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As he prayed he said, "Lord help us remember this tour is not about you." He got so tickled that he could hardly finish his own prayer. It was a fun way to begin our day. We also started the day by celebrating Jackson Garrett's birthday with an early morning rendition of "Happy Birthday."

We had an early morning appointment at the Willis Tower, formerly known as Sears Tower, in downtown Chicago. The Sky Deck is on the 103rd floor of the Willis Tower and has a unique feature: four 4x8 foot porches made of plexiglass extend out from the building. As you step out onto the glass floor you see 1300 feet below you to the city streets. A couple of our girls did acrobatic stunts on the Plexiglas floor. Chloe Clark did a tilt, whatever that is. Caroline Sargent did a handstand with a little help from her friends. She was afraid to open her eyes.

One of our brave chaperones, Rhonda Wood, agreed to stay down on the street to catch anyone who may fall. Thank you, Rhonda, for your bravery! From this vantage point you could see far across Lake Michigan and see a great deal of the city of Chicago's breathtaking scenery.

Chris Clark pre-ordered pizzas for us at Giordano's Pizza across the street from the Willis Tower. We had a room reserved and enjoyed delicious Chicago style deep dish pizza for lunch. With the extra food left over, we asked them to package for bags for homeless people we might encounter on our walk to Millennium Park. Rick Roe suggested this would be better than discarding the pizza. Sure enough, we quickly found four homeless people on the streets who appreciated the gift of pizza. The kids gave them the pizza and told them they were giving it because God loves them and so did we.

At Millennium Park we were able to see the iconic Bean sculpture. There was also a fountain there called the Crown Fountain. Cathay Rodgers nicknamed it the spitting fountain. You'll have to see her about that.

Several of our group got to enjoy an orchestra rehearsal for a free concert that would be given that night. The open air venue was a beautiful place to enjoy music. Those who especially enjoyed that were Andrew Robertson, Emilee Batson, Sandy Myers, Caroline Myers, and Marsha Robertson. We avoided getting drenched by boarding the bus just before it began to rain.

The drive to South Bend Indiana was about an hour and a half. We arrived at Holy Family Catholic Church in time to set up and have a meal provided for us by the church. The menu for supper included a birthday cake for Jackson Garrett. It was delicious even though Jackson received a minor head wound being carried to the front of the room by Andrew Dye.

After supper, and before we began the worship service, we were invited to sing a piece for a retired teachers meeting that was taking place in the church school. Our kids sang the "Our Father" (or "The Lord's Prayer") for about 200 retired teachers. Our selfish motive was that they might decide to attend the service after hearing our group sing. Father Kohrman seemed to really enjoy our students and spent more time with them than any of the other pastors/priests we've met along the way.

Before entering the priesthood, Father Corman received a Masters degree in mechanical engineering. Being called to the priesthood and his work outside the church gave him a unique perspective that was truly refreshing. He spent a good bit of time explaining to them several of the symbols in the church. Our audio and drama crews were given liberty to move several things, but we were asked to avoid placing anything on the altar or moving things from the altar.

Rick Roe found a uniquely Baptist way of using the confessional booth at Holy Family Catholic Church. Well, it did look a lot like a changing room. We'll just leave it at that!

The service went very well even though the attendance was relatively small at holy family church. We were thrilled to have Addison and Adam Ballew's cousins at the concert tonight. They live nearby and drove over to hear the musical.

We did receive $157 toward our $6300 goal for international Justice Mission. Our evening devotion at Ivy Court Inn in South Bend was led by Porter Rivers. She and Ella did a terrific job working together and let us through a beautiful time for a meeting for worship time. Ella even sang a solo recorded by Alison Krauss called "A Living Prayer."