Wordless Wednesday

A shot of my boys yesterday on the way to the Dublin airport at the end of a very full three days of touring. Everyone's tired, but man, are they cute!!


Suz, I trust you don't mind if I copy your idea for a consistent weekly photo post. I hope it's a way to get more of my favorite photos up here in a timely fashion...

Bonking Brooks' head on the bed...

Brooks is shown here playing with Daddy on a break from the Dublin tourist circuit earlier this week. I thought he was going to throw up he was giggling so hard...

Malshanger

The first weekend of February, Eric, Brooks and I went away with our church Pastorate to Hampshire. It was a wonderful get-away to the English countryside on a gorgeous cold winter weekend. We stayed at Malshanger - a country house just a few miles from Jane Austen’s hometown of Steventon. The house and park land are owned by a family who is connected to our church, Holy Trinity Brompton, and that family provides half of the house for the use of the church’s pastorates every weekend. When I say half the house, don’t assume that they're stingy. The HTB side of the house sleeps 29 comfortably - in beds – with a dozen bathrooms, a large catering kitchen and dining room, and a great room filled with well-loved couches, views of the park land and a large, constantly roaring fireplace. The “front lawn” is over 150 acres alone. Does this give you an idea of the size of the place?! It was perfect for our group and since Eric and I brought the little guy along, we were graciously assigned the largest double room on the top floor.

One big highlight for me was a two-hour group hike on public footpaths on Saturday afternoon and evening – we never even had to leave the Malshanger estate, passing budding trees, flowers, greening fields and fence rows, little cottages and stands of trees. We kept startling birds I’d never seen before out of their hiding spots. A one point, three deer took off together across a rolling field and I felt like I was in a movie. I spent most of the walk visiting with Tara, Becky and Hannah, two Americans and a Welsh gal. We found that we had days worth of conversation to share and we all wanted to keep a quick pace, so we ended up well in front of the guys and got to be as girly as we wanted. It was such fun to hear stories about other seasons of their lives and just enjoy the beauty of God's creation in the cold afternoon and early twilight with new friends.

Eric had to leave early, so he missed the games and the late night socializing on Saturday night, but Brooks and I stayed around to enjoy the rest of the weekend. We had quiet times on Saturday morning, and had a few casual meetings with worship and sharing throughout the weekend. I got to lead the singing with our new friend Ross playing guitar. It was wonderful to choose songs and lead worship again, even for just a group of 20!

I left feeling like we had developed real *friendships* from the weekend, rather than just a few acquaintances. We began making plans to see some of these friends socially and have been so encouraged by the warm welcome we've received from this group. Apparently, this Pastorate is accustomed to heavy turn-over since many of the group members are ex-pats like us and are only in London for a few months or years. After only attending since late November, we're practically considered "old timers"! Here are a few of my and Becky's photos from the weekend...

Windsor day trip

Last week, I went to Windsor to visit my friend Susan and her twins. Windsor castle is the largest occupied castle in the world, and it's been a royal home and fortress for more than 900 years. All that and it's just steps from the train station - a perfect day trip in the making!!

We had the perfect day to see the Queen's official residence. The weather was crisp and clear - beautiful blue skies that shone off the rock of the castle walls. We met up just before the changing of the guard, got our tickets, zipped through security in front of a group of school kids and strolled passed the castle gates.




The changing of the guard there takes place in a small courtyard outside St George's Chapel. (Picture us standing right where those folks are in the bottom right-hand corner of the picture on the left). Our backs are to the chapel and we're just ten feet away from the guards and the marching band as they parade through the courtyard.

Susan wasn't sure if the changing was actually taking place as the courtyard was completely empty about 5 minutes beforehand - apparently it's usually wall-to-wall people vying for a better view of the action. We literally walked up moments before and finished our chat without anyone else there. By the time the replacement guards marched out and the drums thumped in the distance, scores of people started streaming out to get a place behind us. It was incredible! We got a few pictures on Susan's camera, trying to show how close we are. I was grinning - what a fun treat. Susan just couldn't get over how empty it was - by comparison to a summer-time visit, we were practically alone!

After a memorable (but cold!) guard change ceremony, we strolled through St George's Chapel - Home of the Order of the Garter. This "most noble order" was founded in the 1300's by King Edward the III and stands as one of Europe's oldest orders of chivalry.

Apparently Edward 3 was quite the military leader, had an amazing fascination with Arthurian legend, and hosted a massive jousting tournament at Windsor in the 1340s. He had even begun work on a circular hall over 200 feet across, designed to hold his very own Order of the Round Table, but building efforts were thwarted by the Hundred Years War with France (which he apparently instigated). The church itself was gorgeous, bathed in warm light through glorious windows and filled with a solemn holiness and aura of tradition that seems lacking in most US churches. There were tons of monuments and tombstones to monarchs and famous characters in British history. Sir Edmund Hillary (first climber to scale Mt Everest) was a member of the Order of the Garter and his chair in the choir was honored with a laurel wreath, in recognition of his recent death.



After the chapel, we zipped through the state rooms. Zipped because we had to check our strollers upon entry and Brooks is heavy. Also, everyone was getting hungry and lavish court decorations aren't that fascinating to toddlers. We passed by gobs of intricately painted ceremonial china and pottery, hundreds of swords and suits of armor, walls covered in tapestries and famous Old Masters (I didn't realize that the Queen owned one of Rembrandt's self-portraits!!), and enormous dining rooms and state rooms carefully designed for entertaining the world's most important dignitaries. It was truly magnificent. I look forward to returning to the castle sans Brooks or with his Daddy's strong arms to help cart the little guy through the maze of rooms.

Once we finished our speedy tour, we had lunch in town... It was my first time to order lunch for Brooks off a child's menu. He did great and ate every bite of his pasta, though Momma "had" to help him finish the ice cream! After lunch, we loaded the kids in Susan's station wagon (her older daughter was at school, so with some shuffling, Brooks was able to use one of the twins' car seats) and headed back to her home. We successfully put all three kids down for naps and enjoyed a wonderful hour of uninterrupted conversation! What a gift!! Susan loves the Lord and we have much in common, so I find that time with her is just such an encouragement. I have a feeling that I would see her all the time, if we weren't 30 miles from each other. I got on the train to head back to London after dark. Brooks and I were both exhausted, but I was so happy for the chance to connect. After some adventures on the train, and a delay on the Tube, we arrived back in our neighborhood at 7pm - ten hours after we had left, but still smiling!

If you come visit us in London, feel free to request that we make a return trip to Windsor... My ticket is good for unlimited entries for a whole year! And we will definitely need multiple trips just to see it all! :)

Coming Home from Notting Hill Gate

*** So this blog entry is neither funny, nor beautiful, nor filled with photos of our toddler. Instead it reflects a lot of my thoughts and feelings over the last 9 days. Feel free to skip over this one, but I want to be able to share the good and the bad here, equally...

Last Monday night, Brooks and I were in a restaurant in our neighborhood, picking up carry-out to take home, when I had a very unfortunate interaction with a stranger. My first impression of this person was that he was "not quite right", but he didn't appear homeless, so a part of me chided myself not to be judgmental. (Perhaps he was just socially awkward?) However, as I sat by the door awaiting my meal, he started talking to me and I quickly realized, no this guy is not alright. I tried to ignore him, choosing to interact with Brooks instead, but he would not be put off easily. After enduring ten minutes or so of this very forced, disjointed, one-sided conversation, a young restaurant employee came over and asked me quietly "are you okay?". I shook my head slightly, wanting her to step into the situation and help me deal with this person who clearly wasn't a customer. I mean, how was I supposed to ask him to leave me alone in a public place?

Unfortunately, my order was ready at that very moment, so the employee escorted him out precisely as Brooks and I were heading for the door. In one rushed moment, I was on the street and looking this man straight in the face. Now, the person who seemed strange, awkward and maybe a bit delusional in the safety of the restaurant, suddenly became a lot more scary. It was probably there all along, but when he started drooling and speaking with a lot more intensity, I felt my whole body stiffen. It was a busy sidewalk, I knew I wasn't in physical danger, as he surely wouldn't lay a hand on me with dozens of commuters in full-view. But it was night-time, and we were exhausted and I didn't know how to ditch this man who now seemed intent to follow me wherever I was going. I turned towards our home and started walking quickly away, trying to lose him. He began telling me he was in love me and was never going to leave me. He ran and caught up with me, his words more persistent - didn't I remember him?!? he was from New York and we were old friends! He was in love with me! I was the most attractive woman. My child was so beautiful and he would grow to be such a good boy... On, and on, and on. I hate to even remember it all.

Multiple times, I told him to go away, to leave me alone, that I didn't want to talk to him. He wasn't asking me for food or money - he had shown me a 50 pound note in his pocket as we sat in the restaurant. He was just more and more determined to engage with me. At one point I shouted, GO AWAY, so he walked ahead of me just a few paces then turned to leer at me as Brooks and I caught up and tried to squeeze by him. I was starting to feel a bit desperate for help as we passed by each storefront. I knew we had to turn down our street soon, and I really didn't want him to follow us home!

About that time a young business man whisked by us, heard me raise my voice towards the guy and turned back around. He came and put himself in between us and created a barrier without actually laying a hand on him. He forced the guy to continue walking forward, telling him to "move along". I immediately stopped pushing the stroller and just stood on the sidewalk watching and shaking, thinking how grateful I was that someone had noticed, that he had decided to act on my behalf, that he chosen to get involved. About that same time, a car horn honked next to me - a woman on the street had rolled down her car window and was calling out to me "Are you okay?" Apparently she had been at the nearby stoplight and had seen the situation unfold. "He's been following you for ages" she said... She tried to offer me a ride on the spot, but she was driving the smallest car I had ever seen in my life (a literal two seater with zero trunk, it was half the size of a Cooper Mini). There was no way I could get me and Brooks and his stroller into her car, but just being asked if I was okay was enormously powerful. I started crying right there on the street, shaken but relieved at the same time. My guard just slipped down and I let myself feel the fear and frustration of the moment.

Realizing that I still had to get home, I thanked her for her kindness, told her I'd be okay, and continued on. The business man had propelled the crazy guy up several blocks ahead of me, and then turned down his own street - He was half a block down a side street when I shouted "thank you!!" to him as I hurried along home. He turned and waved in response. Just one block from my turn, I saw Mr Crazy again, this time at a bus stop trying to get a cigarette or some attention from those who were waiting. I just put my head down and practically ran right past him, pushing the stroller ahead of me and praying that he didn't notice us. We made it to the corner and I looked back, grateful that we apparently didn't catch his eye.

As I walked (ran) the remaining two or three blocks home, I started to feel absolutely crazy. Turning to look back over my shoulder constantly, tears flowing, I was completely flustered. I have never been so grateful to turn the key in my lock and close the door behind me, drawing our curtains shut and turning on every light in the house. Our flat felt like Fort Knox to me! Eric was returning late from a business trip that night, so I knew that I had the evening at home by myself. Brooks and I ate a quick dinner, zipped through his bedtime routine and I crawled into my jammies and bed.

I tried to analyze my feelings that evening, but I think I made more progress in the days following this incident. I've thought a lot about why that situation was so unsettling - I mean I've been around so many unbalanced street people before... In fact, I was even followed in London once before, when I was living here as a young single woman 10 years ago. Why was *this* interaction so frightening?

I've decided that it comes down to this - I felt so very powerless because I was with Brooks. I was the one responsible for him and I had to look out for him above my own needs. Before when I was followed, I was alone. I could slip into a store or jump on a bus, or try to outrun the guy or get lost in a crowded tube station, no problem. Now, I can't just worry about myself - I have to think of my son, first and foremost. That responsibility felt immensely important in the moment, and it made me realize my own vulnerability.

Eric and I have been ending our evenings by reading a Psalm together before bed. I was so grateful for the Words of God to focus on when I was afraid that night and they come back to me as I remember His love and protection...

I will lie down and sleep in peace for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. (Psalm 4)

The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid? When evil men advance against me... my heart will not fear... even then I will be confident. (Psalm 27)

I sought the Lord and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears. (Psalm 34)

I'm not trying to be a "super-Christian" or whatever about this situation, but these words did bring me real peace. Of course I know that I have to be vigilant, I have to be careful and wise. But I'm grateful that the Lord knows my days. And He is protecting Brooks just as He protects me. He wasn't surprised by this man and He has saved me from far worse threats. Ultimately, Brooks and I (and all His children) are safe with Him. I can rest in that assurance.

Dinner Time

I made my mom's spaghetti sauce recently - a favorite of both my boys. These pictures tell it all -

But I want it now!!

Maybe my arms will stretch...


Can I have it if I can reach it?

Brooks at 14.5 months

I'm enjoying Brooks tremendously right now and just thought I'd update you on what he's up to.

During the day, he likes to "help" his momma with the laundry. His favorite job is pulling the dry laundry off the rack or "sorting" the clothes readyfor drying, but he's learning that the wet clothes go on the rack so he's starting to experiment with getting them on there himself. Stacking and throwing blocks and fitting shaped pieces into a slotted lid are also great fun. He loves a good story. Llama Llama, Red Pajama still tops his list, but Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel is gaining popularity.

In the last four to six weeks, Brooks' vocabulary has expanded quite a bit. He now says Mama, Dada, Hello, Goodbye (his current favorite word), Up (as in "pick me up!"), All Done (which sounds like "goodbye" but he seems to have a distinction in his mind), Ot (as in "Hot" - both the oven and his daily oatmeal), Um, Um (that would be "yum-yum" - almost everything he puts in his mouth), Bess Oo (as in "Bless you!" - we've both been sneezing a lot lately), and his own strange version of "thank you". Occasionally, I'll hear him trying to say something that sounds like "more" but that's not consistent yet. We're working on animal sounds, and every so often, he sings along with Old MacDonald "E, I, E, I, Oh!" If that doesn't seem like a lot of words, please note - it's not that he's sometimes quiet. When he's not saying words we can understand, he's creating and using his very own language. The flood of words rarely slows down. Watch out when he can actually put together sentences!

He loves to give and receive and throw kisses. Giving high fives is also a lot of fun these days. He's still a huge cuddle-r, which I'm certainly never going to discourage! He loves to ride around on Daddy's shoulders and will often pull himself to standing saying "up, up!" only to get into our arms and launch himself in the arms of the person standing next to us.... back and forth and back again!

He loves to dance. When I go get him out of his crib, he's usually standing up in it, in the corner closest to the door, just waiting for me... We'll often take a few minutes and "dance" - with him in the crib and me standing right by him, just wiggling and bouncing and expressing all our joy to see one another! :) Also, he dances at his piano, or when I have iTunes playing, pretty much whenever a song is playing, and sometimes when it's not... Just moving and wiggling and squirming! Our church does "family worship time" during the Sunday morning service before the kids go to the creche, so he's getting familiar with the singing and sign language and motions. It's a hoot to see his face light up when we all sing and dance along!

Right now, he really hates being away from me or Eric, so I guess that's some new separation anxiety. Even with that, he still loves to explore and meet new people. His current favorite pastime is trying to coax smiles out of his fellow passengers on the Tube or bus. This morning we were squished into a very crowded Circle Line train, and he started saying HELLO!!! really loudly to all the passengers he could see. When one business man ignored him, Brooks grabbed for his trouser leg and newspaper to get his attention.

He's still eating well and sleeping/napping well - though he has his times in both of these where he's not as cooperative. I think most of his difficult sleep moments are when he's excited about seeing us and doesn't want the play time to end. He usually ends the day with some rough-housing with Dada in the living room. I love watching them roll around on the floor and laugh together. It's the best! Bath-time is still a special treat - he would stay in the water until he was as shriveled as a raisin if we'd let him. Then stories and a bed-time snack and then sweet dreams til tomorrow.

We're still waiting for his first solo steps - I'm both eager for them and not, if you know what I mean. This crawling stage has been such fun and he's quite happy right now exploring on all fours. When he's walking and running, it will be "ready or not, here he comes!"

I continue to remind myself how blessed we are to have such a happy little guy. We're spoiled by him!!

Mac AppleCare - UK style

Today, I visited the Apple store on Regent Street - it's a huge flagship store in the middle of London's fashionable shopping district. Walking in I somehow felt much hipper than the last time I'd entered an Apple store. Even with a baby in tow, this time I at least had the experience to know how this whole thing works. I also had the determination to get the help I needed.

When I asked about the Genius Bar (the techies who work on macs in the back rooms of the store) I was told by the Lobby Host to talk to the Appointment Guys. The Appointment Guys showed me how to sign in online and then felt very little sadness or sympathy for me when I realized that the next available slot was 47.5 hours away. Apparently, "they don't see _anyone_ same day". They take appointments up to 2 days in advance and just open up 1 hour appointment slots at the top of each hour. I hope that my face didn't reflect my disappointment too much, as I thanked him for his help and set off to try again.

Well, I had no intention of leaving. I had *perfectly* timed my visit to arrive by bus on a weekday morning with a happy, clean, rested, and well-fed baby. And I had remembered to load my bags full of AppleCare warranty info, US chargers, international adapters, cheerios, yogurt, bibs, spoons, bottled water, toys, baby mobile phones, and soft touch books. I was not going to be dismissed that quickly. Plus they clearly had 325 employees on duly this morning. Surely someone here could help me...

My next strategy was to head upstairs with my computer and Brooks in his stroller and simply park ourselves in front of the Genius Bar (GB). I hoped that I could find someone to ask about solving the problem myself. This time I was onto something. The GB Hostess enjoyed Brooks immensely - he knew when to grin at the appropriate time. I started with my usual "I have a problem and I'm hoping you can help me." I have found that this phrase can work wonders with under-appreciated customer service folks. Once she listened to my story (sick computer, start-up discs in US, blah blah blah) and offered me a solution (Just phone AppleCare UK and they can mail you the discs you need to reinstall your hard-drive, no problem...), I then realized that I had gotten what I asked for but not what I wanted. I asked if it was possible to chat with a GB guru, to double-check that I would know what to do when the discs arrived. A GB manager leaned into the conversation, quickly determined that I didn't have a clue what I was doing, and gave the GB Hostess a sideways look that I translated roughly to "just squeeze her in". Apparently arriving at 10 minutes til the top of the hour was ideal timing. They had cleared through their previous hour's appointments and knew they wouldn't be running late for the next hour. Sweet!

Brooks and I sat on a nearby bench for about 20-30 minutes, and waited for them to call my name. We played peek a boo and pat-a-cake, flirted with other customers (Brooks, not me), and sang Old MacDonald. When they called me over, I met Ed - my GB guy - and tried to explain the problem. Of course Brooks picked that exact moment to start screaming. The female customer next to me (a French mom of two pre-school boys) was waiting for her GB guy to do something, so she distracted Brooks while I tried to put together an intelligent collection of thoughts about the computer's issues. Ed was amazing. He solved my problem in about 15 minutes by deleting some burn discs and other duplicate files on my hard-drive (which means that I *had* created my own problem when backing up my photos - I had filled up my entire 80 GB hard-drive!), hooking it up to their back-up hard-drives, and reinstalling my OS and rebooting. Or else something like that. Anyway, he also told me about an adapter I could get so I wouldn't be carting around my huge universal power strip all the time (Definitely need that!) and offered to replace my interior casing free of charge while I waited. (Shel, the discoloration on my wristplates was a faulty plastic in the original model, not dirt!! and it is completely fixable. Again, Hurray!)

When I realized he would need to take my laptop into the back, I asked if they could also just install the new software for me while it was back there. I mean, all these issues were caused by my photo back-ups which I did a precursor to getting this new software program called iLife'08. Absolutely, no problem, he says. We'll just need about 5 minutes more.

So I waited, and quite happily. Brooks and I had a little yogurt, strolled around the store and browsed through their vast array of products. And about 30 minutes later, I walked out with a shiny new white casing surrounding my perfectly functioning and completely upgraded laptop. I felt like I had just conquered the world. Brooks was exhausted, as we'd been in the store almost exactly two hours, but we didn't have to go back. It was done!!

So I say, London's Regent Street Genius Bar is better than Chicago's Michigan Avenue version. I couldn't be happier. I celebrated my success on the way home by dreaming up all the posts I still want to write on my blog.

More soon... :)