Home Sweet Home

"Welcome Home," said the man stamping my passport back into America. Something about those words brought a warmness to my heart!

Wrapping up my time in London was very bittersweet. I had to say goodbye to new friends that I actually feel like I have known forever, take the tube for the last time, and finally stuff my whole two months stay into one suitcase and one duffel...which, btw, did not happen. Ended having to purchase another big suitcase. Come on, I was there for two months...I bought gifts....

For my last weekend, I stayed with Destiny and her college group studying in London for the remainder of their time abroad. I basically crashed their hotel room for two nights, but hopefully made up for it by giving them a pack of milk chocolate digestive cookies. Thanks guys!!

Side note: I am currently listening to "Scotland's Great Highland Bagpipes" cd I bought in Scotland. Over 60 bagpipe tunes. Just bagpipe. Its rockin. 

After finals wrapping up, it became surreal that I was leaving London soon. At the end of my eight weeks, I really felt as though I was a local. No longer a tourist by any means. I had somewhat established my own life in London. I had my daily routines, nearby grocery store, favorite gelato place, English friends to hang out with, and a great flat. I discovered the domestic side myself as well as my artistic side-drawing, painting, writing.

I am so thankful for my experiences in London, but mostly for my lessons learned. Although the lessons taught by my English professors were profound, the life lessons are what I will carry with me forever:

1. Don't be surprised by God. The way God connects his children is so intricate. Although it shouldn't, it seems to always hit me as a surprise every time God blesses me with wonderful sisters and brothers to connect with on a fun as well as deep level. However, God is wonderful, mighty, and able to do any and all things he desires. With him all things are possible and as I live, he is with me and I am with him.

2. Being vulnerable with God through prayer is vital. When praying, I have learned that I don't need to be general with God. Praying for specific events to be blessed, certain people to be transformed, one situation to occur the way he desires, new friendships to be fostered are all examples of being vulnerable before God with my prayers. For God already knows my thoughts and prayers before I think and/or speak.

3. I belong in the presence of God. While my parents drove Destiny and I back home from the airport, I said, "I don't know where I belong!" Despite being a little melodramatic, I mostly was just expressing my desire to be both in America and London. About three minutes later, without thinking, I began softly singing a song I know that has the lyrics, "I finally found where I belong, in your presence, I finally found where I belong, to be with you." Wow. I haven't heard that song in ages, but I feel as though God placed that song on my tongue to quickly remind me that no matter I am located, its with him where I belong...in His presence!

Destiny and I were blessed to be able to attend the last night of Hillsong London's annual conference. I always love being one in the midst of thousands of believers worshipping the same God. A common bond, Jesus, bringing and bonding everyone together. Powerful & beautiful.

On Sunday, my last day, I spent most of the day at church. Priscilla Shirer gave the morning message and Joseph Prince gave the evening message. They both spoke at the Hillsong conference as well and both brought a good word!! Pricilla spoke on identity-our God is the one who declares who we are: daughters and sons of the King. Joseph Prince spoke on how its not possible to ever loose your righteousness and the grace of God. If you're interested, you can find the podcast to both of these talks here.


I am so glad and thankful you all have been following my journey in London this summer. I plan to continue to share my experiences here as I continue to follow the light!

Flat Life

Laundry: About every two weeks I muster up the effort to climb up and down the 68 stairs to do laundry. Today is one those days. You see, the washer and dryer is in the basement and I live on the highest floor.  No cost for doing laundry except a sore bum the next day.

Dishes: We have a, "you use it, you wash it" system in our flat of five girls. It has worked quite well for the most part. On occasion, we do each other's dishes as they begin to take over the sink space. As you can pick up, there is no dish washer. All by hand, lovelies!

Schedules: During these past two months, we have all had pretty different class schedules. My flat mate, Claire, made and printed all of our schedules and posted them in our flat common room. Helpful for when we are looking for someone!

Lou: Two bathrooms. One big. One small. Both work :)

Love Line: With a little yarn and close pins we have created a love line in our flat common room. This is to leave notes, gifts, and encouragement to each other. So great after a long day!

Door: The door to our main flat just got replaced due to its recent breaking. All locked up now!

It's really been fun to cook meals, hang out with the girls, and live essentially on our own. I have been discovering the domestic side to myself!

p.s. I had fish and chips for the first time! 

p.p.s Has anyone ever eaten anything this big? ..............

p.p.p.s I STILL HAVE PINK EYE. 

My Dear Friend, Dest.

Yesterday afternoon I hopped on a train to go see my dear friend, Destiny. Her and I were in choir together in high school and have gotten closer as the years pass. During our choir days, we would have regular lunch dates at Tropical Smoothie or possibly just a movie night (usually at the Morrow household...gotta love their family of ten!)

A few months ago, Destiny called me up and said, "You'll never believe this, but I am going to be studying abroad in England this summer!" I said..."WHAT?!" She had to have been making this up. Nope. Destiny just so happens to be studying abroad in England about 45 min. away from where I am living. Therefore, I absolutely jumped on a train to visit her for the night.

As I navigated my way through the quaint city of Cambridge, I finally found my destination. I have to say...I must have squealed a little bit as Destiny turned the corner and greeted me as I stood in the main foyer. Seeing one of my best friends in an unknown city was so amazing that I just keep saying in my head, "Thank you, Lord, Thank you, Lord!"

Usually Destiny and I catch up for hours after we have been a part for a while. Only natural, right? Well, this time was no different. We found ourselves talking about our time so far in England, what we liked best, how we felt as though we were in a dream, what we missed about home, etc.

Spending time with Destiny was absolutely a blessing. She is an encouragement. For example, when someone says, "I'm so excited for tomorrow!", she will say back, "I'm so excited for today!" This exemplifies Destiny. For she isn't worried about tomorrow, she is ready for what's in front of her, and she let's the light of the Lord shine through her.

If you know Destiny, you know what a sweet spirit she holds. Although not all of you know Destiny, I know you all have at least one friend you call dear. I encourage you all to take advantage of every moment you have with that friend and...

"Thank God every time [you] remember [them]"- Philippians 1:3 


I love you, Dest :)

Land of the Scots

Who is a fan of peanut butter and banana sandwiches!? I certainly am. In fact, that is exactly what lays in my lap right now as I write to you. Anyone that really knows me knows that I have a special love for peanut butter. Back home, I eat peanut butter with almost everything (apples, wheat thins, or sometimes just a spoonful.) Upon arriving in London, peanut butter was naturally one of the first products I searched Sainsburys (grocery store) to buy. Unfortunately, no Jif was to be found. Only one brand of peanut before my eyes. So...I went with the creamy.

Two days ago I returned from the "Land of the Scots": Scotland. It was, by far, my favorite place we have traveled to as a group. Edinburgh is where we resided. What was the weather like, you ask?

First Day

Second Day

Like London, the weather was very sporadic. Even though the second day was beautiful to start with, we got a torrential downpour late afternoon.                  

First, we went on a tour of Scotland's Parliament building. A common theme we all caught on throughout the tour was that Scotland's Parliament has tried to set themselves a part from England's parliament. The the architecture of Scotland's Parliament building was fresh and modern and unity is highly encouraged among members of both political parties. One example would be that members of Scotland's Parliament can sit wherever they would like whilst in a meeting with the opposite party. On the other hand, England's Parliament requires the members of the House of Lords and House of Commons to sit on opposite sides whilst in a meeting. While walking through Scotland's Parliament building, I felt as though i was in a big and beautiful mansion. Enric Miralles designed this building to be completely open for the public to see the inside at almost every angle. Big windows, no curtains, and modern fixtures make up Scotland's Parliament building.                                     

Our first night wrapped up with a few of us going to a local pub to sing some karaoke! It was a Carrie Underwood night. With my friend Gina, we sang "Cowboy Casanova" and then I sang "Before He Cheats." 

I had never been inside a castle until this trip. On Saturday, we had beautiful weather to walk around the Edinburgh's famous castle. Check it out: 

Final activity: horseback riding. I was given a horse named Arnold and despite him trying to eat grass every time we stopped, he was a really good horse! A ten year old girl, Neve, held on to his bit the whole time. Neve kept Arnold in line as well as the other horses around. It blows my mind that this ten year old, tiny, ginger-haired girl was in complete control of those huge animals. Made me think that no matter how big something is in front of us, we can handle it with complete confidence.

Morning. Match. Mishap.

Waking up to a rainy day made me want to do nothing more than to curl up, eat my oatmeal, and watch "Emma", a movie based on one of Jane Austen's classic stories. So I did. Not knowing that this movie was over three hours long is besides the point. It was absolutely worth every minute. Now, I am even more inclined to dive right into my newly bought book, Pride and Prejudice. Gotta love Jane. 


Before too much time has slipped away, I want to tell y'all that I had the chance to go to Wimbledon! I went with a few others from my group this past Saturday to see the women's final match between Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova. Again, another great experience. We "queued up" (lined up) about 8:15am and received a queue card. I was 386th in line, I believe or close to it. Having that place in itself was quite the success! My roommate went to Wimbledon earlier in the week and was 7,000th in line! We paid fifteen pounds to receive a "grounds" ticket. Not bad! Although, I did pay my share at the gift shop! Whoops. Anyhoo, we staked out a lovely spot on Headman Hill and watched the big screen TV for most of the day. I'd say it was a pretty good match! I think Michelle Obama and Anne Hathaway would say so too. (They were there as well!)

playing cards while waiting in the queue

the queue continued to grow longer as the minutes passed! 

Amanda, Karl, Gina, ME, and Leslie on the hill 

On another matter, I MUST stay away from Mondays. If you can remember, last Monday is when I tripped up the stairs and slammed my face into the wall. (No serious damage done. Only memories and a couple marks on the wall remain.) Well, I figured I would continue with the manic Mondays and have the top of my foot be run over by a car. Yes...this happened. Here's how it happened: 

Our group had just seen a show and was headed to the tube. As I began to cross the road, I looked left (clear!), continued walking slowly, and then looked right. I then saw a car come whipping around the corner and soon felt the car's wheel run over the top of my foot as I slammed up against the side of the car. The car stopped. With my toe only in a little pain, I yelled, "I'm fine! I'm good! Keep going! It's okay! Keep going!" 

You may wonder why I told the car to keep going. After all, I had just had my foot run over. However, I really did feel fine. My toe felt as though I had just stubbed it upon the ground. I truly was protected. I thank God for protecting me in that moment. It was my mistake to not look right first and then left. It was my mistake to not "look both ways before crossing"- a child's lesson I learn when I'm twenty. I now cross each street with caution and also a bit of fear. I am quick to assume there will be a car whipping around the corner. I understand fear is natural thing to face after an incident like this, but I am determined to not let the fear take control. In fact, the fear must go. As with anything in life, if there is fear, there is no room for faith. The Lord was and is watching over me and I must put all my faith into him at all times. For although I live in this world where bad things, unfortunate mishaps, and cruel events happen, I am not of the world. 

Although we live by faith and not by sight (2 Corin. 5:7), make sure to look both ways before crossing :) 

Freedom

One of the many great things about being here in Europe is that there are many opportunities to see beautiful churches and experience heart felt worship to God. However, as i have walked through some churches on tours, I sometimes feel as though the historical importance holds a higher rank than the heart of worship and relationship with Jesus. Or perhaps I am just having my eyes opened to the many different ways people give glory to the same God. In any case, I feel blessed to have been exposed to all types of worship, services, and praise to our God in Heaven.

This past Friday, I attended Westminster Abbey's Evensong. It's a free service occurring every day that welcomes all. I must say, it was one of the most touching services I have ever been to. As I sat in my chair, not in view of the choir,  I was still able to hear the angelic voices echoing throughout the gothic styled architecture. A professor here told our group once that the purpose of churches like Westminster and Notre Dame is for the people to "wonder about the glory of God." While staring at the stained glass window before me, I was able to do just that. There I was: sitting in a huge & historical church that felt so formal. It made me completely wonder about the glory of God.

The God I am getting to know daily is so personal, knows my name, saves and forgives me, comforts me. As I sat with hundreds of others in Westminster, I began to see, once again, the magnitude of God's ability. His ability to have a personal relationship with every single person on the Earth is more than possible. It's what he intends. It's what he prays.

Happy Fourth of July, by the way! Being here in Britain on this day is interesting only because, obviously, no celebrations are happening! I said, "Happy Fourth!" to any fellow American I walked past. I actually went to a nearby park and painted for the second time since being here. My inspiration: Freedom. I deem the painting appropriate for this special day.

started

finished

Actually, a few days ago, the whole group went to a church to see and listen to a classical music performance. The image of the cross behind the pulpit was so unique and intriguing. They longer i'd stare at it, the cross seemed to be moving. This is what actually triggered the vision for my painting:

In my painting, the colorful ring at the center of the cross represents all whom Jesus died for: everyone. We are all very different and all representing a different 'color' per say. The fireworks in each corner represents the gift freedom we all have all been given from Jesus. It's just a matter of if you have unwrapped and accepted that gift or not...

You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.- Romans 6:18 

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.-Revelation 1:5

Fellow believers, rejoice and celebrate today as we are citizens of heaven and have received freedom from Jesus, our savior! :)