Quiet in Oxford

This has been a quiet week for me - worship prep, a few meetings and a walk in town. It is crazy in town now with map reading, umbrella waving, same colored t-shirt wearing tourists! Where did they come from and why are they all here? Where are the students? It is amazing though to hear virtually every language under the sun on the High Street. The other thing that has arrived is scaffolding. Many of the college buildings undergo repairs during the summer season when the colleges are not in session. This means that the wonderful pictures I was able to take on a quiet morning in May are not available to people today - plus it has decided to turn into an English summer - rain and gray on and off with a hint of blue skies to keep the optimism just a smidgen above total depression. Hope and sunshine seem to go together. Well, I have made two PowerPoint presentations for worship on Sunday, written the order of service, written the prayers and oh that's right, I am supposed to have a sermon finished. Started, slept on and ready for real words on a page now so..... off I go

Tour de France - Stage 4 and 5

This morning we were off again to the city, taking Kenzo with us in hopes of another Spiderman sighting. We went to the river that runs through the city to a park that has a wonderful water feature for children on a hot summer's day. Along the way we encountered yet more cows and we had to take pictures - in this picture something has changed though - Fleur just found out that she did very well on her national test and will be an English Teacher starting in the fall! This was great news and the rest of the day she spent answering congratulatory phone calls and answering emails. I am very proud of her hard work and perseverance. The boys loved the water park and splashed and ran and had a marvelous time until Noah cut his foot :( We had to then head home and perform minor surgery with much ado and band aids and kisses and hugs and reassurance that his foot would not fall off and that after a good long sleep he would be just fine.

After said sleep all was wonderful and Daddy returned from work to a happy home. Dinner was to be at a Chinese restaurant for my benefit - it was a way that Fleur and Julien could provide a dinner when I could have anything I wanted and as much of it as I needed. This was so kind of them and yet the day was really to celebrate Fleur's accomplishments. She doesn't even like Chinese food but wanted me to be well cared for. I hope she celebrated on Saturday at the birthday party she prepared for Julien-a surprise party for the man of her dreams. Sweet dreams were had by all and Stage 5 saw Easy Jet whisk me away to England where there was a rainbow awaiting my return.

Tour de France - Stage 3 - Bastille Day

We did it - we actually watched some of the military parading from Paris - on TV of course - lots of pomp and circumstance with horses and tanks and all things that seem to fascinate little boys. Is it genetic? Then picnic packed for our journey to the sea - actually to the sand by the sea. We went to the largest sand dune in Europe. It was really quite something to see by the sea. I am happy to say that they did have a large plastic staircase that made climbing the dune much easier and safer for all concerned. I wasn't winded at all but my breath was taken away by the size of the dune and the sight of the Atlantic Ocean glistening out before me. We found the wind from the sea a struggle for the boys - being shorter they were really tormented by the blowing sand. Over the edge we were out of the wind and the boys played and played and managed to get so much sand in their pockets that one wonders how the dune survives the constant removal of sand by all the visitors. We decided to skip eating on the dunes - how can you be hungry with all the sand which is there (get it sandwiches?) - anyway off down the road to a park and an attempt at a holiday lunch - in the rain and cold and well... we ended up eating in the car. Fun and memories for all.

Tour de France - stage 2

A wonderful morning of small children speaking a language I don't understand and yet together we seemed to make sense of the world - how delightful. Kenzo was off to school for the day and Fleur, Noah and I made our way to the Tramway. A joy for Noah until we were actually on it. I guess it could be pretty intimidating being strapped into a stroller and surrounded by towering people who you don't know. I have to say he was glad to be out and say bye bye to the tram. The next great delight was that there are cows all around Bordeaux. Thankfully not the cow pie making kind of cows, but statues of all colors. They certainly caught Noah's attention each time we saw one. He liked it when I put him on and he could hold the horns - the only problem was that unannounced, he would launch himself into my arms to get down, of course only to be put back on. The repetitions are good for my arm muscles as well as to see a sweet smile from a happy child. We walked around the center of the city, ate at the tres cool McDo's (yes nuggets are a favorite of children here too). There was a great statue made to the people of the region that attracted our attention, not only for it's grandeur but for the fact that there were two Spidermen on the statue. Kenzo was going to be very jealous. Photos taken, statue admired and then off to the petite tramway for a city tour. Unfortunately for me my camera battery died so I had to just sit back and observe this ancient city.

Dinner found us at Fleur's parents home where I was treated to a most delicious duck dinner - salad began the meal that had delicious duck bits on top and then the main course of the most fantastic duck I have ever had with potatoes escalloped in duck fat! This was not a low fat meal but was amazing and washed down with wonderful local wine. Dessert was strawberries and chocolate chestnut cake. Needless to say I slept well and had little need of breakfast the next morning.

Tour de France - Stage 1

I spent the early moning of July 12th in London on my way to see Fleur in Bordeaux. I got to walk through Hyde Park which looks like a desert because there has been no rain to speak of for over a month. The Park was quiet and beautiful even zith homeless men sleeping under the trees.

I arrived here in good order and am enjoying my time getting to know the boys and having them teach me some french. Thank goodness Ayden has already taught me all I need to know about Spiderman! I am looking forward to meeting Fleur's parents this evening and celebrating Bastille Day tomorrow.

Bury me not....

I bid farewell to Bury St. Edmunds on Sunday. I preached a sermon on Amos and the Good Samaritan without a fully written sermon for the first time. It was an interesting process for me and I hope a meaningful sermon for the congregation. This did follow a quintesential English Saturday - to the market in the morning for coffee, lunch and crickett watching and then a Strawberry Tea in the afternoon. The speaker had to back out at the last minute so Sa, and I presented a brief conversation about the power of storytelling. I was delighted to havet the chance to share a native american story with them after which a woman said she was going to share the story with her grandchildren!

I will miss all the folks in the West Suffolk group and truly appreciate all their hospitality, encouragement, advice, and wisdom that was so freely shared. This was a month that I will think about for the rest of my life.

Westminster in Cambridge - finally

I finally made it to Westminster College in Cambridge. This is the United Reformed Church tranining college and the place where Neil works. Neil was the one who, after a chain of emails, was the one who helped make my placement in Bury St. Edmunds possible. I am really thankful for all that he did and glad that he knew Samantha and I could come here to Suffolk. I loved seeing the college and learning about the two sisters who provided the resources for the college. I can't wait to read their biography in Sisters of the Sinai. I got the grand tour including a chance to go up the tower in which the Westminster Confession is kept. Pretty exciting stuff. I was unable to stay and read in the library but there may be another day. In light of all the things I am learning it might be a place I come back to study in - to learn more details for an even longer paper - or maybe I'll just come back as a tourist in the future. Time will tell....

Samantha had an appointment with Neil so I skipped off and explored a bit of Cambridge. It is a great old city with a modern feel. The college complexes seem a bit more spread out and in an hour I only got a glimpse of things but... a fine glimpse it was. The sky is perfect blue (Yes I am spending the summer in England and the sun is shining). The spires pierced the sky and inspired lofty thoughts - one certainly feels smarter there.

One of the ways to see the colleges is to take a ride in a punt - a long low boat that is poled along the river and allows you to see the backs of many of the colleges. We didn't have time to take a punt trip but I did see lots of people enjoying the river and the glorious summer day.

We are now back in Bury St. Edmunds to finish up Sunday services so we can enjoy tomorrow and yet another strawberry tea.