Good morning from Spaghettia. It’s six am and I’ve been up since four, and I’m on my second cup of coffee…but they’re little cups. I really don’t know how these Europeans properly caffeinate themselves with these little cups.
It is familiar and still different. As I tried to catch up on sleep, I was roused several times by the noise of the street – trolleys, brakes screeching, horns honking, people swearing and yelling – and every time I thought, “Oh, we’re in Sofia again. As long as no one drives into the hotel, it’s okay…” and fell right back to sleep.
We had a wonderful weekend with our kids at home before we left. We planned to go to one of our favorite places and spent the day tromping through the magic up there, but when we arrived we were surprised by all of this misty cloudiness. We drove through the clouds thinking that maybe we’d get above them and it would be hot and sunny higher up, but no…we were just in the clouds. It was beautiful.
This place is for dreaming. Every time I come here I learn something new about Him, about me, about this life.
As we walked, we could only see a little way up the path. We’ve been here before, though…we knew that an amazing view was waiting for us at the top.
It was His allegory for our trip over here…we’ve been here before, but we really don’t know entirely what to expect. We can only see a little way along the path here, too.
We had three flights and two layovers and 28 traveling hours. In between watching movies on the plane and trying to catch a little sleep, we read the books we brought in our carry on bags. Vin is reading South by Earnest Shackleton, I’m still months into Little Dorrit. We just finished A Horse and His Boy with the kids before we left, and I’ve also been reading Genesis and leaning hard into the Psalms.
A Horse and His Boy is my very favorite in the Narnia series. A boy named Shasta is on a journey, and he is walking in the mountains through thick fog, and Someone is beside him. He can’t see because of the fog, but he hears breathing to his left, right at his side. He finally he asks, “Who are you?” and the answer comes from that most-loved of all lions: “One who has waited long for you to speak.”
Through the conversation, the boy discovers that his life has been a series of divine encounters that he knew nothing about. He learns that he was protected, and loved, and watched over.
The next day, Shasta comes back through the same path he had walked in the fog with the Lion. We read this part with the kids a few days ago:
The hillside path they were following became narrower all the time and the drop on their right hand became steeper. At last they were going in single file along the edge of a precipice and Shasta shuddered to think that he had done the same thing last night without knowing it.
“But of course,” he thought, “I was quite safe. That is why the Lion kept on my left. He was between me and the edge all the time.”
We made it through the fog to the lake at the top of the trail. This is Gold Cord Lake at Hatcher’s Pass.
Here’s what we saw:
The fog started to clear a little, and we could see the view that we knew was there all along.
When the fog clears and you can see things closely, the details are marvelous.
As we flew through clouds from Anchorage to Seattle, I read this:
And now the day arrived
when he and his family were to leave the prison forever,
and when the stones of its much trodden pavement
were to know them no more.
– Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit
and this:
You make known to me the path of life;
in Your presence there is fullness of joy;
at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Psalm 16:11
And as we risked the ocean on the flight from Seattle to Frankfurt, I read this:
Up here in the clouds, everything was seen through cloud, though their voices and all other sounds were surprisingly clear.
– Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit
and this:
So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her,
“You are a God of seeing,” for she said,
“Truly I have seen him who looks after me.”
Genesis 17:13
…and this:
My steps have held fast to Your paths;
my feet have not slipped.
Psalm 17:5
This afternoon we will drive to the town where Reagan is. We’ll have our kids tomorrow. We will take them out of their orphanages, and the stones of their much trodden pavement will know them no more.
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You have them now! Praying!!!! Beautiful photos and wonderful, encouraging words! God bless you all!
Beautiful photos. I’m so excited for you today.
Tears of joy – what a glorious day this is. Praise Papa!