Back to PA

We are back from Miami.  While Johnny was at the work conference, me and the kids tour around the city of Miami and south beach.  It was sunny and humid, but we had a lot of fun.  The highlight of the trip was our surprise to the kids of a cruise vacation.  We were on a cruise for three days and it took us to the Stirrup Cay Island and the Bahamas.  The food was good and we probably ate too much.  The beaches at both locations were beautiful and it reminds me of Hawaii.  Now I kept thinking why we left Hawaii in the first place??  :)

Bahamas was beautiful and we had a local tour guide taking us around.  We saw a few historical sights, the Atlantis, and the city of Nassau.  The Atlantis was beautiful and so as the million dollar homes around it.  But what left me the most was the poor neighborhood not too far away from the riches.  There were beat up houses with broken windows, no AC; kids hanging out at the park playing basketball; trash, broken parts of cars, junks in every corner....  it was such a big contrast.

I want to kids to know how fortunate they are; and that they should have no reason to complaint about life when seeing the less fortunate people struggle in life.  

I felt the same way with downtown Miami.  It was a beautiful city, but I've never seen so many homeless people in my life.  They were everywhere, at the metro, bus terminal/stations and even at the beach!  I couldn't believe what I saw.  It was an eye opening experience.

This trip left me with questions of what we can help to balance our resources, and being an advocate of self-reliance.  There are many hard working families out there living below the poverty level.  We need to pay them a reasonable amount for the job they performed so that they can in turn sustain their families.  I strongly believe that the church has well prepared us to be responsible citizens.  We need to lead by example, to work  hard and provide for our families; to always prepare and save for the rainy days.