Paris

It is official. I love Paris! I really do. It was my favorite city in my whole trip. I thought it was absolutely beautiful! For a girl that LOVES bridges, there were a ton. And for a girl that likes architecture, I had plenty to feast my eyes on. I went into Paris expecting it to be absolutely filthy and I was pleasantly surprised. Though it is by no means the cleanest city on earth, it was cleaner than I was expecting. :) Did I mention it is beautiful! Because it is!!! :)

Daniel and I kept very busy during our trip. We went on a Segway tour of the city the first night and got our bearings. We saw the Eiffel Tower sparkle. The next day we went on a bike tour of the Palace of Versailles. It was fun. The palace is pretty. Very ornate (if you like that sort of thing, you would really enjoy it). It was crazy crowded though. We got to bike around the grounds and have a picnic. I think that was my favorite part. The grounds are beautiful.

The next day we went up the Eiffel Tower, to Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle, the Louvre, and the Arc de Triomphe. We were quite tired after this. I don't recommend doing so much in one day, but when you only have three days in Paris, you do what you have to do. :)

We headed to Normandy the next day. It was interesting to see the remnants of the war. They have retaken most of the land and are using it for farming now, so you pull up to these Bunkers that are in the middle of farm land. It is quite crazy. And the beaches were all crowded with swimmers. There were still parts of roads in the water and random remains from the war everywhere and then people just swimming among it all.

It is hard to believe so many men lost their lives there. Both of my grandfathers were at Normandy (not on D-day, but soon after) and it was interesting to walk where they had walked during the war. I liked being able to put the place with the history. Made it more real.

On Tuesday, we headed back to London on the Eurostar. I liked the train a lot because the scenery was nice. The underwater part is about 20 minutes of darkness, but I like saying I rode on the chunnel! :) That night in London, we went to dinner and a movie (Miami Vice) and relaxed. Then we headed back to Texas on Wednesday morning.

I have had better plane rides, I must admit. We were sitting right beside a mother with a 7 month old teething infant that didn't stop crying much. Made it interesting for 9 hours. But at least we made it home yesterday, today would have been INSANE! Praise the Lord for making our flight yesterday and not today.

Scotland

Well,
I made it back from Scotland safe and sound. The 7 hour train ride seemed much longer on the way back, maybe because I was awake for it. But it was good to get back to Oxford. The weather was so nice in Scotland. It was around 65 or 70 the whole time, which was a welcome change from 85-90 with no AC in Oxford. I was dreading coming back to the heat, but luckily it has been cool here as well since my return.

I had so much fun in Scotland. I stayed in Edinburgh for two nights with a girl named Alyssa that I met on the trip. The first day, we toured Edinburgh and saw Edinburgh Castle, St. Giles Cathedral, and The Palace of Holyroodhouse. On the second day we took a tour of the Highlands (we got to see several Highlands cities and Loch Ness). It was amazingly beautiful! I have attached a few pictures, but you will have to wait till I get back to Dallas to see the rest. Sorry...

I am in the middle of my last week of my last class. Too bad my professor started flying through the material in an attempt to get it all in. I am mastering writing at warp speed and trying to retain the information at the same time. It is proving more difficult than I had hoped. :)

Good thing I am almost done. This final is supposed to be insane, but I should not be complaining because my other two finals were quite easy and to only have one hard final in law school (even in summer school) is quite a blessing. :) If you think about it from 7-10am (1-4pm my time) on Thursday, please say a little prayer for me.

I will be so excited after 4pm because I will be done with summer school and have a two week break before U of H starts again. :) Not only that, but I also get to go find my boyfriend after my final! He arrives in Oxford around 2pm on Thursday and he will be waiting for me once I finish. Great after finals treat! :)

Daniel and I are going to see Oxford on Thursday and Friday morning, then head to Paris Friday afternoon. We are taking a train and get to ride on the Chunnel! I have always wanted to do this, I don't know why... But I will etll you all about it in my next update. :) We then get to spend 4 days seeing Paris, Versailles, and Normandy and whatever else we find time to see. :) Special thanks to Abby's parents for letting us invade their apartment for the week, it is such a blessing! We then return to London on Tuesday night and will fly to Dallas/Houston next Wednesday.

I have had so much fun on my journey, and I would not change anything, but I am ready to come home! I didn't realize how homesick I would get before I left. I think it is because I have such an amazing family and friends that it makes it hard to be gone for an extended period of time. :) And I am ready to have fellowship again! I miss you all dearly and can't wait to see you in a few weeks! :)

Oxford/Bath Update

Hello All,
I hope and pray this email finds you all well. I wanted to let you all know I am doing well in Oxford. I have two more weeks of class and then I am done! The time has flown by, but it also seems like I have been gone forever.

My time has been much better since I finished my first class. I have a lot more free time now and am enjoying myself quite a bit more. I have my second final on Tuesday, and then for the last week and a half I will only have one class. I finally took some pictures of Oxford! I am going to send an email with all my pictures after this one. There are a lot, so you don't have to look at any or all of them, but I will send them none the less. ;)

Last week my friend Melissa came in town. It was GREAT to have a friend here!!! We hung out in Oxford for a few days then went to Bath/Stonehenge/Salisbury. We went to see a show (We Will Rock You) in London as well and I took her on a whirlwind hour and a half long tour of the highlights of the city. It was my best weekend yet. Thanks Mel for coming! :)

Next weekend I am going to Edinburgh, Scotland with a girl I met on the trip. I am excited. Then I have one more week of class before my boyfriend, Daniel, comes in town and we go to Paris!!! I am also extremely excited about this. :)

I hope to send out one more update before I come home, but if not, I will send you the rest of my pictures and a final update once I am back. I get back to Dallas on August 9th and I get back to Houston on August 13th in time for church. I miss you all greatly! I am sorry I have not sent many updates. It is crazy over here. But know I am safe, I am having fun, and I cannot wait to come home!
Please email me back if you have time!
~Jen

Oxford Update

Hello All,
I know I have not sent out an update in a while. I think I bit off more than I can chew as far as classes are concerned for the first week. I have survived my first week at Oxford! Yea. I have yet to see much of the city though, because most days I am in class for six hours and then I come home and study. I have my first final on Tuesday and then I only have two classes for the remaining four weeks. I think my life will be much more relaxed after Tuesday, Praise God!

It is so beautiful here. I will show you all pictures when I take some. Everything is so old and beautiful. It is amazing!!! I went back to London on Friday and went on a tour of Legal London. I then went to Blenheim Palace yesterday. It is 8 miles outside of Oxford and it is the birthplace of Winston Churchill. I will email you the pictures I took if you would like to see them, you can!

Anyway, I better get back to studying. I will send a longer update with pictures of actual Oxford later. Just wanted to let you all know I am still alive and kicking! :)
I miss you all!
~Jen

Internship/Oxford Update

My internship has been fantastic. I don't like research and writing all that much, so it has stretched me to sit and research for 8 hours a day. My writing ability has improved through the process and I could not be more excited about my judge. She is FANTASTIC. She is a Christian and I have really enjoyed seeing how her faith plays itself out subtly in her decisions. She is really hands on and has an open door policy and wants the interns to learn something from our experience. It has been fantastic. I spent my first four weeks on one decision. It was quite in depth and specific. I turned it in on Friday and my judge spoke with me on improvements I could make on the first half of it yesterday. She said it was well written and she was impressed with my clarity. I COULD NOT BE MORE EXCITED about this. Some of you know that writing is where I feel most insufficient, so to have such strong encouragement was a huge blessing. She is going to talk to me about improvements on my second half today. I pray that it is also encouraging feedback! :) :)

I leave next Tuesday for England. CRAZY. I have not even started packing. I don't know what I am thinking. I know I am going to be running around like a crazy person on Monday trying to get everything in order. It is all part of the fun though. :) I get to spend the first five days in London seeing the sights before I go to Oxford. I could not be more excited. I have never been to Europe and I am looking forward to seeing all the buildings. There is so much history! I can't wait to stand in a building that people stood in centuries ago. :) I am going to take hundreds of pictures, I can already tell. :) I am taking 3 classes once I get to Oxford. I will be taking Family Law, Alternate Dispute Resolution, and a class on the English Legal System. It is 6 hours all together and it should be fun. My grade does not transfer to U of H, so I don't have to worry about pressuring myself to do well. That being said, you all know me... I am going to try my hardest none the less. :) My classes are going to be fun though and they are all three areas I am interested in, so it should make class for 6 hours a day bearable. I only have class on Monday- Thursday, so I doubt I will be in Oxford much on the weekends. I am planning some day trips and some weekend trips. My friend Melissa is coming in town one week and we are going to go see Bath! And for the rest of the theoretical trips, I hope to meet some people in the program with me that want to go places. We will see. :) When my classes are over, I have five more days in Europe. I am planning on going to Paris. I want to ride the chunnel and say I was underwater. I think it is going to be cool! Hehe. Then I come back to Dallas on the 9th of August and will be here for a little while. So if you want to hang out with me in D-town, give me a call on the 9th or 10th. And then, I will be back in Houston on the 13th! :) :) I am excited to start school again and get back into the swing of things. I miss you all already and can't wait to come back and see you all again.

Alright, I think I made my update long enough. :) I am so excited about this summer. It has been amazing so far and going to Oxford is going to broaden my view of the world. I can't wait to come back home and tell you all about it. Email me back if you get time and let me know how you are doing! ~Jen

Update

Hello All,
I know it has been a while since I sent out an email update. Sorry. I am still alive and kicking in law school. I have been in five classes this semester and I just turned in my final projects in one of them today. Yea! I finished another one a few weeks ago, so I have three finals to go. They are next week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please be praying for me and my classmates for the next few weeks. Everyone gets so stressed out during finals and it is a really good time to stand out for the Lord. Please pray that I would be visibly different than my classmates and they would see Christ through me! Thanks.

I am done with school on the 12th. Praise God! This year has been really good though. God has been so faithful to me this semester and His provision for me continues to astound me. I am so at peace with law school because I know that He has me here for a reason. School is definitely difficult, but it is good to know that I am where I am supposed to be.

As for my summer plans, at the end of May, I will be moving back to Dallas and clerking for Judge Boyle (a federal judge for the northern district of Texas) for five weeks. My job will consist of researching and writing briefs for the judge. Some of my briefs may actually get published as case decisions... If this happens, I will send one, just to show you what I do with my free time. :) At the end of June I go to Oxford, England to study abroad for five weeks. I am going with Oklahoma University and am taking a class on family law and alternate dispute resolution. I am very excited to see Europe, as I have never been. Then in August I will be back in Houston to start year number two of law school! :)

Thank you all for your prayers for me through the school year! It means more to me than you know.

I hope this email finds you well! Please write back and let me know how you are doing when you get a chance! :)
With joy,
Jen Lewis

P.S. Praise the Lord, I am about to have a brand new baby second cousin! By the time you read this my cousin, Jacki, will have had her first baby. If you get a chance, please pray for her, her baby, and her husband. :) Thanks.

Guatemala

I just returned from my first international mission trip.  It is all to fresh and vivid to know what to post about.  I do know two things though:  1) I was blessed more than I could have possibly blessed anyone and 2) We are so blessed to live in America.  

Pastor Gregg talked about Americans being born with such privilege.  Just by being a United States citizen, I am one of the wealthiest people on the planet.  I have food, clothing, a car, shelter...  Anything I could ever imagine and I take it all for granted.  It is a shocking reality for me because  we are held accountable for how we steward what we are given.  This is a scary thought for everyone, but I had always taken solace in the fact that I was young, in school, and did not really have an income.  But even still the Lord has blessed me more abundantly than the majority of the world.  I need to seriously re-evaluate my spending and my thoughts on stewardship.  

The most shocking part of the trip, that will stay with me forever was the AIDs orphanage, San Jose.  The Mayan culture believes that if you are diseased and you have sex with a virgin, you will be cleansed of your disease (a similar belief is prevalent in Africa).  One of the precious little girls in the orphanage was 5 years old when she was raped by her father.  He transmitted his disease to his poor, pure and helpless daughter and then took her to San Jose.  I was so enraged and saddened.  How different than the relationship our Lord wants to have with us as our heavenly father.  I can't even describe my grief for this poor, precious little girl.  I pray that our Father wraps her so tightly in His love as she lives out her life in an AIDs orphanage.  

I learned so much more and would LOVE to talk to you about it anytime!  My web-album is below.  My encouragement to you  is if you feel the call of our Lord, Go!  You will be changed forever and you will not regret it.  

Guatemala Mission Trip

Summer Plans

Ok, So here is the final update on my summer plans. First of all, thanks so much for your prayers! God totally made my decision for me. I decided that if the Houston judge had called me back by the time I got home from school today I would accept the Houston clerkship. Otherwise, I decided I would call Judge Lynn in Dallas and accept the position.

Well, when I got home I had no call from the Houston judge so I decided to call Judge Lynn back and see if she was going to offer me a position or if she had more questions for me. The clerk for Lynn was not in her office, so I left a message for her to call me back. Five minutes later I got a call from another judge in Dallas, Judge Boyle offering me a clerkship, which I accepted (it took me a while to realize that it was not the same judge, it could have been bad. Thank the Lord I didn't say anything stupid on the phone and it all worked out). So I will be working for Judge Jane Boyle in Dallas for the first half of the summer. She was appointed in 2004 by George W. and sounded really nice on the phone. So to all my Dallas friends, I am coming home! And to all my Houston friends, I will come and visit you all on the weekends. :) I am just glad that the Lord made the decision for me.

I feel at peace about this summer and the crazy way it all worked out I know that it all happened for a reason. As soon as I got off the phone with Judge Boyle, Judge Lynn's clerk called me to offer me the position, which I had to decline because I am working for Boyle. Crazy huh? If judge Boyle had called even five minutes later I would be working for Judge Lynn this summer.

I then called the Houston judge and informed him of my offer and thanked him for the honor of being considered to work in his chambers. I also received two other offers for interviews today that I had to decline. One of them is Judge Lake, who is doing the Enron trial... weird huh? I think he would have been cool to work for, and the other was another Dallas judge. It is really cool to feel wanted. I have to say that God is funny though and I am glad things worked out the way they did.

Thanks again for all your prayers,
Jen

Summer Plans

Hey All,
I just wanted to ask you to pray for me tomorrow. I have an interview with a federal district judge tomorrow at 5:30P.M. It is for a clerkship this summer. They are kinda a big deal... I guess. Pray that the Lord's will would be done. I want to be where He wants me. If I am offered the clerkship, I have to take it (That is the way it works with judges). So pray that the judge would have discernment as to whether I am supposed to be in his office this summer or not...
Thanks guys!
Jen

Law School Update

I could not be more excited about my grades. I have never felt like writing was my strong suit and to have four essay tests in which I was being compared to people who have been writing for years, I was extremely intimidated. But the Lord is good. I put my faith in Him and He provided. I never expected to get an A in the entire time I was in law school, so to get one in my first semester truly blew me away. I pray that I can continue to depend on the Lord and not on myself for the next five semesters. I think that the biggest blessing bestowed on me through my grades is the knowledge that I can handle law school. I came to school not knowing exactly what specialty I wanted to do and in some ways not know what I was doing at all. I trust that the Lord will show me what he wants me to do with my degree, but surviving the first semester and doing well shows me that He does have a purpose for me being in law school and it is exciting. I still have no clue what I am going to do when I graduate, but I have complete faith that He will show me... In His timing. :)

My classes this semester seem like they are going to be interesting. My teachers seem nice so far... but we will see. I do not think any of them are going to be as inappropriate as one of mine was last semester so that is a blessing. I will have to update you more later on my teachers since I haven't really felt them out yet. My criminal law class is going to be very reading intensive. I have already had to read 148 pages and it is day 3... My other classes seem about like my classes from last semester. The only difference is this semester I have one more class than I had last semester so I may be bussier if that is even possible. My goal this semester as it was last semester is to keep my priorities in order and keep the Lord first in my life.

In case you didn't know, I am going overseas to Oxford this summer. I have always wanted to study abroad but have never actually done it for one reason or another. This summer is the last time that I will have the option to go overseas so I decided to stop coming up with excuses not to go and to actually do it. I am going with a program through OU so I will not know anyone before I go. Hopefully I will be able to make some friends on the trip though and I will be able to travel a little while I am in Europe. I have never been before so I want to see EVERYTHING. I know that I won't get to everything in one summer, but it is a start. :) I am taking 6 hours so my workload will be lighter once I get back. :)

Also, I am applying to go overseas during my spring break. My Church is hosting a trip to Guatemala and I am applying for it. Please pray that the Lord's will would be done. If I get accepted to the trip I will have to raise support in a very short amount of time, which is scary... You can be praying for that also. I am really excited about potentially going on this trip! :) I have never been on a mission trip before and I hope this is in the Lord\'s timing. I will let you know more later. :)

Anyway, thanks again for all of your prayer and encouragement. Please email me and let me know how you are doing!
Yours Truly,
Jennifer Lewis