It Seems That When Your Children Have Lived In England...

...they spend more time drawing round-abouts on their sidewalk chalk driveway maps than they do drawing stop signs. Hmmmm....

Praed Street

I came across this site recently which is called The Way We See It and is dedicated to Londoners taking pictures of specific locations and then putting them all on a flicker stream. I was excited to see some photos of the very building we lived in when we first arrived in London. This is the building at West End Quay on Praed Street that we lived in for one month after our arrival. Here is another picture. And here is the little souvenir shop we passed each day as we walked along. Another view of the building with a deserted pub across the street, which is very near to the metro Tesco where we would get our "daily shop" in. And finally the zebra crossing from St. Mary's Hospital, whose ambulance sirens kept us up half the night until we got used to them. Thanks for taking the trip with me to Praed Street, London!

What? No Bank Holidays?

DS6 (while looking at our English calendar): "What?! Yesterday was a bank holiday and we missed it?! And dad could have stayed home for that day?!"

Then and Now

Last year, for Easter, we were just settling into our new home in London. Hubby and I reflected today on the differences between the two. Here is a comparison.

Last Year
Were in a new (to us) semi-detached home, with little to no Easter decorations.
Were worshiping here.
Took public transport to church with lots of hung-over folks who wondered why we were so dressed up.
Had lunch at McDonald's.
Played at Hyde Park -- no egg hunt.
Couldn't find Easter baskets and kids got Easter bags instead.
Couldn't find jelly beans or many Easter goodies, but the Brits sure love their large chocolate Easter eggs and have them in any theme available. Somehow the Bart Simpson egg didn't really "speak" Easter to us. Alas, we skipped the British tradition!
Had fresh hot cross buns.
Got dressed up for church only to realize that this was NOT apparently an Easter tradition in Britain.
Hubby had a four-day weekend and we spent it visiting the Broadstairs beach and Dover Castle.

This Year
"Back Home Again in Indiana"...(Sing it with me, people. Okay, so if you're not a Hoosier, you don't even know that's a song!)
Worshipped at our home church and sat beside my mama today.
Took our van to church and wondered to myself how could it be full of so much junk, yet again.
Had our traditional Easter feast at mother's -- ham, baked beans, bread, buffet salad, asparagus, cheese potatoes and chocolate pie.
Had an egg hunt in grammy's back yard.
Dug out the Easter baskets that had gone unused from last year.
Jellybeans galore!
I miss those hot cross buns, and all those yummy British bakeries.
Got dressed up for church only to be attacked by a three-year-old weilding a pink chapstick with landed right in the middle of my new dress.
Hubby has a four-day weekend and we spent it shopping for a new vacuum and doing laundry.

Since being back, we find it interesting to play the "what were we doing last year at this time" game. Thanks for reading along!

Leavin' On a Jet Plane; Don't Know When We'll Be Back Again

You've probably noticed my sparse posting lately. We're in the midst of moving home again, and all that is entailed in an overseas move. So, please pray for us as we make the transition home. And please pop in again in about a week's time for a new post.

I Am Jane Jetson

**Although this may sound like an advert for Skype, it's not. I simply want to inform others of the wonderful blessing it's been to us being so far from home.

If you haven't heard of Skype yet, I'm here to tell you...it's awesome. Skype has saved us hundreds of pounds on phone bills, I'm quite sure. Skype is a free downloadable program that allows you to communicate with others who have also downloaded the program through audio and/or video. Through Skype, I get to see my Mom every single day all on my computer --very Jetson, I know!

Nearly every day, my mom Skypes me before going to work. This has been a God-send, as my children had never been far from home, unless you count 10 day trips to Disney world. And, for that matter, I had never been too far from home either. So, not seeing Grammy for months would have been a really, really bad deal for us. Just seeing my mom nearly every day has gotten me through some very rough patches here. And it's allowed my mom, Queen of the Grammies, to stay in close communication with her beloved grandchildren. Each day, the children can see and talk to Grammy. They can also show her their latest art masterpieces or their favorite postcard from a recent destination. Or like this morning, they can show her all their new boo-boos and new pink nail polish.

To get Skype, you just need to download the free program. If you just want to talk to people without seeing them, you are all set to do so after you download the program. You just sit at your computer and talk just as if you were talking on the phone, but you don't have to hold a handset which is really nice for busy mommies who often have to rescue people, or break up arguments, or get two-year-olds out of things they are not supposed to be into, all while they are chatting. Ah yes, the beauty of a multi-tasking mommy! But, I digress. Now, if you want to see those you are conversing with, you (and they) need to buy a little web-cam to pop onto the top of the computer. Install it and voila! You are officially George or Jane Jetson!

Some of the people who would definitely benefit from Skype are military families, expatriate families, missionary families or others that are away from family and friends, either internationally or not. So, what are you waiting for? If there is anyone in your life that you'd love to talk to more frequently, but cost is a hinderance to that, head on over to Skype to remedy that situation. And that is why I am Jane Jetson!