Yesterday we were blessed to enjoy a sunny day with friends in Lincoln. The last time we were here was five years ago when we showed Ryan’s dad around the antique market and shops. Yet, I continue to be fascinated by this beautiful city which has a grand Cathedral at the top of a steep hill and a castle. And I was amazed how much I remembered where to walk and the places to show our friends as it was their first time there.
This visit I learned about the history of a 13.7 meter Roman well which was said to have been built by the infamous Ninth Legion and was used for Christian baptisms.
Lincoln is known for its steep hills, one in particular leads all the way up to the castle and Cathedral . I think our friends were relieved that we walked down this famous hill after enjoying our take away lunch outside. Beautiful views are to be had from the top where we paused to pray over this city.
However, we did NOT expect the crowds which awaited us at all the shops at the bottom of the hill. This was a bit shocking because of COVID; we had not seen this many people out in about in over a year!
It was such a blessing to walk alongside our friends and talk with them in person as we enjoyed a lovely day out!
Tucked away at the foot of the Cleveland Hills in North Yorkshire, Mount Grace Priory and it’s beautiful gardens is a lovely day out! This morning our family discovered this little gem of an English Heritage site which smelled of fresh cut grass as we walked about enjoying the sunshine.
This Carthusian priory is an unusual medieval monastery because these monks sought to live in solitary dwellings. Many single dwellings were constructed around this priory; each contained living quarters at ground level, a workshop on the upper level, fireplace, and a private garden.
Uniquely food and necessities were passed through an “L” shaped hole by the door into each monk’s quarters. And each monk could eat the vegetables and herbs grown in their private quarters. This Catholic priory ruins (they were dissolved by Henry VII in 1536) still have running water surrounding each monk dwelling since there are two wells on-site.
Our family enjoyed the beautiful gardens as well and seeing two swans nesting in the pond! This location provided a relaxing final day out during our holiday!
It’s hard to believe this girl from Kansas was sitting here on Whitby beach enjoying the North Sea this morning. As a child I was fascinated with the ocean since where I was raised was more often similar to a dessert (think Dust Bowl of the 1930’s). Now, these past nine years since living in England, we have had several seaside holidays. In fact my husband’s (also raised in Kansas) first time putting his feet in the ocean was nine years ago upon moving here!
For the first time in nine months COVID restrictions have lessened enough to allow us to stay overnight in an Air B&B! Praise the Lord; we booked in the first day allowed and this was our first time staying in Whitby overnight!
It’s only 8C (about 48F degrees) today, but thankfully it was sunny! Today we rested on the beach, rock pooled (that’s looking for seashells and creatures left as tide goes out), built sand castles (although most of them didn’t hold), and later enjoyed crabbing…again! We love catching crabs, holding them and talking to them. Our first evening here e even caught a fish in our crab net…that is a truly rare event!
Our first day here we went crabbing and ate steak pies sitting near Whitby swing bridge. We made friends with another family from Leeds keen on playing with the crabs we caught! A local Year 8 Whitby student gave us tips on crabbing; she was keen to chat with us since COVID had restricted tourism here.
Our second day here we wet up with American friends who happened to be touring Whitby. We showed them the whale jaw bones at top of hill, ate fish and chips (dressed crab) seaside, and visited Whitby Abbey.
Why do I love the seaside so much? Because I think this is exactly what the Lord had in mind in Psalm 46:10 when He said, “be still and know that I am God.” The crashing waves silence my inner chatter and relax my never ceasing thoughts. Here His creation is all encompassing as I gaze at the constant waves. The seaside air may be brisk, but its rejuvenating and restorative presence is like none other. Thus my creativity begins overflowing; greatly enjoy the seaside!
That being said, a British seaside is much different than others; it is great for those of us opposed to sand since it’s much too cold to remove my shoes or clothes. 😉 However, we do come prepared wearing waterproof trousers and wellies. This was particularly good today since we were enjoying rock pooling so much that the tide creeped in until before I knew it I was surrounded by ocean!
We are SO VERY THANKFUL the Lord has blessed us with this holiday! (We almost forgot about COVID aside from wearing masks in shops and sanitising often.) After nine LONG months of living through this COVID pandemic, it has been refreshing to get away and feel restored to normal.
Today we had our first family outing outside of Leeds in over four months (due to COVID-19 lockdown)! We took two friends with us to show them these amazing rock formations for their first time. Brimham Rocks are nearby rock formations where young and old can walk paved paths, explore less traveled heather trails, and climb about on the unique rocks.
Cora prayed for good weather, unlike what was predicted, and we had sun most of the day and quickly shed our layers. We thank the Lord for less wind and no rain!
We ate our picnic lunch whilst sunning ourselves on giant rocks overlooking the National Trust park. Beautiful!
Once we had our fill of climbing till our hands and hips were sore, we got in the car and drove to Patley Bridge. Unfortunately the Oldest Sweet Shop and Cocoa Joe’s were not open yet due to COVID restrictions, but we enjoyed Yorkshire ice cream in the park…yum! We hope to take our friends here another time as were were a bit disappointed these shops weren’t yet open; yet we felt very blessed to be able to venture out further than Leeds and sit outside together!
This year, whilst still living amidst a global pandemic, our celebration of Jesus’ sacrifice held a few less restrictions. Similar to last year, we setup an Easter Trail on our Crescent where children and adults can walk about and scan QR codes with their mobiles. Each code leads to a brief video detailing the Bible story of Jesus’ death and resurrection. The kids and I put together Bags of Hope for children to take with them on the Easter Trail. We handed out Palm Crosses, along with a poem/verse, to over 140 neighbours. Some of them discussed how this blessed them on our neighbourhood What’s Ap! And the kids and I made a window display depicting Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday.
As our third full-scale UK COVID-19 lockdown eases, we were able to begin our celebrations with our shared Passover Seder meal in our garden with two guests! Our guests are coworkers here from the U.S. for two years. It was great including them in our Passover meal; our first guests since Christmas! They also brought some fun garden games to play!
Despite the cold we enjoyed the symbolism of the bread, lamb, egg, charoset, and more. Recently I shared how the matzoh bread symbolises Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the cross with a friend who is keen to read more!
The kids enjoyed finding the afikomen (Passover matzoh bread) as part of our celebration.
Ryan blessed me with a wooden Easter scene this year, which we enjoyed moving around as Holy Week progressed.
Good Friday we enjoyed online church and Cora was blessed to spend time with friends in a nearby garden! This was the first time she had been with her friends, outside of school, in a year. When walking Cora there and picking her up, this allowed me time to meet parents in person for the first time (as most I only knew over What’s Ap).
Saturday we had a lovely walk in Meanwood Park and the Hollies; we were blessed to pet horses!
Ryan and Cora rock climbed for a bit.
A new tradition sprang forth this year as a friend of ours sent us the recipe for Resurrection Cookies. This was a simple and delicious cookie to make filled with Biblical symbolism and scriptures which we read as a family whilst cooking. My favourite part was taping the oven door shut and not opening it until Sunday morning; each cookie looks like a tomb when broken open!
We enjoyed hot cross buns for Easter breakfast.
Sunday morning we were able to attend a church in person for the first time in months! It was great to hear a sermon and see everyone in person, but we were discouraged from visiting afterwards due to COVID restrictions. Yet afterwards many had planned walks this sunny day. Our family returned home for our Sunday roast dinner and hiding/hunting eggs in our garden. Hunting eggs is always loads of fun!
It’s hard to believe it has now been one year of living through a global pandemic. Yet, I am so very thankful for the Hope our family has in Jesus! If you want to know more, we are eager to share! Happy Easter, everyone!
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