memory lane. part 2.

In November 2007 I took a whirlwind trip to visit Nick for Thanksgiving in England.

I wouldn't generally suggest a trip to England for an American holiday like Thanksgiving considering no one celebrates Thanksgiving in England. Trust me, you can't find a pub in the whole city that will serve you a decent turkey meal! Haha, we ordered a "bacon" cheese burger and fries, what they served us was an unseasoned hamburger patty on toast with a piece of deli meat ham on it...

I had less than a week off from teaching for the holiday but didn't mind that it would be a short trip;

I just missed him so much!  

So here are a few of my favorite places and memories from that trip.

I took this picture of Hertford College (Thomas Hobbes and Jonathon Swifts alma mater) from a building across from the Bodleian Library (they, the library police, wouldn't let me in the "Bod" because I wasn't a student at Oxford-pretentious book snobs). Anyway, we didn't let that ruin our afternoon, (ya think I'm still bitter?) Back to the point, I thought the Church was so beautiful that later that night Nicholas took me to evensong at Christ Church which if you can believe it is even more magnificent!

Aren't those flats adorable? I love the yellow one! These are the spires of Oxford... simply gorgeous! (Did you know, Oxford is called the "city of dreaming spires", I didn't, but Nicholas did, he knows everything!)

To make the last night that I was in Oxford really special we went to The Trout which is a swanky pub way outside of the main city area. It was ridiculous trying to get to it--we literally took at least 3 buses and walked a mile through someones pasture (yes there were cows) to get to it--not atypical, I'm learning, for the way we generally find ourselves traveling (more about this later).

The night before I flew home we took a bus to London, so that years later I would have fun touristy picture like this one of us with Big Ben to show all of you!

 

We walked and walk and walked up and down the Thames River ("note to self: if i ever move to England I need to find boots that are cute AND practical for cobblestone roads").

Not only were we both really relieved to see each other that week, 

but while I was there we got a call from Nicholas' parents that his grandfather had passed away, which of course was devastating. 

I think we can only thank our Lord for his timing, 

he knew how difficult receiving that news would be and was so kind to provide a support to Nicholas while he was away from the rest of his family through me. 

When I got home, I started counting down the days until he would be back. My students and co-teachers even made me a paper link chain for each day and we hung it up in the classroom.
I couldn't wait until I would only have a 3 1/2 hour drive to see him as opposed to a 11 hour flight! Its funny how our perspectives change...

I'll stand.

from here

I do not ask that He must prove

His Word is True to me,

And that before I can believe

He first must let me see.

It is enough for me to know

It's true because He say it's so;

On His unchanging Word I'll stand

And trust till I can understand.

[E.M. Winter]

tonight

husband and I rode our bikes to the beach so that he could catch some wave and I could take some pictures of the sunset. It was surprisingly chilly considering its September 2nd, but we were bundled up so it was bearable sitting on the bluffs while I watched him enjoy the water.  

It was a beautiful sunset.

 Hope you have a great night and a good weekend, husband and I are going to watch a movie and get cozy on the couch! What are your plans?

memory lane. part 1

Nicholas and I had our first date in January 2007.  I was living in San Diego, teaching preschool and trying to get through community college and he was home for Christmas break. 

He had grown up in San Diego but was studying in Santa Barbara at a private Christian College called Westmont. 

When it was time for him to go back to school, 3 and a half hours away, we prayed a lot about what to do with this new relationship that neither of us had been looking for.

 
[funny story--a few weeks ago my mother-in-law told me that over thanksgiving 2006 Nicholas had told her that he didn't want to be in a relationship he just wanted to be on his own for a while, haha.. that lasted what a month!]

We both felt strongly that there was something bigger than we understood going on, and decided we could give a long distance relationship a shot...  

[I'm pretty sure we even said something to the effect of 'we'll take it day by day, and it doesn't work out at least we wont regret not trying']

I had no idea what I was agreeing to.

photo 1. picnic dinner adventure 
photo 2. saying goodbye before he flew to England (we fake 'happy' well! there were a lot of tears)
photo 3. spring formal (Alexis, Nicholas' sister was in her freshman year at Westmont, so we got to go with her and her date... who was taking the picture)

Nicholas went to the Middle East for the month of May 2007, and then In September left for Oxford to study abroad for a semester. 

Long distance was proving to be really difficult but also a beautiful adventure! 

We never could have guessed what God had is store for our future.

Part 2... Thanksgiving in England....

little kiddos.

the past few weeks as many of my friends have gone back to their classrooms to set up for the new school year i have felt a little sad.
I miss teaching.
I miss the first day of school with all the excited little faces walking into their new class.
I miss circle time, and snack, painting, and the sandbox... I miss giving my little kiddos squeezes and cuddles and teaching them about God's glorious creation!
so yesterday when I got a phone call from the Director of the school I used to teach at saying that they needed a long term sub (6-8 weeks) in their 4 year old classroom and they wanted me, I was THRILLED!

after I finish these research papers I heading to my new classroom =) can't wait to meet those little ones next week!

DWELL

I pray that out of his glorious riches

he may strengthen you with power

through his Spirit in your inner being,

so that Christ may dwell in your hearts

through faith.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,

may have power, together with all

the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and 

long and high and deep is the love of Christ,

and to know this love that surpasses knowledge

--that you may be filled to the measure

of all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:16-19

Dwell- verb

1. to live or stay as a permanent resident; reside.

2. to live or continue in a given condition or state.

3. to linger over

This verse has been hanging on my wall since we got back for Asia. I know I haven't talked a lot about our experience there yet but that's probably a good thing, because I'm still trying to shuffle through what happened... what we saw, who we met, what we learned.

I'm still wrestling through how two people could have the same experience but experience it differently. 

Anyway. I was changed, I am different from before... and a lot of that is because I was stripped.

In my life there have been many, MANY times I have had to walk by faith... you know, "trust". But two months ago, on the other side of the Earth, I found myself in a really dark place,  and I think for the first time since I started following Jesus I realized how little faith I have. I realized how little I understand about this word dwell.

I found myself empty, not full.

I found myself floundering, not rooted.

I found myself unworthy, not understanding love.

I found myself really desperate... realizing that I did not have a functioning understanding of the gospel (true love).

You see, I have a major issue, I try really really hard to be PERFECT... perhaps an even bigger issue i have, is that I'm pretty good at being "good"...

I like how it feels 

+ 

I like how it makes me look 

+

I like being right

= 

I work really hard at it.

I've know I've had an issue with being religious, verging on legalistic ... and that never really (still don't) understood grace.  ("i'm pretty good... grace for what?"... wow right, I know! don't judge)

So I'm going back to the basics... (never should have left) I needed a good swift kick in the rear, I needed to look at my imperfections, to feel a lot of feelings I had been avoiding in an attempt at being "good", and I needed to have some space, remove myself from all my good deeds, I took a break from my checklist of:
prayer nights
bible studies
quiet times
and I just spent so time dwelling. and I'm not going to stop...
I've had much more time to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.

market.

This free collage created with Smilebox This was the highlight of my day, after working on my paper for countless hours I took a break to run over to Pizza Guru and pick up my box of produce.   Not only was it goOood to get out of the house but it was GREAT to snack on these veges and fruits this evening as I typed away... I'm so close!