Getting Settled

We've now been in the USA for 16 days. In that time we have gone to a Ranger's game, a wedding, orientation at school and orientation at work. We have been to see our new place and gotten a pretty good feel for what our job will be like. Now we are coming to the end of our Texas visit with my parents. I've been purposefully avoiding the computer because it seems a little overwhelming when I think of all we've done in the last few weeks. It's been nice to be able to have pockets of really busy time and still get some quiet time to just relax. I just thought I'd let everyone know we're still alive. We already miss everyone from Morley. We start work at the school next Friday so I'll have more of an idea what we'll really be doing then. Now it's of to a fish fry in Desdemona and then a summer concert in Stephenville with my folks.

3 more sleeps

Well it's that time already. I pulled the suitcases down yesterday and started gathering non-essentials. I don't think the fact that we are moving has really sunk in yet. I'm actually hoping for it to just wait till after Krystin's wedding next weekend to sink in. We've had a pretty good week aside from all the hours spent on the phone with utility companies. Jed kept trying to explain that they will not be getting more money from us after Thursday because we will have no more financial presence in the UK. You would think that most companies would jump when you say please take my money now, but no, it's not supposed to work that way.
On Wednesday we got to say goodbye to the school we've been volunteering at. We were the judges for their end-of-the-year talent show. It was really nice to get to spend a little time with everyone before we go. Friday night we went with Anne, Ian, and Sharon to the Balti house for a final curry. I do have to say that of all the things I will miss about living in the UK it will probably be the Indian food and the fish and chips that I miss the most.
It seems silly but I can't help but wake up every day wishing it would go faster just so everything would be finished. I'm not saying I can't wait to leave, as a matter of fact in a week I'll be wishing that everything had gone slower. It's just that I'd like to know that we've made it through without any complete breakdowns.
Anyway today is packing day (for me at least, Jed will probably wait till Tuesday night). Then tomorrow we will be going down to Mapelwell camp to say "hello" and "goodbye" to all of our friends there. Then Monday and Tuesday are just for reveling in everything English before we leave for the airport at 3am on Wednesday.

New Horizons

I can't believe it's been two years and a month since Jed and I first arrived in the UK. Now we're making plans to move back to the States and it's feeling more than a little surreal. When people here ask whether we are excited to be going home or not it's not the easiest question to answer. This has been the first home we've had together, so we will always have a special place in our hearts for Morley. I'm sure most of our friends from college will know what I'm talking about when I say that major life changes seem to become a way of life when you're between the ages of 18 and 30. In the last 7 years I graduated high school and moved 1,300 miles away from my "home" to go to college. Then I spent a semester abroad in Europe, got engaged, got married, graduated college, moved to England and somewhere in there my parents moved to Texas. Needless to say my definition of "home" has changed many times.
We have been very blessed to find a job in Tipton, Oklahoma. We will be working as relief house parents with the Tipton Home.. Knowing that we have a job to go back to has made our last few months here so much easier. It's been great to be able to focus on things here and not have to worry about what we will do in the US.
We will be flying into Dallas on July 27th so that we can make it to Oklahoma City in time for my sister in law, Krystin's, wedding on the 30th. Then we will be doing some visiting with my family in Texas and starting work in Tipton on August 16th. So if any of you will be in the area we would love to get together and share some stories.

We'll have a "right royal knees up"

Alright so maybe our Royal wedding party wasn't exactly that exciting but the food was good. On the menu:

Cucumber Sandwiches, Tuna Sandwiches, Cheese Sandwiches
Potato and Pea Tarts
Deviled Eggs
Sausage Rolls
and Crisps
Lemon Tarts - lightened up a bit by using filo pastry
Lemon Meringue Roulade

Still On Track

Lost 2.5 pounds this week. That's a total of 5.5 lbs in 3 weeks. Yay! Will start week 3 of couch to 5k this week. I stayed behind a week because I wasn't feeling well after last week. We're planning a royal wedding watch party for Friday and then Jed's sister gets here on Monday. I'm just a little bit worried about how my weight will be after a trip to London. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

This week's menu

I tried online grocery shopping this week for the first time and even though I took me hours to put together my menu I'm sure I will get faster at it as I get more familiar with my weight watchers recipes. If you'd like more information about anything just let me know and we can share.

Friday- Spicy tomato tortilla soup with quesadillas- 9propoints
Saturday- Jacket potatoes with salad -variable
Sunday- Mediterranean Bean Salad with bacon -5propoints
Monday- Goat's cheese, vegetable and pesto pizza- 11propoints
Tuesday- Creamy Chicken Curry- 12propoints
Wednesday- Sweet and Sour Chicken with Belgian Chocolate Cake Slices - 13propoints and 5propoints
Thursday- Jacket potatoes-variable
Friday- Chili with the fixin's

Week 2 is over

Well week two of running is now finished. Three sessions this week: Monday was ok, Wednesday was great and it was my first time to run while on vacation. Friday was another story, the run wasn't too bad, actually the first section of running was great (it could be because I was going down hill). The trouble was really getting the motivation to do it when I had a little bit of a head cold and then when I finished I was really achy. The good news is that I did it. Yay!
On the weight watchers front, on Monday I was excited to see a 3.5 pound loss. I was so proud :) and I really didn't feel like I'd struggled getting there. This week has been harder mainly because we we in Edinburgh with another couple from church from Tuesday to Thursday and although I was able to make some good choices we did wind up at a chinese buffet that was hard to find anything not fried in. We also stopped at a mexican restaurant where I shared a pretty cheesy enchilada with Jed. All in all it was pretty hard to tract those points. I've noticed that I tend to overestimate how much things like that "cost" then later I try to talk myself into why it really couldn't be that much. We're going to a wedding today and I will be having a bite or two of wedding cake but I'll be having baked potato and lots of fruit through the rest of the day. I'm really hoping for a .5 pound loss or a stay the same.
Oh, something I've found that I LOVE: Boot's sushi packs - not the best sushi I've ever had but for a quick lunch from a supermarket look for "sushi packs" the one from Boot's was only 4 points and I felt completely satisfied with that and a piece of fruit.

New Goals

This week I started a new fitness and weight loss plan. I've been going to the gym for a few months now but I've found that the reason I joined in the first place, to go to classes, isn't a very realistic thing. The local gym doesn't have any classes before 10am and most of the good classes are after 5pm which wasn't covered in my membership. I also felt a little bit silly walking for 20 minutes to get there and then hopping on a treadmill for 30 minutes before walking home again. Something had to change so...
I joined weight watchers to give myself the group dynamic I was getting from going to Aerobics classes and started a "couch to 5k" program to try to overcome my fear of running. I'm now on day 3 of weight watchers and will be going for my 3rd run tomorrow morning.
It's not that I think I'm fat. Really one of my biggest problems is that I am quite happy to be lazy and stay where I am now. The problem is that things won't always be this easy and there's no point in not being the best that I can be. So, I've set a goal and will be doing my best to reach it. The plan is to be able to run 5k or 30 minutes continuously in 9 to 10 weeks. The national health service has put out a series of podcasts that have a decent soundtrack and a very friendly lady's voice telling you when to run and when to walk. Right now I'm on week one which is a 5 minute warm up followed by 8 repetitions of 60 seconds running and 90 seconds walking with a five minute cool down at the end. You do each week's run three times and then move on to the next week. I'm doing mine Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. Runs 1 and 2 went ok but I'm sure I look pretty ridiculous trying to "jog" up hill in my neighborhood. It does help to have headphones in because it allows me to tune everything else out and just think about what it will be like in 9 weeks. Tomorrow I'm looking for a more level route though.
On the subject of weight watchers I would recommend their new "points plus" program to anyone. Memaw (Jed's grandma) works for weight watchers in the states so she helped me try the old system last year and I lost about 10 pounds. The old system was great but I did feel hungry and grouchy for the first couple weeks. So far on the new system I haven't been near as hungry and now that fruit and vegetables are free I just reach for a banana when I get hungry. Somehow it almost seems too easy so we'll see how it's gone when I weigh in on Monday. I've been told not to expect a big loss because I really don't have a lot to loose still, it would be nice to see some change.

Early Spring.

These are some of the places Jed and I have been able go visit on our days off now that the weather has gotten a little bit better.

Brimham Rocks- North Yorkshire



The National Rail Museum. - York








Castle Howard: North Yorkshire
This is one of Englands 10 Treasured houses. It's about 45 minutes from our house and it makes for a great day out.

What is our potential?

This weekend Jed and I got to attend a Young Adults weekend sponsored by the Brandon Church of Christ. The theme was "potential". We spent the weekend with about 20 young adults talking about how we can really use our talents for God's glory. Most of us already do work with the churches we attend but I think it is really easy to sometimes underestimate both our own capability and God's power to work through us.
We studied the parable of the talents and there were a few things that struck me. The first was that the servants don't get to tell the master how much they can handle. There is no bargaining about maybe taking on less responsibility than he would give them. Sometimes I think I would like to be able to choose my own talents and say this one is something I can handle and that one's a little more scary so I think I'll leave it.
Second, when we were asked to think of our talents many of us listed things like: teaching, singing, or speaking. Then one of the women suggested that there are other talents like our ability to have patience, or to practice self control, etc. Too many times the talents we recognize as things we can use for the kingdom are very obvious visual things. Or things that the world would call a "talent" and some times even the word "talent" might throw us off the trail of some of our most valuable tools in working for the Lord.
Third, just because we have the ability to do something does not always mean we will recognize that ability. The "one talent" servant obviously did not think that he would be able use it. For me that means that I may need to try things that I am sure I will fail at. Otherwise I could be missing a whole realm of things that God may be able to do through me.
Finally, talents will not always present themselves in fully mature state. It takes work on our part to help them reach their full potential. So it's not good enough to sit at home and think of course I'm doing all that I can. It's not good enough to say well, I've tried to develop patience but it's just not my thing. Or substitute any other spiritual discipline we have trouble with. We may be like the "one talent" servant and be overcome by fear of what might happen if we fail but the truth of the matter is that we were given our opportunities by God and he wants us to use them even if we are afraid.
Often we think about how our efforts have been in vain or how we have failed before but how exciting is it when we think that God has great plans for us if we will only use what He's given. So lets spend more time imagining what could be and less time worrying. It's time to reach our potential.

Knitting projects

Now that these have been given as Christmas presents I feel safe to show them off here.

A blanket for my Grandparents

Mittens for my brother Travis

A Scarf for my Grandma.

A Scarf for Jed's Mom


A Scarf for my mom.

A Scarf for Memaw

It's Official

Jed and I have set the date for our return to the states. We will be flying back to Dallas on July 27th of this year. Kristin, Jed's sister, will be getting married in Oklahoma city on July 30th so that was our deadline to be back. It's really strange to think that we are now only 6 months away from the end of our two year commitment here. Still, now that the plane ticket is bought and paid for we are looking forward to being able to put that in the back of our minds.
What is amazing is that I have finally found myself forgetting that I'm not from here. When I meet new people they ask where I'm from, and for a split second I think: well here of course! Adjusting to life in England was never really a problem for either of us but it is amazing how much more a part of things we feel now that it's been a year and a half. We love our home and the new Christian family we've found here in Morley, and I know that we will miss them all when we have to leave. Still, it will be nice to see our immediate families and friends so our feelings will obviously be a little mixed. All I have to say is that it's a very good thing we like to travel.

Naomi's Scarf

Last week I took a break from a blanket I've been knitting to work on a scarf for one of the girls from church. So here it is!

Christmas Eve!

Well, it's been a crazy few weeks but we've made it to the end. First we had a quick four day vacation, then my mom came to visit (which was fantastic!), then we got to host Chris and Anna. We've had about 4 Christmas parties and are still expecting a nice big meal with church on the day after Christmas.
Today we're going to a "Christingle" service at the local methodist church. I've never been to one so I'm pretty excited and it makes for something nice to do on Christmas Eve. Later tonight we've been invited to go for a curry with one of the families from church. I can already taste it... Tomorrow we will probably all have a nice lie in and head for the O'Donovan's house in the afternoon for some games and Pizza. Oh! and I can't forget some skype dates with our family in the states. All in all Jed and I are really excited to spend this Christmas in Morley.

Thanksgiving in Morley

We celebrated Thanksgiving this year on Saturday because in the UK school and work continue through the week. I got to cook a turkey for the first time this year and needless to say I was a little nervous knowing that we had company coming. Like any good girl my age I headed straight for Google and Youtube to learn the art of turkey cooking. After much debate I decided to make a "spatchcocked" turkey. This is done by removing the backbone of your turkey so that you can cook it flat on a roasting tray and it worked fantastically!!!! I don't know why more people don't do it that way but I highly recommend trying it. I was able to cook my entire turkey in under an hour! Of course you don't get to carve a full bird at the table, but since we always slice it in the kitchen anyway I don't really see that as a problem. My husband said it was the juiciest turkey he'd ever had. :) If you're interested in trying it I'll try to post a link showing you how to cut the bird. Then I tucked some rosemary under the skin and rubbed it with butter and salt before baking.

I was also able to make pumpkin pie thanks to one of the American families at church finding me some "Libbys" pie filling. They brought us a large can that was supposed to make 2 deep dish pies but because I don't have deep dish pie pans it made two regular sized pies and three little ones. The little one's were great to give as gifts to people who couldn't make it to our meal. We gave one to our neighbors who are originally from Iraq and they said it was "strange at first, but very nice and very addicting". I couldn't have put it better myself.
Jed's Grandmother gave me a great recipe for pie crustthat made all of those pies a little easier to make. It's made with oil instead of shortening so you can actually mix it in the pie pan and then just press it out with your fingers. No rolling involved at all! It turned out really flakey so it's worth try if you're planning on baking anytime soon. I'll copy the recipe at the bottom of this blog.
I feel like this picture can not be left out. In a brief moment of brilliance Jed and I decided to borrow one of the kids tables from church so that we could cover it with brown packing paper for our littler guests to enjoy coloring on before and after the meal. Here's what we ended up with:



Double Pie Crust Recipe

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1 cup oil

6 tablespoons water, cold

1. Mix flour, salt and sugar in a mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly with fork until sugar and salt are blended with flour.

2. In a separate small bowl, mix oil and water and beat with a fork or whisk until the oil is mixed completely with the water and the combination looks 'milky'.

3. Immediately add the oil/water mixture to the flour mixture and mix vigorously with a fork and your hands until the dough is uniform.

4. Divide the dough into two equal lumps, press one of the two lumps of dough out over the surface of a pie pan by applying hand pressure until the pie pan is completely covered. With a fork, punch tiny holes through the bottom surface of the dough in the pie pan.

Single pie crust for cream pies: with a fork punch tiny holes through the bottom surface of the dough in the pie pan. This may be used immediately or refrigerated for 25 hours. Bake crust in a preheated oven at 450 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until the desired color of browness is achieved.

5. Press out the other lump of pie dough onto an 11 x 11 inch piece of paper towel (trust me it works) until it is slightly larger than the surface of the pie it is to cover.

Just got back from vacation and I'm promising to write about it so I don't forget!

20 down 14 to go

Since about August I have been furiously knitting and crocheting Christmas presents for my family and friends. My husband doesn't really understand the drive to create something for every person we know. I'm not sure if all men are like that but the desire to be able to hand someone a physical gift (or in my case, ship it to them) is so great that I just can't imagine not doing it. Don't get me wrong, I know that I cannot possibly hand make gifts for everyone. Still as my list of projects dwindles somehow I doubt it will ever be finished. That's mostly because as I see myself making progress I get more and more excited that I just might have time to add a few more names.
Luckily most of my crafty craze can be taken care of quite frugally. I've now found all of the random bargain stores that carry yarn and try to avoid the nice yarn stores at all cost lest I long for things like silk and cashmere to knit with. Making small gifts like hats, mittens, gloves, and scarves is so incredibly satisfying. Unlike most things in our lives crafts can be easily controlled, they can be met on our terms, and when all else fails they can be unraveled and begun again. I think this desire to create must be an inherited trait.
My dad was a minister until after I left for college but in most of his spare time (when he had it) I can remember him creating something. He built the first house I remember living in. Then it was an old Thunderbird that he repainted in the back yard. Later it was things like adding paving, and a deck, and a gazebo to our back yard. The list goes on. I remember him commenting once that it was nice to be able to see what he had done at the end of the day. So many of us have jobs that don't give us that intense sense of accomplishment. I'm not saying that what we do doesn't have an impact, it's just not something we can hold in our hand. The other lesson that I learned from watching him was one that took me a while to realize. I never saw my father look at a project and say, no, I don't think I can do that. Sure sometimes he didn't have the right tools or the money but in those cases the project was simply put on a list of "to-do's". But time after time I watched him go to library and get a book or ask someone who had done a similar project how to get started. I'm not saying we never ran into hiccups along the way but there was no fear of trying something new.
I didn't realize that fearlessness was such a gift until I began to knit and one of my friends mentioned how "remarkable" it was that I could make so many things. When she said it, I sort of laughed it off because I am in no way an experienced knitter, but after I thought about it for a while I realized that from the moment I decided I wanted to learn I never considered the thought that I might not be able to. I checked out a book at the library, borrowed needles from a lady at church and got started. Now here I am almost a year and a half later churning out hats, and slippers, and the list goes on.

Christmas is coming!!!!

On October Jed and I were on our way to do some shopping when we realized to our horror that Christmas lights had already appeared on Morley's main street. Of course they won't be turned on until late November but these are giant christmas bells and things suspended between the buildings, they're not easy to miss. In being completely truthful I was elated to see them going up because for me it could be Christmas all year and I wouldn't complain. Still, for many people it's very frustrating to see the decorations going up so early. Something I have learned this year about the UK is that they really don't decorate for any other season that Christmas. Of course the stores take full advantage of things like halloween but to anyone over thirty halloween might as well not exist so there really is no transition from summer to Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I've already started all my Christmas crafts and can't wait decorate gingerbread houses but in his wisdom Jed has set a ban on Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving. It's only fair I guess ;).
That brings me to Thanksgiving, and yes, we will be celebrating here in Morley. We've already invited an American couple and their two little girls to join us for our feast. I feel a little guilty in making it an all American event. The fact of the matter is still that, even though I would love to have a true thanksgiving feast with about twenty people in attendance, if we started inviting friends from Morley it would be really hard to find where to stop. It seems a shame that we can't share such a wonderful holiday with our English friends but the cost would make it impossible. Still we are looking forward to a little slice of Americana.
I am now about one third of the way through my Christmas gift knitting. I've made quite a few scarves and a few pairs of mittens. My goal is to finish the things that need to go to the states by Thanksgiving so they can have plenty of time to get there. I just hope that will leave me enough time to get things for our friends here finished. When I get them all finished I'll take one big picture before I give them away just so I'll have a record. I've forgotten to do that in the past and I'm sure there are more of my creations floating around out there that I have long since forgotten about. I would post pictures of things in progress but then that would spoil the surprises so pictures will have to wait.

First day at school

For the past year Jed and I have been working toward volunteering in a local school whose headmistress happens to go to our church. Before we arrived here in Morley Chris and Anna, the last HIM workers here had great success meeting youth through volunteering at school. Unfortunately it took a while to get all of our criminal record checks through and by the time we were ready to start going we had to leave the country to wait for our visa to be finalized. When we got back in March it was too late in the year to begin volunteering in a class so we've been anxiously waiting to get started with the new semester.

We went Wednesday afternoon for the first time and it went pretty well. The teacher I will be helping was out so I got to help in third and fourth year Spanish class. It's always interesting to be a new environment, especially when kids are involved. No matter how unobtrusive I try to be one word out of my mouth and instantly it's... "are you American?". My favorite part of the class was when one of the students asked the teacher if she could teach them American instead of Spanish. It was a great feeling being back in school and I had the funny feeling that through all my observation and practicum I've come out being very comfortable sitting in on someone else's class. Next week I will be start going regularly on Tuesday afternoons while Jed will help chaperon swimming on Wednesday afternoon. We're both looking forward to it and can't wait to get started.

Days 2, and 3 the second installment of the London Trip.

The second day in London Sarah and I decided to try to pack as much sightseeing in as possible so that we could leave the last day open to see the Tower of London.

The British museum opens at 9am so there we were waiting for the doors to open and we asked a very nice security guard to take our picture...

Anyone who goes to London and does not take the time to the British museum is really missing out. It is just amazing to think that some of the artifacts they have there date back to Biblical times. Needless to say we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

After the museum we made a stop at Abbey road to pay homage to the Beatles. It was funny to watch the tourists getting honked at as they all tried to take pictures standing in the cross walk.

After that we got back on the subway, or the "tube" as they call it in England and headed for Westminster Abbey for a quick look and then back to the hotel to get ready for the main event of the day... WICKED!

Sarah and I were soooo excited to see Wicked the musical. To be completely honest, years ago when the show first came out Sarah bought the book and I can remember her telling me about this great new broadway musical that she couldn't wait to see. Well it took us a few years but with a very good deal on tickets that we found on the internet we were able to go see it at the Apollo Victoria. The sets were amazing and the cast did a really great job I can't imagine a more enjoyable way to spend an evening.

After the show we decided to take a quick walk by Buckingham Palace on the way back to the hotel. I have to say it is much more impressive during the changing of the guard in the middle of the day. Still, it was nice to get a good view without crowds of people everywhere.

DAY 3

We definitely saved the best for last, and we got the weather right too! The first two days were nice and sunny but the third turned out cold and sort of gloomy. It was just as well, though because visiting the Tower of London just isn't as gloomy when it's nice outside. If you are interested in history you just can't miss the Tower. It's gotten more expensive since the first time I went in '06 but it's one price for everything including seeing the crown jewels now so that was really nice. I think the 17 pounds we paid to get in was well worth it.

Our tour guide at the tower:

After seeing the tower it was time to go pick up our luggage and wait for the long ride back to leeds. We took a late bus so we wound up home at about 11:45pm completely exhausted. Overall it was a great trip that I'm sure we will both remember for a very long time.