Hey there
We are in July!
I made it another month through the uncertain times of finding a project. It looks like they have something lined up for later this month for me to start on.
The beginning of July typically is just a lot of places hosting things with a 4th of July theme. We returned to the church outing this year (last year they had mega-Maga stuff throughout). This time around it was much more tame and none of those items were seen this year. The kids enjoyed it as there was a firetruck (seen below) as well as a Ghostbusters car (ECTO 1 replica). Before going in for the service we took a quick photo for the kids to mark the occasion.
The service was noted as a “patriotic service” however the army person they had preaching ended up surprising all of us with what he said. Get this: he said that you shouldn’t find your identity in any flag. No no, but that we are aliens to this earth. He made reference to keeping politics outside of the church. He then spoke about both sides of the aisle, how so many people are quick to draw lines and point fault to the other side when we need to be inclusive and not exclusive. It was refreshing. Had the guy not been going away on a trip for a few years I would have liked to hear more of what he said on other things.
For the 4th of July, we went only to one fireworks show this year.. the last few years we went to 3 or 4 leading up to the 4th. This year however we only went to the one in downtown Portland. They always put on a good pyrotechnic show. The kids were hanging around with these two other kiddos that were visiting from Australia. We spoke to their parents a little bit and then they watched the show together.
We also decided to use one of our free hotel stays at a five-star hotel. Collectively none of us had stayed at anything above a 4-star. The hotel was “The Nines” in Portland. I would pretty regularly remark when we passed the building that we should get “dressed to the nines” if we wanted to go.
The stay was nice and did not disappoint. Here are a few photos of our time.
As you can see they had a pool, but not the typical “pool” that you swim in. A pool table. The kids were able to play some (for the first time) and they seemingly had fun doing so. Even remarking afterward that they realized they didn’t need to go swimming in every hotel for them to enjoy their time.
Until next time
just Pray
note: this post was published on 08/01/23 but moved the publish date back to the beginning of July to keep chronological order.
[#item_full_content]
