Christmas in England

It hurts your heart to be so far away from home at Christmastime, although if you can't make it to Florida, London's not a bad place to be. 

Our sweet friends invited us to spend the holidays with their family out in the countryside (Diego included!) On Christmas Eve we braved the Tube with the pup and parked ourselves onto a train headed to Birmingham. Not as stressful as I thought, and soon we were picked up by Dan and driving towards the farm.... where we were greeted by Nell, Diego's new girlfriend! 

Just look at that FACE!

Martha's family are the kindest, most welcoming people on the planet. We spent a glorious three days snuggling into their warm couches with lots of tea and cake and Scrabble. Sometimes we ventured out to explore the local towns, but mostly we rested. 

Oh, and let's not forget the eating. Glorious Christmas dinner with cake that you LIT ON FIRE.

After Christmas we drove to York for the night. It's lovely! 

My favorite moment was a moving evensong service at Yorkminster with a  massive organ and phenomenal choir. Be still my heart. 

We continued our journey from York up the coast towards Edinburgh, Scotland, stopping in a quaint little town called Berwick Upon Tweed. The light was perfect, we caught a glimpse of the ocean... just perfect.

And on to Edinburgh! 

What a cool city-- we'll be back for sure, especially in the summer when it's a bit warmer. 

We hiked Arthur's Seat, meandered through the old streets, joined in a viking torch procession, and rung in the new year with Scottish bluegrass and tons of bagpipes. 

Sooooo many bagpipes!

Amazing holiday, loved spending time with our besties, thankful for the Farrells who welcomed us into their home...

looking forward to exploring more of the UK!

Preparing our Hearts

My heart is full, overflowing with pure joy

that comes from the promise of this Christmas season.

God promised to never leave or abandon us, and just when we

thought there was nothing left, He went and did what He promised

in the form of a tiny baby born to a lowly teenager in a barn.

a BARN for goodness' sake.

And here I am stressing myself out over unsent cards

and purchases that Good Morning American insists I need 

and ice skating rinks to be found, gluhwein to be consumed

and should I already have an Elf on the Shelf and be tucking away ideas?

HURRY we only have 3 weeks!!

How easily we forget why there's a Christmas in the first place. 

That it's a celebration of the fulfilled promise, of redemption and pure

JOY that can only truly be experienced when we let go of our control 

and allow God to lead, to show us how to truly love people. 

My hope for this season is to have a heart full of joy

to remember why it is that I fell in love with Christ in the first place

to find a balance between enjoying our commercialized Christmas experiences 

(because those are fun too!) 

but focusing on the reason behind it all.

My prayer is for you to seek out the purpose of this life with me

to find that happiness doesn't only derive from fun experiences, our jobs, or even friends and family 

but the root of it all

true joy, peace, and ultimate fulfillment

comes from loving God

loving people

and truly giving up yourself for the sake of others.

I'll be working through Piper's Advent devotionals if you'd like to join. 

Much love to you at the start of this Christmas season!

http://www.desiringgod.org/books/the-dawning-of-indestructible-joy

a quick update

Things have finally settled down with regards to the big move. 

This impatient heart of mine was hoping to feel like a local as soon as we set foot on London soil, 

but transitions take time, loads of it.

Our 'flat' finally feels like home: 

I can cook in a normal kitchen and have friends over

with space to relax and just be. 

Job hunting is moving along at a steady pace like the tortoise 

plodding along towards the finish line.

And the most joyous of all-- HOME to FLORIDA 

this weekend to celebrate family and have quick rendezvous with friends

and to eat my face off in turkey and stuffing!

Here are some favs from the past month:

Cheers!

if we could only know what Diego's thinking...

Day six in this strange new place. Was it only a week ago that I followed a stranger into his car, ending up in the most exhaustive journey of my life?

After a long car ride I was boarded for a couple nights. No one told me what was going on and I was missing my Auntie Annie somethin' fierce, because for some reason she wasn't there! (Little did I know she was missing me too at home...) Two days later I was stuck in a massive wooden crate and plunged into darkness for the next 10 hours. I'm not sure what was going on, but it was quiet and pitch black so I had a nice, long nap after barking my face off at the people handling my crate.

A bit dazed, I was taken out of the dark and brought to a room where I kept hearing the word 'processing' thrown around. They checked me over, gave me some shots, let me use the facilities and fed me a well-deserved snack. Apparently I was good to go, because I didn't have to go into something called 'quarantine' that sounded really scary. At this point, I still had no idea what was going on.

An hour of traffic and we came to a stop. I heard voices that I recognized... could it be... surely they're not who I think they are? Something within me just KNEW and my tail was slamming against the sides of the crate; as soon it was opened I shot out like a cannon and YES! My MOM and DAD were there to greet me!! What?! How did you get here?! That was the last thing I was expecting! I was torn between greeting them and sniffing the incredible, intoxicating new smells on this street; they took me into a new place and I couldn't get enough of them! Fortunately I was able to hold my pee in, because in my haste I forgot to go before entering. They finally got the drift and took me on a walk, where I took the longest pee of my life.

We walked to a huge park nearby, and guess what was there: a MILLION dogs! At least that what it seemed like, dogs of all shapes and sizes and I played my heart out until I could barely move anymore. I really can't help myself and keep erm, humping all the small dogs. Mom says I have to stop that or we won't be allowed to play. Apparently they all gather every evening and I can't wait to meet them all.

Here I am at my new park checking for potential friends

Our house is like my Annie's but I'm not allowed to bark at all the noises, (and believe me, there are LOTS) but my parents don't like it. I don't understand why; I hear a noise, I want to alert them to someone's presence! Whatever. Also new to me is getting a nice, long rubdown with a towel and then being cleaned with wet wipes after every walk. My mom tried to give me a bath when I first got there; it was terrifying and I hated every minute of it, so to get back at her I tracked muddy foot prints on the carpet that she had to scrub up. Ha, take that, Mom. So now she just cleans me on the porch. She loves it and is really looking forward to winter walks when it's freezing and muddy.

My new stoop!

Speaking of, the other night I was bored so I got up at 4AM to see if anyone wanted to play with me. I tricked them into thinking I really had to use the bathroom, so Mom had to bundle up and take me on a walk to the grass. She was really happy to do it, I think. I also thought I saw a fox, but she kept blocking my view lest I try to run off and eat it.

Everyone loves me here and they have funny accents. I'll keep you updated on my adventures as a city dog.

Love, Diego

be still my whining heart

The most amazing part of my journey to London has been the unencumbered quiet times with the Lord in the mornings. Recently I felt compelled to start working my way through the Old Testament, not really understanding the connection between all the prophets or how specifically it relates to Christianity. 

Currently I'm reading through the life of Moses and his love/hate relationship with the Israelites. I grew up knowing he was a cute little baby that was sent down the river, saved by pharaoh's daughter and subsequently growing up in royalty, then eventually renouncing that and demanding the Israelites be freed from slavery. Lots of plagues, like gross locusts and boils and eventually death. Tons of death. I guess I never put two and two together, realizing that his story continues through Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

All this to say that I'm feeling a bit like the Israelites in the desert today, in the sense that God keeps providing, He's clearly present in my life and in it for the long-haul. But it's so easy to slip back into the grumbling stage like the Israelites, who were one minute saying, "Yes, we love you, thank you for our freedom, we will do whatever it takes to get to the land you've promised us," and the next whining that they're tired of eating flat bread and having to move camp so often. God was so angry at their back-and-forth attitudes... it broke his heart that they couldn't see beyond their limited, self-centered lives. Even Moses, who was clearly successful in God's endeavor, (everything he ever asked for was granted!) continually slipped into his old insecure ways, crying to God, "Why did you choose me?! I stutter! How the heck am I supposed to carry the weight of these people? Kill me off and send someone else!"

My current situation is so finite, so unimportant in the grand scheme of life and the world. I have no right to complain about how slowly this moving process is taking because holy crap, I'm here, obtaining a job is not a life-or-death situation, and there are a million things worse than not having your people close by (like not having any people at all! So there.)  Yet, God is the God of grace, of love and ultimate understanding. He forgives me for being fickle and struggling with focusing on this day only, not worrying about whether or not things will fall into place in my own timing.

One day at a time, people. Life can be so much simpler if we stop stressing ourselves out over matters beyond our control and letting go. Trust that it'll all work out. And if it doesn't, move on and figure something else out.

Being on my own all the time means seeking out cool spots to work on job hunting. Like the cafe at the top of the Tate Modern.  Definite pick-me-up.