Song of the Day: Vocal Few - One Day Soon A time for family, reunions and lots of love!
Hey Folks,
Sorry for the delay with the finale of our American Adventures but as expected - life got busy, VERY busy.
We left you in Seattle when we still had a week or so of travel left. After a lovely treat stay in the
Redmond Inn we ventured out to the Fremont area to stay in Hotehotel Hostel. This place has had some great reviews online. It's quite modern and in a great area, just down the road from the Fremont Troll. There was a quaint little second hand book shop just across the road and a tasty ice cream shop right below our room!
Another trip into Seattle central was also necessary for a bit more sightseeing. The Colombia Tower is a great way to get a view of the city as there is a Starbucks on the 40th Floor, if you want the full view from the top it will set you back about $12 each. Another essential experience is salmon and chips down on the pier surrounded by hundreds of seagulls! It's actually encouraged to feed them and they get pretty confident.
At our second week at Mars Hill, after much talk and media attention, Mark Driscoll came back from his holiday (which can't have been any fun for him and his family) and opened a new series for the Church in 1st John, named Love One Another. It was an excellent sermon and introduction to the series that really challenged me on how I perceive and treat my friendships. After this he paused for a moment and withdrew a statement he had written in response to recent events in the church regarding himself and his sins which have been widely speculated over in recent weeks. The announcement you see on-line is from the second service, which we also stayed for (yes we heard the apology twice). The second time time he was able to be much more composed and clearer in his delivery. People will draw their own conclusions about the situation at Mars Hill but Jimmy and I believe that we are to love him, pray for him and learn what God has to teach us through him.
So, next up we managed to fulfil a pipe dream of seeing Kings Kaleidoscope play live in Seattle! The likelihood of this was slim to none as they don't gig very often because there are so many of them and the live all over the place. They used to be a Mars Hill band a few years ago and have moved on now. But when a small lounge gig was advertised on their facebook page for a Bad Christian pod cast they were appearing on, we grabbed the opportunity with both hands and booked tickets. They only had a chance to play three songs but with eight members in quite a small room it was some of the most
beautiful music we've ever heard, honest and worshipful in all they do. As people, they are also really friendly and appreciate any fan support. Please give them a listen, it will be worth your time!
And just as an extra, extra treat there were another band we'd never heard of called Vocal Few, a married Christian couple who sound beautiful together. Listen listen! They even made song of the day.
Back to the outskirts of Seattle, we camped for most of our last week State-side. Lots of relaxing, writing, reading and laughing happened in the unusually hot weather. Then it was time to pack. For the last two nights we were in a Stay America hotel so were able to leave a ton of camping gear at the camp ground for people to pick up for free. Basically we dropped it and ran! But did leave a little sign to explain why it was there "We can't carry all of these goodies back to the UK so please give them a new home - FREE!!"
Two cheeky trips to the cinema may have also occurred in our last few days. We recommend The Giver and The Hundred Foot Journey.
Packing up everything we'd carried or picked up for two months was a long process and we had to
buy a new bag to put in a few things we'd bought that would be cheaper than paying to import it later. At least fourteen books spread their weight across our three bags as well... But come the morning of September 1st we zipped up our backpacks for the last time, drove to the airport, dropped off our lovely car and prayed the volcano in Iceland wouldn't erupt while we were in the air! The view taking off from Seattle was spectacular with rolling clouds and a snow capped Mt Rainer piercing the horizon in the distance. God provided us a smooth (if tiring) journey and change over at Keflavik
airport and we successfully collected all three bags at Heathrow Airport on the morning of the 2nd. the last part of our journey on UK soil finally sent me off to sleep for an hour on the coach home and then it was time to find our car and head to the parents for just two nights. We devoured a roast dinner and headed to bed!
The very next day was moving day! Jimmy had the challenge of switching from two months driving a smooth automatic on the left side of the car and right side of the road to a huge manual moving van, with right hand drive up the motorway to London on the left side of the road - scary! But as usual, he did it no problem and I followed up behind in our car.
We dropped everything and came home again, only to head up to Derby on Thursday for my sisters wedding. It was great to see everyone although a little rushed and the wedding day itself went really well. Everyone looked beautiful, especially the bride of course, and there was plenty of food, laughter and dancing!! And if you have never seen a Star Wars themed Minion wedding cake - you would have done there! Hehe...
By Monday 8th September we were back in London after our first night in our new flat of chaos and found ourselves walking in to Jimmy's enrolment at Theological College. For those of you following our move here closely we've sent out our first prayer letter to update you which hopefully you've received. If not, drop me and e-mail and I'll add you to our mailing list: josiehill12@hotmail.co.uk
It was an amazingly scary, overwhelming and blessed first week with lots of new people and a whole new way of life -
topped off with another quick trip home for a friends wedding
and a final few goodbyes until Christmas!
That's all I can squeeze in for now. Thank you so much for reading and joining us in our travelling adventures. Not sure when or what we'll write about next so you'll just have to wait and see!
All our love,
J&J x
Hey Folks,
Sorry for the delay with the finale of our American Adventures but as expected - life got busy, VERY busy.
We left you in Seattle when we still had a week or so of travel left. After a lovely treat stay in the
 |
| Hotelhotel Hostel & cheeky seagulls |
Another trip into Seattle central was also necessary for a bit more sightseeing. The Colombia Tower is a great way to get a view of the city as there is a Starbucks on the 40th Floor, if you want the full view from the top it will set you back about $12 each. Another essential experience is salmon and chips down on the pier surrounded by hundreds of seagulls! It's actually encouraged to feed them and they get pretty confident.
So, next up we managed to fulfil a pipe dream of seeing Kings Kaleidoscope play live in Seattle! The likelihood of this was slim to none as they don't gig very often because there are so many of them and the live all over the place. They used to be a Mars Hill band a few years ago and have moved on now. But when a small lounge gig was advertised on their facebook page for a Bad Christian pod cast they were appearing on, we grabbed the opportunity with both hands and booked tickets. They only had a chance to play three songs but with eight members in quite a small room it was some of the most
 |
| Kings Kaleidoscope and free stuff! |
And just as an extra, extra treat there were another band we'd never heard of called Vocal Few, a married Christian couple who sound beautiful together. Listen listen! They even made song of the day.
Back to the outskirts of Seattle, we camped for most of our last week State-side. Lots of relaxing, writing, reading and laughing happened in the unusually hot weather. Then it was time to pack. For the last two nights we were in a Stay America hotel so were able to leave a ton of camping gear at the camp ground for people to pick up for free. Basically we dropped it and ran! But did leave a little sign to explain why it was there "We can't carry all of these goodies back to the UK so please give them a new home - FREE!!"
Two cheeky trips to the cinema may have also occurred in our last few days. We recommend The Giver and The Hundred Foot Journey.
Packing up everything we'd carried or picked up for two months was a long process and we had to
 |
| Mt Rainer & Baggage claim at Heathrow |
 |
| Moving house - the new flat |
The very next day was moving day! Jimmy had the challenge of switching from two months driving a smooth automatic on the left side of the car and right side of the road to a huge manual moving van, with right hand drive up the motorway to London on the left side of the road - scary! But as usual, he did it no problem and I followed up behind in our car.
 |
| Big sisters wedding!! |
By Monday 8th September we were back in London after our first night in our new flat of chaos and found ourselves walking in to Jimmy's enrolment at Theological College. For those of you following our move here closely we've sent out our first prayer letter to update you which hopefully you've received. If not, drop me and e-mail and I'll add you to our mailing list: josiehill12@hotmail.co.uk
It was an amazingly scary, overwhelming and blessed first week with lots of new people and a whole new way of life -
 |
| Bournemouth Wedding |
That's all I can squeeze in for now. Thank you so much for reading and joining us in our travelling adventures. Not sure when or what we'll write about next so you'll just have to wait and see!
All our love,
J&J x
