Theo Who?

One of our favourite neighbour girls told her mum the other day, 'Mum, there are two Theos here at college. Theo Kendall and Theo Dore.'

Our Theo was Theo Dore. So much for our last name or surname, Dore would work just fine. I have laughed about this many times since her mother told me this earlier today. It reminds me of the time, shortly after Theo was born, that Jack asked that I call him Jackodore.

And here is a fun picture of Theo Dore holding Addie Laid:

They waved at me....

Jon and Stacey left England today. And things feel different....

Jon and Stacey were our first friends in England. We had never met before, but had a a few significant mutual contacts. I had high hopes that we would be good friends. When they first arrived in Cambridge, Charles picked them up at the bus station in Cambridge (we arrived two weeks earlier) and drove them to their flat. I remember calling home from work that day and in a very excited/nervous voice asking Charles how it was. I remember saying, 'did you like them? do you think we will be friends? what were they like?' After two weeks on our own, I was feeling a need for friends, and I was really hoping that Jon and Stacey would fill this void. And they for sure did!

They are the type of friends that you get to be yourself with. I have so many memories. These are just a few:

• I used to so look forward to our weekly Monday night talks (after laundry).
• I have great memories from our trips to Wales and Slovenia.
• The excitement I had when they walked into my room at the hospital after giving birth to Jack. They were 'our family' who came to visit. Jack's first visitors.
• Christmas 2005 that we spent together.
• No one is more fun to cook for than Jon. He makes even me feel like a good cook.
• Jon and Charles taking study breaks to come eat chocolate chip cookies or hot rolls.
• Picking Stacey up to drive her to work when her ankle was injured.
• After we moved to London, the way Jack and Theo would get so excited when Jon and Stacey would come for a visit.
• Chili and donuts - we will always think of Stacey when we eat these
• Stacey and my trip to the theatre in London.
• Our Pizza Hut dates (the last one being yesterday!)

Their plane was to take off at 12:15 today from London. Around 12:30 today Jack spotted a plane in the sky and said 'there go Jon and Stacey'. I jokingly asked him how he knew that was their plane. Without a hesitation, he said 'they waved at me'.

Six years later, and they are moving back to the US. We are so excited for the ministry God has called them to in Spokane. We are certain the folks in Spokane will be hugely blessed by them both.

We will miss them. They will forever be part of 'OUR England'. Thanks for the friendship...and from our family, here is a big wave back!

I'm the Little Sister

We pulled out the camera to take some pictures of Addie in her 'I'm the little sister' t-shirt. This gift was given to Addie by an older couple that was visiting college. I think they were especially fond of the gift because they also had two boys and then their third was a little girl. They gave the gift to Addie when she was only a week old, but I have a feeling they knew what was instore for her with two big brothers for many months and years to come!

Addie showing her shirt off


Miss Smiley


Miss Smiley Again


Adelaide and her biggest brother


Addie and her two brothers



And part of being the little sister is being in the middle of your brothers' pranks!

Our Garden (not back yard!)

England is in bloom and so is our garden. After living in England nearly six years, I have decided that I prefer the word 'garden' to 'back yard'. Why? Because it makes working there so much more enjoyable. 'I am going to go work in the garden.' sounds a lot better than 'I am going to do some yard work.'

Our new house has a nice garden -- a relatively big garden, especially by English standards. So after ten years of marriage, we finally bought our first lawnmower. One of our neighbours joked if this is what Charles buys me after ten years of marriage, imagine what he will get me after fifty! We were also told that we had bought a 'posh mower' prompted by the fact that we bought a lawn mower that was fuelled by petrol/gas instead of electricity.

We knew after borrowing one of our neighbour's electric lawnmowers while my sister was here visiting that we would need to get a petrol mower. All my sister kept saying the whole time Charles was out mowing with the electric mower was: 'it looks like Charles is out vacuuming the back yard'. And to be honest, she was right. We may have lived here six years, but electric lawnmowers still look funny to us - so petrol it was for us!

Here are some pictures from our garden:

Theo, the chunk

Today Charles walked into the bedroom to find Jack trying to lift Theo up onto the bed. It was clear Theo wanted up and Jack was showing a good deal of brotherly love by trying to assist. Well, despite the loving effort, he wasn't succeeding. In fact, he was really straining to push Theo up. So Charles offered his help which Jack quickly accepted saying 'Yes, I would like your help. He is such a little chunk.'

I hate to break it to Jack but this little 'chunk' (which is an incredibly accurate picture of Theo) will someday be Jack's favourite wrestling partner and then Jack might not be so happy that he is such a little chunk.

And here is a picture of our favourite little chunk:

American Mother's Day

Last year, I posted this post regarding American Mothers Day and the emotions that go with it for me. I wrote this post not knowing that a year later I would be a new mommy to a little lady named Adelaide. It has been a great twelve months. And after becoming a new mommy for third time, I am still, if not more, appreciative of my mom. So in honour of her, I am reposting last year's post. Here it is:

Today America celebrates Mother's Day. We are in England where people just carry on as normal today. I always find today a difficult day. It is a day when I am more aware that I am far from my mother. I had tears in my eyes at dinner tonight. I was feeding Theo his beef stew and thought how fun it would be to call my mom. I looked at the clock and realized that I couldn't because she would be in church due to the six hour time difference. There are many times when I wish I could call my mom but an not able to because of the time difference (although I am immensely grateful for cheap phone calls and email).

I hope that my boys want to call me when they are older. I hope they think I am as cool as I think my mom is. Here are a just a few of the many things my Mom has taught me and why I am so thankful she is my Mom.

1) My mom has taught me how to laugh. This has not been hard because she is one of the most entertaining and funniest people I know. It is hard to be around her and not laugh.

2) My mom has taught me that the best way to learn something is to just give it a try. I have inherited my lack of wanting to read directions and just going for it (which is slightly annoying to my husband) from my mom.

3) My mom has taught me that my siblings are some of the most important people in my life. I am so thankful that my mom instilled a love between all of her children from a very young age. My two brothers and sister are some of my best friends and this is largely due to the way Mom raised us. I hope my boys feel the same as they grow up.

4) My mom has taught me that you have a lot more to talk about if you read. My mom loves to read. I wish I loved to read as much as she did. I am trying to teach my boys to love reading like she does.

5) My mom has taught me how to parent. So much of what I say to my boys is stuff that I have learned from my mom. Some of it scares me; most of it doesn't.

6) My mom has taught me how to love my husband. I am so very thankful that I was able to see my mom and dad love each other and have the great opportunity to witness a Godly marriage and picture of Godly submission (without feeling it was inferior).

7) My mom has taught me the value of staying home with your kids. I am so thankful I had a mom who stayed home with us when we were little. We were very blessed.

8) My mom has taught me that family is important. Some of my earliest memories are of my mom caring for my Grandmother as her health was failing. More recently, I have witnessed my mom serving my dad's Mom (as though she was her own) as she fought cancer and died.

9) My mom didn't teach me much about cooking which was very wise on her part because it ensured that I called home often after I got married. It was an ingenious move on her part - remember the devilled eggs!

9.5) My mom has taught me a lot about being loyal and devoted. One of the best examples is how she always comments on my blog postings. I always know I can count on my mom to comment. This expresses love to me. I am very thankful for this.

10) My mother has taught me that God and his calling comes above all else which is one of the reasons I was able to tolerate the tears at dinner tonight. I am so thankful that Charles and I both have parents that are supportive of us being in England and serving God here.

Thanks Mom. And Happy Mother's Day!

For the Love of English

You realize all the funny intricacies of English when you teach a child to talk. Here are two of our most reason experiences with Theo:

1) Theo came to me sad because he had fallen. Wanting to inspect the part of his body that hurt, I asked him where it hurt and he said 'under the flowers' which is where he GOT hurt not where on his body it hurt.

2) Today Theo fell (do you notice a trend here) and came to Charles to whine. Charles told him to 'shake it off'. And of course, to a one-year-old, this meant start shaking where it hurts so Theo started shaking his hand very quickly.

All these things we learn with time!