Bon Voyage!

Yes, indeed. The long awaited journey will begin on Monday, September 9th at approximately 8 p.m. when we soar away on a plane bound for Heathrow airport across the Atlantic. Travellers will include my brother Galen, my dear friend Victoria and me. This will be by far the most extensive trip I have taken away from the farm and my family, as well as my first trip outside the US of A. The furthest I've been away from home was in Hawaii 4 years ago (an adventure chronicled here) which, though quite far away, still counts as the US.

Anyhow, thanks to Victoria's painstaking planning and organization abilities (for which I am exceedingly grateful) we have a fantastic itinerary prepared that includes everything we want to do. Our main base will be London, England and the surrounding environs with a weekend in Scotland and a weekend in Paris to boot.

In addition to her superior planning skills, I am also thankful that Victoria is fluent in French. From what I have heard, English speakers are not as common in Paris as you might suppose. I speak a little, about enough to order myself a croissant and tell someone to buzz off. 

Such useful phrases.

Most importantly, I am coming into this trip with a new lesson I've been learning of late, and that lesson is this:

We can be as content as we make our minds up to be. 

Being content is a choice. 

"This is the day which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it" 
(Psalm 118:24)

So, even if

we miss a train or connection,
something  is closed that we were planning on visiting,
it rains profusely,
we are pick-pocketed*
things aren't as we thought they'd be.....

*I am, however, the proud owner of a fancy schmancy messenger bag that is, by all accounts, thieve-proof. Bring it, pickpockets. Also, it is quite unfortunate that I can't bring along CJ, so I'll be on my own with regards to that front.
(CJ = Calamity Jane, my .380 Sig Sauer)

As with life in general, it's really all about enjoying every moment and the little things, even if things don't go exactly as planned. 

Taking joy in sitting a little cafe sipping tea. 
Watching the little british grandma walk down the street with her bag of groceries. 
Listening to the lilt of the British accents. 
Walking the streets of Edinburgh.

If we are taking in and are thankful for the "little things" that we know for sure we will see and experience, how much more so we going to appreciate the grand cathedrals, castles, artwork, and architecture that we have planned to take in. I am hoping to journal a great deal and blog some when I can, as I love writing and this is a great trip to indulge myself. :) This is, in part, the reason for this post. I will be chronicling our adventures on the 18 day trip right here on my blog. 

I have found that keeping a written record is such a wonderful way of using the medium of words to lock away memories and experiences so they can be savored and re-lived later on.
However, being in the possession of journals from my childhood remind me that some memories are of such a nature that we don't want to remember them.

Spilling a drink at a manners class on the instructor's daughter. That time when I was 8 years old and I experienced a wardrobe malfunction involving a two piece swimsuit and a diving board. Getting stuck in Grandma's laundry hamper and almost losing my finger.

You get the idea. Of course, I can laugh at such stories now, but at the time it was a whole different story.

Still, I'm a firm believer in journalling. The ability to be able to look back on events to see the Lord's faithfulness outweighs any obstacle and is the primary benefit.

So, now onto some pictures of the places that we'll be visiting, Lord willing.

         
                                        Edinburgh, Scotland. They have CASTLES! :)

                                                                 Scottish highlands

                                                                       The Louvre

                                                                    Bath, England

                                                                  St. Giles Cathedral
                                     

                                                  Hastings Battlfield and Battle Abbey.
                                                           Normans or Saxons? :)

                                                              And, of course, PARIS!

Stay tuned!