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Dear God,

As I looked through the pictures of our one day trip to London yesterday, I am so thankful for the way you work.

First of all, thank you for letting us work for a company that takes such good care of us. For our VISA, we were required to make the trip. Not only have you allowed us to serve with such a gracious company with a heart for all nations, you have allowed them to provide the finances for such a trip. Thank you.

Second, thank you for the family you have given me. I love my girls. To think, as a young woman, looking into my future, I never wanted to marry nor did I see myself as a Mom. I wanted to do something extraordinary for you in a village in Africa if that's what you wanted for me. Instead, you've allowed me to marry my best friend; given me three extraordinary little women in which to invest my life, and you've knitted us together as friends. I don't take that for granted. Every minute you give me with them, I am eternally grateful!

While we were in London yesterday, my sites were set on spending the day in Harrods Department Store. Once we got there, I was overwhelmed by the … luxury, size, prices, people, and indulgence. Not really just one thing but all of it together. It made me feel like I was among thousands who were worshipping a golden calf. While others were buying designer dresses for toddlers at the price of 800 pounds a dress, and looking at handbags at 650 pounds a bag, and having their poodles pampered at the Pet Spa (for who knows how many pounds) … I just wanted a Crispy Crème dounut for 1.20 and felt a little extreme by buying a dozen to satisfy our 2 year craving for the sweet and yummy sugar rush. It dawned on me that we really are aliens living in a strange land. One day, as you tell me in your word, there will be a place of extreme opulence. It will be a place I will feel at home in because you will be there. Thank you.

Thank you for directing us to the charming Italian restaurant for lunch. The food was yummy, the prices wonderful, and we got water with ice cubes! What a treat!

Finally, thank you for allowing Hyde Park to be just a short trip across the street from our Italian dining experience. The rest of our day was spend sitting on a park bench, strolling through a rose garden and soaking up some London sun. Thank you knowing that the great outdoors makes me feel like a person.

I know I already said “finally” but I need to add another “finally”… and this time I really mean it. Thank you for today, being Mother’s Day, to be postponed to next week by my family. As we all slept in, and are tired and listless, we needed the day to recuperate. Thank you that they want to make my day special … and are willing to give me next Sunday to properly celebrate Mother’s Day. They are just terrific!

I’m so glad I am your daughter. You do all things well.

See ya …
Christina

You’ll be happy to know that I am recovering nicely from my tragic circumstances of last week. You know, the loss of the 1 Euro coffee, the heartache, the trauma … it’s getting better every day. In fact, today I may actually be totally over my loss. I find myself sitting in Starbucks, enjoying my Venti Vanilla Latte that is totally … FREE!! Free always trumps 1 Euro limited time offers! FREE makes my heart sing! FREE makes it OK to buy at 3.50 Euro yummy treat because I’m not having to pay 5 Euro for my Venti Vanilla Latte … not that I would buy a 3.50 Euro yummy treat because I’m trying to watch my weight … thanks to Libby and the constant reminder that she’s used to me being … the “c” word (see two posts ago for further clarification, if you dare!).

Yep. Sipping my Venti Vanilla Latte, chillin’ to jazz music, watching people muddle about from my lofty view from Starbucks onto the street below me = sweet bliss. This may be what my heaven looks like on earth.

To top it all off, all offspring are being farmed out to other locations until about 5:30 p.m. this evening. Addie Girl is busy with her production of YOU’RE A GOOD MAN CHARLIE BROWN (check out the photo box below), Precious Parker is going home with a friend for a birthday sleepover and Little Libbers received word this morning that the brave Mom of her friend, Abby, is going to take her home until 5:30 p.m. All just feels right with the world!

And, as if all the above couldn’t be more blessing than a girl can stand in one day, this also marks the beginning of our Easter break! We have a week and 2 days off of school to do whatever our little heart’s desire!

Now, for all of you who have been keeping up with our VISA status … things are progressing. Trying to give you enough info yet trying to keep things vague for security reasons, we are waiting for some final documents and then, hopefully, will have the official papers in our hot little hands. Prayers to Jesus for smoothness in the final stages would be warmly welcomed and encouraged.

Speaking of prayers, this Sunday Addison leaves with a team from her school to go on a mission trip to Romania. The team will be doing light construction work and helping with a local orphanage. Romania is a vast and beautiful country but very poor with a depressed economy. They will be staying in primitive housing with limited use to WC. I’m looking forward to what God does for her and the rest of the team on this trip. For me, as a Momma, this is one step closer to Addison fulfilling what seems to be a calling to work with children. One day Romania, the next day Africa. I think it’s just a matter of time.

And, speaking of time, I’m gonna enjoy mine for the rest of this morning. She’s not gone yet. And I think I hear another Vanilla Latte calling my name!

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So glad to hear the news and rejoicing with you!!! All God's answers are Good, but I can't help to like "I'm going to keep you here for a while" the best -:)

This was an email I received this week. It came in response to an email I sent that declared God had answered our prayers regarding the granting of a VISA (not as in credit card but as in permission to stay in country. Ha,ha!) Isn’t that a great response … “all God’s answers are good”?

After she (my friend Rose, whom I have stolen numerous pearls of wisdom from) wrote that … I felt challenged. What if the VISA prayer had been answered “no”. Then what?

I just feel like a statement needs to be made as many have journeyed along with us on this VISA road. I felt God had asked me to ask Him for a miracle. I felt He challenged me to pray that in October 2010 … and confirmed the direction of that prayer this past week. However, the point needs to be made that had a promise to trust for a miracle had not come … and had the “good „answer been “no VISA”… God would still be good as well as His plan.

I guess I’m just hearing God say He is good (punct). Punct is the German word for period. It can be stated at the end of a sentence, but also when a point has been made. For me, saying “punct” carries along with it a Germanic heartiness that communicates a brick wall has just fallen and the point has thus been made irrevocable – unmoved – set. VISA granted, VISA denied, God is good – punct!

I recently heard a believing in Jesus person pray that all would go well in a certain situation. I echo that prayer … but then pondered on it a little longer. As humans, our flesh cries that all goes well. We cry that our children feel no pain, our car starts when we turn the key, our test scores pass, our church gets built, our parties succeed, our faith increases, our work gets rewarded and the list goes on and on. Yet if I’m honest … I’ve seen the face of my Jesus more clearly and felt the fear of an awesome God more strongly when my children felt pain, my car didn’t start, my test scored bombed, the church collapsed, my party was canceled, my faith weak, and my work unnoticed.

I will embrace that God hears and answers all my prayers. I will announce that He is worthy of all my praise. I will shout that my God is an awesome God. I will praise Him because He acted on my behalf. However, the next time I cry that all goes well and it doesn’t go as my feeble mind imagined … I’m begging God to give me the spiritual fortitude to be just as convinced that He heard and answered my prayer as I am in this moment with an approved VISA in my hand.

It’s a journey … and one well worth the steps.
It’s filled with tears of struggle and success.
Yet when into the eyes of my Jesus I gaze
and the only thing that matters is His embrace …
I will melt and fall with sheer relief
because I'll be home and home will be sweet.

I’m gonna just cut right to the case ... we took our girls to London yesterday. It was a day trip, waking up at 4:30 a.m. to catch a 7:00 a.m. flight returning at 11:00 p.m. last night. We kept it a surprise and sprung it on them once we arrived at the airport. Keeping it a surprise was no small undertaking. They asked questions, peeked into my purse (no names, PARKER!), and harassed friends – but to no avail!

Many years ago we decided to quit giving gifts to the girls. The grounds for this was for no spiritual conviction … we are just plain cheap! Not really, but kinda! We’ve been blessed w/wonderful and giving relatives, namely grandparents, who generously give to our girls. Because of limited resources, we were giving gifts that ended up in the bottom of the toy box or the give-a-way sack a year later. So, in a stroke of genius, one of the parents in this family (clear my throat to signal a hint that is was me) came up with the idea of giving “experiences” … and thus a tradition was birthed.

Every weekend in December, that’s exactly what we do – give experiences and the London trip was the kick-off for this season!

We did a hop-on-hop-off bus tour of London which took us to all the highlights there are to see in the old town. You name it, we saw it yesterday:

The London Eye,
Buckingham Palace,
Big Ben (Bus guide: “Can anyone tell me what time it is?” Chris: (looking at his watch) “12:10 pm, sir.” Bus guide: “Thanks.” (looking up at Big Ben). For those of you not up with your London trivia, Big Ben is the biggest clock like in … the world!
Westminster Abbey,
Tower Bridge,
Tower of London,
London Bridge (thank God it wasn’t falling),
Trafalgar Square,
St. Paul’s Cathedral,
Horse Guard’s Parade,

And a lot of other places … like the place Princess Dianna wed Prince Charles which also happens to also be the place that the old woman fed the pigeons in the film Mary Poppins. Speaking of pigeons, they carry over 90 diseases and so the city of London had to do something about the pigeon population at Trafalgar square. I don’t know what they did … (makes you wonder) but I didn’t see any pigeons in Trafalgar square yesterday. Hmmm … sounds shady to me.

Anyway, yesterday was an awesome day. One that will go down in the memory books of our heads and hearts. It was the stuff that memories are made of … one that I won’t soon forget.

P.S. If you are a praying to Jesus person, the reason we went to London was for VISA purposes. You may ask privately what that is all about … but suffice it to say we’d appreciate your prayers for a VISA miracle in January.