More than Big Ben

What do you think of when you think of London? Big Ben? Parliament? The London Mennonite Centre?

Yep, the LMC is the place where I'm hanging my hat these days. Of course, my primary hat is still hanging in Almere. In fact, I'll be spending all of March there. But then I'll be returning to London in April. For the first half of May, I'll be back in Almere. Then back to London again, and finally, back to Almere in the middle of June...

What is going on with all of this country hopping, you might ask? It's a long story. The short version is that I am currently a tourist in the Netherlands (no longer a temporary resident) and as such, I am only allowed to inhabit the country for 3 out of every 6 months. London is where I'm spending the rest of my time.

As inconvenient as it is to country-hop, I must say, it's a treat to be in London. Not the least because of the terrific community which is the Mennonite Centre. My days here are punctuated by pleasant breaks with my fellow LMC'ers: coffee time at 11 am; prayer time at 12:50 am; tea time at 4 pm; and on Mondays, community meals at 6:30 pm. The LMC is a good place to be.

The LMC is on the north side of the city, in High Gate. About once a week I get to the city center to see some sights. I'll post photos of these soon.

My uncle Sparks died today at 3 p.m.

Please join me in praying:

Eternal God,
by your mighty power you gave us life,
and in your love you have given us new life in Christ Jesus.
We entrust Sparks Wyse to your merciful keeping,
in the faith of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who died and rose again to save us,
and is now alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit
in glory for ever.

God, be present in these hours and days,
in the silence and in the tears
in the questions, in our sorrows.
Comfort those whose grief is sharpest,
especially Martha,
Sparks' children and grandchildren,
his sisters and brothers.

Thank you for the gift of Sparks' life.
Thank you for the love we were privileged to share with him.

Amen.

with thanks to St. Giles in the Fields

First Tries
While in the States over Christmas, I bought my first digital camera, a Canon Powershot A520. I'm extremely happy with it so far. Here are my first few shots, taken at my parents' abode upon first unpacking the camera. The date? 8 January 2006, one day before I returned to the NL.
my dad on the cell phone
lovely roses given to me by my equally lovely aunt Mary (thank you!)my charming brother Rick (who is currently volunteering in Guatemala for a month, go Rick!)

I'm back.

And after 5 and a half hours of sleep, I seem to have taken the first step in persuading my jet lag to depart.

More later.

Merry Christmas!

Hey everybody, sorry it's been so quiet on my end of things! I'm just sitting here at the Shokhaus chatting it up with the Green Hippie Nurse. Yes, that means I'm in Ohio for the holidays! It's good to be back. At my parents' house, internet access is not conducive to frequent blogging (read: modem problems), but I'll do my best to drop you all a line now and then about how it's going on this side of the pond.

Wishing you all joyous holidays!