Praed Street

I came across this site recently which is called The Way We See It and is dedicated to Londoners taking pictures of specific locations and then putting them all on a flicker stream. I was excited to see some photos of the very building we lived in when we first arrived in London. This is the building at West End Quay on Praed Street that we lived in for one month after our arrival. Here is another picture. And here is the little souvenir shop we passed each day as we walked along. Another view of the building with a deserted pub across the street, which is very near to the metro Tesco where we would get our "daily shop" in. And finally the zebra crossing from St. Mary's Hospital, whose ambulance sirens kept us up half the night until we got used to them. Thanks for taking the trip with me to Praed Street, London!

Then and Now

Last year, for Easter, we were just settling into our new home in London. Hubby and I reflected today on the differences between the two. Here is a comparison.

Last Year
Were in a new (to us) semi-detached home, with little to no Easter decorations.
Were worshiping here.
Took public transport to church with lots of hung-over folks who wondered why we were so dressed up.
Had lunch at McDonald's.
Played at Hyde Park -- no egg hunt.
Couldn't find Easter baskets and kids got Easter bags instead.
Couldn't find jelly beans or many Easter goodies, but the Brits sure love their large chocolate Easter eggs and have them in any theme available. Somehow the Bart Simpson egg didn't really "speak" Easter to us. Alas, we skipped the British tradition!
Had fresh hot cross buns.
Got dressed up for church only to realize that this was NOT apparently an Easter tradition in Britain.
Hubby had a four-day weekend and we spent it visiting the Broadstairs beach and Dover Castle.

This Year
"Back Home Again in Indiana"...(Sing it with me, people. Okay, so if you're not a Hoosier, you don't even know that's a song!)
Worshipped at our home church and sat beside my mama today.
Took our van to church and wondered to myself how could it be full of so much junk, yet again.
Had our traditional Easter feast at mother's -- ham, baked beans, bread, buffet salad, asparagus, cheese potatoes and chocolate pie.
Had an egg hunt in grammy's back yard.
Dug out the Easter baskets that had gone unused from last year.
Jellybeans galore!
I miss those hot cross buns, and all those yummy British bakeries.
Got dressed up for church only to be attacked by a three-year-old weilding a pink chapstick with landed right in the middle of my new dress.
Hubby has a four-day weekend and we spent it shopping for a new vacuum and doing laundry.

Since being back, we find it interesting to play the "what were we doing last year at this time" game. Thanks for reading along!

We Stopped In Montgomery, Too, Y'all

On the way to Destin last week, we stopped over in Montgomery for a night. Being the history buff that I am, I made hubby stop at the visitor's center that was right by our hotel. Boy, was I glad that I did! I didn't realize what a history goldmine that we'd landed in. Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., Hank Williams, and the first white house of the Confederacy where all there. Here are some photos:

Where We've Been For the Past Ten Days

After spending nearly two years without a nice warm summer to speak of, we were excited to make our way to Destin, Florida for a wonderful and relaxing vacation with friends. Somehow, the Panhandle was much warmer than the last trip we had made to the beach with the children --to the North Sea in Scotland!

A Request for a Field Trip

DD5: "Mama, are we going anywhere today?"

Mama: "No, why?"

DD5: "Why? (said with extreme whineyness) I wanted to go somewhere!"

Mama: "Well, we were out all day yesterday. We went to a movie. We went to Target. We went to the grocery. Where did you want to go?"

DD5: "The museum."

Mama: (thinking of a museum we visit quite often) We can't go to the Children's Museum today honey. It's too far to drive.

DD5: "No, not that museum. The Natural History Museum."

Okay, so let me change my position. This museum is close. And this museum is far.

She's Art Literate At Two

Upon seeing that I was wearing the shirt I got on our recent trip to the Louvre, emblazoned with their most famous painting, the two year old excitedly pointed, while screaming, "Mamma Wisa! Mamma Wisa!" It was a proud moment. Who knew that she was paying so much attention while we got lost...er... toured... the Louvre?

Good Friends. Good Trip Reports.

If you enjoy trip reports, hop on over to my friend, Annette's blog. She and her husband, Tony, just got back from a fabulous trip to Portugal. The photos are to-die-for and made me want to GO! With 16 days left in this part of the world, however, I don't believe we'll have time to fit that one in.

Also, my friend, Paula, has been posting about her summer in Central Asia. Some amazing photos as well. Be sure to check out their new Tajik-wear. She has some great photos of a trip to London with a certain friend as well. ;)

Enjoy!

Travel Photos - Lincolnshire, York, and Scotland Part One

The York Minster --Europe's largest Gothic cathedral. Enormous!

Shopping the "The Shambles" in York, the medieval shopping district in town. Cute!

The cannons at Stirling Castle in Scotland.


Stirling Castle as seen from below in the town of Stirling, Scotland.


Some boy bagpiping buskers in the town of Stirling, outside the shopping area. They were great!


Belton House in Lincolnshire where some of the BBC's Pride and Predjudice was filmed.


The gorgeous area where we stayed in Scotland. I've seen more sheep in the past week, than I have in my entire life. And I'm a farm girl, so that's a lot of sheep!

Home from a Wee Scottish Adventure

We just got back from our last little adventure before we prepare to depart for home. We have only 18 days left in London. It seems quite hard to believe, as it often feels as if we arrived only yesterday. I will be posting some pictures soon of our last adventures, but here is where we stayed for most of the time. Drummonie was delightful, as was the Perthshire area of Scotland. Hubby did (barely) achieve of his lifelong dream of playing golf here. The children and I tagged along one day to see the town of St. Andrews and were delighted. We also spent some time reminiscing about one of our favorite movies here. And we relaxed with a drive and some stops through this area of Scotland, finding the gravesite of the hero of another favorite story. Our last little jaunt involved a delightful stop in the
Lake District of England to visit Peter Rabbit and friends. I hope to post some photos for you in the next few days.

The Last Hurrah

I've been kind of quiet this week because we had some visitors here. Plus, things are getting a bit hectic here because of the impending move. We're really in full "going home" mode these days. We're heading off for our last holiday here in England, with hubby hopefully achieving his lifelong dream of playing at St. Andrews, plus many more adventures along the way. I'm not sure if I'll be able to post for the next 10 days or so. I will if I can. I will continue my London Lessons when I return. Thanks for reading!

Paris, Part Trois

**For Parts 1 and 2 of our Paris adventure, click here and here, respectively.

This was the most anticipated part of the trip for me...our day into Paris. Initially, we had decided to do 2 days in Paris, but we settled for one after realizing that yet another day away from Disney would be a hard-sell for the children.

There's a terrific tourist information center just outside the RER station at La Marnee Vallee which is literally steps away from the Disney Parks complex. We started our day by heading in there for some specific transportation information and for some discount tickets and advice as well. The lady there was so helpful. She gave us great advice about what to see and do. She directed us to the bus tour that was most appropriate for what we wanted to see. And she ended up having discounted tickets for us for the Louvre and the bus tour. Plus, she told us that the Rodin Museum and Gardens, one of the things we planned to see, was closed on Mondays, saving us time, money, and a headache. I was definitely a bit bummed about the Rodin Museum, because I had heard it was quite a child-friendly place, and that his most famous sculpture, "The Thinker" was in the gardens, and therefore quite accessible for the children. I was hoping to get a great photo, but it was not to be.

We headed into the city on the RER and knew exactly where to get off. I must say that we were a bit nervous about taking the Metro (subway) and RER (train) because of the language barrier. We decided to get off right where the bus tour began and then to stick to the bus tour routes, hopping off and on as we wanted to see the sites. We got off quite easily and found our bus stop as well. But before we boarded the tour bus, I had planned to find the one and only "Build-A_Bear" workshop in all of Paris. I had read online that it was located in a mall known as Galleries Lafayette, and it was quite close to the tour bus stop. So, we headed off in search of bears. We had to ask about three times as to where the Galleries were, but we finally found it. It is quite a sight to behold. Floors and floors of (very expensive) merchandise, all in a beautifully decorated building. It was so lovely and gilded that it felt like we were walking around inside a lovely jewel. And even though it was a sight to behold, alas, we found no "Build-A-Bear".

After that, we headed to the bus stop for the beginning of our bus tour. We started off at the Opera House, which is a lovely building. We didn't get out here, but did enjoy looking. Our next stop was the Louvre. We did get out here. Visiting the Louvre was a true dream come true for this art lovin' girl. I was dying to get inside what is arguably the world's most famous museum. And I definitely wanted to see the world's most famous portrait, the Mona Lisa. We stood outside the museum in awe of its beauty. We snapped a few photos of the fam in front of the I.M. Pei "pyramid" (Incidentally, if you're reading this from my hometown, our university's art museum was designed by Pei as well.). The pyramid is an amazing piece of architecture, inside and out. My children were mesmerized as they stood under the pyramid from the inside because of the light flooding in, but also because of the many little rainbows they could see which were caused by the reflection of the glass.

We headed off first to the Carrousel De Louvre because the children were starving. We found a large food court and got some French pastries. Then we had the obligatory bathroom break. (Just a side note for those of you planning to do a lot or even a little bit of travel with young children...you'll spend equal amounts of time in the potty and at doing the actual sightseeing. Just a fact of life, I suppose! I can't tell you how many bathrooms we visited in France!) Lastly, we did some quick shopping at a few of the stores in the Carrousel. My favorite store was called Les Enfants De Musee, where there were tons of art books, (really wish my kids spoke French), a nice selection of English books, and some wonderful games. We picked up "Katie and the Mona Lisa". We love the Katie books. Our first one was "Katie in London", which I had purchased for the kids while hubby and I were away on our initial look-see trip in January. So, the children were excited to find Katie. And I was excited that she was visiting Mona as well. Who knew? Then we also picked up a game called Art Memo, which I had seen in the states and a beautiful lotto game of famous French sites. I also found a terrific puzzle for my puzzle lovin' boy of the Eiffel Tower. It's more like a mind bender puzzle and not the piece by piece variety. Anyway, we plunked down some major euros at that little store.

Mona awaited us, so we headed back towards the museum to behold her, but we were caught in a huge security queue. Not being the patient or embarrassable gal, I went over to the man at the queue and pointed to our stroller. He quickly passed us through. I felt not one iota of guilt about this as the stroller is most usually a major headache when we travel and sightsee. So, we got back into the art portion of the museum and went in search of Mona Lisa. Really, with three young children, besides seeing Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo, we knew that anything else we'd get to see would be a bonus. Since we live by so many fabulous museums, I've learned that we can't see everything, without boring the kids to death. So, we passed by lots and lots of fabulous art. But, on the way, we did stop and see this one, by Jacques-Louis David. The mere size of this painting is astounding. And the detail is fabulous. I love what Napoleon himself is said to have exclaimed when he saw the immense canvas, "What depth, what truth! This is not art, we can step into your painting!" The dignitaries and others pictured in the painting are actually reconizable. And the work took David two whole years to complete. So, that was our bonus piece.

When we arrived at the Mona Lisa, she was being mobbed by people. This painting is so famous and popular, that there are multiple security guards for just her. She is much smaller than I thought she'd be. And honestly, I wondered what all the fuss was about. But maybe that's because I couldn't get that close. One interesting thing that happened when we were there was that a woman got kicked out of the museum for attempting to photograph the Mona Lisa. Many were taking photos, which was a clearly marked no-no, but this lady was filming on a video camera behind a friend's head. I guess the fact that she would not stop filming when asked to and the fact that she kept arguing with the security guard may have been the reason for her getting the boot. Hmmm...I wonder what my children will remember most, Mona or the obnoxious photographer who made such a fuss?

Next stop...the Venus de Milo.

Places We've Visited Thus Far

Cities, Towns, or Sites

Dover
Broadstairs beach
Salisbury
Stonehenge
Birmingham
Plymouth
Tintagel
Cornwall
Devon
Bovey Tracy
Stratford-Upon-Avon
Warwick
Ashdown Forest (aka 100 Aker Woods for Pooh fans)
Hartfield
East Grinstead
Windsor
Greenwich
Paris

Gardens, Homes, Castles, or Palaces

Sheffield Park Gardens
Buckland Abbey and Gardens
Dover Castle
Hampton Court Palace
Kensington Palace
Buckingham Palace (outside only)
Windsor Castle
Warwick Castle
Tintagel Castle
Tower of London
Shakespeare's Birthplace
Ann Hathaway's Cottage (Shakespeare's Wife)

Museums

Natural History Museum (London)
National Gallery (London)
National Portrait Museum (London)
The Louvre (Paris)
Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood (London)
National Maritime Museum (Greenwich)
Royal Observatory (Greenwich)

Parks and Zoos

Hyde Park
Kensington Park
Regent's Park
London Zoo
Battersea Park
Children's Zoo at Battersea Park
St James Park
Green Park
Greenwich Park
Princess Diana Memorial Playground
Disneyland Paris Resort

Monuments

Wellington Monument
Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square
Arc De Triomphe
Eiffel Tower

Cathedrals or Chapels

St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle
Westminster Abbey
Salisbury Cathedral
Notre Dame Cathedral (outside only)
St. Paul's Cathedral (outside only)

Markets and Shopping

Greenwich Market
Covent Garden Market
Portobello Road Market
Stratford-Upon-Avon Market
Warwick Market
Oxford Street
Harrods
Brent's Cross
Hamley's
St. Christopher's Place
Marleybone High Street
Galleries Lafayette (Paris)

Other

London Eye
Big Ben and Parlaiment Building
Horse Guards
Changing of the Guard
#10 Downing Street
South Bank


Oh my word! I can't believe how long this list is. I think I'll add it to my sidebar as well and keep updating it. I feel so, so blessed.

Disneyland Paris Part 2

We were very impressed at the ease with which the "Disney Express" service we had signed up for allowed us to transfer our luggage and head straight to the parks. On the Eurostar train, there are a few Disney cast members (employees) who hand you your park tickets and your hotel information. They then explain the process of checking your bags in (right there at the train station), and give you claim tickets for your bags for at the hotel later that evening. So, thankfully, after the almost-missing-the-train-disaster, that process went really smoothly.

We were shocked at how close the train station is to the Disney Parks complex. The station is literally right at the "door" of the Disney properties. We had checked our luggage and headed off the the Disneyland park (similar to Magic Kingdom in Florida). After a quick and not-so-careful bag security check at the entrance, we were headed right for Mickey-land! I was dying of anticipation. I LOVE seeing Main Street, and we were so close now. Plus, it was going to be fun to be back in a place that was "familiar" in a way, because we go to Disney fairly regularly. Main Street did not disappoint. It was clean, old-fashioned, and oh-so-Disney. Huge Mickey, Donald, and Minnie balloons were everywhere, which started the, "Mom, can we get a balloon?" saga that went on for the ENTIRE week. (My mom didn't buy ballons. I don't buy balloons. I'm a party pooper, what can I say? Do you know how many balloons we saw heading off into the sky that week??!?! Total waste of money! But I digress...)We headed straight for Casey's, which is our favorite fast-food place in Disney. They sell foot-long hotdogs and fries. And they are smothered in cheese! Mmmmm. Casey's was in just exactly the same place as it is in Florida. And the dogs were oh-so-good.

The children were itching to go to Fantasyland for rides, so after a quick lunch we thought we'd head there. But, who did we happen to run into as we were heading there? The Mouse himself. And he was signing autographs and posing for photos (with a very long queue, I might add!). So, we stopped off there for a photo. Hubby was resistant, because he wanted to get to the rides. "We can get a photo later with Mickey. We have all week!" But, even after three children and multiple professional photo shoots and numerous trips to Disney, he still doesn't seem to understand my mommy-ways! I had dressed them up in the identical red Mickey Mouse t-shirts, remember? And I hadn't gotten a good bargain on them after Christmas and dragged them all the way across the Atlantic for nothing! Soon, I reasoned with Hubby, they would be stained with the inevitable Disney ice cream stain. And I wanted a picture with the Mouse before that. So,we got the picture. And I was glad we got the photo, because as I'll explain in a later post, queueing for characters in Paris was, shall we say....interesting. But, more on that later.

After the photo, we headed straight for Fantasyland. We did the Snow White ride first, which is never my favorite because it's too scary for kids! Seriously, folks, why do they call it Snow White's Scary Ride? Are there not enough rides just for grown-ups at Disney, and isn't Fantastyland supposed to be for kids, little kids at that? Anyway, my kids, at least one of them, always get freaked out in this ride. But another one of them always insists on going in. So we went in to Blanche Neige and Les Sept Nains. And shockingly, it was scary. Even scarier than Florida. Which seemed to convince the little person that always insists on going on that ride not to go on it again. Phew!

We rode the carousel, which my son loved, because it was based on a Camelot theme and he is loving the Arthurian legends lately. Next was It's a Small World and other such fun fantasyland rides. We were kind of surprised at how cool it was. We definitely needed our jackets! I know! And it's mid-June. But, then again, we still need them regularly in London as well. It seems that summer has rather forgotten to show up over here!

We still needed to get our bearings in the park, so we headed to Discoveryland, which is similar to Tomorrowland in Florida, to check out what was there. Autopia, a race car type ride, Buzz Lightyear, and Orbitron were on the list, but the lines were really long, so we settled on Buzz. On the way out of Discoveryland, we caught a bit of the end of the parade. And dd4 was going crazy because they princess float was spectacular and Sleeping Beauty was wearing a blue dress! And ds5 was going nuts because he loves the villains (trust me, I've tried to persuade him otherwise) and there was a pretty incredible float of them as well. If you're a villains fan, I suppose.

After that, we headed off to dinner, which we had a reservation for at Plaza Gardens Restaurant, and we were hopeful that it would be a character buffet similar to the Crystal Palace in Florida. Indeed there was a buffet. And the food was good. But, alas, there were no characters. And we were shocked when we got our bill for 70 Euros. Ouch! The rest of the week, we decided, would be fast food or meal splitting for sure. No more buffets. Especially without characters!

We were beat after our long day, so we decided to head back to the hotel. We were pleasantly surprised again about the proximity of the hotel to the park. It was about a 15 to 20 minute walk. So, we walked to the Newport Bay Hotel, which has a similar feel to that of the Yacht and Beach Club in Florida. It was a nice hotel and very full. We got our room keys, located our luggage and headed off to room 2297 to get the kids bathed and in bed. We'd had a busy, busy day.

Stay tuned for Paris part 3, with details of our trip into the city.

How We Almost Missed the Train to Paris

We had an amazing time in Paris. I'm just getting out from under the enormous amount of laundry brought on by a trip to Disney (all the ice cream dripped shirts, as just one example) to write about all that we experienced there. My first little installment for you, dear readers, is about the experience of simply getting on the train. As with much of the Noel family life, it was a drama. Let the unfolding begin...

We were all set to get to Paris on the Eurostar train from London's Waterloo Station. The whole trip started out a little bumpy though, because although we thought we had left in plenty of time for the train (We only had to be there 30 minutes prior to departure.), we had some hiccups during the checking-in phase of the journey. Apparently, the company had sent our tickets through Royal Mail some time ago, but we had never received them. So, the very kind, but rather annoyed Frenchman behind the counter had to help us get all of it sorted out.

The minutes ticked by. As I watched all the happy families with loads of luggage cruise through electronic check in, I was still waiting for my man behind the counter to figure out exactly what he was going to do with all of us. As he kept writing our tickets out in longhand (I kid you not!), I started to seriously wonder if we were going to make the train!

The train was leaving at 9:37 and it was 9:25 as the service man, longhand tickets in hand and five spazzy people in tow, ran us through the ticket stop and right up to the security check. We had to drop all our goodies onto the x-ray machine because you don't check anything on a train ride, unlike a flight. We also had to unload the baby out of the buggy, fold it, and go through security one by one. That of course meant that we were going to have to reload the buggy with the baby, who lately doesn't want to get into the buggy at all! So, we had to deal with some crying drama as well! Next we had to go through to French passport control. Then we had to take an escalator up to the train. Then we had to find out which carriage we were on. Lastly, we had to load all of our junk onto the train and find our seats. Shoo-eee! as Papaw used to say. I'm tired just from reliving the whole thing!

When we arrived in the carriage, we discovered another family in our seats and realized that Eurostar had double-booked our seats! No problem as of yet, the carriage was not full, but there would be one more stop in Ashford. Hopefully no one there would need the seats we were using. But, yes indeed, when we arrived in Ashford, some others needed our seats. And the seats of the family in front of us. So, apparently, Eurostar had triple-booked the seats! I looked over at the exasperated Brit beside me and he said, and I quote, "Welcome to Great Britain! The service here sucks!" He was hilarious and, being the dad of the the little family whose seats we were double-booked with, ended up being quite a fun part of our trip. We actually even saw them in the Disney Parks later in the week.

I was a bit worried about the "chunnel" part of the journey. I'm a bit of a nervous flier, so being underneath the English Channel in a train with thousands of pounds of water pressing in on the tunnel for any amount of time seemed torturous to me. But luckily, that part of the journey only lasts for around 20 minutes, and because the kids were needing some attention then, I barely even noticed, although I did have some major ear popping!

We arrived safe and sound at La Marnee Vallee. The three children were all decked out in their matching red Mickey Mouse t-shirts and ready to meet the Mouse himself...

Stay tuned for the next installment of our trip!

More Good Quotes

Can you tell I'm a quote lover? There's something about a good quote that speaks to me like nothing else (but Scripture) can. Do you agree? Here are some favorites I've come across lately:

"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy, for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter into another." - Anatole France

"Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us, or we find it not. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

"If you're going through a time of discouragement, there is a time of great personal growth ahead." -Oswald Chambers

"Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world"
-Gustave Flaubert

"As Christians, we're called to convert our loneliness into solitude. We are called to experience our aloneness not as a wound, but as a gift - as God's gift, so that in our aloneness we might discover how deeply we're loved by God." - Henri Nouwen

"How we spend our days is of course how we spend our lives."
-Annie Dillard

Mmmmm. Mmmmm. Mmmmm. Chew on those yummy words for a while.

Parlez Vous Francais?

Man, I wish I'd paid more attention in those four years of high school French class. And I wish I had listened to my handsome A.I. (Pierre -- oo la la la la!)in college French class more than I looked at him. Hopefully the fact that I could never properly conjugate verbs or couldn't remember if the noun was a "le" or a "la" won't hold us back too much. Actually, on second thought, hopefully we'll run into a few English speakers. That's right--We're going to Paris!!! We're staying at the Disneyland Resort Paris, so we plan to take in the Disney parks, and then we'll head into Paris for 2 days. So, I'll be sure to check in with lots of stories and pictures when we return on Thursday. Prayers for safety, fun, and relaxation would certainly be appreciated!

Downpour Report

Well, the Downpour conference this past weekend was great, but not necessarily in the way that I expected. It certainly wasn't a feel-good Christian conference, with lots of things to make you laugh and pat yourself on the back for when you left. (Not exactly my own desire, but one I've certainly noticed at other conferences.) In fact, I left on Friday evening with a very somber feeling. The theme of the conference is personal revival. The theme verse of the weekend was Hosea 6:3:



"Let us know,

Let us press on to know the Lord.

His going forth is as certain as the dawn.

He will come to us like the rain,

Like the spring rains watering the earth."



The five key talks were



*God on the Throne - A Picture of Holiness (James MacDonald)

*Sin in the Mirror - A Picture of Brokeness (Beth Moore)

*Face in the Dirt - A Picture of Repentance (James MacDonald)

*Christ on the Cross - A Picture of Grace (Joe Stowell)

*Spirit in Control - A Picture of Power (Crawford Loritts).



Friday evening's theme was "God on the Throne" presented by James MacDonald. He started with the key verse for the weekend, Hosea 6:3. He reminded us that in our pressing on to know God, we must realize that He is holy. The worship focused on the holiness of God, with purposefully chosen songs on this theme, as well as excellent visual representations. Pastor McDonald's theme was simple: We have forgotten the holiness of God. I was hit squarely between the eyes.



He quoted from Isaiah 6. As he did, I pictured with Isaiah the LORD high and lifted up on his throne, with the train of His robe literally filling the temple. A pertinent illustration that Pastor MacDonald used to illustrate the train of His robe, was a description of a bride on her wedding day. Clearly a train is to call attention to the bride, that it's her day. He also described Queen Elizabeth's train at her coronation, telling us how the train of her robe was literally trailing out of the church it was so long. Only a queen would deserve such a lengthy train. Then, Pastor MacDonald asked each of us to picture a train that literally filled the entire temple, back and forth, back and forth, draping, flowing, piling up to the very top of the temple. What a picture of God's splendor!



He used other scriptures to highlight what God looks from those in scripture who saw Him, and recorded their visions, such as Ezekiel, Daniel, and John. From Ezekiel 1:26-28, we learned that holiness describes separation. The train of his robe is a symbol of this separation. From Revelation 20:11, we learned that holiness demands caution. We were reminded the the seraph who attend Him cover their eyes and their feet, not ever gazing upon Him directly. That rightly seen, holiness only makes one want to hide. From Revelation 4:11, we learned that holiness declares glory. The cries from those in God's presence were, "Holy, Holy, Holy" and scripture also declares that the whole earth is full of His glory. And from Daniel 7 and Revelation 10: 4-7, we learned that holiness determines mystery. The books described in these chapters will be opened one day to full revelation. Until then, God keeps them a mystery. We can never plumb the depths of His wisdom.



James MacDonald, who I frequently listen to on the Moody Broadcast Network, is an animated, humorous speaker normally. This night too, he was humorous. But not purposely so. When his natural inclination to be funny came out, MacDonald respectfully reminded the crowd of the weightiness of the topic. Indeed, the awesome holiness of God is no laughing matter.



One of my favorite of his points was that we like to think of God's foundational characteristic as love. He contended that it's holiness. Love came only after the demand for a price for our unrighteousness in contrast to His holiness.



So, Friday evening, I left with a sense, a weighty feeling of this holiness, this extreme otherness that is our God. And I was humbled, to say the least. God on the throne was forefront on my mind as I prepared to hear what Saturday would bring.



Tomorrow, I'll share more about the sessions entitled "Sin in the Mirror" and "Face in the Dirt".

Downpour

Hubby and I are off this weekend to attend the Downpour revival, with James McDonald, Joe Stowell, Beth Moore and Crawford Lorritts. We're going with three other couples. We're really looking forward to it.



This will be the first time I've ever attended anything like this with my husband, I think. Usually, I go to see Beth Moore every summer with my friends. I love her teaching so much, and am always quoting her to hubby, so I thought this might be a "man-friendly" way for him to hear her. I'm really looking forward to hearing the others as well.



I'm praying for a personal revival in my own heart, a personal hunger and thirst for His Word and righteousness.



Maybe I'll post more next week about what happened.