More Philly Favorites

My time here in Philadelphia is just about over.  Thomas' treatment at  Children's Hospital of Philadelphia will be over early next week.  While the circumstances that brought me here to Philadelphia (my grandson's cancer diagnosis) are not happy or positive, we have tried to make the best of the situation and make some good memories this summer.  Here are some of my favorite memories from the past couple of weeks:

• Philadelphia Temple - Although "official" public tours don't begin until August 10, I was invited by the missionaries at church to come and participate in a special early tour last Sunday afternoon.  Thomas was not feeling up to going, so I went by myself via subway and foot. It was so worth the effort! The new temple is beautiful and peaceful and holy.  

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  I loved being there and feeling the spirit of the place. 
  
  
  

• Independence Hall - I had seen the outside of this historic building where our nation began, but I really wanted to see the inside and do the National Park Ranger lead tour. One day, Thomas had treatment later in the day, so I rode the subway to the historic district and took the tour.

 It was amazing, and even emotionally moving to me, to be in this place where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of our Nation were debated, agreed upon and signed.  

 Of course, none of the furnishings in the room now are original, except for...

...this chair. This is George Washington's chair which Ben Franklin looked at and wondered whether the sun on the back was rising or setting.  When the delegates finally came together and started this nation, Ben Franklin said that he knew the sun was rising.

What a special and important place Independence Hall is, because of the special and important things that happened there.

I also saw Congress Hall, which is right next to Independence Hall. This is where the House of Representative and Senate met before Washington D.C. became the capital of our nation - another special and important place because of what happened there. I am so grateful for the opportunity to see these historic sights that mean so much to me and all of us who love America.

•  Hershey Chocolate World and Valley Forge - Last weekend the whole family met up in Hershey, Pennsylvania for fun at Chocolate World.

Charly and I took the kids here on vacation years ago when our kids were little and now my daughter and her family love the place as well.  

 On the way back to Philadelphia, we made a quick stop at another historic place I have always wanted to see - Valley Forge.

 The children were tired so we didn't stay long...

...but we did see some interesting things...

learned some American History and made some memories.

•  Adventure Aquarium - Yesterday, we went here on what was our last outing together here in Philadelphia.

We saw lots of different animals...

...from sharks and stingrays to penguins and hippos.

After we left the aquarium, we waved "goodbye" to Philadelphia...

...from across the Delaware River.

This city has been a great place to come for Thomas' treatment and spend the summer. Philadelphia and the kind, talented and courageous people we met here will always have a very special place in my heart.

•  New Friends - We have met many kind, caring, interesting and fun individuals here in Philadelphia.   Some are doctors, nurses and technicians and Child Life specialists who have cared for Thomas.  Others are people we met at church or here at Ronald McDonald House. Thomas and his sisters have enjoyed the playmates they have met here at Ronald McDonald House.

Some of the people we have met here include a very traditional Mennonite (Amish) family from Kentucky with eight children - the youngest of whom is a patient at C.H.O.P., a first-grade teacher with premature twins, several pregnant women who are caring babies with spinal bifida, and a mother from India and her five-year-old who is fighting leukemia. These are people with tremendous challenges as their children fight serious life-threatening diseases and conditions.  We have come to know and care about these people and they will be in our thoughts and prayers when we leave.

•  Heading home - my final favorite this week is that I will be heading home on Saturday.  I am so grateful that I could be here with my daughter and her children help out during Thomas' treatment this summer, but it is time to go home now.  Thomas treatment here will end next week and he will return home with his mom and dad and begin more round of chemo therapy within a few days. Of course by  heart and prayers will remain with Thomas, but it is time now for me to get back to Charly and get on with life.When all is said and done, "there's no place like home."

Joining again this week with my blogging friend Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for Friday's Fave Five.

Heroes

It has been hard to grab a few minutes to write a post since I got here to Philadelphia almost six weeks ago. I have tried to share some of the interesting sightseeing we have been able to do on days when we have a free afternoon after treatment and Thomas is feeling up to it.  There has been much more going on here than sight seeing. This has been a summer when I have learned more than any other summer in a long time. Some of the lessons have not been easy.  Before I head back to Arizona this Saturday, I felt I need to relate some of the most things that have transpired that have changed me and how I view the world.

In the past, when I thought of heroes, I often pictured our Founding Fathers, at Independence Hall, right here in Philadelphia, signing a document that started our nation and made them traitors to the crown of England.  They pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to bring liberty and freedom to this land.  In my  books, they were heroes.

Firefighters, police officers and our service men and women also come to mind.  Most are heroes in the true and traditional sense of the word.

This summer, I have met a whole new class of heroes here at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia...

...and here at the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House.

These are people ~ parents, grandparents and children, who are living their own worst nightmare in the illness of a beloved and cherished child. Children, who are enduring adult-sized pain and sickness in their little bodies at a time in their life when play and learning should be their only concern.  I have watched these people bravely go on day after day,  doing what needs to be done, even when what needs to be done is not pretty or fun or exciting, and in fact may be excruciatingly painful physically, mentally and spiritually.

These people are my new heroes.   They are down-to-earth folks from all walks of life, living one day at a time, with no guarantee of a future, doing what they know they must, hoping beyond hope and praying for miracles that only sometimes come.  My experience this summer has been, that through the days of good news and bad news and sleepless nights filled with anxiety and worry, most of these people manage to smile when they are down, to help when they can, to share what they have and to be kind when kindness is most needed.  These people, these heroes, are me and you and each of who deal with the heart-wrenching, heart-breaking trials of loving a seriously ill child.

My prayers each night are filled with these heroes, asking God to give them healing, and if not healing then understanding and strength.  It has been an honor to live among them, to get to know them and to learn from them this summer.  I hope that everything will turn out OK for all of these families - but I know that it will not - at least not in the way that we usually think of as "all right."   Still, I will pray that all of these heroes can carry on, endure to the end, keeping going one day at a time and never, never, never give up.

Favorites for this week and a Thank You!

Things continue to go well here in Philadelphia.Thomas has only two more weeks of treatments left, and so far he is tolerating them well. Going to and from the hospital and waiting for multiple appointments does take a lot of time, so I don't have a lot of time post or read blogs, but I do like to remember the best parts of each week, so I am joining again with Susanne of Living to Tell the Story for Friday Fave Five. Here are some of my favorite things about this week:

• Kindness - My family and I have been on the receiving end of so much kindness and generosity the past few weeks. Earlier this month, my long-time blogging friend Mari from My Little Corner of the World reviewed the delightful children's book, Would a Worm Go on a Walk? She also had a give-away contest for the book.  I entered the give-away because the book sounde like one my grandson would like. A few days later, Mari emailed to say that I was not the winner of the giveaway, but she would like to send Thomas a copy of the book anyway.

 The book arrived here at the Ronald McDonald House earlier this week and Thomas loved reading it.  It is a fun, well-written and illustrated book about how God planned and created everything just perfectly. Such a great message! Thanks to Mari for her generosity and kindness in sending the book.

• Maddie - My six-month-old grand daughter, Madeline, Thomas' sister, is an absolute joy and delight. She is a happy baby who loves people. We literally have strangers on the street stop us every day to tell us what a beautiful and happy little girl she is. While we have been here at the Ronald McDonald House, she learned to crawl...

...and then less than a week later, she is pulling herself up and standing. It has been so much fun to watch her grow and change while we have been together.  

Maddie is such a sweet and precious little girl and I know that I will miss her when I go home to Arizona in two weeks.

• Ronald McDonald House - This place is still on my list of favorites because of all the ways it has helped my daughter and her family through this difficult trial of having a child with cancer.  Not only has it given us a place to stay and food to eat, it has given Thomas the opportunity to play and make friends and be a "regular" kid even while he battles cancer.

High school student volunteers come every day to play with the children and provide some respite for their busy and overburdened parents.

In the evenings after dinner, there are fun activities like music, art and pet therapy, to keep the children occupied and happy, even while they may be going through a difficult time.

• Outings- Because Thomas is tolerating his Proton Therapy treatment so well, and because his treatments only take part of each day, we have been trying to get out and go on some outings.  Sometimes we just walk to a new store.  When this picture was taken, we were getting ready to head out for a long walk to Trader Joe's in downtown Philly.

Another day we went to the Penn Museum - an interesting Archeology and Anthropology museum on the the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, right next door to the hospital where Thomas receives his treatment.

We enjoyed all the exhibits and learned a lot.

The hands-down favorites were the Sphinx and mummy in the Egyptian exhibit.

Today,  Thomas had treatment in the afternoon, so this morning we road the subway to the Historic District, visited the grave of BenFranklin and his wife and then went across the street to the Philadelphia Mint.   I had visited the mint a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday when the machines were not operating, but today all the machines were going churning out shiny new quarters and pennies.  We all enjoyed our visit to the mint and seeing how money is really made.  Afterward, my daughter and I treated ourselves to Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches from a street vendor. It was a nice morning.

• Reading - I have been able to do quite a bit of reading here.  At home, I usually read traditional paper and ink books, but here, I am finding that reading books on my Kindle is so much easier. I just recently figured out how to borrow e-books from the library and now I have several lined up and ready to go.  I plan to post a review soon of the books I have read so far this summer, so stay tuned.

Enjoy the weekend and remember that there are always blessings, in every situation. We just have to open our eyes and hearts to what is around us.

Celebrating Independence Day in Philadelphia

This is were it all began on that hot, humid July day in 1776.  Since I am just a ten minute subway ride away, I couldn't resist going to see the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall on this special day.

 

Even though I had just been to see the Liberty Bell a few days ago, being where this nation began, on the anniversary of the day it began, was very special to me.

Independence Hall was all decked out in red, white and blue banners and there was a band set up in front playing patriotic songs.

There were a lot of people there to join in the celebration of freedom.

 Something I found quite fascinating, but that few other people were taking note of, was this excavation right in front of the building that houses the Liberty Bell.

This is the actual excavated remains of the historic President's House, which is where our nation's first two presidents, George Washington and John Adams lived. In essence, this was the White House, before the White House.  I found that very interesting, but most people were walking right past it. 

The next place on my list of Patriotic places to see today, was this place - Betsy Ross' house. This is, according accepted history, the place that Betsy Ross was living when she was visited by George Washington and members of the Continental Congress and asked to make a flag for our new nation. She was an upholsterer by trade, and never actually owned this house. She and her husband were some of several tenants that lived here at the same time.  

According to the plaques on the wall of her home, few people, outside of her immediate family and members of the Continental Congress, knew the Betsy Ross has made our first flag. It was her grandson who made the story public and led the effort to save the place she called home.

Betsy's home was modest and unpretentious. She did not have an easy life. By the time she was asked to design and sew the flag, she was married to her third husband, having been widowed already twice.  

Betsy Ross was an interesting and important woman in American history and I am glad I took the time to go and see where she lived and created our first stars and stripes.

The next stop on my self-guided Independence Day history tour was this place, Christ Church. 

This is the actual, original church where Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and many other founding fathers and mothers worshipped.

It is still an Episcopal Church today, with a large and active congregation.  

This is the actual pew where George Washington and his family sat when they attended services here.  

It is a beautiful church and the people who showed me through it were so kind. They will be praying for my grandson during their Wednesday prayer service.

 The garden outside of the church was peaceful and beautiful..

...and tended with loving care...

 

...by members of the congregation.

I am glad I got to see Christ Church.  It is an important symbol and reminder of the faith of many of those who gave us our freedom and independence.

 After the peace and quiet of Christ Church, I came out onto Market Street and this...

 ...a good ole' fashioned Independence Day Parade.

 I didn't stay to watch the entire parade, but what I did see was a lot of fun...

...and a great tribute to our nation.

One last place I visited today, but don't have any pictures of, because photography was not permitted, is the National Museum of American Jewish History.  I had seen the building before (it is across the street from Independence Hall).  I had wondered about it, but had not gone in. Today they let everyone in for free, so I decided to check it out.  The museum had a wealth of information about American Jews (those who immigrated here and those who were born here) and the important part they have played in shaping our country.  The museum was another very interesting place and I am glad that I took the opportunity to see it.

That has been my Independence Day so far, and it has been a good one. Tonight we will celebrate with Philly Cheese Steaks and fireworks (if the little ones can stay up late enough).

I will end with this thought:

Have a wonderful Independence Day. God bless America!