Crossing the Sea: London was fun-don!

We had a wonderful time visiting with our close friend Ash in London. When we headed down on the train, it was exciting as we remembered that our trip was free! This was such a special treat, because every bit of the money we saved for exploring around Europe was used during the visa debacle. God provided this fun trip for us along with a great visit with a dear friend and her family.

We arrived in London late Saturday night, and when we got there, I wasn't feeling too well, and Micah had a yucky cough. My first thought when we stepped into Ash's sister's house was maybe we shouldn't have come. I mean, we aren't even officially registered with a doctor, and what if Micah's cough causes her such discomfort that we need emergency help. But after praying off and on for several hours, we decided to let go and trust The Lord with our precious, coughing baby. Kirk and I finally rested, because she wasn't wheezing, she was eating fine, and she fell asleep peacefully. In the midst of my crazy new mom anxiety, I was reminded that God loves Micah waaaaay more than I ever could, and He has her little life in His hands. I realize that this is small potatoes compared to some of the lessons we have yet to learn on our parenting journey-haha! Kirk and I prayed that if we needed to call a doctor, The Lord would give us the discernment we needed. From that point, we slept from about 4:30-7 am, and we were honestly relieved when it was time to get out of bed, because we were tired of the ups and downs that happened throughout the midnight battle between the Sleep/Cough Showdown of 2013!

The morning was relaxed as we woke up to a nice English breakfast made my Ash's brother-in-law. It was interesting chatting with him about his line of work in the police force in London. Apparently there is rarely any gun crime in the whole UK (must be nice). But, there is the occasionally "bum stabbing" that takes place as initiation into local gangs. Now, don't get me wrong, stabbing anyone is horrible, but when I found out the location and the minor injures of the aforementioned stabbing (the hind parts- hehe) I cracked up laughing! I was nervous that I laughed, but was at ease to see Ash's BIL, Liam, laughing, too! Sometimes you just gotta laugh (or cry) at the crazy things people do!

London was amazing! Some highlights: London Eye, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, St. James Park and pelican-feedings, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, and Hamley's toy store. What an amazing way to spend the day! It felt like Christmas! I told Kirk and Ash that I didn't want the day to end! It was seriously one of the best days I have had in a long time!

I'm so thankful that God helped me power through my anxiety/worried-sickness the night before so that we could enjoy the gift He provided for us through this trip. We may not have many more getaways like that during our year here, so we were beyond grateful for such a short and sweet adventure.

Check out some pics from our day:

Piccadilly Circus

Buckingham Palace guard in winter gear (apparently the red jackets aren't warm enough :) )

Westminster Abbey on Remembrance Sunday (a day when the fallen British veterans are honored)

The London Eye

Micah is telling the lego "Queen" what she wants for Christmas. This picture was taken at the most incredible toy store we have ever seen- Hamley's on Regent Street. It has 5 stories of eye-poppin' fun!