It's Been a Year

Remember that one time I planned to do this at least once a month??? And then a year went by? It's cool, I know you all have been *dying* for another update on life here in jolly old England, so here it is!

Here's a few things that have happened since I last wrote here. Thanks camera roll for helping bring back the memories!

• Graduated from 10kFAM! (👏🏼 but also I miss my huddle ☹️) - April 2021 (the same week my Baylor ballers won the NATTY, baby!!!)

• Went to Wimbledon and watched the Women's Final on Centre Court (still like what??!) - July 2021

• Started an MA in Theology & Ministry at Durham! - September 2021

• Celebrated a year living in London - October 2021

• Went to as many West End shows as I could: Six, Come From Away, Andrew Lloyd Weber's Cinderella, Heathers, The Four Quartets

• Saw Dermot Kennedy and Ed Sheeran live and bought way too many concert tickets for upcoming shows (gotta make up for lost time)

• Experienced my first caravan holiday (s/o #CostaDelClacton crew), plus a weekend in the Lake District and camping in Canterbury

• England ~almost~ won the Euros

• Had a lil' picnic at Buckingham Palace

• *Starred* as an extra in an upcoming Netflix movie filmed partially on our church site

• Babysat some awesome kids

• Drank a lot of coffee

All, in all, not a bad year, readers! That list was way more fun to make than I anticipated - you'd think someone would have said something about practicing gratitude. Oh wait, literally everyone did 😅

Many folks have asked me what my plan is for when my contract/visa term ends here in October 2022. Great news: I have no idea!! (In case you were wondering, I'll still be working on the MA through Summer 2023, but can be anywhere.) So I've decided to start by sharing the highly-anticipated-but-never-asked-for pro/pro list for living in the US vs. UK. Some of these are very specific to my experience, others more universally true. Feel free to weigh in with your completely unbiased opinions 😉

UK 🇬🇧	US 🇺🇸
​No shrinking your clothes	Laundry doesn't require multiple days
Text/read/watch a show on your commute, no prob	Driving!!
Sour cream & chive dip	Queso
Less sweating (generally)	A/C BABY
Flat whites	Iced coffee
Superior fancy cheese	Superior sliced cheese
Less patriarchy	Less classism
Better accent	Better words (fries aren't chips, soz)
Way more vacation days	Lower cost of living (generally)
Sales tax included	Everything's cheaper anyway
Tom Hardy, Tom Hiddleston, Tom Holland	Tom Hanks

Alright kids, place your votes...jokes, I shouldn't actually make any decisions that way. (Right???) Anywho, that's a decision for day to come, but for now, I'm here and I'm thankful, and I actually mean that for the first time in 2022 as I'm writing it on January 10th.

Last night, we were praying together before the evening service, and there was a real theme of praying for our people to have energy and renewed joy coming into this year even with so much uncertainty still ahead. I was immediately overcome by a feeling I had but couldn't name over the holidays: I have been really struggling to look forward to this year. All I could see was the unknown coming for me at the end of 2022 and more of all of the hard things between now and then.

In that moment, just as I was feeling really hopeless, a song came to mind I've had on repeat for a few days (since I was with my dear friends Callie and Zach Bearden and we jammed to it):

I remembered then, as I have learned over the years, that I truly can be glad no matter my circumstances or how I feel about them, because God has made me glad. I just turned in my first ever exegesis essay (still don't really know what exegesis is, but I sure did it!) looking at the theme of temple in Revelation 21-22, and I can't tell you how rich it was to think about what the new earth will be like. Not for its jeweled walls or potential streets of gold, but for the 'universal community, access to God’s presence, endless life, and ultimate victory over chaos' (as scholar Celia Deutsch said it). I can be glad today because of the ultimate victory that's already been won and the endless life to come in God's presence.

So whether you're sad or mad or smad (a la Sookie St. James) today, I pray you can be glad. Like the trash bag. Because Jesus is coming soon.

See ya next time. Maybe in February, maybe September, we'll see!!