This is a story about a hat and a friend. It will have some tangents.

Last wednesday we left Maastricht for Brussels where we spent a day. I ate waffles with friends in 'grand place.' It was lovely. While there, I purchased a hat. It was an inexpensive black beret. It was nothing out of the ordinary.

The next morning we left Brussels for London. The hat was left behind by accident. I was disappointed.

While in London, we walked a lot. I really enjoyed that part. Truly. I also enjoyed being silly with Tracy (roommate), Aubrey, Bethany, and others. We saw people singing and dancing and acting on a stage at a theatre. Twice. I was a happy girl to have seen Wicked and Les Miserables in one weekend. We- several friends from Baylor and I, that is- also saw truly incredible works of art by people like Van Gogh and Renoir and Degas and others in London's National Gallery. I had read, on the train on the way to London, a book by C.S. Lewis in which he talked about nearness to God. He said that there are two things that could be called nearness to God. "One is likeness to God. God has impressed some sort of likeness to Himself, I suppose, in all that He has made...Secondly, there is what we may call nearness of approach. If this is what we mean, the states in which a man is 'nearest' to God," says Lewis, "are those in which he is most surely and swiftly approaching his final union with God, vision of God and enjoyment of God. And as soon as we distinguish nearness-by-likeness and nearness-of-approach, we see that they do not necessarily coincide. They may or may not." We saw nearness-by-likeness in those paintings. The beauty and care for particular detail that the artists so clearly worked out on canvas reminded me of the beauty and care for particular detail God works out in his creation. It was refreshing. I think encountering new and surprising beautiful things usually is. This nearness-by-likeness made me want the nearness-by-approach even more. While in London we went to evensong at Westminster Abbey. It was still. It was big and safe and quiet. It was so good.

Back to the hat. I had given it up as lost forever, then remembered that it was just left in our hotel room. On the way back from London, earlier today, we had a stop over in Brussels for about an hour. This would barely be enough time to make it to our hotel and back with the hat in hand. I couldn't go on my own. Roommate Tracy, without thinking about it twice, dropped her bags and walked quickly slash ran with me back to the hotel to retrieve my (inexpensive and 'nothing out of the ordinary') hat. The people working at the front desk laughed at us and talked about us in French? Dutch? because it was obvious by our flushed cheeks and hard breathing that we had run and were after something that seemed miniscule. It was a blessing that a friend would take a goal of mine as her own and run, and sweat, and be ridiculed for it without considering it a burden. I am praying for opportunities to be this kind of friend. If it means running to a hotel again, so be it, but in daily challenges and failures and hardships I want to be a person who bears the burdens of other in kindness, who suffers long and is kind. I want to be like someone I know. I want to be like Love.

"Love suffers long and is kind." 1 Corinthians 13:4

Audrey

Dank u for flying Continental.

I am here. I am safe. I am grateful to God that I am here and safe and keenly aware that He heard my mom and others' prayers for the safety of our trip to Maastricht and answered faithfully.

All nine hours of the flight to Amsterdam went really well. Praise God I was able to get nearly 6 hours of sleep over the atlantic and also make new friends from among our group of about 40 students. Our flight was followed by a scenic bus drive straight through the Netherlands. For the beauty of the earth...

I'm needing the grace of God not to be awkward. Try not to laugh. You could pray that I regain some semblance of normality, in fact. I really haven't been in a social situation like this one in awhile. I know so few people, and the ones I know, I don't know well, so I'm struggling to be myself and make conversation in order to get to know everyone. I just need to be humbled and depend on Jesus so I can love and encourage people well.

Praying for unity among the body of Christ in Waco,
Hoping that you all will not forget me,
Sure that the God of hope will fill you with
all joy and peace as you trust in Him,
Audrey

There is none besides [Him],
perfect in power, in love, and purity

Waco, Tx

Melting ice makes me think of Narnia and the coming spring. I'm glad for it.

I'm home in Waco this weekend, saying good-bye to dear friends. I'm going home to Arlington tomorrow to pack and say good-bye to dear family. Are you catching a theme? I am and it's a difficult one.

I am glad you are reading this. The reason I write is that I'm studying in the Netherlands this semester. This means I am going on an adventure that I've been looking forward to for some time. But being 5,000 miles away also means, unfortunately, that talking about life with the people I so love talking about life with will be made more difficult. I'm determined that it not be impossible, though, so I will post here what I'm doing in my time overseas and what I'm thinking about you all and what I'm praying for you all and for my new friends. Then you will comment or e-mail me to let me know what's going on with you. It will be lovely and we will all learn to love electronic communication together. Mmhm. I think that's the way it is going to go.

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehn, goodbye.
Audrey

Post Script: Skype, anyone? I'd love to know if you have it. I'd love for you to get it if you don't have it. I'd love it if we could talk via skype.