UP!

 Yesterday was just a regular ordinary day.

Dan is working nights/afternoons/early evenings this week, so I suppose that is out of the norm.

 And both Emily and Sam stayed home sick yesterday, one with a huge headache and one with a stomach thing- probably both the same thing. That was not normal.

 Oh- and Dan burnt up an entire tray of turkey bacon in the microwave and you can smell that horrible odor from as far as the mailbox.  I had to boil lemons in the microwave just to begin to make it less stinky. That is (thankfully) something we don't do every day.

 And I suppose that there is one more thing that was a bit different.......... I GOT TO GO ON A HOT AIR BALLOON RIDE!!!!

 One of the generous souls at the air show has been teasing me for years that he was going to take me up, and then yesterday he called and confirmed that last night was the perfect night for a flight.  AND he wanted me to bring Allyson!

 It was without a doubt AMAZING!  This world that we live in, the one I drove through on the way to his home, seemed much more ugly than once we were up above it.  All the ugly melted away and all I could see was beauty.

 I was amazed at how glorious this experience was.  And that I got to experience it with Allyson???  So amazing.

 This was the poor soy bean field we we 'scruffed off' some speed before landing.  Poor beans.

 This was our pilot.  Who was also Ally's 5th grade teacher.  God is amazing.  No coincidence there, I'm sure.  She was calm and reassuring, in command and yet relaxed.  She made it such a beautiful ride for us.

 I had a hard time snapping this picture because I had to let go of the death grip I had on my pole- but it was so amazing I had to take it.  And then I grabbed my pole again.  It is so quiet and calm up in a balloon.  Yet you can hear small children screaming HI and dogs barking and chasing your shadow on the ground below.  At one point we were 1000 feet up, at some points we were 300.  It was unreal.

We live in a broken world where mean and hatefulness seems to fill even the most gentle of people.  It is a true testimony to our Lord that HIS peace and love still live in this land when a group of people give their entire evening to someone else, just because they want to.  That gift that was given to Ally and I was not lost, and I will be forever grateful for the kindness, given out of Christian love and goodness, that was given to me.  I feel renewed that the world can be good, that people can be good, and that God's good is continuing to flourish.