The White Elephant

Well, I had written out a long blog post, but right before I hit send my computer crashed and it didn’t save anything I wrote. I will just keep this short and post some pictures for you to experience yet another wonderful day here in Scotland.

Worship this morning was such an encouragement. I’ve been feeling so strained in my time spent with God lately, and I was very refreshed to have the time set aside today instead of running to catch a bus or train. It’s so busy here, that I tend to be lost and consumed in what I’m doing, or where we are going next. It’s not a matter of IF I will be busy (because life itself is always busy), but rather, how can I spend my time most effectively? How do I see through the eyes of Christ, and not myself? I have a long ways to go in this area…

After eating some delicious vegetable soup and sandwiches, we headed out on a train to Edinburgh for the day.

I loathe souvenir shopping. It seems rather pointless to walk around into a bunch of stores with exactly the same items in them, all overpriced, and buy people sheep figurines and Scotland key chains for the sole purpose of buying something in Scotland. Nonetheless, I had an incredible time in Edinburgh today, which included:
*Having to hold on to our dresses all day long so we didn’t flash people on the streets. It was SO windy!
*Cramming 5 girls into a tiny telephone booth
*Drinking Starbucks and laughing hysterically about taking posed, candid pictures
*Making friends with local police and asking them to take a picture with us
*Visiting a breathtakingly beautiful church that started being built in the 1100’s and continued to be built through the 1900’s
*A big dinner surprise

I’ll expand on the surprise. For dinner, Dr. Wood took us to eat at a coffee house/restaurant called The White Elephant. This is where the author of the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling wrote all her books!!!!! I LOVED it! The location. The opportunity. The atmosphere. The warmth. The food. Everything!

Here are some fun things I learned:
She sat it the back room where we ate dinner writing while looking out at the Edinburgh Castle
Some of the names she used were inspired by the gravesite we visited, such as Tom Riddle
Her daughters school, which is right behind The White Elephant, helped inspire the school of Hogwarts

Such a fun experience and a great way to end another wonderfully blessed day! The biggest blessing of it all, however, was coming back to the Carronvale and having a Skype date with Elijah =) I am blessed beyond measure, and thankful more and more each day for what God has done for me!