"Faith is a bird which loves to perch on scarecrows."

Mug full of coffee...check
Shoes off...check
Window open, letting in the English country air...check

Awww....friends and family, where did we leave off? I believe it's been almost a week since I wrote you last. Allow me to bring you up to speed.

This week has been full of incredible lectures and classes. My head feels like it weighs 10 pounds more than it did last week; so much knowledge, so many thoughts, and so many questions. I often find myself taking the long way back to the house (through the park) to reflect on the discussions of the day and talk with God.
I have found an icecream buddy and for the past couple of days Becky and I have been getting icecream in the evenings. I have really enjoyed her friendship and we have decided that because we have to walk a mile to get the icecream, that getting it everyday is not actually as unhealthy as it sounds. :)
In between lectures and classes I have been researching for my first two essays that are due next week. Starting Monday we will transition into tutorial week, where we will meet with our professors one on one and discuss our essays. Eeeek! There are times when I am completely at peace with the idea of discussing my essays with my professors, but then there are these moments when it hits me..."Lauren, you are going to talk about a topic with someone who has been studying this particular issue for longer than you have been alive."
Haha...I really do look forward to letting you guys know my experience with this. When it comes down to it, I really feel quite honored to be able to ask my questions to people who are ahead of me in this journey.

In the midst of my time in Oxford, I have been observing so many things that are not really academic at all and this has increased my journal writing recently. The Lord is connecting dots all over the place and it is making the world look a little smaller and well...He is looking a whole lot bigger in the grand scheme of things. Oh how I would love to discuss these thoughts in more detail with you, but for the sake of covering more I will move on. Send me a message if you would like to discuss more in detail what the Lord has been showing me...and I for one would love to hear what the Lord has been teaching you.

Speaking of messages and correspondence...I recieved three letters in the mail today!!! Thank you Ashley, Mom, and Megan!! I absolute love getting mail. I was just thinking to myself today of how lovely it would be to write letters back and forth the old fashion way using my (new) quill pen and ink. I read the letters on my way back from class, which I must say, says something about my improving navigation skills. Through busy streets, a market, and a park I read those cherished letters and arrived back here at 8 Crick Road without a hitch. :)

Speaking of navigation skills, (haha...I am such a spaghetti minded person) this weekend I will be traveling to Bristol to visit one of my professor's friends. Dave Jeal came to Sterling College and spoke at a couple of chapels before school let out. It will be fun to visit with him and his family. (I love how God connects dots like this.)
Right after I get back from Bristol on Sunday, the OSP group here (all my study abroad friends) are going to celebrate the 4th of July. Haha...it will be interesting to celebrate our independence from Great Britian in Great Britian. :) God bless the U.S.A!!

Tomorrow morning the group will be headed to Glastonbury and Wells. (Caves, cathedral, and where King Arthur and Lady Guinevere are said to be buried.) I really love Fridays! More pictures are surely to come after this adventure!

I bought an old hymnal last week at a church in Salisbury. (They were having a book sale and getting rid of some old books. How fun to stumble upon it!)
I will leave you with a hymn that I have really enjoyed reading this week:

God holds the key of all the unknown
And I am glad;
If other hands should hold the key,
Or trusted it to me,
I might be sad

What if tomorrow's cares were here
Without its rest!
I'd rather be unlocked the day;
And as the hours swing open, say,
'Thy will is best."

I cannot read his future plans,
But this I know;
I have the smiling of his face,
and all the refuge of his grace,
while here below.

Enough; this covers all my wants,
And so I rest!
For what I cannot, he can see
And in his care I saved shall be,
Forever blest.

J. Parker (1830-1902)

"Cast all your cares on Him, for He cares about you." I Peter 5:7