Saturday, July 09, 2005

The London Bombings

Hello there everyone! Yes, we have had one wild week here in England. On Wednesday, July 6 English spirits soared when it was announced that London would host the 2012 Summer Olympics. Thursday, July 7 there were four bombings on London's public transport - three on the underground subway and one on a street bus. There has been very little talk of Britian's gain of the Olympics. All the broadcasts are about yesterday's loss.

Danny and I were not in London when that all happened, so for those of you that have written asking if we are okay, the answer is yes. Apparently this has been the work of terrorists (and not the French blowing off some anger about losing the Olympic bid). We did have to take some friends to the airport in Birmingham (about 2 hours north of London) that afternoon, and the main motorways were filled with confusion from the attacks. The electric road signs that notify drivers of road delays, construction, accidents, etc. read, "CLOSED: LONDON." At the Birmingham airport there were hundreds of police and military officers fully equipped with guns and on high alert.

The reports are that at least 50 people have been killed in the blast and more than 700 injured. That number is actually surprisingly low considering it is said that almost 3 million people commute into London everyday. Personally, I think we can thank God this wasn't much, much worse.

Security everywhere is up today as England begins to process what just happened. Thankfully, we all know that God is an expert in bringing beauty out of the ashes and that is something we can all pray for right now.

So, thank you for all your emails and concern for us - we are just fine! Thank you also for your prayers. May God bless you today with a joy and awe about the preciousness of life, and what a true gift it is to have been given another day. My prayer is that with that in mind, we will take opportunities to share our gift with others.

Sincerely,
~Alycia DeLong