dc

my friend, christie lives in dc.  i got to spend some time with her in dc last november, and last december i met her at the house where she grew up in california.  my being once again in dc marked a full coast-to-coast round trip milestone!  i had come full circle in about five months.

christie and i did a lot of things over about four days, and since she's just an awesome person, it was a great visit!

we went to one of her friend yuneng's house who was having a get together for a rooftop bbq.

it was quite a bit too winding though, so we just ate inside.  i got to meet a bunch of lovely people including telisa and lucy and justin and um...  um...   hm, other super friendly people. : )

i watched christie and her coppi teammates liz, christian, and meg in a bike race.

christie is totally hard core.  i mean, she already moved up in a category in a race the day before, so the race i saw wasn't even that critical, and she still got third place!  not only that, but two of her teammates got first and fourth!

we biked to christie's church and heard a great lesson on how to share the gospel with humility.

we stopped by giant on or way home where christie got some groceries for dinner.  a giant in dc makes for great people watching.  at the house, christie whipped up a delicious meal and her housemate deb and friend melissa joined.   mmm, good food and good people always go well together.

i went for a bike ride to check out the franciscan monastery.  the little bit of the property that i saw was very pleasant.

i biked to another part of town where i met christie for a presentation by anthony bradley called 'christian charity and public action: what social justice really means.'  he was an excellent speaker.

i can't reiterate everything he said, but it was a lot of good food for thought.  to help the poor requires treating all people with human dignity, empowering all, being committed to the process with it's sacrifices for the long-haul...  doing it all out of love.  and more... but that's from my memory (which i don't have much of) and not notes (which i'm not good at taking anyway).

on our way home, some guy in a car at a stop light hailed christie's attention because he saw her bike and wondered if she would be interested in buying a bike he had.   city's are always full of surprising encounters.

the night before i left dc, i finally got to meet annie, the third housemate who wasn't in town in november.  yay!

so, my dc visit was a fun success.  : )   i will again miss my friends there.