Good Tuesday, everyone! I have to tell you that today I would have traded my beloved peanut butter for one day with a car. It rained all day long. Now…. rain is one thing, but rain and cold is another. I had so many things on my list to do today, but I just wasn’t willing to do them in the rain and cold. Even finding the cure for my dark roots wasn’t enough to lure me out of my comfy pajamas and out in the cold. But, had I had a car…no problem, it would have been just like at home. Here, even though the bus system is fantastic, it still requires getting to the bus stop and waiting for one to come by.
So, this was one of those days when we pounded away on our dueling computers. Nothing else accomplished, but projects moved forward. My fingers found their way to page 48 of 304 pages (Did I just say 304 pages? Oh, my!) in my great-grandfather’s historical records. Barely a dent! Have you ever gone to look for one photo of a family member and three or four hours later, after you’ve smiled and cried over hundreds of pictures, you drag yourself away? The photo you were looking for may or may not be in your hand, but who cares? You just had a few hours of seeing your precious children or parents or siblings as they were in the past making the present seem all the more precious. I’m finding that recording my great-grandpas words has opened the door to an unlimited amount of history and my new best friend, Google, is always a willing accomplice in helping me. Truly, one “googled” name can lead to hours of reading and researching as I check spelling and confirm facts.
We did get in our last episode of Harry Potter last night. (Remember we stay up late to hear from our kids who are six hours earlier at home. Kids, call us.) I had to facebook a true Harry Potter fan, Dena Leasure, (her husband’s name is Harry, maybe that’s why she’s such a fan:)) to see when the rest of the movies will come out. Apparently, we’ve got a few weeks to wait for the grand finale.
Tonight’s activity was a lecture at the college. I told you guys in an earlier email that lectures are typically forty-five minutes of a professor reading a paper he has written and this one was exactly that. The topic was The Danger of Just Reading the Bible: Orthodoxy and Christology by Dr. Stephen Holmes from the University of St. Andrews. His paper was very enlightening, but it was extremely hard to pay attention to. Besides the use of unfamiliar terminology, the lack of any jokes, the absence of anything interactive like a power point, his British accent was so pretty it was distracting. I thought I was listening to Shakespeare and could have easily been lulled to sleep. I had to take notes to force myself to pay attention to the topic. The question and answer session after the lecture was better for my busy brain. I knew I might be in trouble tonight as before the lecture I found myself in a discussion in the common room with three brilliant people, one a scientist and one a theologian and the other a lawyer, over the need for daylight saving time. Believe me, there were no comments like, “It gets dark too early.” or “Do you spring forward or spring backward?” That I could have handled. This discussion involved time travel and the theory of relativity. Way over my head! Fortunately it was soon time for the lecture, so the discussion ended and all I did was smile appropriately.
Korie and Bella just called and Bella has the flu—again! She looked so cute with her little snaggle-tooth grin--coughing like crazy. Pray for her to heal quickly and not pass it on to others. Korie got to tell us about mom and John Luke’s trip from their perspective back to her and sounds like they had a great time.
One point that continues to come up in our tours over here is how uneducated the common people were until somewhere in the middle of the 18th century. The lecturer stated tonight that people had a hard time resisting whatever was the idea of day in religious beliefs as they had no other source to rely on than the more educated person telling them what the Bible said. How thankful I am that we have the ability to read for ourselves what God’s word says. How sad that many times we don’t take advantage of that privilege.
“We're ready to study God, eager for God-knowledge. As sure as dawn breaks, so sure is his daily arrival. He comes as rain comes, as spring rain refreshing the ground." Hosea 6:1
No new photos, just one more from our time with John Luke.
Have a great evening.
Hugs, 2 Mama
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