Tania, I know I get a little impatient sometimes with other posters. I am sorry if I've ever been short with you. I am a very impatient person, and I hope one day to develop the virtue of patience! Until then I have to try and stop myself when I go to make a nasty comment...but sometimes they slip through.
I have been including you in my often too brief prayers every night, and I know that God is taking care of you, even though it might not seem like it right now. God never gives us more than we can bear, and it is testament to your strength of will that you keep bearing and bearing your pain without a word of complaint. It shows how much faith God has in YOU. I cannot imagine living my life in pain every day and it breaks my heart to think of people such as yourself who have to suffer when they don't deserve it. But, the Lord works in mysterious ways, and we don't have all the answers. We just have to be strong and do what we can to live our lives to the full despite the crosses we have to bear, and you are a living example of that.
I will tell you about my plans for the summer, as you clearly enjoy hearing about them! Unfortunately I don't have a cache of impressive artistic pictures like Emma to show, but I can describe the places I am going to!
Tomorrow I sit my last exam at university, and officially become a finalist. Only one year to go before I get my BA degree!
Then, in two weeks time, I leave for New York. I am going travelling up the East coast of America with my best friend.
We are spending seven days in New York, and will visit all the usual sights; the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State building, etc, do some shopping (VERY weak dollar versus the pound, so we are RICH as soon as we land on American soil!
), go to a show on Broadway and possibly see the Cirque du Soleil, as well as visit Brooklyn, do the museums and laze around in Central Park.
We are then getting a Greyhound bus to Boston, Massachusetts, where we will visit all the sights to do with the Puritans, etc, go shopping, go whale watching and also go and see the witch hunting museum in Salem.
After four days in Boston we are getting a ferry from Boston to Provincetown, Cape Cod. There we are going to have a little beach holiday, soaking up the sun and atmosphere in such a beautiful part of the world. We will also be interested to see just how like England 'New England' is!
After four days in Provincetown, we are getting the ferry back to Boston, from where we will be getting another Greyhound up to Toronto, where we are staying with relatives of my friend. We have lots of activities lined up, including going to a Toronto Jays v. New York Mets baseball game, going to Amish country, taking a cruise up the river to see the Indian settlements, going to Niagara falls, taking in thr sites of Toronto like the CN tower, and more shopping!
After nine days in Canada, we will then be getting the bus back to New York for the final five days of our holiday. We are going to celebrate July 4th in New York City and visit any places we missed on the first time round. Then, we are flying home to London on July 6th, after spending five hopefully wonderful (and sunny!) weeks in America.
I am so excited at the moment it is unbelievable!
When I get home from holiday, I shall be volunteering with the children's educational charity that my sister works for, then having a university friend who has been away in America all year come to stay with me for a week. I will then start my summer job as a children's librarian, which I absolutely LOVE.
Also this summer my sister and her husband will be moving home, and as she is almost four months' pregnant at the moment, she will need some help around the house because by July she will be quite large!
In September I am doing work experience in a school (I am applying to enter teacher training once I finish my degree, so I need experience) before moving back to university and starting my final year.
So, I have a pretty jam packed summer lined up! Not to mention that I have to do all the reading and preparation for my dissertation on literature of the American anti slavery movement while I am doing everything else, so I probably won't have much time to post on here, unfortunately!
I hope that has cheered you up a little Tania! Rest assured my thoughts and prayers will continue to be with you. I hope your condition improves soon, and that something can be found to help you and alleviate your pain. You are such a brave woman and I wish that one day I can grow to deal with life's blows as well as you do.
Rachel
xx
