Day Nine: Easter in the country.

Alrighty. Just so you know, I plan to finish posting about this trip. This really wonderful trip that already seems like a dream or far distant memory to me.

It might be another 13 years before Jeremy and I get to do something like this, so I'm going to finish writing about each day, collect everything in a book and then sit in my rocker on the porch and tell every body about the time when....

We spent the morning in the windy wild of the Cotswolds. The English country-side is everything you would imagine it to be. In fact, insert any Jane Austen or Charolette Bronte description here:

Oh, before we romped in the rolling green, Jason had his van battery jumped by this really great guy. His name is Dennis. Turns out he is a very interesting chap. Why? Because he loves all things Americana. His house is right next to the Noel Arms and he invited Jason to his "American room." He has visited 30 or 32 of the states United. He had all kinds of memorabilia and photos. He told us about how he served in Japan with some Yanks when he was young and how one of the US soldiers thought he said something bad about their country and punched him in the face.

Yowsa.

From there, a deep and abiding respect formed. Ok, he didn't say that was the specific reason, but it is interesting isn't it?


Ok, even before all that, I must remind myself of the delicious English breakfast we had. There was a couple at the table to the right that was so typically British they even brought their bloodhound with them to breakfast.

This is Chipping Campden, the beautifully quaint little village we stayed in.


So, for some reason I thought it would be a good idea to hike in the mud in very light colored pants. OF COURSE I fell in the mud and sheep muck. Of course.

It could have been much worse, I'll have you know. Thank goodness for quick reflexes.

We passed through several "kissing gates." Called so, because you have to kiss the person you are with before you can go though.

Or it could be because you have to close one gate to open the other and they kind of "kiss." This keeps the sheep in one place.

We didn't want to take any chances so we did both.

We admired the very large, knotted, knobbly trees. Everything was on the verge of blooming. The fields were so emerald, spotted with so many gopher or other creature mounds in some spots we thought surely we'd fall strait through to some underground Wonderland. It's easy to see where Lewis Carroll came up with his stuff. He didn't need opium just a stroll through the Costwolds.



I thought I was happy in the mud. This little girl thought she'd found heaven.


As it was Easter, Sunny (the wonderful mother that she is), hid some eggs for Antalya to find. She even gave Jeremy and me colorful bags filled with the most delectable chocolates. SO THOUGHTFUL. You have not lived until you have tried Thornton's Chocolate Mint Toffee bar. There was also something really wonderful with chocolate and coconut. Oh, thank you Sunny!


We also walked to the Broadway Tower. Man, it was windy. So windy you could almost believe a person could be swept away on an umbrella to live on a cloud. Perhaps the wind would lift you completely world out of this world to some Neverland, where you wouldn't grow any older. It could happen.







Finally, we drove through Oxford on our way home. We just strolled through the campus for a few minutes, but the imposing presence of the school was felt. What would you study if you were handed a full-ride, all expenses paid scholarship Oxford? Tantalizing, isn't it?




See? See how the sun came out at the end? It made Oxford seem all the more majestic, sort of commanding, in the presence of the sun.

I can't believe how much we did in one day and I left a bunch of stuff out, I'm sure. I could have spent a whole week in the Cotswolds. I think next time we go to England, we will.

As we walked around this Easter Sunday, I couldn't help but think how small the world is, how our Father in Heaven loves all his children and how my Savior, truly is the Savior of the whole world. I felt a desire to be a better daughter, mother, wife, sister and friend. I thought about my roll in the tiny sphere where I live. The most significant way I can impact the world is to teach my children the gospel of Jesus Christ and to live by his teachings.