating it. A section of pastry's, of coffee beans, a big display of cheeses, breads, meats, seafood, vegetables, soups, salads, and the list goes on .... I never seen any store like this before. We bought some hot food and ate lunch there. We bought some chocolate covered cherries to take along back to our motel.
These carriages and horses were lined up down the streets ...
This was the horse's watering trough.
Mike sitting on one of the huge rocks in the park with his ipad!!!
Over view of Central Park ...
This was neat. Even though it wasn't really cold, you could still iceskate in the park.
Lot's of people enjoying that!
Mike and I being creative with nature and our LOVE for each other!!!
There was a sand section in the park for children. M + L = Mike and Lori in love!!!
"Whole Foods" was great!
Here's their coffee display that smelled wonderful and some of their amazing fruit desserts!
"Chipotle" Tacos!!!
Sunday morning Mike wanted to go run around Central Park. I wasn't sure if I was able to even walk it because of all the walking we had done Saturday. My legs were tired and feeling sore. I decided a nice run would be OK and to let my muscles get more of a work out. Nice run??? Well, Mike and I started out running together and then I told Mike he could go ahead and that I would catch up later. There were so many runners. (It was inspiring to see all the runners. There are lots of people out in this world that like this sport and run with sweat and determination!!!) I lost sight of Mike and so I just kept running the track I was on. Soon, Mike found me and we ended up going around this really wide body of water. I was so tired and started to get mad!!! I never thought I would have to run this far and the minutes were ticking fast. We were hoping to go to Times Square Church for the morning service at 10 AM and we were still running at 9:30!!! I had no clue it would take me that long to run/walk the park. We got back to the motel and quickly got cleaned up from all our sweat and checked out of our room. We got to church at 11 AM and right on time. The choir was still singing and the preacher was just about to begin! Perfect! Hearing the choir was something I was looking forward to!!! Awesome! The message was great to and topic was "Many of God's people are coming home!!!" We were blessed.
Times Square Church had awesome details inside!!!
(This was just another church in the city ... not Times Square.)
We grabbed a fruit drink at "Jamba Juice"! Really a neat juice company and they are very popular in Times Square and have lots of stores all around. We claimed our luggage (that really big suitcase again!!!) and headed for "Ground Zero". I was at the Twin Towers years ago and so seeing the construction and empty holes was something on my list I wanted to do. We had to get the subway to go there and that's another funny moment. We got our tickets and walked the loooonnnngggg way to where we needed to get on our subway seats. Mike all the while dragging and huffing and puffing with our huge suitcase! I just laughed and laughed at the sight! (We were surrounded by city people, not tourist!!! Everyone else had their tiny bags and back packs!!!) When we got on the subway, Mike asked a lady when we will know we are at "Chambers". (That's where we needed to get off at to see Ground Zero.) The lady's response was like this, "Well, when the door opens it will say Chambers!!!" We had another belly busting laughing fit!!! We walked around Ground Zero a little and then needed to head back to the train station to come back home.
Our "walking fuel" ...
Ground Zero ...
One of the new towers being rebuilt and about half completed! (Tower on the left.)
When we got to our terminal, we looked for our train number and waited in line. When the lady looked at our tickets, she said, "This isn't your train. You have to read the sign." We backed up again. Just then we spotted a couple that we recognized from our train ride into NYC. He told us that the line we need to wait in is over here. We grabbed our big suitcase and both agreed to follow them as close as possible.
To end our adventure, when we got off the train, I said to Mike, "This is not right!!! This is not where we want to be!" Our first thoughts were that we must have gotten off in Coatesville. I was already reaching for my phone to call my dad, when Mike looked around and then said, "Um mm, we need to walk on the other side of the track. The van is over there!" Oh, right. I suppose that could be possible! Another laugh! Mike wheeled our big suitcase and we walked under the bridge to get to the van.
We were so glad to see the country side again and get the kids and Ginger and be back home. Seeing the city is a whole other type of life! I loved the adventure, the laughter, the many miles of walking but most of all the time away with Mike!!! I love you Honey!!!
XOXOXOXO
*** Many thanks to our babysitters!!! We love you!!! ***
