Just Another Home

One of big perks of being in England is there's a lot to see, and it's a relatively small country.  Just England (not including Wales and Scotland) is actually smaller than the state of Georgia (about 130,000 sq. km compared to 153,000 sq. km).  This means for us there's plenty of places for great day trips within an hour or so from us, which is especially good when you have three children under the age of seven.

Without it really being a goal, we've slowly made seeing "stately homes" one of the things we've enjoyed doing on weekends or holidays.  They're impressive, there are a lot of them, and you can see them fairly cheaply.  Many are under the care of the English Heritage society, which we have joined as annual members so we can get free/discounted prices.  And as a family that enjoys movies, an added bonus is that many of them have been used in some of our favorite films.

When I discovered that ALL of the houses used as exterior shots for Wayne Manor in the Batman movies were within a 1.5 radius from us, that necessitated a trip with a couple of the Club guys on a "Wayne Manor tour" back in January.   They loved it, to say the least.  We couldn't get to the one used in the Tim Burton movie since it didn't open for the public until the Spring, but we did get to a Les Miserables house instead.  The first Wayne Manor we got to (seen below) is actually private property on a country club golf course.  Which is a fun story for another day.

So enjoy a picture from each of the stately homes we've visited so far. 

Mentmore Towers in Mentmore, Buckinghamshire.  Private residence, so couldn't go in this one.
Was Wayne Manor in Batman Begins.

Boughton House in Kettering, Northamptonshire. Was Marius' family estate at the end of Les Miserables.  Didn't get a chance to go inside this one: it was still closed when we stopped by.

Wollaton Hall in Nottingham.  Was Wayne Manor in The Dark Knight Rises.

Wrest Park in Silsoe, Bedfordshire.  One of the closest estates to us, and one we've gone twice to so far.

The Hatfield House in Hatfield, Hertfordshire.  Has been used in a lot of movies, including Tomb Raider, Sherlock Holmes, Batman, The King's Speech, and Shakespeare in Love.  It's still the residential home of the
Marquess and Marchioness of Salisbury.

Audley End in Saffron Walden, Essex.  The amazing thing about this one is that the house is a third of its original size.  The family got in debt with the king, and ended up demolishing a large portion in the 1700's due to cost of upkeep.  (Here we're with our friends the Wallers, who live in London.)

The Chatsworth House in the Peak District.  Easily the largest and most spectacular of the houses we've seen.  It's still the home of Duke and Duchess of Devonshire, and has been passed down through 16 generations.  Was "Mr. Darcy's estate" in the Kiera Knightly Pride & Prejudice movie.

Lyme Park in Disley in the Peak District.  Was used as Mr. Darcy's estate in the BBC Colin Firth
miniseries version of Pride & Prejudice.   

Shifting Vocabulary

I thought that since I'm around Americans on base far more often than being around Brits, my daily vocabulary probably wouldn't change much.

I was wrong.

So far, "Hiya" has (unwittingly) more often than not replaced "hello" or "hi" as my choice word of greeting.  We're all calling them bins more frequently than trash cans.   I find that "Cheers" works much more efficiently as a thank you / see you later / goodbye / end of conversation than anything else.  I find myself saying I'm "going to the toilet" more often than going to the bathroom.

But these all pale in comparison to the boys' language.  Yesterday was the last day of school, so now they're on holiday (not "on summer break").  They eat school dinners instead of school lunches. The black-and-white striped African animal is a ZEH-bra, not ZEE-bra.  They put on their trainers, not their tennis shoes.  It's taken some getting used to that the boys have picked up from school playing "It" (instead of "Tag").  When they tag each other they say "I it you! You're it!" (and no, it's not Cockney.)  The worst part is "base" is called "ti-ti".  I mean c'mon, seriously?  

I'm still getting used to certain other phrases.  If you go to a food place, they ask "Can I help?" instead of "May I take your order?".   If you go to a shopping establishment, they typically ask "You all right?" (which ironically sounds like "Y'all right?").  It took awhile for us to figure out that "tea" is typically the dinner meal, not the stereotypical 4pm British tea.  And I had to laugh out loud when the boys' football (= soccer) coach warned them before a penalty kick: "Watch out, boys: the kick could go anywhere.  Could catch you in the face, or in the Jacobs, so cover up."

Eli the other day was excitedly telling me about one of our veggies that was almost ripened in our tiny greenhouse:  "Dad! You won't believe it!  We have one toe-MAY-toe... or... toe-MAH-toe.... I'm not sure how to say it... anyway, it's almost ready!"  I  replied with: "Yep, sometimes we say a word one way and your friends say it another, but that's okay."   Eli nodded wistfully "Yeah, it's kinda confusing sometimes."

All this with only ten months here.  It's going to be a fun and funny vocabularic ride!

E Pluribus Unum

The chapel on base has three services on Sunday: 9:30am Catholic Mass, 11 am Protestant service, and a 1:30 pm Gospel service.  Our church we're a part of is the Protestant service, which our chaplain/pastor has named "Crosspoint Community."  It's a vibrant community with about 150 folks on any given Sunday, and the church's vision is three-fold: worshiping the Lord, growing in Christ, and serving the community.

It's been interesting being in a diverse and blended church community like this.  We have folks from not just all different states and countries, but from a very wide spectrum of denominational backgrounds.  It forces the pastor (and us) to focus on not doctrinal things that divide, but core biblical truths that unite, which is refreshing.  This isn't to say that we don't know there are important (even perhaps controversial) differences among our Christian faith traditions, but they are acknowledged and respected instead of being allowed to split us apart.

A perfect example of this was last month.  There have been five babies born within our community since late summer, and the parents (ourselves included) wanted to have their child baptized or dedicated, depending on their background.  Rather than having two separate services or doing it privately, our two chaplains worked together to have a Sunday service set aside to celebrate new life and bringing children into our community through either baptism or dedication (parents' choice).  So I think it's kinda cool that Evangeline had her Presbyterian family watch as she was baptized by an Anglican priest, prayed for by a Baptist pastor, as an Assemblies of God musician began to lead the worship music.  You just don't see that every day.

What I've learned from this is the beauty, challenge, and mystery of being in the body of Christ...

The beauty is seeing Galatians 3:28 lived out, where there is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female.... and no British nor Hawaiian, southerner nor Yankee, military nor civilian, single nor married with kids... but we are all one in Christ.  It's so cool to see that we can set aside and look past accents, nationalities, liturgical vs. contemporary worship preferences, Reformed vs. Armenian leanings, and so forth, all for the sake of joining together to worship and follow Christ. 

The obvious challenge: This is not always easy.  Sometimes it's frustrating or annoying.  Sometimes it's comical.  Sometimes it's just confusing.  Often it can be draining: when there's not someone who is "mostly like you" (whether doctrinally, professionally, socially, etc.), it's a LOT of work to try to understand, to be understood, to listen well, and to connect.  It's quite humbling, and requires a lot of patience and flexibility.  Diversity in the church is good, but exhausting.

Which leads to the mystery of it all.  How does it all work?  How can God love this many different kinds of people?  How can there be grace enough to cover all these sins?  How can such a spectrum of traditions, backgrounds, and preferences all be loved and welcomed into one body? How can this body come together to love each other well and serve the community as one?..... 

I have no idea, other that it's only through Christ. 
HOW he does it I have no idea. 
But he does. 
And it works.  
And it's beautiful and breathtaking to see that we get to be a part of the "great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and people and languages... saying 'Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen." (Rev. 7:9-12)

Best Buys

One of the hardest things about packing up to move was deciding "What stays, what goes."  We knew houses in England would be smaller than what we're used to, and have little to no closet space.  We ended up filling a 5'x10' storage shed all the way up, and farmed out a fair amount of belongings to friends and family to "host" our stuff for a few years.  (And yes, you know us, we did create a spreadsheet to track it all...)

The flip side of this was figuring out: "What do we need to buy for over there?"  We knew we'd have to buy all new electronics due to the different voltage system, so some of our early purchases included a TV, blu-ray player, mixer, lamp, and space heater.  Folks looking out for us over here gave us their old microwave, refrigerator, washer, and dryer, saving us a good number of ££.

That's our base chapel in the background!

But there are two things in particular I've been so glad I bought.  One is my car, a navy blue 1997 Ford Focus, UK spec with manual transmission  (The Focus over here is the size of the Fiesta back in the States). I love it not because it drives superbly well or has any special features.  Indeed, there's really nothing special about it, unless you include the cassette tape deck that works some of the time.  I love it because (a) it's a really small car, which is super handy to have driving and parking on British roads, (b) it gets good gas mileage, and (c) it was a really cheap: I spent all of £900 (about $1,400) on it. That's value, folks.

My favorite purchase by far though has been my heavyweight Marmot rain jacket I picked up from REI before we moved.  I've never owned one before because I've never needed one in the South.  Here in England the weather changes constantly, and almost assuredly at some point in the day it'll be cold and/or rainy and/or windy.  It's been SO great to have a coat that I can stay dry in and not freeze!  (And occasionally look suave in as well, as seen in to the left, from our Winter Blitz trip to Austria).  You can't underestimate the value of a good warm raincoat in England!

Historical Worship

Though we are a part of the worship community at our Protestant chapel service, this past Sunday we took the opportunity to try a British service.  We drove up to Peterborough Cathedral (about a half hour away) to go to the "Sung Eucharist" service there.  The church is part of the Church of England (Anglican) denomination, which isn't our background, but one I have a deep appreciation for.   
The building itself was amazing, and was built in the 1100's. I would be one of the first to jump up and say "You can have church anywhere"... "The church is the people, not a building"... and so forth... All true.
And yet... there is something about the architecture of the cathedral that to me hints at the glory of God in ways that "modern" churches cannot.  The height, the symmetry, the detail, the grandeur all point to a God that is so much bigger than we can comprehend.  And yet he is a God who loves us and invites us to sit in his presence and worship him.  Mind-blowing.

There is also something special and awe-inspiring to realize you're getting to worship somewhere that has been lifting up Christ for about about a thousand years, give or take.   Regardless of your theological background or opinions on that denomination, take a minute to ponder that.  Christians have been coming in THAT building for ONE MILLENNIUM to worship the Lord.  Incredible.  That's just something we don't have access to in the States.

As we are part of a Protestant chapel that has Christians from all sorts of denominational backgrounds worshiping together in one service, I thought it was only fitting that the sermon the priest gave was on Christian unity: our focus should not be on what divides, but on Christ, the cross, and the gospel, and how we can be taking that to our community for the kingdom.  It was a great reminder that we can worship and serve the Lord wherever we are, and at whatever church we are.

Probably what ministered to me the most though was the music.  The acoustics were incredible, and getting to hear their choir sing the Nicene Creed and the Sanctus before the Eucharist (Communion) was absolutely beautiful.   It re-instilled a sense of reverence and awe of the Lord that I often just assume without really taking time to let it sink in.

I pray that I and my family can regularly have experiences like this as a good reminder about the God of history, space, and time who we serve.

Already / Not Yet: The Follow-Up

Per a suggestion from a friend, here's the update on the "Already / Not Yet" post from just over a month ago.  You might think they'd all be done by now... but not quite:

ALREADY
Have Internet
      - This was a huge win and help around the house!
Gotten work visa approved
       - Per the UK Home Office, we can officially stay 3 years now!
Gotten rid of the straggling fleas
       - This was the biggest win for Ginger's sanity.
Unboxed everything
       - Well, essentially at least.  Anything still in a box is supposed to stay there.
Kids started in school
       - And they love it (except the "every day" thing, per Liam)
Gotten heat turned on in office
       - I can work there now and not see my breath!
Played my guitar for Club
      - It's fun to hear the kids sing, and "The Banana Song" is a must.

Ginger delivered the baby
       - See previous post.

Figured out the middle school weekend retreat
      - More on that in a post to come, but it went great, and was beautiful, as seen here:

SORT-OF / PARTIAL
Understand the best way to manage two accounts in the States and two in the UK
      - It's getting easier, but still confusing at times.
Have a washer, dryer, dishwasher
       - Still no dishwasher, unless you include "my hands".
Bought boys’ bunk beds, vacuum, TV, lamps
       - Still no bunk beds.  Nothing wrong with mattresses on the floor when you're a kid!

STILL NOT YET
Gotten clearance to use the military computers (i.e. the computer in my office)
       - It's kinduva inconvenience to always have to email files to Sgt. Wilson
          for her to print for me, but she loves to be helpful and is super efficient!

Registered Chris and the boys for healthcare
       - It's a lot of paperwork.

Ginger gotten her drivers’ license
       - Something about a baby has taken precedence.

Sold our house back home
       - Pray for this one.  It sure would be nice to have this one done.

Visited Highclere Castle
       - We'll do this one day.

Met the Queen
      - We'll do this probably never.

Gotten a speeding ticket on British roads
      - We'll do this hopefully never.

Eaten bangers and mash
     - We're in no rush to do this.

Full House

November 15th is the latest of November birthdays that the Nichols family will be celebrating!

Evangeline Malcolm Nichols showed up at 1:29 am, and clocked in at a substantial 9 lbs 15 oz.  (Already she's trying to keep up with her brothers: Eli was 10 lbs and Liam 9 lbs 5 oz).  She joins her aunt Lissa, brother Eli, aunt Charmaine, late great Grandmom Malcolm, and Papa among our November birthdays!

 

 (Warning: This next section will only be of interest/relevance to parents who have been a part of the "birth in a hospital" thing.  The rest of you, skip on ahead, for your own sake....)

Giving birth in a U.K. hospital is considerably different than in a U.S. hospital.  They generally have a more "hands off" approach.  No hook-up to a monitor.  No cm dilation check.  Epidurals are available but seem rare.  For pain, they offer an "air and gas" breathing mask (i.e. nitrous oxide) for the mum to use at her discretion.  They just kinda let things go their course.  When Ginger asked (or perhaps "yelled" is a better verb) if it was okay to start to push, their answer was "Whenever you're ready... oh, I see the head crowning... you can go ahead, dearie."  After she was born, there maybe was an Apgar test, but we never heard for sure.  Most of the meconium fountain that came out when she was born was cleaned up... most.  Evangeline had a nominal wipe-down, was given to Ginger wrapped loosely in a couple of hospital towels.  No diapers provided, you're on your own for those. The nurse and midwife then rolled out with a lovely "Call us if you need us!"  The baby is never taken from you, you're just expected to parent and ask for help if you need it....  We were SO glad we had done this a couple times before, otherwise we would have been freaking out!

As far as the stay itself, we checked in at midnight, and Evangeline was born by 1:30 am.  They moved Ginger from the labour ward to the maternity ward at 6:30am... and kicked me out!  Spouses can't come back to visit until 9:30am.  Absolutely NO other visitors until 6:30pm.  The pediatrician stopped by in the morning (who was Nigerian and had a lovely accent!), and the nurses briefly popped by a couple times, but that was it.  We then realized: "There's no reason to stay here longer."  After a brief delay for some bloodwork results and paperwork, we checked out same day at 4:30pm... only 16.5 hours after showing up! 

So we now have a British citizen to round out our "full house" of three boys and two girls.  Eli and Liam were super excited to meet and welcome their baby sister.  Soon after her arrival, Eli went and scooped up a bunch of things, sat down in front of her, and began to display one item at a time: "Lego... Lego....   Book.... book....  Daddy, look, I am teaching the baby new words!"  After a couple of weeks, her charm hasn't worn off, but reality has set in; at one dinner Eli said: "Mommy, having a baby is a lot harder work than I was expecting."  Liam has observed: "She's kinda loud sometimes."  My reply was: "You're one to talk."

Several have asked about her name.  You're welcome to pronounce it as you like, but we're going with eh-vange-a-leen (as opposed to LIN or LINE or LINOLEUM... ha!).  We picked it because it means "bearer of good news," which is both what she was to us, as well as what we are striving to do with teenagers.  

People have also asked what we're going to call her... call me crazy, but I'm calling her "Evangeline".  Some of the nicknames being bandied about now by others are "Em" (her initials) or "Evie".  

(For those musically inclined, I think you can call her Al, or call her Maybe.)

    

So far Evangeline is doing great!  At our appointments, the midwife - who makes house calls, another new adjustment for us - has been pleased with both Ginger and baby's progress.  Evangeline has even gained another full pound!  She's also already visited Ely (pictured below), ridden the Tube, and "seen" the Tower of London!  We're excited about the new adventures ahead for the Nichols family... we just need a super hero nickname for the newest Unbelievable!