Oh, dear.

In other words: I lost a beloved notebook today on a train.

Sad day.

There goes a lovely (copied, thank goodness) picture of my grandma, all evidence that there once was fall in Waco, the month of October, my coffee klatch reminder, most written memories thus far on the trip, and the other decorations on and contents of the moleskine.

Some good came out of it. An hour long trip out of my way in an attempt to retrieve it = time to stare out the window at Dutch country. Turns out the wood from 'The Magician's Nephew' is actually somewhere between Herleen and Maastricht. I saw it, though only for a moment, just as I imagined it to be when reading the book last summer. Also, as this was my first time in awhile to misplace something not inherently valuable but very much so to me, I was pretty starkly apprehended with the thought of the grief of our Father for His lost children, and His desire for their return home. My loss is miniscule, really.

Love
You Know Who

Oh, dear. In other words the window is open and it is lovely out.

I'm home from Paris. Home is a relative term here. I feel removed from two already. Maastricht has become the third for a time and I like it as such.

Well. The Sacre Coeur is one of the more beautiful churches I've ever seen and is on a hill. Like a city on a hill. Visiting the churches around here is beneficial for multiple reasons: the architecture and the art work is stunning, really- it's incredible- and gives definition, more than normal buildings, to the grandeur, the beauty, the majesty of God. I am also compelled, when visiting these churches, to pray that the body of Christ be built up in a place where indifference to the Creator seems prevalent.

The Seine and Notre Dame are most worth seeing when so few do- at sunrise. Chocolate crepes are dangerous to my health. I like them too much. I need a friend. I need Jesus. Need for Him is a reality, so I'm learning to enjoy feeling it.

I miss you, and I'm
off to read James Joyce's "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,"
Audrey

the view from my window

My winter hat and scarf, which have mourned their inactivity in various Texas closets and their use in unworthy weather, will realize their full potential today. It is snowing in Maastricht. It's not at all like sleet-snow. It is snow and it looks like peace, and I will be in it before too long. Class comes first.

Classes have started this week. I am taking two political science classes with Dr. Waltman, who is a dear man and wonderful professor and our trip sponsor. Dutch Art History began yesterday and I don't really know what to say about it just yet. Our professor has studied in nearly all of Western Europe and done archaeological digs throughout the Middle East. She speaks seven languages. She is a bit intimidating, but I'm excited for the new subject of study. I've never taken art history. As my Comparative European Lit professor broke his arm and is having surgery this week(?) that class won't meet for another two weeks. Sorry. I mean, I'm sorry for him, and also sorry that those might be boring details for you.

We had our first Bible study last night, twenty of us or so, and looked at James 1. I enjoy, more than I enjoy a lot of things, talking about Scripture with other people and hearing their insights, hearing what the Holy Spirit has revealed to them about the passage. We need community. If there were no other reason, and there are plenty, that it is right for us to be the body of Christ it seems enough that we gain more understanding about the Word through others. I miss yellow house lifegroup. I'm glad for life and group meetings here.

If anyone wants to meet me at the Eiffel Tower, this is the weekend to do it. Mom- if you're reading this- don't worry, I left your black coat at home.

I'll leave you with this.
"But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him." James 1:5

au revoir,
peace,
audrey

We're not so different

Berlin is bustling.
Berlin is bursting at the seams with diversity and with delicious pastries and with a rich and sometimes tragic history that I've hardly skimmed the surface of, yet I was glad to have seen the place. I was glad that we happened to make it on the weekend we did, as there was a massive community garage sale/outdoor flea market or something of the sort very near our hostel.

We saw a man in a bakery near the train station one evening. He was a bit shaky and obviously unaware of his surroundings. I felt the frailty of my human condition- we are not so different, he and I - and gladness at the sureness that, "though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day." 2 Corinthians 4:16 Praise Jesus.

Audrey

So I am off to Berlin...

That's weird.

I am very excited for World Mandate in Waco this weekend. Do you hear me? Very excited. And my brother is going. The excitement probably doubles with that.

More to come,
Tot ziens,
Audrey

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.