pesudo memorial day

Today was a "bank holiday" in England and we made it our version of Memorial Day.  No American flags or red, white and blue desserts, no cookouts, but we did get outside and spend time as a family.  We went to the Peak district which is a gorgeous national park about 10 miles outside of the city.  And though it was nice to get out of the city, it was actually exhausting! Since we're carless, we had to wait on two buses.  We figured out the routes online, but the first bus actually wasn't running on a holiday.  Then we decided to literally hike (this is a very hilly place!) 30+ minutes to the other bus stop.  Then we caught the needed bus and it was a 10-15 minute ride out. The country side was beautiful. Low stone walls, sheep and rolling green hills- what I'd pictured England to look like.  And not to disappoint, it was cool and gray.  No sprinklers and kiddie pools were out here! We all had on jackets!

Anyway, we finally got there and I was tired! So we grabbed some coffee sat for a bit to take in the scenery and then found some trails to walk on.  We were headed down a hill when we spotted a friend from church who was cycling.  He actually stopped and told us a good path to walk with strollers.  Wow, what great timing!  We followed his advice and it was beautiful.  So green and lush, and the blue sky was starting to peak through.  We walked along the beaten path with the old low walls nearby and loads of families around us.  Passing through a few little wooden gates we saw some sheep.  Just gazing out in the open.  We let the boys get out of the stroller (or "buggy") and they loved hearing the sheep say "baaa" and get up-close with them.

 

We saw rams and baby lambs and even a few little black sheep.   The trail continued toward a pond, but we had to turn around and head back.  It was time for lunch.  We stopped at a pub and had a "lovely" lunch.

The Fox House Pub

We finished up and hurried out to catch our bus back.  Only we waited, and waited... apparently the bus had broken down before it got to our stop.  So we had to wait 45 minutes for the next bus to come by.  That felt very long with two tired boys.  So we loaded on the bus and this time took it another route to avoid the long walk home.  To avoid tireless details, it still took us another 45 minutes to get home! We were really feeling and missing not having a car.  We love our independence, our convenience, and our control!

We finally got home and put the boys down for a nap. J slept for 30 minutes on hubby's shoulder on the bus so he was just talking, but G was out! I needed a nap too after a 6 hour ordeal for a few hours in the peak district.

We then caught a taxi over to a friend's house.  This family is originally from Australia, goes to our church and has 3 kids.  Another family was over as well for afternoon tea.  We joined them as the scones were coming out of the oven.  Yum!  These actually reminded us somewhat of Southern biscuits.  What a treat! But with clotted cream and jam instead of honey and butter!

A long day, but full of family and friends.  It really does remind me of what community really is.  It can be so idealized, but it's bearing with one another, getting through, and making time for others.  Andrew did a whole lot of bearing with me today.  We attempted a lot of bearing with our boys, enjoying them, disciplining them and loving them.  Our friends invited us in when it would have been easier not to include us.  There are so many things to be thankful for.  Our bus escapades revealed much in my heart and now, looking back I more clearly see the Lord's grace in it.

Some other snippets from last week:

...after opening a package of stickers sent from Gram and Grandpa Link.  Note J's blurry excitement! 

A wonderful package from Papa and Grandma Knight!

Both boys have had fevers and been queasy, but after a day or two they both got better.  This was J after we watched movies all day and his fever came down!

We went out for breakfast in the "city centre" and we saw a horse and tractor and had to stop! 

sunny stretch

We all are so excited about the past couple and ext couple of days here: sunny and 70 without much chance for rain.  It's been beautiful and people are out everywhere.  The park near us went from us being the only people there and me bringing a towel to wipe down the swings and slides to crammed with families all out together.  There's such a transformation when it's nice outside!


In case you needed a dose of diaper-clad boys throwing new toys around...

With another week under our belts, a lot has happened:

• church service

Hubs with Gray out to eat after nursery at church (where he got his "cown" that he insisted wearing to nap time also!)

• second small group + post church lunch
• meals and tea at several church members/small group members' homes
• discovering the tram and downtown accessibility
• getting library cards and checking out books for the boys
• working out kinks of no TV and lots of restrictions with online TV here (no hulu or American TV networks or even American amazon prime)
• figuring out laundry without a dryer

 laundry day!

• finding some of the last few grocery items I was hoping for: pretzels, black beans, avocados, tortilla chips, how to do our boys' half and half (whole milk mixed with single cream), 
• doing more baking- conversions! oven temps in Celsius and everything in grams instead of cups
• took boys to Weston Park Museum

 The Museum had this exhibit...can't seem to escape it!

 Enjoying the boat area at the Museum

 Holding hands at the Museum

• learning and venturing out by taking taxis
• realizing how long the health system takes...a week to get anything done it seems! 
• cooking: white chicken chili, egg hash with potatoes, ham, asparagus and peppers, my attempt at bangers and mash (sausages and potatoes), chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies (I've gotta keep A happy!)

Highlights:

• Church- We already feel like a part of the family here.  So welcoming! Sunday preaching has been great too.
• Encouraged spiritually by going through 1 John at church + life groups
• The sunny weather, obviously
• Feeling like we're getting our bearings
• Time with people

Tougher things:

• Gray and I are sick...allergies or cold? We're not sure. Either way we've both been a little on the cranky side with runny noses.
• Boys have been tough to handle...I think they're bored or too cooped up in our small apartment and don't get to run around as much.  Though parks are great and they are exhausted at the end of the day when we can get them outside.  It's been pretty draining for both me and Andrew at times.  Then again this could be a stage of having twin high energy, loud, emotional two year old boys!  Plus, we also know our personal capacities are smaller...so it might just be a combination of it all!
• Transitioning to life without a car.  It's felt like one of the the biggest changes so far.  It's doable, but exhausting to push our (thankfully small) guys up hills to get anywhere!

Other snapshots of the week:

 watching the ducks at Weston Park

 double rainbows

 swinging at Ponderosa Park!

 Gray waiting outside our door to load in the stroller

 Jackson watching the "leedy bug" on the flower

 looking out over downtown Sheffield

 Gray has moments of such sweetness, like when he found a flower and brought it straight to me, completely unprompted! I wanted to cry it was so adorable.

Playing at the Peace Gardens downtown in front of Sheffield's City Hall

a week's worth of inital observations

Just a week ago we were arriving to Sheffield after a long day of traveling from Minneapolis via London.  Seven days later and we feel much more comfortable here.  God's given us lots of mercies and help!  Currently Gray and Jacks are running around in their diapers playing with blocks! They've adapted so well, which has made everything easier.

Andrew and I have talked a lot about cultural differences.  It's so interesting! When you think about England, you'd assume it would be one of the more similar places to the US.  While that might be so, it is still entirely different!  England much more associates with Europe rather than the US, and in many ways scoffs at some parts American culture (or at least stereotypes).  One pastor we talked with said "Think Amsterdam when you think of England." He has seen many Americans shocked (and disheartened) by the differences between here and England.

You might also assume that another English speaking place would be so easy!  But many times we still can't understand people! We really do at times have to concentrate when we listen to people!  I almost always ask someone to repeat what they're saying multiple times in a conversation! Andrew and I have had to ask people to explain terms or what they mean more than we'd like to think...simple idioms, or just different words used in another way.  For example, the word "precious" here can be used to describe someone's attitude, which more means they're very particular about everything.

We're currently reading "Watching the English" by Kate Fox.  It was given to us by one of the church pastors who's really taken us under his wing.  He's from Australia and said is really helped him understand fundamental cultural differences despite similar-seeming cultures on the surface.

Here are some of the highlights of the book about British culture so far:

• It's a social norm to talk about the weather with people in conversation; not because everyone cares immensely about the weather but it's a "safe" topic all should be able to agree on in order to start a conversation or bond with someone.  This reveals their dislike for disagreement
• It considered brash and sometimes offensive to introduce oneself in a very straightforward way.  Like we would in the States.  Asking straight up questions can feel "too personal" right away.  They'd on the whole prefer to slowly get to know someone by beating around the bush and then casually catch someone's name at the end of an initial conversation. 
• Humor is also different and is subtle and ironic.  They're very proud of their humor and many foreigners are always left wondering wether or not a Brit was joking or not...that's a mark of good humor. Quite different from the slapstick and in-your-face humor we're used to in the US.

Anyway, this is just the start.  It's been fun to read with Andrew and then go on about our day and see if we can catch any of these observations.  Though despite the generalizations of being cold, reserved-natured, very private, the church we're connected to has been warm and inviting, though still very British! We are grateful!

we made it

We've been in Sheffield, England for a few days now.  Wow, what a difference a year makes when traveling with our boys! They had their own seats on the airplane, slept for 5+ hours and we all arrived pretty rested.  It took us forever to finally rent our van (loaded with more luggage than you could imagine!) and drive 3 hours to Sheffield.  Again, the boys napped on the way and were generally entertained by the passing cows and going through tunnels until the very end. They essentially have slept through the nights and are on a loosely similar schedule here.  What troopers!! ...When I think about the plane flights and jet lag in Beirut I still feel a little tense- how did we make it?!

.

Andrew and Gray enjoying the midnight dinner service...Grayson loved his first ever Oreo and was even feeding them to his puppy!

Jackson fell asleep first and woke up first. But he's livin' the life: paci, blankie, puppy, all tucked in and watching Toy Story 3 ("Dino! "Cowboy!" "Choo choo!") before breakfast!

Gray out cold on the drive from London to Sheffield

Here's what we've been up to for our first few days:

• Checked out grocery stores- they are pretty good! Definitely no Super Target, but more European with less options (which makes it a little quicker!).  There's a range of tiny stores to supermarkets though all close by. 
• Found 3 parks easily in walking distance that the boys have LOVED! "Running...pease" is one of Grayson's more frequent requests lately! 
• "Loads" of walking (British term)! We seem to walk at the least a few miles everyday...and I'm feeling how out of shape I am!  Thankfully we're run across a few Starbucks on our walks too...
• Tried to figure out the National Health Service (NHS) and register our family, which we actually didn't need to, so much less paperwork than anticipated.  Hoping we don't have any hospital visits, but I'm also so curious about the healthcare here!
• Cooking. I do feel more at home when I can cook! There are several things, mainly Mexican related (no black beans?! thankfully I packed some dried ones so our boys wouldn't starve!), that we haven't found here, but overall it's been easy.  I'm also looking forward to exploring new foods!
• Unpacking.  We're staying in a 3 floor townhouse.  The bottom level is walkout and has a storage area which is great to not need to lug strollers up any stairs. The main level is a living room/dining room and kitchen.  The upper level is 3 bedrooms and a bathroom.  The third bedroom is teeny tiny currently serving as storage and a mini office for A. 

Our first morning at the apartment

Yes, please note the fuchsia-colored rose theme...

Swinging in the a nearby park

On a walk

Andrew challenged the boys to find some flowers for me...it was a race!

loving the green open space!

My men outside this morning!