Trip to Washington DC

My dad, Barbara Byers, Stephen Byers, and me

My dad getting an interview in the Mariott!

Mike and Joe having fun at the IPLEX rally!

My dad and I in front of the Washington Monument and the World War 2 Memorial!

Us in front of the Lincoln Memorial Statue!

Just let'n you know what we were doing,

Last weekend my dad brought Mike DeBoer, Joe Striet... and myself to DC for a good break and to protest about a drug called IPLEX. We drove for about 10 hrs. and finally got there. Then we slept in a hotel room (Mike slept with Joe, dad slept in his own bed and i got the roll-away. The next morning we drove to the National Archives building to see the ORIGINAL Declaration of Independence!!! It was so... CooL!

Also, we went to the World War 2 Memorial and Vietnam Memorial to see all the people who died for our country.

Then we walked down to the Lincoln Memorial and saw the 19 foot tall Abraham Lincoln statue. We got pictures in front of it.

Then we got really LOST through the winding roads and ended up by the Jefferson Memorial and the Pentagon.

We finally got out and went to Old Alexandria for a very fine dinner at a 200 year old italian restaurante. The waiter barely knew Any English! I got a meat filled ravioli with a side of spaghetti, my dad and Mike got fetticuini alfredo with chicken on top, and Joe got fetticuini alfredo with shrimp on top. All in all, it was Great Food!

We went back to our hotel for the night and got up in the morning and had a buffet breakfast.Then we went to the IPLEX Rally to help my dad!!!!!!!

Then we went on a tour through the Capitol Building.

It was AWESOME!! Then we came back to the rally to say our good-bye's.

We drove back to the Washington Monument and went on an elevator all the way up to the tipee top to get a birds-eye-view of DC. It was 512 ft tall! The people looked like ants! When we went back down the elevator they slowed it down to show us the different stones that were donated to the Monument.

When we got to the bottom we drove to the Hard-Rock Cafe to eat. My dad and I got chicken strips, Joe got BBQ chicken wings, and Mike got a big, juicy burger.

Finally, we went to the Mariott on Pennsylvania Ave. to retrieve my coat I accidentilly forgot. Also, there my dad got interveiwed and we got a video called Indestructable which is an Action Packed, Suspensful movie about a man(Ben Byers and lost his battle with ALS in July of 2008) who has ALS and goes around the world trying to find a cure.

Then we drove home! Home, sweet, home!!

Thanks Mike and Joe for making my trip so much fun!

P.S. Mike I'm still waiting for my haircut! Snip! Snip!!

Zach

Hello to the Youth Group at Beverly Reformed Church in Wyoming!

We just returned home from speaking at the Beverly Reformed Church Sr High Youth Group in Wyoming and met a great bunch of kids as shown in the photo above. It is such a great opportunity when we are able to share the love of Christ and how ALS has affected our lives and how this trial is meant by God to strenghten our faith and glorify Him in all we do! (1 Peter 1:6-9) We pray that these teens will turn to Christ in their times of trial and lean on His promises in His Word. It's been a while since we were in high school, but it seems like not so long ago as far as the choices we made back then and how we were living and when I look back I think how much I wish I was passionate for God back then, but God was always pursuing us and wanted to bring us back to Him. He never lets go of us!!! Anyways, it was great to meet you all and we hope to come back and visit your group again sometime.
The other pictures above are of our kids in their halloween costumes. Zach was a hippie and Maddie was a cheerleader. The sumo wrestler costume was borrowed from a friend and Zach wore it last year and it was a hit. We had borrowed it again for a friend of ours and Maddie wanted to try it on and it was hilarious!! We were invited to go trick or treating this year hayride style so we loaded Eric's wheelchair on it and it was pretty fun being able to watch the kids go trick or treating. They got some good candy too. Lots of full size candy bars that we will have to try to stay out of. Tomorrow we have no school so we are looking forward to sleeping in! We are going to visit the school by the home we are purchasing in Grandville and look at the house again with Eric's mom and sister and Zach has not seen it yet either. We got a call today to show our house tomorrow night and have talked to a few couples who are interested in renting it so please pray for God to sell our house or the right situation to rent it out. We know God will continue to provide our needs as he has all along the way.

Eric is leaving for Washington DC next Monday with Zach and Joe S and Mike D to ask for the drug IPLEX to be released to the patients in the US for ALS and he is also celebrating Veterans day on the Capital with festivities they are holding for Vets. I may have already shared this (can't remember what I did yesterday) but please pray for their safe travel and Eric to be safe while away from the comforts of home and me as I tend to worry when he is not by my side.

Don't forget to VOTE on Tuesday! It is our freedom and our right!! Our Pastor said today to "look at God's truth, follow God's Word and vote the Bible!" We believe that with all of our heart and encourage you to do the same!

Be blessed this week and tell someone that you love them!!!