Foggy London Town

Now we know what people were talking about when they say that London is a foggy town. We have been stuck in face-freezing fog for about three days now and it doesn't seem to be lifting. As some of you may know this has been causing major problems for Heathrow Airport and since we have family flying in tomorrow and next week I think it is time for a big group prayer for no more fog. It does make it feel very Christmassy here though. We have our tree and our tiny pile of presents that make our tree look huge. Merry Christmas to everyone! We miss all our family and HOPE and PRAY to see some of you soon.

This is the view out of our kitchen window. The fog is starting to clear this morning.

Here is our little Christmas Tree.

This is me, freezing on the tube after a day of Christmas shopping down town. It really made me miss the mall where you can get it all done in one stop!

Personal History

Isn't it funny how the people we are closest are sometimes the most mysterious to us. For instance, I could only tell you a handful of stories about my father growing up but I could tell you the whole life history about some of my aunts and uncles. It just helps us realize to not only share everyday life with those we love, but fun stories and life lessons. Nate and I play a game where one of us has to come up with a story about ourselves that the other one hasn't heard. It's amazing to find out that there are stories we don't know about each other. The Washburn side of my family has a monthly newsletter and next month we are writing a 2 page personal history of every member of the family...EVERY member. I will post mine and Nate's when we get them written for anyone who is interested. I think it is good to stop every once in a while to take stock of your life.

Good books inspire deep thoughts

I just finished a book by Jodi Picoult called Second Glances. It was really interesting and I recommend it. It discussed the interesting and controversial blight on American history. In the 1920's and 30's thirty-three states passed bills that in some form or another that paved the way for the sterilization of "inferior" persons. It discussed eugenincs, which usually refers to the selective breeding of certain animals (cows, etc.) to ensure that any inferior genes were weeded out. Doctors, professors, and politicians decided to apply this to humans which usually lead to racial discrimination as well as dicrimination against any who were indigent, feebleminded, insane, blind, deaf, criminally inclined, or transient becuase it was decided these people were inferior and so should not be allowed to procreate. These people were "voluntarily" sterilized. This was then tied to modern day gene selection to get rid of things like inherited disorders such as sickle cell, cystic fibrosis, etc. This is something that scientifically, we are very close to accomplishing. The question at hand is who decides how far to take something like this. Anyway, my point is this: I have to write a research paper for my internet class and I thought this would be an interesting topic. Without turning this into a family debate, I would love to hear any opinions or points of view or even stories that I can work into my paper. It is always good to challenge the mind so let me know what you all think. If you don't want to post something you can email me at aksechrest@gmail.com. I would really appreciate any help.

Quirky British

Yesterday I went to the grocery store and I got all my stuff and was going through the line. I am almost through when the lady tells me that I can't buy the can of refried beans. Now, I'm confused because she is holding the can of beans and I can tell her that they cost exactly 85 pence and there is a bar code on them and everything. She tells me that they don't have them in their computer so I can't have them and that this has happened before and I can come back tomorrow and get them. Well, I don't want to make tacos tomorrow, I want them tonight so I offer to just give her an extra pound if she just lets me take the can of beans in her hand home. She looked so offended that I let it go. I'm pretty sure that this sort of thing would never happen at Walmart but what do I know, I'm just American. I mean, just take the cans off the shelf if you can't sell them. Anyway, we run in to wierd stuff like this all the time here and it just helps you realize what a great country America is and how fun it is to shake your head in amusement at our British brethren sometimes.