Mikaela Meets the Queen of England

I am in London.

With my "Mum."

Preparing to attend the World and Royal Premiere of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader tonight in the presence of Liam Neeson and all the rest of the movie's stars. In the presence of Her Majest the Queen of England and His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh. At the Odeon and Empire Cinemas in Leicester Square, London. That's England's London.

It all started five weeks ago when I stumbled across an email from Focus on the Family proclaiming their exciting new contest--write an essay on your favorite character from The Chronicles of Narnia and why you would like to attend the London premiere, and you might get a chance to do just that! After procrastinating all week, I finally sat down and wrote the 200 word essay in less than one hour, sent it off:

"Edmund: traitorous, narcissistic wretch. I despised Edmund when I read through the Chronicles of Narnia while still under four feet tall. Reading through the books again, however, with an increased stature and propensity for introspection, I found myself in Edmund: hopeless sinner and selfish brute, indebted to another for a second chance. “Aslan” gave both Edmund and I undeserved mercy and forgiveness, and because Edmund made me face my egotism, realize the enormity of my sin, and glimpse the pricelessness of my rebirth, he is my favorite character from Narnia.

"From my halting recitations of the series, to my still-fascinated perusal amid papers and finals, Narnia has always been magical to me. And so I sit here, dreaming of traveling to a place otherwise unfeasible, of experiencing an evening I never dared to imagine—the London premiere of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I am back in the position Edmund and I know so well—undeserving and helpless. Yet I hope. For to go to the premier would be the most extraordinary experience of my life, and the chance to immerse myself in the world of a redeemed Edmund once again would be the most magical thing of all."

And then Lauren came into my room just one and a half short weeks ago to have me listen to a voicemail from Focus on the Family--my essay was chosen as one of the 24 finalists! On the improbable probability that I might win, Mama and I spent the next two days frantically gathering our passport documents and traveling to Seattle to get our passports expedited (if I won, I would be allowed to take one guest, and I invited Mama to come along).

After that, all there was to do was pray. This I did earnestly, as I pleaded with God: "Please, Father, I want to glorify You. If my winning will bring glory to You, then I pray that I will win, and that I will not take the glory for myself. But if my losing will bring the most glory to You, then I pray that I will be content and satisfied with that. I do so want to win--but I want Your glory more. Help me to rest in You." My siblings even fasted and prayed for me! It was on our travels home from the beach trip on Sunday, November 21 that Mama called to give me the news that I had won--the six girls in the car instantly commenced screams, squeals, and laughter. I never settled down that night. I jumped, danced, laughed, screamed, hugged, talked, thanked and praised God, and just wondered at the absolute impossibility of it all. Out of over 8,000 entries, mine was chosen.

I don't even want to know what that particular bathroom fixture on the left is.

Focus on the Family gave me a movie poster, collection of their audio dramatization of The Chronicles of Narnia, $30 gift card to see the movie in the States (it comes out on December 10, everyone, so go see it!), airfare to and from England, hotel accomodations at the luxurious Grosvenor House (where all the movie crew and cast are staying) for three nights, VIP passes to the World and Royal Premiere of The Voyage of The Dawn Treader, and a stipend for food and transportation while we're here.

We arrived in Heathrow fully intending to make use of the all-important "Tube," only to discover that the Tube was on strike. Thankfully, that was for yesterday only, so it should be fully functioning today. We walked around Hyde Park in the dark yesterday, enjoying the "Winter Wonderland Carnival" that had set up shop there (why can't American carnivals be so charming?) and risking life and limb to cross the three lanes of traffic on Park Lane, gratefully finding on the way back that they have "Pedestrian Subways" here--underground crossings that safely take you to the other side of the road.

That's me in front of a Veteran's Memorial.

On asking directions to our hotel, we received astonished responses. "That is a very expensive hotel!" The bus worker informed us. "Very few people in England or all of Europe can afford that!" When we arrived at the Grosvenor House, we discovered that in addition to our room, we were provided with a 120 pound credit in the hotel every day we stay. So we dined in style last night, enjoying artistic salads, wild mushrooms, new potatoes, and lobster.

We've stood in queue lines, educated ourselves on pence and pounds, learned how to dial an English phone number, and laughed with our waiter as we tried to discern his accent ("The potatoes are odd...ODD...H-OH-D." "Oh? Hard? Heart? HOT! Oh! Hot!"), used a lift, and generally "sorted" things out, despite the snow that is falling fast and furious outside. ;-)

Mama and I chose to extend our trip from the three days Focus on the Family is paying for to eight days--we arrived here yesterday (losing an entire day in travel because of the eight hour time difference!) and will leave next Monday. I can't wait to take in all the classic English landmarks I never imagined I'd actually see!

To God alone be the glory!