Apple Day

Last weekend was the unofficial "Apple Day" here at Tyndale House. A number of us picked the rest of the apples from the apple tree here, and then walked across the street to Newnham College where they freely let us pick more of their apples. Our goal: Apple Cider!

Here's Jim shaking the tree!


And the kids walking through Newnham College with their haul--like the 12 spies on their way home from the Promised Land with too much fruit to carry. Note the heavy bags of apples on a pole.

What did we do with all these apples?

Right next to the girls' school is a little farm that had an Apple Day~people could bring their apples to be identified and pressed, they also had a few little rides for the children to enjoy.

Here are a few pictures of the 'pressing' process:

First, Jim poured the apples into a regular garden shredder~

They were shredded into a big bin~

And then put into the actual press~



We all took turns pressing the apple pieces, and it got progressively much harder!

Here you see the cider slowly coming out~we actually filled this whole bin.

My friend Rahela and I are pouring the final product into containers. It was wonderful cider, I wish you could have tried it!

Here is Andrew on one of the farm's old tractors!

Sarah riding one of the rides~


and all the children enjoyed the trampoline!

A special 10-year old trip!

Claire's birthday present from us this year was a little trip away with me (mom.) We went to the New Forest, a 145 square mile forest in the southern part of England. It is a beautiful place, an ancient preserved forest (William the Conqueror's 'New' Forest) that used to be a popular hunting ground of Norman kings. (William II was fatally wounded here in a hunting accident in 1100.) As you can see, there are ponies in the forest; in fact, the forest is literally full of these 'wild' ponies. (Thus the draw for my 10 year old girl!) Claire took 39 pictures of these ponies, here are a few:







The one above is a picture outside our B&B's window. No-one who lives in the New Forest mows their lawn (or fertilizes either for that matter!) Actually all the ponies are owned by different people. They just roam freely throughout the park, and are gathered up semi-annually by 'adjusters' who check the health of the ponies and make sure they are marked (this is done by branding or by cutting the tail of the pony in a specific pattern.)


The ponies have 'right-of-way' everywhere. They roam freely wherever they please. These ponies were fast asleep in town in a pub parking lot.


Here is another pony trying to decide to cross the street. Or in this next case, some ponies just decide to eat leaves in the street:


One of Claire's favorite things was having this next pony make friends with her as we slowed down to take it's picture.

We had to shoo it away because it kept trying to eat her juice bottle (it was orange, she probably thought it was a carrot!)


One special treat was being able to take a ride in the forest, here we are getting ready:

Here is Claire on her horse, "Daisy"

Claire making friends with a black lab 'Pearl' where we stayed.


Another favorite past time in the forest is mushroom hunting. We were duly warned not to pick any mushrooms because many are deadly with no antidote. Another family who stayed at our B&B were very knowledgeable and showed us their day's 'catch.' Evidently this hobby can be quite lucrative, but both Claire and I decided we wouldn't try it, too risky!


We brought back a little treat for everyone! We had a wonderful time and we are also happy to be back together.

What a blessing to be with my girl~we had many good opportunities to talk and laugh and simply enjoy each other. I know that many will say that quality time is better than quantity time with your children-but this weekend I would say that quantity time produced some real quality conversations. We had the opportunity to have some wonderful spiritual conversations, some great discussions about girl things, and the chance just to enjoy each other without a schedule. I highly recommend this!

How is it different?

(Here is a picture of the garden at Tyndale, I still have quite a bit of work to do!)

Many people have asked us here how England is different than America. In many ways, it is not. In fact we have much in common or much that is very similar. Because this is the case, the differences about our cultures can actually stand out more because we don't always expect them.

A simple difference, while looking for frozen concentrated orange juice at the supermarket, (which doesn't exist) I discovered the common alternative here. Juice in a box. Easy to store in a cupboard and in this case, comes in a six-pack. Notice that milk is also available here in a box. This can also be stored in a cupboard.


Another food difference, chocolate chips. Although they do exist, they come in 4 oz. packages and are not quite tollhouse quality. (We did happen to find normal chocolate chips at a specialty store, but since they were $7.50 a bag, we resisted!) There is no lack of excellent chocolate here, however, and so we are making our own chips. Here is Julia busy at this task while talking on the phone to her Grandma. All the children pitched in to make cookies (called 'biscuits' here) for a Tyndale chapel.



I asked my children what they found different in England:

Julia: " They have way more colleges here." (Note: there are 31 colleges here in Cambridge that make up Cambridge University. We gauge a location based on what college(s) we walk by/through to get there.)
Julia: "They talk different"
Sarah: "No, they don't talk different, but they sound different!"
Julia: "They call things different, like 'gym' is 'P.E.' and assembly meets in the 'hall' instead of the auditorium."
Sarah: The bathroom is called the 'toilet.'
Julia: "They call pants, 'trousers', and pants really mean underwear!"
Claire: "They teach differently (the teachers.) They are pretty much more polite (the children). BUT they can be just as wild as kids in the States."
Claire: "They walk more and ride their bikes more. We have a tattie way to go to church."
Mom: "What does "tattie" mean?
Claire: "Tattie means not real nice." She's right; the way we walk to church through downtown Cambridge sometimes takes us past broken glass and bad smells.

This is just a little snippet of a before dinner-time conversation, more later!

Yes, but what's Jim up to?

Hello all--

Lisa has given you family news--they're doing great!--and yet I know the burning question on your mind is, "What about Jim?

Well, courtesy of my computer's camera, here I am at my desk!


That's our friend Barry you see in the background there. How like the Lord to put me in the same small desk area with a guy I've known for some 20 years! And the librarian who assigned my desk had no idea we knew each other.

I am doing well. Over the past eight weeks I've had the chance to focus single-mindedly on my PhD studies in a way I have never been able to do before--until now I've been serving full time as a pastor and part timing as a PhD student.

And what a blessing it has been to be able to work here at Tyndale House! The facilities are absolutely amazing--every journal or book I have needed is literally just a few feet away. Well, this week I did find one book and one journal I'm going to have to go to the Cambridge University Library to chase down on Monday, but those are the first I've come across in my specific area. I can't imagine a more efficient place to work.

What do my days look like? I eat breakfast with the family, then we all leave at about 8:30. We live about 40 seconds away from the library, so I walk across the gravel lane, through a wooden gate, past our friends' flats, across the steppingstones through the garden, then in the back door. They bang a gong for coffee break at 11 am, but I usually don't go because I'm in a groove and don't want to stop working (How anti-social can I get??).

Lunch is at 12:45 with Lisa when she has picked Andrew up from school, then back to the library. The gong bongs again at 4 o'clock to announce tea in the common room, which usually comes during a mental lull, so it's a good time to talk to other scholars and bounce an idea or question off someone who is specializing in that area. I'm responsible for getting things ready for tea on Tuesday afternoons, so I'm branching out from my expertise in coffee!

Back to work until about 5:45 when the girls come knock on my window to summon me. They like to sneak up and make me jump--Barry is in on it because he can see them coming but doesn't let me know.

Many nights I go back after the kids are in bed at 8. They bang the gong one last time (they like gongs here, it seems, a strong but mellow sound that fits a quiet library well) to close the library at 10pm, and I walk back across the garden and through the gate in the dark, happy to see Lisa again!

Here I am looking studious...


Next time I'll tell you more about what I'm writing. But this will have to do for now.

Blessings,

Jim

Wimpole Hall

Happy Friday~


Yesterday we managed an after school run to "Wimpole Hall" a beautiful historic home that is now owned by the National Trust of England. Not too shabby is it?



We were able to run through the grounds by ourselves because the home is closed on Thursdays. But, that was fun in itself!

We ran through the fields and over bridges and picked up "Conkers" (or horse chestnuts) until we had no more room in our pockets.




Another fun thing that happened while we were there, we met a cow! This cow was being driven "to the ball" according to the stockman who oversaw the livestock. While in conversation with him, he was amenable to naming the cow "Ash-Claire" in honor of Claire. She will have a tag put on her soon with the number #600812. (The cow that is!) AND should have a calf by next summer. If you are in town, stop by and meet her!

We are so thankful for the many new friends we have met, here is a picture of some new friends, Hunter and Laura and their two boys, that we have gone on several "National Trust" trips with. This is the back of Wimpole Hall on another trip:
One more fun thing about this place~the rage about 200 years ago for these large homes was actually to build the ruins of a castle on your property to impress your friends. This is called a "folly" for obvious reasons! Any way here is the one they had built at Wimpole Hall~


Enjoy!

Claire's Birthday

Today was Claire's birthday. She turned 10! She had a very fun day, beginning with breakfast in bed. (A family tradition)

Claire chose pancakes for breakfast (instead of the ordinary high-sugar cereal alternative) and then we 'ended' the day tonight with another of her favorites, French Toast.

Claire's birthday centered solely around horses. This shirt was a favorite gift from Nanna King.

All four of our wonderful children. God is so good.


Here is Claire with her blindfold off discovering her "surprise" birthday party with most of Tyndale House. Julia planned the whole party, wrote the invitations and gave us a list of things that they needed to implement the event. Anyone need a party planner?

Sarah made "Buck-eyes" a wonderful rice-krispy peanut butter cookie dipped in chocolate for the party. They were a hit!


Some of the crowd from Tyndale House. We ran out of everyone because so many people came!

Our camera has arrived. . .

Thanks to my sister, our camera has arrived! Here are some pic's from our flat here at Tyndale House, hopefully this will give you a good sense of our living situation!



Here is a picture of Claire and Julia sitting in our living room watching "Little House on the Prarie" on our computer. They are very thankful that a Tyndale House friends owns the entire series on DVD. You may notice we have a little garden out back where we are able to hang out clothes . . . .


This is our kitchen, Claire is showing off a WONDERFUL blackberry cobbler that we made from blackberries picked down the road. Delicious~~~


This is Jim and my bedroom. Notice the bed. This is a direct answer to 'months' of prayer. We fully expected a double bed (standard size here at Tyndale House) and so knowing that, I prayed everyday that God would let us sleep well here while Jim needed to study. (We have always had a King-size bed, yes we were spoiled!) Several months before we came Tyndale House they 'upgraded' this bed to a British King-size bed. (Which is equivalent to a long American queen-size.) We are very thankful, and yes, we are sleeping well.



Although our flat is only two-bedrooms, right off our bedroom was a large storage closet, crammed full of various things. The warden and his wife cleared it out for us and Andrew was thrilled to move in to HIS own room. He loves it and sleeps very well in his little bed.


Here is the girls room. They are really enjoying being all together and they each think they have the best bed!



Here is another pic of our living room. Sarah is reading to Jim one of her many school books.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of our home, we are sorry that we have taken so long to update this blog!