Thanksgiving Thoughts

Dear Family and Friends,

I wanted to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving and send my love! I am so thankful for such supportive and loving family and friends. I thank God for the opportunities and blessings he has showered on us in the past year and throughout our lives.

Psalm 16: 5-6, 11 "Lord, you have assignmed me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance...You have made know to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand"

Philippians 4:8 "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, what is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent and praiseworthy - think about such things."

Being far away from home this Thanksgiving makes me even more thankful for the special relationships I have with each of you. I've met so many people from all over the world here in Cambridge, I see how their backgrounds have shaped them into the people they are today. You all have help mold me into someone who values people, love Jesus, and has confidence to do the things he puts on my heart. I thank God for you! I'd love to hear what you are thankful for this holiday!

In thinking towards Christmas, I received this video from a friend and it struck a cord with me. I thought I would pass it on to challenge many of you who are feeling a frustrated about the material aspect of the day. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVqqj1v-ZBU

SNOW!

I woke up this morning to see the first snow since I've been in Cambridge! My housemate Margita was up and ready to cycle to her faculty to work, when she discovered it was snowing! I understand it is typical for it to snow and leave a light dusting on the ground like this and then the rain comes and washes it away within a few hours. (I wish I could have been able to get some more idyllic photos of the colleges in the City Centre, but we are a 15 minute walk away! I'm sure there will be time for that.)

See the little cartoon I added showing the weather? Confused what Snow, Rain and Sun could be doing together? (Me too!) Apparently it's called 'Sleet Shower' and that is the forcast today at 1:00pm when the Emmanuel College Sprint Regata planned for the novice rowing crews. The Cambridge University Combined Boat Clubs have a flag system on their website for regulating the river - green for go, yellow for caution (meaning novices typically can't go out) and red for no go. It is still green so that means that the race is on! In this particular regata we are supposed to dress up, so one of the girls found reindeer antlers and noses for the 8 of us to wear, along with a Santa costume for our cox Richard! It will be quite appropriate with the snow today. I will report back with pictures if I don't freeze first!

So does anyone have any stories about their first snow sightings? I'd love to hear them!

One down, Five to go!

I submitted my first assignment today and felt victory as I got it in 30 minuntes ahead of the deadline. (haha, I like to live on the edge.) To treat myself, I got some homemade Chocolate Drop cookies from my fav shop the Cambridge Farmer's Outlet where I get all my local veggies and baked treats. I'll have to have a pint with some friends later to celebrate. :) I have 5 more assignments due in 3 weeks, things are starting to heat up, so if you don't see too many blogs you know what I am doing! I'll be back in the States on December 12th until January 4th, so don't be surprised if you see me around SLO.

Moments of Loveliness

Today was cloudy and drizzly but around noon the sun peaked out. This is the view out my upstairs bathroom window of the gardens behind the neighborhood homes...umm pretty.

The first few pictures are of the Christian Graduate Society Cafe event I went to last night at the Graduate Union. They had live music from some guys playing bluegrass :) and a S. Korean girl who played the piano very beautifully. American friends Nicki and Eric Appeal (on the couch) and Michelle (orginally from Texas who is married to Ethan who is from Colorado.) Nicki and Eric, Michelle and Ethan have made me feel at home when nothing else seems familiar, so they are included in my 'moments of loveliness'.

My Nerdy British "Shopper" Bicycle

What do you think?

Happy Birthday Matt

I have to wish my brother a happy belated birthday (it was November 3rd) on here, and show off his beautiful family! Matt you are an impressive 31 year old man of God, I love you and respect you so much! My nephew Luke and niece Ella are the poster children for future members of Cambridge University (They are geniuses, right Syb?! :))

Guy Falke Day Cookies

In honor of Guy Falkes Day (see below), I decided to make some cookies. The recipe is the Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe modified to add 1 cup of ground Cinnamon Oats made locally in East Anglia and nice plump raisins and dried cranberries instead of chocolate chips. The cinnamon in the oats gives it a nice autumn taste...yum!

Here's my French classmate's humorous summary of what Guy Falkes day is all about:

A few hundred years ago Mr Fawkes attempted to burn / blow out the house of parliament (or a building of similar standard) for some reason I am not totally aware of (possibly something to do with religion or an unhealthy interest in burning things). He failed and the current King, who incidentally didn't really like this type of initiatives, ordered his execution and subsequent quartering. Since then the people of Britain celebrate every year with fireworks and in general burning things (which is fun!). Now depending of where you live these celebrations can kick off several weeks before the 5th November...with kids fancy dressed and accompanied with a dummy representing Mr Fawkes (which will be ultimately be burnt) begging for money to buy fireworks.

The American description is that it is like the 4th of July...an excuse to set off fire works and have a carnival!! There will be a fireworks display at 7:30pm tonight in Midsummer's Common for all to enjoy, then a huge bonfire will be lit. I am excited to see what its like and will hopefully get some photos to post. Wish me luck that I don't get hit by a loose firework! :)

Calvary Chapel Cambridge

I have spoken to many of you about the sweet little Calvary that has been started here by Joey and Tiffany Rosek, a couple from the US. Joey is from Southern California, and hails from Costa Mesa, so its nice to have a bible teacher from a place I am so familiar with. :) He is a dynamic and passionate teacher of the Word, and also is a really gifted pastor in caring for all of us in the fellowship. He called me the other day just to read me some Scripture and encourage me, I appreciate him and Tiffany so much! These photos are of the "bring and share" (potluck) lunch we have every first Sunday of the month. There are about half Americans from the local military bases and universities and half British or other nationalities. It's a lovely group of kids, students, singles, couples, parents, and older wise people. Christ's church is so precious all over the world!

Matriculation

On October 28, I was officially accepted as a member of Cambridge University for LIFE. It's been a long, amazing road here and seems to be just the beginning!

These photos show me and my housemates, a sweet Christian friend Fiona from Uganda, and our 60-year old friend Uli from Austria.

Fiona has a huge heart for the war torn children of Northern Uganda, and is studying Special Education so she can go back and help those children who will obviously have learning problems due to what they have been through. Uli is such an inspiration, she is a laywer who's husband owns a firm in Austria who just decided to do something new, despite her age. She is soaking up the Cambridge experience - she even rows with me early in the morning! This is just a few of the amazing people here. Maybe this would inspire some of you to give thought to going back to university? :)