His love is perfected in us....

"When He who was, who is, and who is to come sees each one of us, He sees who we were, who we are, and who will become."

I'm baack! I'm going to try to start blogging again..I forgot how much fun I had with it when I was traveling this summer!  Even through the busyness of the semester, I've found how important it is to step back and reflect.  I've been challenged to memorize the book of James over the next 5 months and through this memorization, the Lord has revealed amazing things so far.  It's been tough because of all the distractions in life, especially college life.  I've been reminded that anything that is quenching God's spirit away from me is not worth it.

Something that has really caught my attention in James is the simple concept of love.  

"If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, 'Love your neighbor as yourself,' you are doing right." James 2:8

"Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."  1 John 4:11-12

Sharing this simple love with one another just as Christ has shown us could be the only bible that others read!  If we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us.  It's so humbling to know that God can live through us just by simply loving one another.  What a desire it is for His love to be made complete in us.  The beautiful thing is that when He comes, He sees who we were, who we are, and who we will become.....and he still loves us. Unconditionally.

Last Week in London

29 days down...3 to go.  This month has flown by!  I can not believe it is almost time to leave London.  I have had a wonderful experience and am so glad I came here this summer....if any of you that are reading this ever have the chance to study abroad, I would DEFINITELY recommend it :)

This week has been pretty low key...I've had a lot of homework to do that is due tomorrow so I've been busy with that.  Tomorrow I will be done with class!  It will be nice to have Saturday and Sunday off to do whatever I want to do.  Here is a quick recap of the week....pretty short!

Tuesday:  My class took a trip to Brighton today.  We went to the Royal Pavilion, home of George IV.  It was very unique in that it was decorated in Chinoiserie...basically all Chinese decoration.  This was a fun place to go and see something a little different!  We ate lunch at a delicious mexican restaurant.  I can't wait to go to La Teraza when I get back to Starkville...that sounds heavenly right about now.  After lunch, we walked down to the beach.  Brighton is a beach town in England but the beaches are very different here.  They don't have sand, but small little rocks instead.  It was barely sunny out but the beach was still packed.  

We have started to fit right in everywhere we go

Wednesday:  For class today we went to the Geffyre museum.  This museum showed how the middle class used to live.  It was interesting because we were able to see what we learned about in class.  We didn't really take that long to look around and made it back to the college for lunch!  I rested/worked on some homework for the rest of the afternoon then headed to see Legally Blonde the Musical!  My friend Shannon and I splurged and bought pretty good seats and I really enjoyed it!  It was just like the movie but with more songs.  I would definitely recommend seeing this!

Thursday:  I have not been feeling well the past few days and today I woke up feeling not so great again :-/  Meg was so kind and went to the pharmacy with me to pick up some medicine.  I came back to the dorm and got ready to tour Buckingham Palace.  I bought my ticket awhile back and have been really looking forward to it!  There were TONS of people.  I guess it was so packed because Buckingham Palace is only opened when the Queen is on vacation and Kate Middleton's wedding dress was on display!  I got to tour 19 staterooms as well as see Kate's dress, shoes, earrings, and learn about the cake. The planning that went into that wedding was complex for sure...it blew my mind all the details that I would have never thought about and the symbolism of small things!  Unfortunately I could not take pictures.  But-everything was very beautiful!!

I am really ready to go home now that all of my friends are back in Starkville.  I got to skype with everyone moving in a few days ago and I got SO excited!  I miss all my friends so so much...I am very blessed with amazing friends.  Can't wait to see everyone!

J'adore Paris!

I had such a great time in Paris this weekend!  I think I can honestly say that Paris is one of my favorite places in the entire world.  It wasn't really what I expected, and it was unlike any other large city I have ever visited!  Here is a recap of the weekend.

Saturday:  After a long night of traveling on the bus, we arrived in Paris at 7am.  I woke up to this outside my window!

It was really amazing to see Paris at sunrise.  We took a bus of the entire city with no tourists around, so I got some great pictures.  After we took the bus tour, we stopped at the Eiffel Tower and had about an hour of free time.  I picked up a painting nearby and tried to get some good shots of the tower!

We left this area and headed to the Louvre with our tour guide.  I was absolutely amazed at how large it was.  I had heard that it was the largest museum in the world but I could never picture how large it was!  It is the home of the Mona Lisa, which draws many many people.  You could easily spend a good 3 days in this place.

She's a lot smaller than I thought!

After the Louvre, we ventured to Notre Dame.  We walked along the River Seine and enjoyed the beautiful weather!  We definitely lucked out on the weather...I wish I had packed shorts this weekend!

After admiring Notre Dame, I enjoyed my first crepe.  I have definitely been missing out!!  If you have never tried one, you should soon.  I had cinnamon and sugar...it was delicious!  After walking around a few shops, I split up from the group and walked along more of the River Seine.  I didn't buy an underground pass for the day because I wanted to walk around and explore a little bit more.  So I had my map and decided to explore on my own.  After about a 20 minute walk along the river, I decided to go to the Musee D'Orsay.  This is another very famous and large museum that features Van Gogh and Monet. I love both of these artists, so I really enjoyed walking around.  Unfortunately I couldn't take any pictures here but I did get some good shots on my stroll down the river!  

Musee D'Orsay

I met back up with the group and we went on a boat cruise and saw more of the city.  This was really nice, because we were all a little tired from the day.  We headed back to the hotel after a long day.  It was located a little outside of Paris, but it was still very nice!

Someone was a little too tired haha

Smallest house in Paris!

Sunday:  Today I went with the tour group to the gardens of Versailles and Montmartre.  The gardens were very beautiful!  I had seen pictures of the gardens of Versailles before, but it was even more incredible in person.

 

We headed to Montmartre after Versailles.  Montmartre is the highest point in Paris!  We were able to look out and have a perfect view of the city.  There was also a guy balancing a soccer ball while doing all of these crazy stretches.  He was very talented.  His name was Iya Traore...i'm sure you can youtube his show and see his videos!  I walked around the stores around Montmartre and got some Tour De France souvenirs.  It just ended last weekend!  I hate I missed it, but I'm glad I still got some souvenirs!

The famous Moulin Rouge

View of Paris!

I was impressed.

After this sadly it was time to leave Paris :(  We met up with the whole group and headed out of the city on the bus!  Our tour guide, Amanda, was incredible.  She definitely made the trip well worth it.  We even had karaoke on the bus ride back....i have a hilarious video of meg singing to the whole bus but it's not uploading! That sums up Paris though...have a great week!

End of Week #3

Happy Friday!  Hope everyone has had a wonderful week.  I definitely have but I have reached the point where I am about ready to come home!  I was able to skype several of my close friends this week and it has gotten me very ready to move back to Starkville.  I am jealous of all of you that are up there!  It is about 4:30pm here and Holly, Haley, Meg and I are leaving for Paris tonight and traveling overnight!  I figured I would give you a recap of the end of this week before I get back on Sunday.

Wednesday:  Today my class went to the Kenwood House.  Most of you probably haven't ever heard of this, but it is a house designed by the famous architect/designer, Robert Adam.  Ever seen the movie Knotting Hill?  This is where it was filmed!  The house is located in the neighborhood where we are living so it was a pretty close walk!  It was free to get in, and the interiors were beautiful.  We couldn't take pictures of the inside but I did get a few from the outside!

The beautiful Hampstead Heath!  It is one of the most beautiful areas in London.

After touring the house, I walked around Hampstead and ate lunch and shopped around a bit.  After lots of walking I came back to the dorm and had a little bit of downtime before dinner.  Meg and I ate dinner at the cafeteria then left to go shopping.  We were heading to Selfridges, our favorite store in London, and discovered the brand new Forever 21 that had just opened that day!  We were so excited.  The store was really nice!  It seemed like the clothing was a little more upscale than the ones in America!  We then went to Selfridges for the rest of the night.  I bought my mom some British perfume made here in London!  Hope she likes it.

Thursday: Happy Birthday Dad!!!  Missed spending the day with you, but I know you and mom had fun at the Neshoba County Fair.  Can't wait to see you soon!

 Today was a long day!  We took a field trip to Oxford and Blenheim.  The train to Oxford was about an hour, then we hopped off the train and took a short bus ride to Blenheim.  We toured Blenheim Palace, the home of Winston Churchill.  It was really neat although a little expensive to get in! I saw some of the most beautiful gardens I have ever seen.  

Favorite Bush!

After Blenheim, we headed back to Oxford.  Harry Potter was filmed here at Christ's Church!  We did have to pay to get in but it was worth every penny.  I really enjoyed it!  Here are some pictures from Christ's Church.

That sums up the past few days!  I have been in Europe for 23 days with only 10 days to go.  Unfortunately I will be busy finishing up with lots of school work but hopefully I can knock a lot out on the train tonight.  Can't wait to update you on Paris!  Have a great weekend!