Obstacles

"We will NOT visit, see, experience, look at, or otherwise have ANYTHING to to with ANYTHING having to do with the Air force, airplanes, helicopters, military in general. WILL NOT, WILL NOT WILL NOT!"


Yup, I really need to learn to stop making such declarations, but, alas, I uttered those words before our Girlcation...

I often say that when we say what we will not do, God hears us and LAUGHS (at least He does when I say it!).
Monday, we arrived at our hotel. We were able to check in an hour early, and the man at the desk says that we have a view of DC from our window. How FABULOUS!!






Oh, what's wrong? Having a hard time seeing DC? That's because the Air Force Memorial is obstructing your view! That thing behind it? yeah, as much as I tried to pretend it wasn't, it is indeed the Pentagon.


At least we were able to avoid the airplanes and helicopters....
Except, of course when the planes from Ronald Reagan Airport flew over the memorial (didn't get a pic of them)...

or the day that the 4 black hawks flew past it (THOSE little boogers are hard to get a picture of too! they are the specs to the left of the memorial; click on the picture, and you will see them).

Well, gee whiz, at least it's a big window, right? There MUST be something more to look at to the left....

Oh, look. It's Arlington Cemetery...









Tuesday morning I heard "Pop pop pop", went to the window to see what it was, and saw smoke rising from a 21 gun salute at the cemetery. Don't know if this was a funeral or Changing of the Guards-- it was early, about 8 am (sorry about the glare and the blur)...





I really, truly did not mind most of these things, though I did wish that my view of  DC had not been marred. When I looked beyond the obstructions, I really did have a great view. Wonderful, since the day that we were going to see some of these things was the day that Bekah was not feeling well, and we stayed in.

One day, when the girls are older and have more appreciation for the history of the area, we will go back, and see all of the memorials and monuments, but I really was glad to have the view from the hotel window...

  
 The Capital building...

Washington Monument...   

      Lincoln Memorial...

Jefferson Memorial...

Which brings me to the lesson that I was to learn. How often do I see the obstructions, and fail to look beyond them? This happens in every aspect of life. So often I see the annoyances, the "bad" things my children are doing, and fail to look past and see the wonderful things about them. I see the "bad days" that we have homeschooling, and almost miss the joy of a child "getting" math, or a 5 year old reading her fist words. My prayer is that God will help me to more often see past the obstructions and see the good stuff that He has for me.