July 1 "Halftime"

What to say...what to say...

Well I neglected to update on Sunday. Late nights and busy days. You know how it is. After church we were able to eat lunch with Paul and Sarah, our first night hosts. An appropriate meeting for the halfway mark through our trip. We ate lasagna (yum) and then played board games until Claire picked us up to go with her.  Becca and I then did the lesson for the youth at Cafe Church in Caerphilly. We went to a pub and had a meeting as a church and we sat the kids down and talked about "how do we win at life?" It was a good conversation and we got a lot of good interaction from the kids. Then I stayed up too late watching the Brazil v. Spain final. Most of it. Drifted in and out.

Today was a bit more eventful. I started off on the GSUS Bus at Cardinal Newman, our last stop. It was a good day, and it really seemed to fly by. That might be because I spent much of the time outside helping Roy with the malfunctioning staircase and chatting about a number of things. Then at lunchtime I got picked up by Dottie and we were off on our restful day. We had lunch with Billy and Sissy Barron, parents of my former boss at Erskine (small world). Jake joined us as well at the Wetherspoon Pub where I had a massive burger. So good. So filling. It definitely hit me later.

Then we visited Castle Coch, which of all of the ones that we have visited thus far is the most fully restored. It was a fun time and we got to explore the heritage and architecture of yet another medieval beauty. After that we headed back to Caerphilly where I caught a nap. Late nights and too much food. Then tea time with the Hughes. More food. So full. After our food settled, Becca and I walked down to the park to toss around the rugby ball and get some time in the rare Welsh sun. To end the day we watched "9" a movie abut post apocalyptic puppets. Good stuff.

And now here I am. Up late. Tired. I don't think I am quite up for musing about how fast all of this has gone, how exciting it is to look back and to look forward, and yet bittersweet to think that we are now on the back-end of this trip. I am sure that at some point these feelings/thoughts/etc are going to come through. But not now.

Pray for the Bus this week. I can feel myself ready to be on to something else after 3 weeks of doing this. But for these kids it is the first time. I need not let my lethargy cause a missed opportunity to capitalize on such a wonderful resource. Pray for my enthusiasm and my energy. There is still so much more work to be done.