So I’ve been on the phone and on the internet all day planning and booking a big family trip. The Martins (minus Joshua, because obviously) are taking a week-long, January adventure to Washington, D.C.

We’re leaving Monday after school, driving to Nashville (where Lauren’s parents live) and then getting up early Tuesday morning and driving to our hotel in D.C. Tuesday night we will explore the monuments and memorial sites (which are supposed to be spectacular in the evening). Wednesday we will explore the various museums at the Smithsonian. Thursday we will take in the government buildings and other monuments and memorials we missed on Tuesday. Friday is inauguration day, where we will watch our our next President be sworn-in, enjoy the parade and then explore Arlington National Cemetery.  Saturday morning will, hopefully (if our congressman pulls through) will involve a tour of the White House and then, after lunch, we’ll head home, stopping in Nashville to worship there on the Lord’s Day. It’ll be an exhausting (and likely exhausting) trip, but one that I hope my children will remember forever.

But planning such a trip is a headache. First we booked our hotel (which was no picnic, because everyone is going to be in DC for the inauguration) before realizing that we needed to add an extra day to the trip if we wanted to see everything. So we found another hotel to stay at for one day. Upon doing so we realized that this new hotel was about $100 cheaper, but we couldn’t cancel the first one because it was non-refundable. So now we’re staying at two hotels that are 2 miles apart, and taking the train into town each day. Hopefully it won’t be 30 degrees (it will be).

Oi.

After all this it makes me thankful that I have a much bigger trip already booked and planned and that it wasn’t me that had to put in the work. I have a trip booked and ready for Heaven some day and I’m thankful that my Lord put in all the work to make it possible. He died on the cross, rose from the dead and purchased my soul. All I have to do is wait (serve and work and wait) for the day when He will come and claim me. I feel like my children, who are very excited to be going to see the Capital, but who have no idea all that went into making it happen. All they have to do is sit around getting excited about it. Then, when the day comes, I’ll pick them up from school and whisk them away on what hopes to be the trip of a lifetime.

One day my Lord will return, whisk me away for what I know will be the trip of an eternal lifetime.