Wednesday Ramblings

Melanie —  May 12, 2010

I am sitting here in my aunt Carol’s quiet house, birds chirping outside, 2 kids sleeping, 2 playing “hospital” in the basement.  I can hardly believe we’ve been here in Chicago 2 whole weeks.  Actually, in a certain sense it feels like we’ve been here forever!  Overseas travel is a strange thing . . . when you enter another culture it can be quite consuming.  At times I have felt a little disoriented . . . everything is so American!  Is this really my home country?  So go the ponderings of an American married to a Brit and living in England.  The Americans think my children have British accents and the British think they have American accents. 🙂

My aunt has been a very gracious host and we have had some good times of relaxation between visiting churches and friends.  She has taken us to the zoo, a nature centre, several parks, and taken the girls on some special outings to an old mill and also to the American Girl store in Chicago for a special lunch.  Lots of fun!  She and I also plan to take the older girls to see a play of A Little Princess on Saturday which we found out about a few days ago.  I had already planned on doing this classic book as a read-aloud this month, so we are madly reading away to get it finished before the play!  In the midst of our usual challenges of sibling conflict and occasional bad attitudes, the children are having a fabulous time here.

I am very grateful that my migraines have stopped at least for the moment.  I ended up having one, in one form or another, for 6 days straight last week.  After difficult days like these, I tend to be really fearful about getting more headaches and facing more pain, especially in light of the travelling we are doing.  Even before we left on our trip, I felt like God was really working with me in the area of anxiety. So I am currently doing a Bible study with a friend using the book Calm My Anxious Heart (reading it for the 3rd time!) and re-learning many wonderful lessons.  During our time in the USA, I decided to have some verses from Deuteronomy personal theme verses that talk about God “fighting for” the Israelites and “carrying them” as a father carries his child during their time in the wilderness.  I know He has good plans for me and I can trust Him.  As a family we are learning the song, ‘Tis So Sweet To Trust in Jesus.  I really love the words.  The chorus goes:

Jesus, Jesus, How I trust Him/How I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er/Jesus, Jesus Precious Jesus/Oh for grace to Trust Him More.