John Piper on Parenting~

The most fundamental task of a mother and father is to show God to the children. Children know their parents before they know God. This is a huge responsibility and should cause every parent to be desperate for God-like transformation. The children will have years of exposure to what the universe is like before they know there is a universe. They will experience the kind of authority there is in the universe and the kind of justice there is in the universe and the kind of love there is in the universe before they meet the God of authority and justice and love who created and rules of the universe. Children are absorbing from dad his strength and leadership and protection and justice and love; and they are absorbing from mother her care and nurture and warmth and intimacy and justice and love—and, of course, all these overlap.

And all this is happening before the child knows anything about God, but it is profoundly all about God. Will the child be able to recognize God for who he really is in his authority and love and justice because mom and dad have together shown the child what God is like. The chief task of parenting is to know God for who he is in his many attributes, and then to live in such a way with our children that we help them see and know this multi-faceted God. And, of course, that will involve directing them always to the infallible portrait of God in the Bible.

Thank you friend!

Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Gave thee life, and bid thee feed,
By the stream and o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, woolly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?

Little Lamb, I'll tell thee,
Little Lamb, I'll tell thee.
He is called by thy name,
For He calls Himself a Lamb.
He is meek, and He is mild;
He became a little child.
I a child, and thou a lamb,
We are called by His name.
Little Lamb, God bless thee!
Little Lamb, God bless thee!

~William Blake

Lambing season in the UK

I find it amazing how many little lambs dot the countryside here in England~

Choose your favorite picture!

Weekend with the Bauers

Our good friends the Bauers came this weekend to see us! We had a wonderful time with them~what a blessing to spend time with old friends~

We went to Wimpole Hall where the three favorite things to do were:

Make daisy chains~


See the animals~(Andrew asked me if bunnies had noses, so we had to check one out to see~)


And ride the Zip line~

Our children thoroughly enjoyed being with Audrey and Dustin~


They were very calm the whole time they were together~


We enjoyed Caroline's sister Janet, too, who isn't in these pictures!

We are so glad you came to see us dear friends~you are already missed!

Wellies in the rain~

The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk
The rain makes running pools in the gutter
The rain plays a little sleep song on our roof at night
And I love the rain.

~Langston Hughes

Fields of Rapeseed

I have been transfixed by these beautiful yellow fields around Cambridge. This picture is from Bourne, Cambridgeshire.

Waiting~

"Wait for the Lord;
be strong, and let your heart
take courage;
wait for the Lord!"
Psalm 27:14

"The heart of a man plans his way,
but the Lord establishes his steps."
Proverbs 16:9

"Fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my
righteous right hand."
Isaiah 41:10

We are waiting to see what God has for us next. I would be the first to say that waiting is not easy. My natural inclination is to want to know right away how our future will lay itself out. I would love to know what place, job, church, house and schools we will be heading into next. But, God is waiting to tell us. Since I know that His timing is always perfect I am reminding myself daily of these verses, and the truth that He has exquisitely laid out the timing for WHEN to tell me of His future plans for us.

Our children consistently are saying things like "When Jesus tells us where we are to go next, could we get a: (choose one) "trampoline? Horse? Dog? My own bedroom?" And our answer is often to say, "Pray about it, if God wants us to have a horse, then He would provide a barn." I must admit I am not praying for a barn, but then again, I don't doubt that God would give us one on behalf of our girls and their prayers! I appreciate my children and their faith. It is sweetly confident and utterly dependent on Jesus. My more "mature" faith requires the discipline of "thinking rightly" and being in the Word daily for me to move forward with a similar confidence.


A last verse~

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil. to give you a future and a hope."
Jeremiah 29:11

We look forward to sharing with you, when He tells us, what His plans for us are!

Sunday afternoon with friends

As you may quickly have discovered in reading our blog, we have spent many happy Sunday afternoons exploring Cambridge. We often return to Anglesey Abbey, a favorite spot, with friends.

There is something about the rolling lawns of the place (it used to be a medieval fish farm!) that draws all children to run~

Ready~

Set~

Go!


While my friends Kathryn and Laura and I snuck away to smell the hyacinth garden~



Our children found much more pleasure in playing "King of the Hill" on the vast heaps of last fall's foliage~


Always muddy and tired after an afternoon like this;

but always smiling.

Andrew the Artist

We are running out of wall space for our budding artist~


Andrew and Bob are happy to show you all their hard work!

Curry Night

Jim and I attempted some new recipes tonight for dinner (with a bit of fear and trembling!). We love Indian food, and tonight a group of us got together for a 'Curry' night.

Here is Jim grilling up some Naan bread~

A lovely pot of shrimp mango curry~


A feast for all who participated~


Delicious! And we are all VERY full~

The only thing that would have made it better was sharing it with our good friend James.

Oh my~

You have heard of the thorn in the flesh?

I discovered today the thorn in the forehead.


My friend Dorinda and I were doing our usual walk to the orchard when a wayward rose vine/blackberry vine leapt out and struck me.

Well, if the truth be known, I was so focused on what I was saying I walked right into it as it hung across the path.

I now have half a thorn stuck in my forehead, and we can't get it out! I tried, Jim tried, even Dorinda came over with her tapestry needles and rubbing alcohol and tried.

This is a dangerous country.

Smile~

The sun has come and gone this Spring, but today it was lovely and fragrant and sunny on my walk into town. Beautiful!

To Pray

O God who art from eternity unto eternity, and art not at one time in one place because all times and places are in Thee, I would now seek to understand my destiny as a child of Thine. Here I stand, weak and mortal, amid the immensities of nature.

But blessed be Thou, O Lord God, that Thou hast made me in Thine own likeness and hast breathed into me the breath of Thine own life. Within this poor body Thou hast set a spirit that is akin to Thine own Spirit. Within this corruptible Thou hast planted incorruption and within this mortal immortality.

So from this little room and this short hour I can lift up my mind beyond all time and space to Thee, the uncreated One, until the light of Thy countenance illumines all my life.

Let me keep in mind that my mortal body is but the servant of my immortal soul:
Let me keep in mind how uncertain is my hold upon my bodily life:
Let me remember that here I have no continuing city, but only a place of sojourn and a time of testing and of training:
Let me use this world as not abusing it:
Let me be in this world but not of it:
Let me be as having nothing yet possessing all things.
Let me understand the vanity of the temporal and the glory of the eternal:
Let my world be centered not in myself but in Thee:

Almighty God, who didst raise from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ and didst set Him at Thy right hand in glory everlasting, I thank Thee for this hope of immortality with which through many ages Thou hast cheered and enlightened the souls of Thy saints, and which Thou didst most surely seal through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

John Baillie A Diary of Private Prayer, morning prayer, day 15

Our lane~

These flowers grow along the fences on our lane~

~an interesting British myth~the flower below "Aconite" (thanks Mary!) is said to only grow in Roman blood~hmmmm~

Flitwick, Food, Friends and Fun

Our van knows the way to Flitwick, England now~

And as we always look forward to seeing our friends the Sewall's, we were doubly blessed tonight to see friends from Illinois, Patrick and Kristin Egan and their girls.

As we prepared to leave, I turned around and saw that several little long-eared travelers were coming with us, safely buckled next to Sarah~


When we arrived and got through the normal "screaming I am so excited stage" we settled in for a lovely afternoon of food and fun. Here are the kids lined up according to birthdays, from January to December~


Then on to the pizza party~


with 11 girls and 2 boys. George and Andrew held their own admirably well~


A group photo of us. Capturing Meredith (the youngest) was my highlight.

A Favorite~

Hot/Cold Tomato Soup with Basil

---

3 cloves garlic
1 1/2 c. fresh basil
2 tbsp. olive oil
4 lb. very ripe tomatoes or 2 lg. cans Progresso crushed tomatoes
1 tsp. sugar
1/2 onion, diced
2 tbsp. each chopped parsley and cilantro
2 c. chicken consomme
1 celery stem, diced
Salt and pepper to taste

Blend the garlic, basil and olive oil, setting aside a few sprigs of basil for garnish. Add to the tomatoes and simmer with the sugar, onion, celery, parsley and/or cilantro for about half an hour or until the tomatoes have been reduced to 3/4 of their original volume. Add consomme to taste. Adjust seasoning, adding salt and pepper if necessary and serve hot or cold, sprinkled with chopped basil, and, if hot, Parmesan cheese.


I have given this recipe out several times this week so I thought others might be interested in it too. This soup has become a real favorite of mine and Jim's, I often make it at the beginning of the week and we eat a mug of it with a sandwich for lunch. I use four cans of diced tomatoes (for the tomatoes) and put most of this through the blender (except the onions and celery.) I also forgo the oil and it still is excellent!

Day at the Museum

Andrew and I met our good friends at the Cambridge Zoology museum yesterday~

My 13-year old friend Libby taught me something new. See this Rhinoceros below? I didn't know that its horns were made out of hair! If you click on the picture you may notice that the horns look almost like wood, especially around their base. A more careful study show that indeed, it is coarse hair tightly packed together. The end of the "horn" is sharpened by the animal rubbing it against tree trunks. This is why a Rhinoceros can lose it's horn and grow another!

I was told I need to watch more 'Animal Planet.'


Andrew showing us what a Flamingo does with it's neck~see skeleton behind him~

A lovely whale skeleton outside, with more friend 'specimens.' (a.k.a. Libby, Michael and Rachel)


On the way home we had to snap a picture of this swan nesting in front of a row of punts along the Cam River. Soon we will see her cygnets!

Fitzbillies

There is a bakery I DROOL over every time I walk by it. Today, I popped in and took a few pictures to show you why~





Hungry?

Wheels

Certain modes of transportation here still catch my eye~

For instance, here's the vehicle of choice for our mailman~

The way many babies are wheeled through the Market~

A typical bus~even the non-sightseeing buses are often double-deckers, but with roofs~

As you might remember, we have a Toyota Previa, an 8 passenger minivan. I often get comments on how large our vehicle is here. And for good reason, the roads are significantly more narrow than American ones. It IS harder to drive a van here.

The "Smart Car" on the other hand seems to be the perfect British car. Awfully smart for small English streets, small English families, and a small number of small parking spots! But with four kids and their friends, not so smart for us.


And here's one of my favorite new finds. This German bike has no peddles. It teaches very small children balance, thus negating the need for training wheels. I see young children pushing themselves all through Cambridge (the market, parks, paths, etc.) when typically they might be in a stroller. I have also seen 3-year olds riding two-wheel bikes because of this! Amazing.

Here is Andrew modeling a friend's bike~

Windsor Palace

On Friday, Eric, Jim and I headed to Windsor Palace to meet the Queen~

Actually, she was there, as this flag attests~when the Royal Standard flies above the round tower the Queen is in residence. I believe that she spends most of her weekends at Windsor Castle.


Unfortunately, we weren't able to take pictures inside, but we really enjoyed seeing many of the treasures within.

We walked around the State Apartments, which are extensive suites of rooms at the heart of the palace. (There are 1,000 rooms at Windsor Castle, by the way!) We also saw the Semi State rooms, which are furnished with treasures from the Royal Collection including paintings by Rembrandt, Holbein, Rubens, Van Dyck and Lawrence, fine tapestries and porcelain, sculpture and armour. As you can imagine, it felt more like a museum~


After all the planes at Duxford, I teased Eric and Jim that now it was my turn! There were many treasures at Windsor that really interested me~

We saw Queen Mary's dolls' house (complete with electricity and plumbing, things like the tiny vacuum cleaner and lawn mower worked!) Many leading artisans and painters contributed to this doll house. They did their work on simply a much smaller scale. The paintings in the house are original works of art, simply very small. The tiny books in the library have real, complete stories in them. The wine cellar in the basement has tiny bottles with actual wine in them. Even the garden was designed by a famous garden designer, and it pulls out from the bottom drawer of the doll house.

Next, we saw two magnificent Jumeau dolls, 'France' and 'Marianne'. These dolls were given to the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret by the children of France in 1938. The dolls’ clothes were made by the leading Parisian couturiers of the day. (There was a necklace by Cartier for instance, furs, silks, shoes, etc. there were probably 15 outfits a piece for each doll, and each also had their own car~)

Then, it was a room filled with all the Royal wedding pictures~

And then, to cap off the feminine favorites, CHINA! Pieces from the many (I want to say 43 sets) of china that belong to the royal family. Very beautiful, all hand painted and unique custom pieces of china.

Speaking of china, in the picture below the wall to the right of the square tower belongs to St. George's Hall, a huge, long room where they can seat 160 people at one long table for major state dinners! Each place setting is laid out with a ruler--cutlery, plates and goblets each precisely lined up. Sounds impressive~



St. George's Chapel, also within the castle walls, which was absolutely breath-taking! 10 of the more recent monarch's are buried there, including Henry VIII.


Jim and Eric became friends with the chap below, the only thing is, he didn't say much.

If you haven't been to Windsor, and you are coming to visit, we would love to go again, let us know when you will be in town!