Isaiah's Visit

Isaiah arrived late on Monday night. Tuesday I taught school. He joined me at Watkins Elementary for our Thanksgiving Feast in the afternoon. On our way home from school (after witnessing a terrible fight on the metro) we stopped by the Library of Congress. That night we went out to eat at Chipotle. Then Isaiah had a paper to write, so he wrote it...until 3 in the morning.

On Wednesday we had a late start since Isaiah slept in. We went to the zoo first. My favorite animals were the tiger, lion, and apes. Isaiah loved the cheetah.


This is our first family picture.

Next, we went to the National Cathedral. It was a bit of a walk through some cool neighborhoods, and it was dark when we got there, but it still looked amazing.

The National Cathedral is the 6th largest cathedral in the world and the 2nd largest in the U.S. We participated in the Evening Prayer with about 7 other people who were there.

Tuesday night we went grocery shopping for the week and also rented Toy Story III which we watched that evening.

Thursday was Thanksgiving, of course. My 2 roommates and I invited 6 guests, for a total of 9 people at our Thanksgiving feast. Our assignments were the turkey, mashed potatoes, ham, Nataly's store-bought pumpkin pie, and RaeLene's homemade apple pie (both delicious). While the food cooked in the morning, Isaiah and I went to the park to play football. We passed around the ball for a little while and then Isaiah decided to join some guys who were playing flag football. They played a little 3 on 3 game while I sat nearby and cheered them on. What's Thanksgiving without football?

When we got home we finished preparing the meal. Everyone who came brought excellent contributions and we all thoroughly enjoyed eating. As requested by Isaiah, we also all went around the table to share things we were grateful for. After most people went home Isaiah and I watched Les Miserables.

The Straight and Narrow Path

Despite warnings about the difficulties and discomforts, my roommates and I decided to try our luck with traveling to the temple via metro...and metrobus...and foot. Typically a 30-45 minute commute, this map diagrams our 7 hour journey: 3 hours to get there, 2 hours there, 2 hours back.

**Note: The numbers correspond to the map above. Sorry if your eyesight is diminishing and you can't read them (*wink, wink--mom, dad)

1. On our way to the metro I held open the lobby door for an EMT pushing a stretcher into an ambulance.
2. Pentagon City, Pentagon
3. Crossing the Potomac
4. Nothing exciting here...
5. L'Enfant Plaza
6. Gallery Place-Chinatown; transfer to red line. All 4 of us (me, Haliaka, RaeLene, Nataly) ran through the station and up and down escalators to make the train.
7. Enjoying the ride
8. Train broke down. We had to get off, wait, and catch a train going back the other way. The sun was very bright. You can tell Haliaka loved the wait. (20 minutes)

9. Haven't we been here before...?
10-14. Super long ride along the red line (45 minutes). At one stop there was a man who was smashed in the door. Someone had to press the red emergency button to un-smash him.
15. Finally exit metro. Find bus stop. Wait...(40 minutes)
16. Get on bus, begin driving...
17. Ask lady sitting next to us if she knows where the Mormon temple is. She doesn't speak English. So we asked the bus driver. He said he knew where it was--the opposite direction than where we were going. He told us to stay on the bus and he would get there eventually (60 minutes).
18. I've seen those buildings before...
19-21. We hope this driver really knows where he's going.
21ish. The driver tells us we're at our stop so we get off, but we can't see the temple anywhere. We start walking. The road doesn't have a sidewalk. We were 4 girls in skirts walking along the road to the temple (20 minutes). We were tempted to hitch hike. At this point we began making jokes about how we were just trying to follow the straight and narrow path to the temple. Unfortunately, that path was 3 hours long, uncomfortable, scary at times, and patience-trying at others. Again, you can tell that Haliaka is completely loving the experience.


Anyway, we did make it to the temple but we were 2 1/2 hours late for our appointment. The man told us there was a group coming in half an hour so we should try back then. We looked around the visitor's center in the meantime. At 4:30 we went back to the baptistry where the man told us the group canceled. BUT some random people showed up who were willing to let us join them. The assistant to the temple matron came and spoke to our small group. We had a great session with just 5 of us being baptized for family names I had from Grandma Packard. In the back of our minds we were thinking about exactly how we would get back home. All of the temple workers were trying to help when the baptistry coordinator came over and said he and his wife could give us a ride to the metro so we didn't have to take the bus. Awesome blessing.


22. Ride to the metro station. Found out this couple served a mission in Roosevelt, UT--RaeLene's hometown (20 minutes).
23. Wendy's stop by the Wheaton metro station (different side of the red line than we previously rode) Consequently, we got on the wrong train.
24. Glenmont Station, at which point we realized we were on the wrong train. This is also where we met Thomas, a Virgo who can tell the future and read people's auras. He told us which university we belong at. RaeLene-Yale; Nataly-Princeton; Haliaka-Chicago; Me-L.A. University (doesn't exist)
25. Again...haven't we been here before...?
26-30. Interesting conversations with Thomas about our church that we want him to attend and his club that he wants us to attend (40 minutes).
31-32. Home stretch on the yellow line (15 minutes).
33. Crystal City Station-- Home sweet home. Haliaka concluded that she would do it again. Maybe, but I'd prefer a car.

National Botanic Garden

This Capital building is made completely from plants. Each of the pillars is a twig, and the rest of it is bark, wood, or leaves.

This is the view from the balcony in the jungle room.

Mom, this picture is for you, mostly because of the Bird of Paradise.

Since I went alone, I had to set up my camera on top of an information plaque, turn on the timer, and then run into the picture. It was the best I could do. I don't even know what this house thing was, but it was part of the Botanic gardens. You can see the jungle greenhouse in the back.

This was part of the butterfly garden. Yes, I know it's a moth.

On Veteran's Day I figured the museums, monuments, and memorials would be pretty crowded so I decided to go to the National Botanic Garden on the outskirts of town. I've been wanting to go for a while because it's fairly close to my school. The actual garden, which was outdoors, wasn't very impressive. It was beautiful weather and a nice view of the Capital, but the plants were pretty ordinary. However, inside the conservatory it was beautiful! I explored plants from the garden, desert, jungle, Hawaii, and primitive plants. It was hot and humid, but it smelled great.

BOM #1

A few weeks ago I decided that the guy who gives me my paper every morning at the metro needed a Book of Mormon. Before giving it to him I thought I should probably know what his name is. So I asked. He said it's Aquessi.

On Monday I decided it was time. So I approached him on my way to school and asked if he was interested in religion. He said he was very interested in religion. I asked him if he was interested in reading my book. He looked at it and asked if it was the Bible. I said no. He told me he attends the Church of the Pentecost. Then he looked at the book again and asked if it was the New Testament. I said no. I explained, briefly, that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ--a record of Christ visiting the people in the Americas. I asked him again if he was interested in reading my book. He humbly lowered his head, smiled and nodded, and said, "Yes, I would like to read it." I gave it to him and turned to leave. He asked me my name, so I told him, then I left to catch my metro.

Natural History Museum

Last weekend I went to the Natural History Museum. I don't really know what I expected, but I was surprised by what was there. They have a lot of animal skeletons, several artifacts from various civilizations, and my favorite part--the gem collection. It consisted of multiple rooms filled with crystals, gems, and minerals of all shapes and sizes and colors. The museum was huge. I want to go back because I think there's a lot of stuff I missed, but of course I don't really know because I sorta lost myself as I wandered around. Every time I turned a corner there was something new. I like to think this t-rex is the one from Night at the Museum.

Sapphires.

Crown of Marie Antoinette...supposedly. The picture doesn't do it justice, but it's HUGE, and it's SHINY!

This turtle was maybe about 6 feet tall. Crazy.

You can't see it very clearly, but my favorite one is swinging on a tree in the top right-hand corner.

National Zoo

After finishing our TWSs on Wednesday, RaeLene and I decided that we seriously deserved a relaxing getaway this weekend. So that's just what we did. This morning we went to Eastern Market and got French Toast--SO delicious. I also bought one of the flashy pearl rings that I tried on last time we went to Eastern Market. Afterward I went to the National Zoo, one of my D.C. bucket list items. Just like all the Smithsonians, I didn't see even close to everything there, but that just means I need to go back, which is fine with me. These are just a couple of the animals I saw today.

Giant panda eating bamboo...pretty self explanatory.

I thought this sign was funny, maybe a little ironic. You can see the crane in the background on the left.


The zookeepers opened a fence so a few people could get within 10 feet of the zebras and the wolf while they were being fed.

It made me feel important

I had a heart-wrenchingly memorable moment on Thursday. It was an indoor recess day. One student did not finish her work during class time so she spent a large portion of recess finishing her assignment. When she finished, the toys she wanted to play with already had 4 people at that table, so I told her she needed to choose a different center. Unfortunately her close friends were at that table and she didn’t have another center that she wanted to play with. She was very put out by the situation. I asked her if she wanted to draw a picture. She said no. I asked if she wanted to make a fortune teller. She said no.

“Have you ever made one before?”

“No,” she replied.

“Do you know what a fortune teller is?” I asked.

“No.”

I pulled out a paper and proceeded to amaze her first grade mind with my quick folding and creation of a fortune teller. We finished writing in the fortunes just as recess ended so she put it in her cubby and we continued with class.

As I was tidying up the classroom after school, this young girl came into the classroom, crying. She said, “I need you to make me a new fortune teller.”

“What happened to the other one?”

“Mrs. Thompson ripped it in half.” (Mrs. Thompson is her aftercare teacher at the school)

I asked her, “Were you playing with it when you shouldn’t have been?”

“Yes.”

Accusingly, I challenged her, “How do I know that if I make you another one the same thing won’t happen?”

She insightfully replied, “But when you made it for me it made me feel important.”

My heart melted.

I walked her to the back of the classroom and together we made a new fortune teller. She left the classroom with a smile and a hug, and hopefully she again felt important. I certainly did.