Wheeler Family Community Development

For those who have been asking about (or praying for) our community here in London, I thought I'd let you know that Eric and Brooks and I had our most social weekend yet last week. Hurray! Granted all Saturday was spent communicating with folks that we knew from back home. Still, those were such positive conversations that we were excited to get out and meet new folks on Sunday.

Saturday morning, we went to Heathrow where we met some good friends from Park in Chicago, who were on their way back from a church trip to the Holy Land. Beth and Brandon were each in a small group with me and Eric at one point and are two of our favorite people! We zipped over to The White Lion pub in Longford, England and had a leisurely meal and caught up. What an encouragement to get a full report on things back home and to see smiling familiar faces for several hours. Brooks fell asleep in Daddy's arms for a few minutes and was a trooper during the whole visit. We even got to greet Joe Riccardi on his way to meet up with Keith Wilson.

When we got home, we skyped with our good friends, Graham and Laurel, for almost 2 hours! Brooks was napping peacefully through most of the call, so it was a great chance to hear all their news and reconnect.

After supper we skyped with Eric's parents and brother for another hour and a half, planning for their trip over to see us in February. Howie was playing in the office and we enjoyed seeing how much he's grown in the last few months. We also got very excited dreaming about the Wheeler Family Adventure 2008! I'm already looking forward to them coming.

Sunday was the most successful church visit we've had since we've been here. We went back to Holy Trinity Brompton and got there early enough to secure a seat on the back row, one that could accommodate Brooks's stroller (he had a bit of a cold so we didn't want to send him off to the nursery). Worship, communion and the preaching were all great. After the service, Eric saw someone whom we had met at small group on Tuesday night, and he introduced us to his wife. They are a young newly married couple (he's Australian, she's from Pittsburg) and I think they could be a lot of fun to get to know. From there we stepped over to the church house to an area where parents of small children seem to congregate, and I saw a great gal that I had met at the Tots and Toddlers group. Apparently she used to be on staff at HTB and she knows tons of people. She introduced us to the American mom she was talking to, and we had a great chat with Jamie and her son Aidan as we stood under the canopy and waited for the rain to let up. There was lots of encouragement to check out other pastorates (their name for small groups) and helpful tips on getting plugged in and meeting people both inside and out of the church. We both left feeling really good about our decision to go to HTB and I think we have lots of potential friends there.

But the grand finale of the weekend was Sunday afternoon and evening. After a quick bite of brunch, we headed out to Bracknell to visit Tim Youngren's cousin, Matt, and his wife, Susan, and their family. I've been emailing with Susan for several months now, as she was fountain of helpful information and encouragement when we were planning our move. We'd both been really looking forward to getting know them. It was great to spend time in their home and to laugh or shake our heads at some of the crazy British customs and to empathize with the loneliness/frustration and to celebrate the opportunities and privileges of this ex-pat lifestyle. It was also good for me personally to see another young American mom being so successful in raising her kids over here. They have a 4.5 year old and a set of twins 2.5 yrs old, and in the days since our visit, I've found myself thinking "if Susan can do that with 3 kids, surely I can do it with Brooks!" She has a really positive heart and is a lot of fun. I'm optimistic that we'll see each other often, even with the hour-plus commute to get to each other's house.

So all those prayers and encouraging words are starting to pay off... We are beginning to know a handful of people here and with just those few new friends, the city is starting to feel less stranger-ly. I'm excited about continuing to get plugged in here and making this place "home".