Snow!

In mid-January it snowed about four or five inches over the course of a week. The temperatures stayed below freezing (usually in the twenties) throughout the week, so the snow stayed on the ground. Things do slow down and even get closed here like they do in Georgia as they are not equipped for snow and ice.

Amy actually realized this the hard way on the Friday the snow started as the buses stopped running that afternoon. Johnny called to send a taxi to her, but the taxi driver declined the request! So, Amy walked home two miles in the snow! Here's what it all looked like:

 Our postbox with the snow...

 

Looking out our living room window to the ground below...

 

 

 

Emily and Amy having fun, but it was cold!

 

Johnny's attempt at a snow angel...no comments please :)

 

Emily had a blast!

 

We all made a snowman!

Emily's favorite thing was to make and throw snowballs. Watch out!

 



 

The sign for our street...

Looking down Banbury Road toward Summertown and Oxford...

 



 

One of the homes along Banbury Road...

 

Finally we made what we called 'Downton Fort' while it was snowy and cold outside! (Yes, we watch the PBS series Downton Abbey. Highclere Castle aka Downton Abbey is only an hour away!)

 

 

Life around Summertown

We live two miles north of the Oxford city centre in a community called Summertown. It is actually a nice area with a number of little shops and restaurants. We know pictures are worth a thousand words, so rather than try to describe it all, just see these pictures below:

 

Here's our main bus stop at Squitchey Lane (we love the name!) above and below going each direction.

 

We usually walk the 7-8 minutes to get to Summertown, but take the bus if we're going into the Oxford city centre.

Here's a shot of some of the shops and stores on one side of the main road (Banbury Road) going through Summertown. There's two grocery stores, a few bank branches, two coffee shops - Starbucks and Costa, several second-hand stores, and then a number of other local businesses.

This is Barefoot Books above, which is a great bookstore for kids in Summertown. They have lots of activities and storytime for the little ones. We go with Emily and read books there regularly.

 

 

Here's Amy and Emily in front of Taylor's which has great soups and sandwiches.

We love their soups and curry!

 

Here's a look inside Taylor's. Emily likes to get a ham sandwich and some juice!

 

There's a Boots pharmacy where we can get our toiletries and any medicines we might need.

 

Oxfam is one of several second-hand stores in Summertown where we have found some discounted items to help furnish our home i.e. mugs and cups for tea!

Here's our favorite restaurant - Mamma Mia's - an Italian place off the main road in Summertown. It is always nice and warm inside and the food is delicious!

 

 

Sainsbury's is our main grocery store in Summertown. It carries the basics so you can stop in each day if you want to get what you need for that evening and the next day.

Here's the view from the entrance down the refrigerated aisle.

 

And then here's the view across the back of the store. It has most of the basics, but it might not have many options of any particular item. for instance, I think it carries only two kinds of salad dressing and two kinds of peanut butter. (Larger grocery stores in the city do carry more.)

 

We usually stop in here and limit what we get to what we can carry as we walk home - one or two bags most often.

 

 

More of our British Christmas experience

Here's a few more from December of the Christmas season...

 

 

Singing Christmas carols with our small group...

 

the animals hanging out for Christmas feasts at the covered market...

 

including all the turkeys hanging high above.

The three of us on the couch one cold evening. (Emily obviously wasn't in the mood for a picture!)

 

But here she is in her Christmas dress and sunglasses!

 

Our Christmas in Oxford

We had a nice Christmas last month even though we certainly missed being with our families. We spent time with friends from church here and with some neighbors from Ghana.

So many of you sent Christmas cards or little gifts and we are so thankful that you remembered us in this way. We also were able to video Skype with our families and open presents with them watching!

 

When Emily opened her Christmas Eve present from Papa and Grammy she said, "Oh, it's baby Jesus!" We later called her 'Baby Girl Jesus.' :)

 

Christmas morning with her new dollhouse from Grandy, Ellie and Will! There's obviously some large colorful frogs in the neighborhood.

 

Emily listening to Papa read to her from the nativity book they sent.

 

Emily excited about the new tea set that she can paint!

 

Emily got new safety scissors and we spent the day carefully cutting open each present. We're sure she'll rip into presents in the future, but it was nice to open gifts at a more relaxed pace.

 

The two of us figuring out the cool Nightlight Ladybug that NaiNai sent works. It lights up in different colors and projects the moon and stars all over Emily's room at night.

 

Emily got some new books, clothes, and this puzzle of animals in the jungle. She loves doing puzzles.

Here's our girl deep in concentration (note the tongue) painting her teapot blue! 

What I've learned so far...

I wanted to write a post about what I have learned academically this term. However, the thoughts that immediately came to mind were all lessons in my personal life. That is not to say that I have not learned things in school this term, because I definitely have. But as my years of working in University Student Life taught me, formation comes from lessons learned outside the classroom as much as from what we are learning from our professors, fellow students, and readings. So I should not be very surprised.

Academically, I learned more of the Hebrew language, the role of scripture in Jewish liturgy and worship, and some of the elements of Israel's history as they became a nation and the people of Yahweh. It's been good, challenging, sometimes infuriating, but such is the learning process.

But when I look back on this season, I feel the lessons that I have learned outside of the classroom more poignantly.  I learned a lot about the difficulties of acclimating to a new culture especially when I found out I was pregnant 2 weeks after arriving here. Pregnancy in some ways makes me feel like a stranger in my own body. This feeling was exacerbated by feeling like a stranger in my surroundings as well. Having that feeling of estrangement internally and externally was one of the predominant experiences of this first term for me. Culture-shock is one thing on its own, just like pregnancy has its own unique challenges. But you put the two together, and you are in for a real treat!

Despite the difficulties of acclimating to all the changes going on around me, pregnancy also grounded me. It reminded me how important my family is to me. No matter how many degrees or whatever else I try to achieve, Johnny and Emily are truly most important to me. And even as I was struggling through the nauseous feelings of pregnancy, I was bonding with this little one inside me. We were experiencing things together for the first time.  It's hard to really explain, but I felt comforted by having this little one with me to give me a good perspective on life, even as I was struggling to make sense of all the differences I was experiencing.

Unfortunately, this season has also taught me about dealing with loss like I haven't experienced before. We found out at 12 weeks that the baby was no longer with us, and I have entered a period of grief like no other time in my life. But this experience is teaching me as well. It's teaching me how much we are really capable of loving our children, even when we didn't know them for very long. They are part of us no matter what, and there is great mystery and care that comes with that reality.

It's also teaching me my deep need in ways that I have not known before. When I was looking for a spouse, I wanted a relationship with mutual encouragement and support. I wanted someone to love and to love me. I wanted us to be each other's biggest supporters as we attempt to follow Christ's leading together and uniquely. At the same time, I have a great sense of self-sufficiency. I can self-manage and take care of myself, and I wanted that same quality in a spouse as well.  I have found all of these things in Johnny and love him for it.

But this season has taught me something new about us and about our marriage.  My sweet husband has been taking care of me for weeks now. When I was pregnant and too nauseous and tired to do much else beyond going to class, studying, and interacting with he and Emily, he cleaned, washed, cooked, took care of Emily all without one complaint. And now as grief has become a constant feature in my life, and I question myself and my abilities, he is still taking care of me in ways I didn't know were possible or that I would ever need. And I am grateful.

I know this is only a season and that things will get back to "normal" eventually, but I feel that I have a level of knowledge now that I didn't have before, about myself, about my husband and our marriage, about our ability to navigate through hard things and carry one another when necessary. I realize my own need for another person in a way that I haven't in recent years. Being this vulnerable is a scary and yet freeing thing.

As we have gone through the Christmas season during this difficult time, I have been even more aware of the vulnerability of Christ coming and living among us. His willingness to take on flesh, to experience this human life, and even to subject himself to being killed by those whom he created is a level of vulnerability that I truly can't comprehend.  To be open and to love like Christ means we will experience pain, but also unimaginable joy. The pain part is something I have feared and therefore avoided for a long time. But I am realizing that by avoiding the pain of vulnerability, I am also not able to truly experience the joy either. The joy of really living.

My prayer for this new year is that I wouldn't be so afraid of really experiencing life. Jesus said, "I have come that you might have life and have it to the full." Maybe he didn't mean just the good, but the difficult times too that give depth to our humanness and our relationship with him.

Wet, Gray Days

 

I took this picture two weeks ago from our living room window when we had a cold snap here and temperatures were "minus" as they call them here (29 degrees). It was taken at 3pm and was obviously foggy and almost dark already.

Today is not nearly that cold, but it is a wet, gray day and it was dark by 4pm. Amy and I keep trying to adjust to the short days, but it keeps catching us off guard and we think it's later than it is.

We look forward to the spring and summer when the daylight hours will be much longer!

Emily's Nativity Play

December 19 was Emily's last day of school in 2012 and her class put on a nativity play for all of the parents and grandparents. She was an angel and did a great job singing the songs that they (we all!) had been practicing for the last month.

Thankfully, Amy found a costume at a store and we didn't have to get creative with a pillowcase or bedsheet!  Anyway, we thought we'd share some of the pictures from that day:

Here's the scene in her classroom...

 

As expected, it was a little chaotic at times with some of the angels roaming. Also you might notice that Emily (top left) brought her own baby doll to hold throughout the play. Thankfully, Mary did not feel too threatened.

 

Here's Emily with one of her friends, Paige, having fun afterwards!

This above is Ms. Ciara, the trained montessori teacher for Emily, who has been helping Emily learn to write her name, among many other things!

Here's Miss Abbie, who is great with Emily and leads the kids in lots of fun songs and activities.

And this is Ms. Angie, the lead teacher, who has been very good at helping Emily to feel more comfortable at school this fall.

And here's our little angel excited about the party and snacks after the play!

 

Here are a couple of videos too - one of the kids singing "I Have Come with Special News" and the next one of Emily playing with others in the hay and straw.