I knew they were building a new memorial on the Mall to honor World War II veterans, but hadn't seen any pictures and had no idea just how impressive it would be. 

The memorial opened the weekend before we arrived in Washington and the fountains had just been filled the night before, so we were among the first to see the new site in all it's glory. Hundreds of veterans and their families were there too, and it was interesting to overhear them sharing war stories with their wives, kids and grandkids. 

But the most amazing thing that happened to us is that we ran into Peter, our former pastor from Sacramento (who now lives in Santa Barbara). He was in town for a conference and had also come to see the memorial. Danny spotted him first, but couldn't believe that we'd run into someone we know 3,000 miles from home. But we did -- proving two old adages -- 'it's a small world' and 'God works in mysterious ways...'