Poolhouse and placentas

Here I am, by God's generosity and grace, in the Clayton's pool house, enjoying family, friends and sitting in the Alabama sun. The first morning after we arrived I woke early and went outside to have a good cry. Alabama is my home, it is in my blood and being out of it has been hard. Birmingham, England is a very different culture and climate, both much cooler than I am used to. Working our way into a well established team, and finding some support systems in Betel was harder work than I bargained for. We were initially met with suspicion as two other families before us did not work out. We were told to come as learners, to be willing to humble ourselves in the work. We did not come in as glorious life giving super missionaries - as I saw myself in my missionary fantasies. But God is good, we have survived the first couple of years and have made many friends. Our directors trust us and show their love to us in many ways - we are very very blessed to work and learn from them. I have the start of a support system - thanks to Beth, Brenda, Lisa, Angela, Fleur and Roz. We are working on staying accountable to each other in all things - emotional and spiritual.

The thing that strikes me most, being home, is not how much choice I have at Walmart or how many fast food places there are around here. It is not the heat, humidity or the intensity of the sun. It is the depth, richness and availability of loving, giving women in my church. I once saw a doctor hold up a placenta after the birth of one of my sons. He showed it to us with awe as it had been the lifeline for my child as he grew - full of rich blood, oxygen, and nutrients. That is what the women of Community Presbyterian remind me of - life-giving, loving nourishment for the spirit. Thank you all, I love each of you!!! You have now idea how good you look to me.

Another lovely day

Glory to God, we have had three truly lovely days in a row. Low-60's with sunshine. Spring has come to our part of England. I did not even wear a coat while walking the kids home from school!!!
We came home, made smoothies and sat out in our ill-kept back garden soaking the amazing rays.
We threw tennis balls for the cat to chase and examined the hole in our compost box (Pete thinks it was made by rats).
Since the garbage man (rubbish lorry) only comes every two weeks here, we have to recycle like maniacs and we also found two big compost boxes at the end of our garden, which we use as well.
Yesterday I threw a large chunk of hardened french bread in one and the next morning we watched as a huge raven carried into the middle of the garden and tore into it. We believe that we also have hedgehogs in our hedges (no surprise that the hedges are where they live) and have talked about setting out bowls of milk to entice them out onto the lawn. Pete (big Pete - guy who lives with us) is a photographer and wants to entice all manner of wildlife into our yard so he can get pictures. If he gets a picture of a hedgehog, I will pass it all around.

But now I have to go cook dinner and then be exiled to bridesmaid dress slavery. One more to alter and then I am done.......for about a week.
I hope you are all having a lovely day.

We are actually having a lovely day here. Low sixties, blue sky, sunshine. FINALLY!!!!! It is supposed to get up to 16 celsius this weekend which is something like 65 or so. Loving it.
The long days have started. It doesn't get dark until 8:30 - 9:00. The days will keep lengthening until it is still light until 10:00 - 10:30 at night and the sun comes up at 4:30. It is crazy and I like it. Bring on more light and more sun!!!

Snow and List

We woke up this morning to about 2-3 inches of snow. It is very pretty. Surprisingly, it does not snow very much in England; about as much as it snows in Alabama. And people react to it about like people in Alabama. Everything stops. School is out. Nice. It does snow quite frequently in Scotland. Northern Scotland is about like living in Minnesota - lots of white stuff from November to May. But now the sun is out, the roads are clear and we are going to church.

Everyone seems to put lists on their blogs. My brain seldom works in a list mode. But I was thinking of what makes me laugh here - that is what I would be thinking of.........
So here is my partial list, partial, because many things make me laugh - and it is not English exclusive:

1. My favorite most recent movie: King of California
2. My favorite English comedian at this time : Bill Bailey (check out his "love song" on youtube.)
3. My favorite American comedian at this time : Jim Gaffegan (sp?)
4. My favorite kiddie joke punch line : "thunderwear!"
5. I laugh every time Christopher does his lizard impression.
6. My Scottish friend, Lisa, says "Pantaloon's!!" every time she is annoyed.
7. I silently laugh when the English rant and rave about finding dog poo on the sidewalk or street, but say nothing when horses leave huge poos in the same places.
   
8. I think our postman is funny.
   
9. Nathan (our young office Brit) really thinks he is Jack Bauer from "24."
10. My husband still makes me laugh at really silly things.
    

Lambs

I do miss a warm Alabama spring. I miss dogwood trees, croaking frogs and incredibly loud crickets. I miss April days in the 70's. But, England does have it's charms. The fields are bright green and speckled with all kinds of flowers. The trees and hedgerows are budding. And then there are the lambs.......I love the lambs. Today, driving to work, I saw four little lambs frolicking by the fence. They are so cute and lamby. They really run around, chase each other and jump in the air. Their faces are either white, black or speckled. I like the black faced ones best. You can also hear their sweet high pitched bleating. Too cute.

Sheila

This is something that cracks me up. Here the guys call women Sheila's or Bridgette's. As in your girlfriend would be your "Sheila." And they also use sheila to say something is girly - as in "awww, that's sheila stuff" or " thats awful sheila". I am sure that this is probably Brummy street talk and you would not hear it in London or somewhere posh.

Goofy me

I want to re-enter the land of blog. In a fit of goofyness I forgot my password and which email address I was using to sign in. But after much investigation, and some really hard thinkin' I got it.

Wow, it's good to be back.

Kettles. That is what I have been thinking about. Electric kettles and how much time I stand around waiting for them to boil. Back in my old Alabama life, I don't think I had ever seen an electric kettle. Scott and I first saw one in the dorms at Bethany college. We were amazed, much to our floor mates amusement. As soon as we got to England we got one. Everyone has one, it is how you make your cups of tea. At windmill house, where we work, there is a "tea room" on every floor. Making a cup of tea for someone is just what you do. Our Scottish friend, Brian, is always asking if he can make us a "wee brew." If someone is your friend, you remember how they like their tea.
There is kettle etiquette. Of course, like good Brits, you queue up for you teas if there is a line.
No queue jumping! And if you use the last bit of hot water, you go fill it, with COLD water. Never hot water, because that water has sat in the pipes heating the house. And try not to get nasty bits in the sugar bowl.
Then there is the way you make your tea. Some swear by putting the milk in first with the tea bag and let it sit for the minute that it takes to heat the water. They say that it tastes less bitter. And don't skimp on the milk. And the thicker the milk the better. They love heavy cream in their tea, but don't do it too often because that would be too much of a treat.

Ok, that is all I have to say on kettles and tea. Mine is ready.