On Jane...and Dickens ;)
Hello Everyone, Thank you so much for your prayers. I can feel them. Please keep them coming. I don't know if I have ever fully appreciated the amazing support system that God has blessed me with in you guys. Thanks.
Earlier, before my frantic walk by myself at night to an internet cafe, where I used the internet in a very odd little store that seemed to sell fake leather boots and clothing from Asia as well, I was buying a sandwich at a grocery store and the cashier asked me, worriedly, if I was happy.
Whoa!
Not only have I never been asked that before, but I realized how very miserable and homesick I was, more than I had ever expected to be. However, the Lord is proving over and over how very much He loves me and how He delights in me. I am so thankful for Him and for all of you. I really am looking forward to coming home soon (pray that the days would pass with ease if you please) but I am also going to attempt to enjoy and let you enjoy through me the things that I am seeing and experiencing.
So, a couple of days ago, I stood upon Dicken's grave in Westminster Abbey. Lynn pointed out that this must have been gratifying for me since I'm not a Dicken's fan. No. For your information, I did not dance on it. Great Expectations has yet to be read. Dicken's Day is Monday. AHHH!!!!
Today, we got to spend a short time in Jane Austen's home in the town of Chawton. It was amazing. I kid you not. It had snowed last night in the area and I felt as if I were stepping into a little piece of the past. Her writing table, all scratched and worn from much use, standing at the same place it had been at when we was living, wow. Tingles.
We also went to Stonehenge today. One word. Freezing. I got several dramatic and silly pictures of me though and asked the people taking them to please try to get the pretty stones in the background.
Yesterday was the British Library, perhaps the first thing that I REALLY enjoyed on this trip. Original handwritten manuscripts of Jane Eyre and Persuasion, a wonderfully organized writer's notebook by Virginia Woolf, the Gutenberg Bible, and orginal handwritten lyrics on the backs of envelopes by the Beatles.
Also, yesterday was Covent Garden and we stood under the pillars of St. Paul's church where the action of My Fair Lady begins.
So that is what is going on here. Please write all of you when you can, these snatches of home are invaluable to me!
Let the shout outs begin!
Hope! Thanks so much for your email. I got here on Monday, dealt with homesickness and jet lag (still going through it) but I'm doing well. I appreciate your notes so much! Please write as you can!
Grandmother! Your notes were so sweet. I'm glad that you're enjoying my blog! I don't know about being Cara Austen though, I'd have to marry someone with the last name Austen! Thanks so much for your prayer and support. Please keep it up!
Lynn! My brother says that Veggie joke all the time! Thanks for your wonderful email my friend! Please give my best birthday wishes to our Jo and I expect to hear all about your drama as it unfolds! Please keep writing me! I love it.
Love you all!
Until next time...