Pretend Thanksgiving!

Last Thursday was the truly tradition American holiday of Thanksgiving, celebrating the blessing that the Native Americans were to the early pilgrims landing in a new world after escaping the religious restraint that Great Britain had on them. So here I am in our "motherland" missing our American pride and tradition of stuffing ourselves to bursting points, watching American football and being with family. We decided that improvisation was in order - Val called up some of their friends here in the UK and we planned to have them over for an American Thanksgiving in England! We ended up hosting six guests (all such fun people to get to know!) to show them how we Americans get festive :) Val and I had picked up some colorful construction paper and lots of sparkly glitter to make decorations! We cut out feathers and leaves and glittered them up along with some real leaves and walnuts from our backyard. The glittery feathers hung from the ceiling in between twinkling Christmas lights creating a fun, cozy, festive atmosphere in our little dining room. Dan and I slaved in the kitchen under the great management of Val who led the show! Our menu wasn't missing a dish - a slow oven-cooked turkey, yummy stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, sweet potato dish covered with browned marshmallows and pecans, cover biscuit-like rolls (grandma's fantastic recipe!), and pumpkin pie with vanilla ice cream! Our British friends introduced us to a yummy cider like juice made of pear and elderflower which was surprisingly delicious! After filling ourselves as full as you can imagine we rallied in both a Bananagrams/Speed Scrabble and Spoons tournament!!! Not to brag but I did get a few wins under my belt! :P   It was quite the English Thanksgiving experience.

Work days :)

I feel like one lucky girl to be given the privilege to live in England while getting paid! But that doesn't come without a little work :) Dan and I have started working in the greenhouse about a 25 minute drive from our village. We did a lot of rearranging of plants last week to organize our space (over 2,000 strawberry plants!). This week we have started the process of cross-breeding the different strawberry plant varieties. It has been great so far to learn from Dan's knowledge and experience. It's also such a fun environment to work around living plants most the day. And, though we can see the cloudy or rainy skies above us, we are kept comfortably warm with the greenhouse heater that is meant to keep the plants flourishing in the winter time! We will most likely get to visit some partners and clients throughout Europe over the next few weeks, so I am looking forward to that as well! So far it has been quite an adventure :)

London bridges!

So, it has taken me a while to get this on, but I wanted to tell you all a bit about my trip to London last Monday! The city was amazing! - like New York or San Francisco, yet something totally different. We took the hour long ride on the high speed train (up to 120mph!) from Canterbury into London and hopped on the underground or tube to get to where we needed to be! We decided to do the original tour of the city from the top of a double-decker tour bus, how else when in London?! The queen's home at Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Big Ben, Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square, and the River Thames were just a few of the sights that held my attention whilst (common British word!) whizzing past! It was incredible to see these structures and landmarks in person. Dan, Val, Audrey, Dan's grandparents and I all enjoyed a delicious lunch at a pretty posh French restaurant in Covent Garden. Four courses and nearly two hours later we toured a bit more of the city on foot and headed to England's most expensive department store - Harrod's. To top off a wonderful day I got to meet my friend Brandi for a little while there in London where she is studying abroad! It was great to catch up and hopefully we will make another trip to see each other again before she heads back to the states :) London really is a beautiful city - though FREEZING in the winter months! We made the quick trek back home to Canterbury by train and enjoyed the rest of the evening in our warm little cottage :)

Sunshine!...in an English winter?

It is freezing cold and the days are really short - I think the sun rises around 8 (though I have gotten up at 10:30 and 11:30 so I'm not really sure...) and then sets around 4 or 5!! BUT we had SUNSHINE almost the whole day yesterday though today the sky has stayed a dark gray. Val and Audrey and I took a nice hour walk today from our village of Bridge to Bishopsbourne about a mile away. It was a really beautiful stroll on this tiny road (the British consider it a 2-way street, however only one car could really fit driving down this road at a time without smashing a sheep fence). Yes, there were giant pastures of sheep on both sides!! I will have to try to post a video because it really was as ridiculous/beautiful as you would imagine it to be :) 

God is already teaching me so much in just needing to rely on Him when I'm lonely and confused and afraid. I'm learning a lot about His grace and just the role it plays in forgiveness and Christ-like living. Please pray that I focus on the right things here! I love you and miss you all back home and far away!

My First Day in the UK!

So here is a short snippet of what went on that first day in England! Dan, Val, Audrey and I arrived to our quaint little holiday let called Primrose Cottage after an exhausting day of 4.5 hours driving (thank you greg), 10 hours of flying, and one more hour and 45 minutes of driving! To say the least were ready to be fed, bathed, and put into bed ASAP. We did take the time to walk down to the local pub, The Red Lion Inn, for what we thought was going to be a quick bite to eat (which ended up taking over an hour...but the food was delicious!)

After nearly 13 hrs of sleep we ventured out to Morrison's, the grocery store in Canterbury (our cottage is in the village of Bridge 3miles outside of Cant.). We walked around our street and took some more videos which I will have to figure out how to best post. This afternoon we visited the greenhouse where I will be doing the most work with Dan while we are here. Audrey has been great so far! So fun actually to have around :) On our way back from the nursery we went south toward Dover and saw the Dover Castle lit up (yes it's dark here at 4:30pm) and the port at dover where all the big carrier ships come in and ferries take you over to the coast of France! I guess on a clear day you can see across the English channel to France. We saw some lights that Dan said could be the French coast! We are going back in the daytime next week when Dan's other grandparents come to visit. Besides all that we are just getting things together here at Primrose cottage :) Today went really fast but I have a feeling the days will soon start to feel much longer. Please pray that I trust in God's plan and that I would use every minute of my time here to glorify Him!