Boats on the Thames and Exclusive Claims (this title doesn't actually rhyme)

We enjoyed a view of the River Thames on our country walk and stopped to watch swans swim lazily in the village of Wolvecote (a point of natural beauty "cared for by the Wolvecote commoners since time immemorial" according to the sign posted nearby--a long way of saying they can't quite remember when). The river, by the way, is pronounced as though it belongs to Tim, leaving my title completely empty of rhyme, much to my disappointment once I read it out loud.

Boating is a big deal here in Oxford, and though we moved here a bit late in the season to try punting, we are excited to "put our ores in" eventually.

We are enjoying making relationships with other families from a variety of different backgrounds (making Kashmerian curry at midnight with some new acquaintances for instance!).

We are also taking part in lots of conversations that could be described as singing the praises of pluralism. What a delicate dance it can be to talk about the exclusive claims of Christ with friends who cannot say enough about the beauty of INexclusitivity and tolerance.

Obviously, our faith is more than a system of thought and action, but actually a personal relationship as well. How do you talk about this with your friends without only dwelling on "warm fuzzy feelings?" (This is not a rhetorical question ... I'd love to hear your ideas and perspectives!)

Liam is amazing alert: He just rolled over twice the other day! We're reading a million books together these days (along with Nick, who's ALSO reading a million books these days--a bit stouter reading than Liam I have to say!).
Fun British fact:
People drive on the left side of the road in the UK, but I can't really tell that they WALK on the left side of the sidewalk*. You just have to do a little dance to make sure you don't rub noses with anyone by accident. I often plan my angle several meters in advance so I can give a good indication of which route I'm taking the Chariot in since people tend to get a little intimidated when I'm charging toward them with it ... I've been tempted to play chicken a couple times just to see what would happen.
*Vocabulary:
The word pavement= the sidewalk here in Oxford, not the road. So your children can play on the pavement, but can't run in the street.

Get thee to a nunnery!

Here are a few pics from the nunnery ruins we visited a couple weeks ago. The nunnery was torn down by Henry the Eighth--who essentially decided to war against Catholicism so he could get a divorce. Talk about shaping your religion to your personal agenda!
While I'm not about to start tearing down nunneries, I have to admit I've been guilty of making Christianity--and my reading of Scripture--into a version that's convenient for me. This crazy king reminds me to let those things that aren't so comfortable be refiners in my life.

Here's a silly video of me on the brink of ruin--being sent to the nunnery by Nick :)

Sieze the ... night!

I've been putting off posting to the blog because there are so many amazingly cool things I want to share with you and I wanted a big chunk of time to give them their due. But that hasn't happened yet. I think this blog might be a good lesson in my relationships with God and other people as well. You just can't wait for that huge, perfect stretch of time to take advantage of the relationship, you simply dive in, even in the (beautiful) messiness of life.

We did that last night with a cool Pakistanian/Bosnian family we met at a cell phone shop downtown. We randomly went over and hung out at 8pm and didn't go to bed until 1:30. Yes, I was tempted to turn down the invitation and stick with Liam's routine and have a quiet night, but then we would only continue talking about having a relationship with these folks and never actually do it if we waited for the perfect time. So I guess this is a Carpe Diem kind of week. I am paying for it a bit now, but so glad we made the choice to act on where God is leading us. While it was just a simple get-together, we think He has a kingdom purpose for us meeting this family. (Besides, we got to eat pizza, and how can you turn down THAT?)

The Trout Inn

On the grand suggestion of our dear friend and former professor Hal Poe, Nick, Liam and I took a country stroll last weekend to the little village of Godstow to visit the Trout Inn.
This historic place was built in 1620--the newest addition in the 1860s! The area around the inn inspired parts of Alice in Wonderland and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (if we can believe the fabulous little old man we met at the inn who told us a tale or two).
We enjoyed tea and cozy respite from the chilly afternoon, then--armed with a sturdy umbrella and a bit of curiosity--we went on to explore the ruins of the Godstow Nunnery.
The forested area and the open green with wood lounge chairs just across the bridge from the inn brought to mind images of Brits of yesteryear on holiday wearing straw hats and playing croquet. The stone lion statue on that side is a likely inspiration for Lewis's Aslan (we might be a bit skeptical, but it felt quite magical to imagine him opening his writer's notebook and jotting away as he sat at the edge of the river in view of the big stone cat).

Oxford Life

Oxford is beautiful--full of medieval buildings, stately old brick and northern hardwoods that are just beginning to change color. Students in plaid skirts and v-neck sweaters lounge around the doors of shops and little old ladies in skirts, hats and slippers pedal furiously down the road and dodge buses like maniacs. A perfect city for pedestrians!

The majority of the city is actually the university itself, spread out in libraries and lecture halls and 27 separate buildings called colleges. Many of the buildings have a coat of arms and a gilded sign out front that declares the name of the college and sometimes what's studied there. The smaller ones resemble churches with statues and stained glass, the larger ones look like castles! In fact, Christ Church, one of the largest of the colleges, has its own cathedral inside and served as the setting for a Harry Potter movie.

The theology faculty library where Nick spends some of his time is an unobtrusive brick building very close to the Eagle and Child, a pub where Lewis and Tolkien and the rest of the "Inklings" use to sit in the Rabbit Room and discuss ideas.

The photos you see are a small piece of the Bodelian library (home to 800,000,000 books! More photos of that soon) and an Anglican church on our way into town.

Arrival in Oxford

We arrived safely in Oxford in our sweet little one-bedroom flat in Summertown on Banbury Rd. (Just like in the nursery rhyme!). Nick and I ate toast and french apricot preserves and tea for dessert our first night and felt just the tiniest bit British. (Don't worry--we sing "Proud to be an American" to Liam every day.)
Liam spends his nights in his little sleeping bag that came with his stroller. We parked it on the dresser the first night, but have since moved it to the much safer location of the floor!

Fun British Fact for the Day: We are six hours ahead of Central Time. If you're having lunch in TN, we're having dinner in Oxford. (5 ahead Eastern, 7 ahead Mountain)

Vocab Lesson: The "checkout" or "cash register" is called the "till." I learned this when I went shop to shop asking for clothes hangers they want to recycle. One of my new friends told me this is a great way to stock your closet cheaply!

The Edwards Family
We are forever indebted to Timothy Edwards--a former professor at Oxford and a friend of a friend--who picked us up at the airport and brought us back to his house for breakfast.

The Edwards are a homeschooling family of six adorable kids who kept us in stitches with an endless creative agenda (in the space of two hours, 5-year-old Hannan made a hedgehog costume and a pirate outfit, mostly for our entertainment!).

I went grocery shopping with Anna Edwards to get a few things for our first week and she guided me through that first supermarket experience and softened the blow of sticker shock by showing me items that were "worth paying for." (Delicious jams, jellies and cooking oils were plentiful and lovely. Bone-in chicken, value-size anything, and cheap prices were noticeable absent.)

We prayed together, enjoyed laughing and comparing stories and accents, and visited church with them our first Sunday in Oxford. (Very solid, gospel-preaching church, super friendly. I met three other moms while I was in the back feeding Liam!). It's nice to meet passionate Christians from the very first day who know how to do family life well. Perhaps the Edwards will be good mentors for us. We love them!

A couple observations:

*In our flat, electricity's cheaper from midnight to 7am than during the day. A great reason to shower and do the dishes at 3am!

*In lots of shops, one long line of people wait for the first available cashier... no guessing which line will go faster ( the "choose which line" game used to be a favorite of mine at Walmart.)

Requests:

• Pray for us as we figure out how to do the basics of life with a new baby. Liam is such a blessing and joy to our lives and he is adapting amazingly. He is also another transition for us! I don't feel I accomplish things quite as quickly as pre-baby, but God gives us grace to adjust to all the new blessings He brings our way and I know we will figure out ways of making life work.

• Pray for Nick as he teaches Greek and begins researching. He meets his supervisor for the first time on Wednesday. He has quite a challenge as he is entering a very secular university as a strong believer, an American, and as a representative of one of the most evangelical of Oxford's colleges. There may be hurdles to overcome because of those three facts. But we are confident that God will work mightily and we are SO thankful for the opportunity to serve Him here.
  

• Pray for Nick to tackle his academics with excellence, and that we will both be respectful but bold witnesses as we meet people from all over the world. (Five different countries were represented in our laundry room just a couple nights ago!)

• Pray we will remember that the greatest wisdom comes from God and not any human endeavor.
  

Next time: The library with every book ever published in English!!

Crossing the Pond and Taking on United Airlines

Crossing the Pond
If only I had taken a photo of our luggage carts as we stood in line at the Denver Airport! This would have been the caption: The Ellises and the world's largest amount of carry-on baggage and one HUGE stroller take on United Airlines.

Here's the photo I "staged" so you can get the idea (looks almost like the real thing, except we're a little heavier in real life--and so were our bags!)

Seriously, I felt virtually illegal traveling with our baggage so maxed out. Who knew a 14 lb. child could need so much stuff!?

When we got to our flat (apartment), I started pulling things out of my coat pocket (yes, I was using my pockets strategically) and out came a nursing cover, an exercise band, a pacifier, a diaper, lip gloss, a burp rag, a pack of wipes, a protein bar, a memory card, gum, 7 days of provisions and a life support system.

Okay, maybe not those last two, but pretty much everything else we needed to survive the plane trip that began at check-in 7am Tuesday and ended at 6:30 am UK time on Wednesday, Sept. 23. (An exercise band? You might wonder if I was planning on doing a little Pilates on the plane, but no, just happened to add it at the last minute as a token of hope for future exercise!)

Exciting moments from the plane ride:

• Finally saw "The Proposal"

• Dove to the floor during extreme turbulence on my way to change Liam (the stewardess made me dive, I wasn't just being dramatic. Promise!)

• Nick held Liam for a while so I could get a some sleep. If you don't understand why this is exciting, you haven't yet had a newborn. :)
  

• Liam slept like a … baby. Beautifully. I have to admit, I fed him a TON to help him stay quiet. (You didn't just read that, Babywise Fans :) He did fit in one live video for his Facebook fans. Nick commandeered my Facebook page from his iPhone to update everyone on our status.

• United bumped us up to Economy Plus for FREE because they didn't have any bassinet seats in the bulkhead… five extra inches of leg room!! Thank you Nick for asking, "just in case there are seats."

• The nice man next to me didn't mind when Liam's little feet crept past the arm rest once in awhile into the stranger's territory. Perhaps it helped that Liam's PJs had little puppy-dog feet … that tends to draw the "melt your heart" reaction. Blessings come in all forms!

Fun British Fact for the Day:
Dates are written opposite of the U.S., so we arrived in England on 23rd September.

Coming up next: Arrival in Oxford

Moving to Oxford: But first--our baby

Just now, the most significant part of our lives is the fact that we just welcomed our son, Liam, into the world and moved to Oxford, England!

I hope to write lots about the people, places and ideas we encounter as we study here in the UK. I plan to post plenty of pictures that capture Liam taking in the best Europe has to offer (on a budget that is).

Liam
First, meet Liam Jameson Ellis. He made a grand entrance on July 20, 2009, weighing in at 9 lbs, 1 oz. We have been praying for him to be a man of God and that he will be a "strong willed warrior" and "resolute protector" in the name of our God. What a blessing and joy he is to our lives!

A little update
In a three month period, Nick and I have moved houses twice, first across the city, now to a new country. I was working full-time until after Liam was due while we moved, said goodbye, sold vehicles and furniture, packed for England, visited with friends and relatives in four different states and tackled breastfeeding, diapering and sleeping strategies in a whirlwind of getting ready to go and welcoming a brand-new baby into the world.

Big thanks to our families
Thank goodness we had so much wonderful help from my mom, dad and Cannon and Nick's mom, dad and Victoria, not to mention our great friends who have supported us all the way. We love our family so much and are forever grateful for the way they kept us going during such a time of transition. We miss you!!