New England Vacation--Day Four--July 24,2010

Oh, my aching feet!  Even though we toured most of Philadelphia on top of a trolley bus, we still did a lot of walking! I've always had trouble with a "foot ache" as Mama used to call it!  I remember she thought it was a disgrace when Paul came over to visit me and I let him rub my feet.  Not because she thought it was selfish on my part to ask him to do it but because it wasn't PROPER!  My feet!  Can you imagine that?  Oh, how times have changed.  But I know that that was one of the first things that made me KNOW that Paul was the one for me.  He would rub my feet until they stopped hurting!  And they would hurt a lot after putting in tobacco all day!  Funny, huh?  (Hopefully a foot rub is in my very near future!)

We enjoyed seeing Philadelphia very much, but there was an underlying mood of sadness over me most of the day, beginning with the very first short video we watched at the Visitors' Center.  Since I teach The Light and the Glory for Children as part of the third grade curriculum at CCS, I KNOW what our founding fathers went through during the period before and after we declared our independence from England.  I also know what our Constitution was based on,  The Mayflower Compact, which was drawn up by the Pilgrims to govern themselves.  And that the Mayflower Compact came right from Biblical principles! Never once was it mentioned that George Washington was a Christian and how he would pray for guidance during the war and how he would lead his troops in prayer every day. Only once during our whole visit did I see any reference to God at all.  We were in the US Mint and there was a plaque on the wall near the Marine Commemorative coin.  Highlighted in yellow were the words that in a certain year (I forgot the exact year) congress passed a law that said the words "Liberty" and "In God We Trust" would ALWAYS be printed on coins in the United States.  I thought it was interesting that this was placed near the "Marines"!
It hurts me to know that a nation that God loves so much would turn its back on Him, but I feel that is exactly what has happened.  Remember 2 Chronicles says: "If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land."  Everyone, please pray for our nation.

One of my favorite places was Independence Hall where George Washington and all the delegates sat to write and ratify the Constitution.  The next picture below shows the actual chair that Gen. Washington sat in.  You can't see it, but carved in the back of the chair is "half" of a sun.  Benjamin Franklin said he wasn't sure if the sun was rising or setting because of all the disagreements among the delegates.  After the Constitution was drawn up, he said he now saw it as a rising sun.  That meant that he now thought the new nation would make it.

 One funny story that happened today involved this building.  Because Philadelphia was the first capital and the fact that it holds so much historical value, everyone's bags were searched.  I thought about my little scissors in my pocketbook, so I folded those back up so the points didn't show.  I never thought about the container of mace Brandon gave me to put in my purse!  Yes, they found it!  The guy had to get the police officer to examine it to determine what it was.  I explained to him that my policeman son had given it to me last summer. We were traveling out west, and he wanted me to be able to protect myself.  I told the officer I'd never used it and forgot it was in my purse.  He
said, "Well, just make sure you don't use it in here!"  and let me go.  There were several other places where my purse was searched and at the mint it even had to go through the x-ray machine.  But each time I slipped the pepper spray out of my purse and put it in my pocket.  I also had to go through the metal detector at the mint, but the alarm didn't go off.


Next, we saw the Liberty Bell.  Yes, this is the actual bell, with its original crack in it.  When I think about the Liberty Bell and what it represents, I can't help but wonder why some people have so many negative things to say about our military who is trying to make sure other countries can experience freedom from persecution.  I, for one, personally thank everyone who has served our country and sacrificed themselves and their families for other people.

Let freedom ring!



Another character we met was Betsy Ross.  She did not actually design the flag.  She ran an upholstery shop and made curtains for a living. She was asked to make the flag look better using another person's design.
She was still making flags for the ships, and she explained that she used beeswax on her thread before she sewed it.  We use beeswax today to make our thread glide easier through the fabric.  She said she used it for ships' flags because when the sun melted the beeswax, it melted into the fabric to make the stitches stronger.  She said the fabric would rot before her stitches broke.  She looks pretty good for her age, huh?

The next two pictures are of a priceless treasure!!

Don't you agree!

Tomorrow we're on the road to Vermont!
See you then.