Long time, no write!

So it's been like a whole week since I've blogged! You'd think my weeks were getting busier or something?!?! I think I left off last week after an amazing service at ChristChurch London. Okay, so Monday and Tuesday were regular class days. We listened to a two hour long lecture from a local museum tour guide about British art. Let's just say that was the longest two hour lecture we've had thus far! I think if I was a little more into art, I would have enjoyed it more, but for now, it was cool to look at the pictures. Other than that, I was bored to tears. The next day Laura and I left the flat early and met up with Mr. Fogle, a man from my church, Mt. Carmel! He is a pilot and was kind enough to bring a package to me from Dad and Mom. Laura and I met him for breakfast where we chatted about various things such as what great sights there are to see in London and what foods to try, and what foods not to try! There's this stuff called "Vegemite" or "Marmite" that is basically liquified yeast extract that they use on toast. Mr. Fogle said to try it at least once, just to say we'd tried it! I enjoyed catching up on home news and of course getting to see someone from the states! It's so weird to see someone from one bubble of my life in the bubble of London! It was so good to get the package too - it was a taste of home with my Peanut Butter M&M's, homemade pickles, and Kraft Ranch dressing. Thank you so much, Dad and Mom for the great stuff you sent! And thank you to Mr. Fogle for bringing it over the pond with you! We parted ways with Mr. Fogle and went to meet the rest of our group for a tour of Tate Britain - an art museum. The same man who gave the lecture the night before was our tour guide, and he did a marvelous job, but he took us to the same paintings we'd seen on Powerpoint the night before! I think Laura and I will have to go back to take some time to browse around ourselves. We weren't allowed to take pictures, so let's just say that there are some very talented people whose artwork is displayed in the museum!

Laura and I walked down to Big Ben to get a picture of the two of us...but were royally ignored when we asked a girl walking by to take a picture! We finally got a man to take one but he cut off the top part of Big Ben, so I took it by the extended arm method! It's the one at the top of the page.

That night, Laura and I and our friend Elisabeth went to see a play in one of the "fringe" theatres of London - basically characterized by a very small theatre with a very small cast. We saw "Lizzy, Darcy, and Jane" - it was a Jane Austen play about Jane's struggle with writing "Pride and Prejudice." It was very good and I enjoyed it even though I've never read anything by Jane Austen. Here's a picture of the whole cast.

Thursday we had class like normal, then relaxed and tried to do homework so we would have a free weekend! Yay! But the best laid plans of Keilah and Laura are doomed to failure. We did relax, but not so much on the homework. But that's okay. And it was rainy. Ugh.

Friday was also a lazy day, except this time we actually got up and did something! We walked to the National Army Museum from our flat. It took about 45 minutes to an hour to get there. Laura had to do a report on the American Revolution exhibit at the museum. It was interesting to read the British understanding of the war, making comments about how a group of angry "rebels" tossed all the British tea overboard, and how the loss of the colonies wasn't as big of a deal as the British thought it would be. But everyone has a different side of the story. I'm sure they would get just as big of a kick out of our museums!

The exhibit they had there that interested me the most was called "Faces of War" and was about the perfection of facial reconstructive surgery during and after WWI and WWII. The soldiers were suffering more non-fatal facial injuries than ever before, so a special hospital was set up in London just for facial reconstruction. It showed before and after pictures, as well as pictures in between while the men were healing. It was very interesting to me, especially after having been in Anatomy this last semster. I'm not as grossed out about surgery and things of that nature as I used to be. This display was not for the weak stomached. Laura hurried through. :o)

We walked by the Albert Bridge on the way back to our flat and were delighted to discover that it is lighted at night! Here's a few cool pictures of the bridge over the River Thames. (pronounced "Tehmz" - unlike I thought!) We saw a plaque near a school during our walk that said that Beatrix Potter, writer of the famous "Peter Rabbit" stories, lived in a cottage where the school is now. Cool! Also, we walked by three car dealerships. One was Mercedes-Benz, one was Ferrari, and one was Lambourghini! Let's just say a price tag of $160,000 was on the Ferrari, and only about $300,000 on the Lambourghini! So I took a picture of each because I figure that's the closest I'll ever get to one!

Saturday we took a group trip to Leeds Castle. It was once the home of Henry VIII, but has been inhabited as a real home all the way up until the early 2000s. It was very old looking outside. We were given about 5 hours there, but were only promised a 45 minute tour of the castle! So Laura and I took our time in the duckery - which was literally what it sounded like, a place where they raise ducks! There were so many of them! There were also peacocks roaming around randomly. We ate the lunch we brought with us and enjoyed looking at the gardens and green green grass, then walked to the aviary! That was pretty cool too. We saw some awesome looking birds. I took lots of pictures and hopefully the internet will cooperate with me enough to show you the really awesome ones! After a walk through of the aviary, we went into the hedge maze. It was really hard! We walked around for about a half hour before we gave up and the lady in the middle of the maze in a tower-type thing told us where to go. There was a grotto right underneath this tower thing and we went down there and looked around. It was made of stone, but had been overlaid with seashells in all types of patterns and designs.

When we came out of the grotto, they were doing a flying demonstration with a few birds of prey they had trained. The first was an owl, and the picture is a bunch of children volunteering to have this owl fly straight over their heads! I love looking at the reactions on the kids' faces! We walked around the castle after that inside, and got back to the bus just in time for a long trip home, without any sleep! I never realized how hard it is to sleep sitting up... Here's a few more great pictures of Leeds. The one of me with my muscles up is me being victorious over the maze! We conquered it! (After a little help from someone...)

Sunday was another wonderful day at church. We went to ChristChurch London again and are starting to connect names and faces of the friends we've made. We found out about their "life groups" that are offered at various homes throughout the week. We got some information about the one closest to us and plan to go try it out! I'm anxious to make some British friends who I know share the same faith! The speaker spoke about prayer and we had a group of three praying, along with all the other groups in the church. It was pretty awesome to have all those 400+ people praying at once.

Monday was eventful. I got up at a regular time, did my devotions and got ready to go to class. I had a few extra minutes and decided to check my email, only to receive a message from Kaleb saying, "Check your messages. Dad called me around 1am and said that Mom is on the way to UVA. They think she'd had a stroke." Talk about a confused moment! I read and re-read the email about 6 times and said, "WHAT?" After reading it that it was indeed Mom, and I hadn't misread it, I burst into tears and called Kaleb, even though it was only 3am there. He told me pretty much all he knew, and said, "I wish I was there to hug you." That meant more to me than I could say. So I prayed and cried and prayed some more. Laura prayed with me too, and she stayed here through our first class. She went to her second class at 9:30, while I anxiously checked my email over and over. I had a saving moment when God gave me a sense of peace. I mean, I was still upset, but God kind of let me know that He had the situation under control. Me worrying wouldn't make anything better. So I spent the time praying for God to be with Mom. Little did I know, she was praying the same thing for me! I didn't hear anything new until a little later when Kaleb texted me and said that it was a minor stroke, and that it effected her right side. She had slow speech and was very dizzy. It still didn't clear a whole lot up for me because I wasn't sure if that meant they were worried she'd have another, or if she was stable.

I stayed in the flat until I decided it was time to take a walk and get out. I went for a walk in Kensington Gardens and called Karen. I sat on a bench by a pond filled with geese, ducks, and swans and talked to her for probably 40 minutes. It was good to talk to her - Karen has a way of being blunt about things that put it all in perspective. Thanks Karen for the support and love. She was closer to understanding the distance issue with me, her being in Michigan! By that time, though, God had definitely given me the peace I needed and the reassurance that Mom would be okay. I also got to hear the boys say "hello" and "I love you," a great medicine for my heart. Carter told me to send him a picture of a double decker bus. Look for it soon, Carter!

Anyway, I got to talk to Dad later that night, and felt much better after that. He answered all my questions and listened while I cried. It was good to talk to him after getting secondhand information all day. I thank Kaleb and Kelly and Karen so much for keeping me updated on everythhing with Mom. It was so frustrating to be so far away...I even looked at the cost of flights for me to go home if I needed to. I got lots of messages from people at Bluefield saying they were praying for Mom, and messages on Facebook from various friends from all over! Thanks to you all for your prayer and support! Monday wasn't a good day, but I know that God was watching out for Mom and doing exactly what He wanted to do. I still don't understand why, but I trust Him!

Tuesday I went back to classes as regular. The professors and the director of the program knew about Mom and all asked me about her. The classes were fine, and I came home to take a much-needed nap. We grocery shopped, then went to our BLC lecture on Tuesday night about British theatre. Very informative - we learned about what a young student needs to do to pursue an acting career here. And I got to talk to Mom! It was so good to hear her voice. I only cried a little and talked with her about everything that went on - from the helicopter ride to the many ways God protected my mother when things could have gone the very opposite way. She got some great witnessing opportunities while there too. God truly is an amazing God - I don't think I can ever say that enough! I got to bed fairly early, despite the "Toga Party" going on in the flat below us. We had a great field trip the next day - I'll try to get the post about Warwick Castle and Stratford-Upon-Avon up in the next few days, but I figured this was enough for now! Love you all!