Need some exercise? While visiting our friends in Nizhny Novgorod, we went by the Kremlin. (not the Kremlin in Moscow) This city was known as Gorky under the Soviet regime and was a closed city to foreigners. It is also the city where Alexander Solzhenitsen was placed under house arrest. Well, when Ruslan dropped us off at the bottom of the hill, I said to the kids, let's see how many steps there are. Before we could say, ready, set, go.... they were off. All of the kids started climbing and counting. Darla got up about 20 steps and said, "Oh, I lost count" and down she ran to the bottom to start counting again. It was quite the workout and always makes you feel better after the good exercise. We walked to the top and looked around at the beautiful Kremilin, overlooking the Volga River. The "game" was a wonderful diversion to the tired complaining that we are tempted to engage in. Inside the Kremilin there were beautiful flowers, memorials to the Russian soldiers as well as some old Military Vehicles. By the way, the unofficial count was 420 steps!

The Bible says that God is our strong tower and we can run to him, in times of trouble. Praise the Lord! He is much stronger than a fortress built by man for He is the Almighty One, All Powerful! Yet, He is personal and longs to have a personal relationship with us.