When we wake up we decide how we want our day to be!

Monday morning, we woke up and Lynn had prepared us scrambled eggs, sausage and biscuits for breakfast and then we packed for an overnight adventure to the Grand Canyon. On the way we stopped at Lake Mead - which is the lake formed by Hoover Dam and Matt took us on a pontoon boat excursion. It was beautiful to see how man and God worked together to make something so beautiful - or rather God saw what Man had built and he added the finishing touches. I enjoyed the pontoon ride because someone else was driving and I was able to take off my orthotics and get a little bit of a sunburn for the first time in years. The boat ride was memorable and then we went to tour the dam. The tours were closed so we just checked out the museums and gift store and then we departed for the Grand Canyon. We arrived and checked into our hotel and we were just in time to go see the sunset over the Grand Canyon. The sunset was magnificent and we were blessed to see the beauty of God's creative genius.

We spent the night at the Grand Canyon Hotel and it was a really nice hotel. The next morning it was 39 degrees and Lynn was worried that she did not bring her Eskimo parka to ward off the cold. Fortunately, by the time we were ready and ate breakfast at 9 AM it was up to 60 degrees. We went back to the Grand Canyon and rode along the rim for several hours enjoying the beauty of nature. One of the gift shops was open and I saw a Grand Canyon version of Monopoly and it reminded me of Emilie from one of our churches. I had promised I would get her a monopoly set because one of her friends she lived with at Brookdale in Lexington with wouldn't play cards with them but she said she would play Monopoly. I never had the chance to give her a game of Monopoly as she went to be with Jesus earlier this year. She is enjoying the sights from a higher perspective. I do count it a as blessing that Genna and I are here - I haven't really seen many people with mobility issues. I do see a lot of people here with mental issues - the number of people that climb the rail and go to get a "Special" view amazes me. I have an oddity about me that I always carry rope because once at Linville Falls someone wanting a "Special" view went to the waters edge to stick her foot in the water just above the small pool that flows out into the main waterfall. When she fell in her father jumped in to save her and they both were in a pickle. I had a rope and I threw it to them and they held on until the mountain rescue team came. Special views are nice but the ones on the proper side of the rail were unbeatable too. I guess that may be a part of the human psyche - we always want something more. The person at Linville Falls was not from America so I guess all cultures are subject to this desire.

As we left to return to our hotel we all enjoyed how the scenery changed. Even though it changed it was still very beautiful. I did notice as we were riding through the long stretch of nothingness about every 5-10 miles someone had left three gallons of water sitting next to the road. I asked and someone said this was for people who may need water for their car then there would be some available without having to drive to the nearest store - which sometimes could be as much as 20 miles to the nearest business. I googled this (Google knows everything…) and found this article about someone who leaves the water along the road because it is such a blessing to travellers in distress and they are just empty jugs that he normally would recycle. Sometime people can do the simplest things to help others! We made it back to the hotel and we went to bed because tomorrow holds another exciting adventure of going to Death Valley and visiting Josh and Lora Vann (Lora was in our youth group with our son Matt many moons ago.) God is so good!