Above and Beyond

My dad told me that the following phrase is used at military award services to describe heroism:

"Above and beyond the call of duty."

This is what the government, and two people in particular, did for me and my family. They went "above and beyond the call of duty," and we will be forever grateful to them for their service to us and to our country in general.

Both Sergeant Davis and Sergeant Glaspie helped my family through our time in Washington D.C., taking care of all of our needs and showing us care and kindness. Below are pictures of Sergeant Davis and Sergeant Glaspie (helping my aunt Donna in the limo):



I cannot begin to express my thankfulness to them both, and especially to Sergeant Davis for not only being an amazing example to me, but also for being an amazing friend.

And now for you, my readers, I have one request to make. If you have not already done so, please look at all of my posts for this trip to Washington D.C. (Go to the Labels section in the sidebar, click "Washington D.C.," and start reading the posts from the bottom, working your way up.) It will take some time, but these are some of the most important posts I have ever (or will ever) put together on this blog, particularly those posts with the videos.

To Sergeant Davis, Sergeant Glaspie, and all those in the United States military:

Thank you for going "above and beyond the call of duty." Your sacrifices will be remembered forever.

The Smithsonian

Thursday afternoon was quite the experience! Let me tell you something, though--if you ever go to Washington D.C. and you want to see the Smithsonian, there's no possible way you can see much of anything in one afternoon! I'd say you would need at least a day for each building to truly appreciate it. I could not believe how HUGE the buildings were!

Despite the short amount of time we had, my dad and I were bound and determined to see two of the museums: The Air and Space Museum (my dad pictured with the sign above left) and The Museum of American History (me in front of the building pictured right). My dad and I joked about how we needed to see two things before we left Washington D.C.: "The Spirit of St. Louis" (the plane Charles Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic Ocean) and Dorothy's red slippers from The Wizard of Oz. My dad wanted to see the former and I wanted to see the latter. Well, as you can see by the pictures below, we did what we set out to do!



I've used this word a lot when describing any part of the trip, but it is so fitting: "overwhelming." That's what it was like walking into the museums, especially the Air and Space Museum. There was SO much to see and do, that all we could really do was look around, eat at the largest and strangest McDonald's in the world (in my opinion!), snap a few pictures, and buy a few souvenirs at a gift shop. You would not believe the sheer size of these buildings!

For example, here's the Museum of Natural History from the outside, which we did not even attempt to step into due to time and exhaustion:


And don't even get me started about the Metro. That was an experience-and-a-half for sure, and one I don't think I really want to repeat too often! But that's another story...

Remembered

I have no words to tell you what the service at Arlington National Cemetery was like. Even now as I write this, tears are coming to my eyes. I put together another video to try and capture some of the experience, which I hope will convey even just a little of the emotion of this morning. The love, the service, and the honor shown this day will never be forgotten.

An Unbelievable Experience

How can I describe in words what I can barely comprehend myself? As I was standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, I was in awe that I was actually there. In just a short amount of time I have felt blessed by God to not only see some amazing sights with family, but also to be reminded of the great sacrifices many have made for our freedom.

Following are a few of the spectacular sights we saw today, and after that will be my thoughts on the Visitation Service tonight, along with a video I put together to try to capture the feelings I had when seeing the war memorials. Enjoy!

The Washington Monument is a thrill to see, no matter what angle! Quite a few of my pictures ended up including this monument.

This is at the base of the Washington Monument. It was encircled by numerous United States flags. Isn't it beautiful?

The Lincoln Memorial . . . simply breathtaking! Lots of steps and lots of people (and lots of wetness from the rain), but what a view from where Lincoln sits!

Here is Lincoln! (Much more imposing "in person"--as a statue--than this picture shows!) I confess that I thought about Night at the Museum 2 when approaching this monument. =)

The reflecting pool looks like a bridge (in this view) from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial (which is where I was standing while taking this picture). What an incredible sight!

And of course I had to include a picture of the White House! I didn't get very close (as you can see from this picture), but it was neat to see it in the distance just the same!

After we returned from seeing these great sights, we rested (well, technically I worked on stuff for this blog!), ate a group dinner at the hotel, and then we met to go to Murphy Funeral Home for the Visitation Service.

And wow--talk about moving! Hearing about the lives of those seven men, including my great uncle, was both wonderful and deeply touching. My great uncle was only in his early twenties when he died, and seeing him and some of the other members of his squadron in pictures was hard. He was so young!

But I do know this: they died for a noble cause. We were privileged to hear from a couple of the men who were part of the group my great uncle was bringing supplies to when the plane crashed. It brought me to tears to hear them say that my great uncle was on his way to help preserve lives when his own was lost. These were real men, loved and missed by their families, and honored by the country they served. And being reminded of the stories of these men encouraged me even more to write, because if it's God's will I want to share stories that will be real . . . stories that God can use in a real way.

This following video shows pictures of memorials that honor these great men and so many others who gave their all for those of us who don't appreciate their efforts nearly as much as we ought. How can we ever show enough gratitude to those who paid the ultimate price? How can we ever show enough gratitude to their loved ones who let them go? And how can we ever even come close to showing enough gratitude to God--who sent His own Son to die for us, offering us a chance to go home and truly be free?

"It Was a Dark and Stormy Night..."

Hello from Washington D.C.! It's been quite an experience just getting here, and I confess that I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed right now. I'm so thankful for my blog and my followers, because I need something familiar to cling to right now!

The flight from L.A. to D.C. was fun, in that I enjoyed reading, blogging, and listening to/watching a movie on my iPod. I have to say, though, that I cannot wait to have real food again tomorrow! =) I haven't had much to eat today, so breakfast sounds really, really good right now!

Anyway, as we began our descent, we left blue skies to be surrounded by dark clouds. Hence, the title of this post. It doesn't seem to be raining now, but it sure was humid when we got outside! Now I know what all ya'll were talking about with the hot weather on the East Coast!

Upon landing our ride didn't show up (as far as we could tell). So we ended up having to take a taxi, which left me feeling a bit . . . well . . . frightened. The taxi driver was nice, no question. But my dad had a hard time understanding him at first, and I was simply hoping we would end up at the right hotel. But here we are at Arlington Court Suites--God was watching over us!

My aunt Timmy and her son, Mel, met us in the lobby, and we enjoyed catching up with each other. It's been quite a while since I've seen any of my dad's family, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of them tomorrow!

Now, following are some pictures of our suite. My dad and I have quite a lot of room. Take a look!

This is my bedroom. There's also a T.V., closet, etc., but not much standing room in order to get a good picture! My dad has another bedroom that looks similar to this one.


Here's our kitchen! I wish we had some home-cooked food to go with it . . .


And here we have a nice little dining room table. Too cute!


Here's my daddy! After we were done visiting with Aunt Timmy and Mel, we quickly settled in with our laptops! =)

And here I am! This spot is where I'm sitting right now, comfy-cozy in my sweats, writing this post. Yay for blogging!

Now you know what our accommodations are like. Hopefully, tomorrow I will have more exciting pictures for you, rather than pictures of our hotel room! ;) Hope you enjoyed the tour anyway!

Posting in the Air!

Hello from the air above the United States! Isn't it amazing that they have Internet access up here? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a blogger, so I simply had to take it!

The day started early for us, but thankfully nothing too eventful has happened. =) I took a few notes on our first flight to make sure I could share how beautiful it was! Here they are, with some changes/additions:

• The ocean looked so close! When you're flying above a city, you can see how high up you are because all the buildings and roads look so small. But the sea is just endless blue! We were only over the ocean for a short time, though, before we turned and headed East to Redding.
• The horizon was fuzzy pink at the edges.
• The fog was like cotton pulled and stretched into valleys and towns. It was a nice change to see the fog from above instead of being beneath it!
• I could see hills of gold and shadow, and also distant blue, light-shrouded peaks. Gorgeous! I could have started singing the song from Oklahoma! ("Oh, what a beautiful morning...")!
• Looking out at the engine reminded me of Madagascar 2. I was happy, though, that no crazy, little critter was standing there, ready to be blown off!
  
• The ride was loud!!! I think I forgot how loud those smaller planes can be.

Anyway, we made it to L.A. safely, and now we're on our way to D.C.! A Passion Denied is keeping me company today. =) Talk to you soon--from our nation's capital!

Preparing for D.C.

Well, it's almost time! Tomorrow morning, my dad and I will be heading to the Arcata/Eureka airport (which is actually located in McKinleyville, interestingly enough!) to take a flight to L.A. From there, we'll be headed out to Washington D.C.!

This will be my first time on the East Coast, unless you count the time I landed at the Atlanta, Georgia airport on my way to Israel. =) In any case, I can tell you that I'm excited to see our nation's capital!

Now, I haven't yet explained why exactly I'm going to Washington D.C. with my dad. I could try to explain it to you, but I think this article will better answer your questions. It's a short piece, so I hope you don't mind taking a look at it--that way everything else I'm about to explain will make much more sense!

OK, now that you've read the article (hopefully!), Pvt. Robert L. Crane was my great-uncle (and my dad's uncle). Therefore, my dad was invited to go to the service, and he was allowed to bring one more person along (which is me!). Some of my other family members will be there; I haven't seen many of them in years. So it will be great to catch up with them!

While we'll only be in D.C. for a short time, we're also hoping to see some of the sights. I'm bringing my laptop with me, along with my camera, so I hope to share some of what we see and do with my readers!

It should be a memorable experience, and I'm happy to be able to share it with all of you! Thank you for taking the time to "travel" with me!