He's back!

Next chapter finished. And almost another one too!

Surprise visitors!

What a shock! I was outside about 5 o'clock tonight, when up walk Aaron and Nancy Jo! We hadn't seen them for years, and they hadn't found out we were in Cambridge until 30 minutes earlier. Mutual friends, Laura and Hunter, connected us, and we were grateful to touch base with them for about an hour. They live in Tennessee and are here for a few days on their way to Northern Ireland where Aaron will be preaching.

The world is smaller than we think~~

~~and so is Jim. Would you not agree that Jim actually looks dwarfed next to Aaron? Amazing.

Plaits

I smile to myself with the many changes that have come over our children. One daughter told me the other day, "This girl at school fancies this boy" or "Mom, can you throw this in the rubbish bin for me?" (instead of trash can)~or "Mom, my trousers are dirty!"

Other new words in their vocabulary:
Brollie (umbrella)
Jumper (sweatshirt, sweater)
Cutlery (silverware, because, well, we don't have silver!)
Trainers (tennis shoes)
Biscuits (cookies)
Scatty (scattered)
I am so chuffed (pleased to bits)


Sarah asked for 'Plaits' today.

I smiled again and braided her hair.

Andrew and his 'little milk'

Andrew has become enamored with these "little milks" as he calls them. We buy them for him occasionally so that he can pour his own milk at breakfast. He was thrilled to get another today. Ah, the simple pleasures of life~

A lovely Saturday with the Harris'

I just talked with my family from Minnesota this week. It was 50 degrees Fahrenheit below zero with the windchill factor! Since it was 50 degrees above zero here, for some reason I did not miss Minnesota this week. (No offense to dear friends and family that live there!)

We are often overwhelmed with God's provision in so many ways in our life here in Cambridge. One way He has been very kind to us has been the advent of many new friendships. We have really enjoyed our friends Adrian and Fiona. Their three girls are very sweet, and our girls (and Andrew) enjoy them too!

Yesterday they came over for lunch and then we traipsed over to Anglesey Abbey to see their 'winter garden.' When we first were told that this part of the Abbey was beautiful in January and February, we didn't believe it. Being from the northern Midwest, we pictured snowblown fields and frozen ground. As you will see in the pictures below, we were wrong!

Adrian and Jim joked about how excited they were to see the 'snow drops', flowers the garden seems to highlight. And so after giving us women a hard time, they started a club. You might need to click on the letter below to read it. This arrived for Jim via Adrian.


And so off the Softies and their families went to Anglesey!

Enjoy the scenery! We're not sure what each flower is called; we just know they were amazingly varied and beautiful.

Early blue Iris.



My friend Fiona...



The shrubs had beautiful blooms, too.


Sarah showing us her new earrings~


I wish you could smell these pink blooms...


Charming flowers of another kind!


And, of course, the famous Snow Drops~



Daffodils were up at the end of January!



Aren't these ghostly white Birches lovely?


One of the neat things to find at Anglesey Abbey is the old water mill.

According to the National Trust, there has probably been a mill on the site of the present Lode Mill since the time of William the Conqueror's Domesday Survey in 1085. They think the present mill was built in the mid eighteenth century; that means this mill was grinding wheat before that deplorable rebellion in the American colonies!

They still grind wheat, corn, and oats, which you can buy there.


The sun beginning to set over the water by the mill~


Jim and Adrian, those Softies, have discovered a 'treasure trove' of Snow drops!




Look at the eerie green trunks of these hedges. The branches look like windswept hair.


There is such a variety of lines and textures in the Winter Garden. The bush next to Jim and I has branches that are curly and twisted like corkscrews.


We ended up in front the Abbey~


Right before we left, everyone (the children, that is!) jumped to Jim from one of the trees.


Nothing like a brisk afternoon walk to work up an appetite.

As Adrian lit a fire, Fiona prepared a feast for the hungry crew, ending with a chocolate fudge pudding. She is a wonderful cook!

We love getting together with the Harris'... especially when we end up back at their house for dinner!

Claire's special breakfast

I was awakened by a lovely smell wafting up to my bedroom. "Jim is cooking!" I thought with great anticipation. It is Saturday, I don't have to jump out of bed, and breakfast will be a treat this morning!

But I was wrong. While reading to children in my bed, Claire walked in and announced (with great aplomb) "Breakfast is served!"

And such a breakfast it was, all done by my 10-year old chef.

Hot oatmeal, with cinnamon, cardamom and brown sugar on the side~


lovely fruit~


our fresh farm eggs fried up~

and toast!


it was a feast! Well done, Claire!

Pancake Day~

We celebrated Pancake Day here at Tyndale House tonight. Pancake Day is traditionally celebrated on Pancake Tuesday (this month, Feb. 5) but it was a bit more convenient to celebrate tonight. What is this holiday? Since I had never heard of it, I thought you might be interested to learn what we did about this holiday.

The last three days before the beginning of Lent is known as Shrovetide. The old names for these days were:

1. Quinquagesima Sunday - Shrove Sunday
   The fiftieth day before Easter
2. Collop Monday - Shrove Monday
   Named after the traditional dish of the day: collops of bacon served with eggs. In addition to providing little meat, the collops were also the source of the fat for the following day's pancakes.
3. Pancake Day - Shrove Tuesday
   The day on which all fats and cream had to be used up.

Shrovetide was celebrated with games, sports, dancing and other revelries. There were feasts to use up the food that could not be eaten during the Lenten fast. Football was played in the streets and Nickanan Night (as Shrove Monday evening was called in Cornwall) was a time for boys to run riot in the villages: hiding gates, taking off door knockers, and making off with anything that householders had forgotten to lock away.

Intriguing isn't it?

Well, we had our own form of Pancake Day~here are a few pic's from the event:

Dad's hard at work griddling up some pancakes~

Some unique toppings~this one was "Cottage cheese and nut filling"


Some very happy children~

More fun eating with friends~

A little princess, who said, "Mom, my stomach REALLY hurts!" (After 9 pancakes whose wouldn't?)

And, I had to take a picture of my friend Marion, from Holland, who had never had a blueberry pancake before. She did enjoy it!