God Save the Queen and Citizenship

Given that our kids have entitlement to British citizenship (through various ways), Charles and I thought it was wise to take advantage of this and secure them dual citizenship. Today their British passports came in the post and they were most excited.

We are taking our responsibilities very seriously and have ensured that they know the words to the national anthem - God Save the Queen. We will have to work on the Stars Spangled Banner (it is much harder!). Here is a video with them showing their loyalty. As you can see from this video, Eliot (the only born British citizen) is super excited.

Good-bye Grahams...

One of the hardest things about living here at College is saying good-bye to students. To be honest, in some ways you almost become numb to these good-byes. One specific student family, however, just left, and we feel really sad and affected by their leaving. In the past three years, the Graham family has become very dear to us, and we are anything buy unemotional or numb with their leaving.

I still remember the first time I communicated with Susie. I was given her email from a mutual acquaintance. I wrote to welcome her and also inquire about pre-school lift sharing and whether she would be interested. I remember saying something like, 'I hope you don't think that I am too forward or too American in writing'. After Susie met me, she only came to know that I am forward, and I am American. Both things I hope she came to appreciate.

Our friendship started around our oldest sons. They arrived with their nearly four-year-old Josiah, two-year-old Miriam, and newborn Keziah. Their son is three months older than Jack, and they immediately clicked. I remember telling Charles that they were the first house that I let Jack go and spend time where I didn't know the parents that well. It was a bit weird, but I immediately trusted them. And in time, the friendship became family-wide (even including grandparents) not just around these little boys.

In fact, they were kind enough to invite us to join them up at Rory's parents home up in Yorkshire. We were able to go twice and got to know Rory's parents quite well. We have lots of affection for both Anne and Malise and will miss seeing them when we return to the US. Both of these trips were real highlights to our family. The kids absolutely love the farm and getting to play on the hay bales, the tractor, and down by the river.

We also got to know Susie's parents well as they came to look after the kids here at College multiple times. It was always fun to see Elizabeth and have a conversation out in the orchard with her. Elizabeth will always hold a special place in our lives as we will forever remember her as the woman who found Theo! Once again, they were kind enough to invite us to accompany them to the Trooping of the Colour and in the midst of the big crowds we temporarily lost Theo (see previous post). My parents have also been fortunate enough to meet Rory and Susie the various times they have visited. My mom immediately liked Susie because she always offered her a cup of tea out in the orchard. This was especially thoughtful given that my mom was standing out in the cold watching her grandsons directly after Addie was born.

One of the things about the Grahams is how incredibly thoughtful they are. The Saturday before they left they organised a family treasure hunt for both of our families which had a very creative and meaningful twist. (blog entry to follow). And then there was the present they gave Jack right before leaving. For three years, Jos has run around the Orchard with a fabric handmade English flag that Susie had made him. Both Jack and Theo have been quite envious of this flag for years now. Well, yesterday morning Jos presented Jack with the following

Susie had spent who knows how long making Jack this American flag so that he too can run around the Orchard now with a flag. Jos even did quality control and counted to ensure that there were thirteen stripes and fifty stars - not bad knowledge for an English little boy!  We were very touched, and now the only debate is whether Jack gets to run around the Orchard with it or whether it is too nice for that and we should frame it (my idea).

We will really miss the Grahams. Seeing them leave College is slightly easier knowing that we will be leaving shortly as well. One thing is definitely for sure though: our family has been made better from knowing them.

The church in Hove where Rory and Susie are moving is in for a treat. We just hope that they give them a good chunk of holiday and airline tickets to America for their Christmas present! :)

Here are some pictures of the boys playing with the flags later. I said to Jack that they were re-enacting the Revolutionary War. To which he responded, 'No Mom it was the War of 1812, because the US didn't have the Stars and Stripes in the Revolutionary War.' Once again corrected by my son.

Jack's Song

A week after Eliot was born, we were fortunate enough to have my mom and sister come visit. It was such a treat to have them both. 

One of the things that my sister did while she was here was work with Jack to write song lyrics and then they put piano music too it. It was by far the highlight of Jack's month of May. He still sings the song often and talks about Aunt Lauren and how she helped him. 

Not only did she help him then, but she renewed his interest in music and specifically writing music. He has been working on various songs since she left with the 'goal' of writing a cd with ten songs. He has even developed the cd cover with pictures and all (a separate blog post to come). A few days ago he was working on this song, and I asked him if he minded if I recorded it. He said he didn't so I seized the opportunity. Unfortunately, my camera battery dies right at the end, but you definitely get a good taster of his upcoming cd! I have typed the lyrics up just in case you are not able to understand his singing. Enjoy!

Jesus powerful king

He’s the king

Powerful mighty king

Jesus is human

Jesus the king

Jesus mighty king

Not a drop of sin

Was nailed to the cross like a criminal

Jesus powerful king

Our salvation

He healed a blind man

He brought the dead alive

Fed 5000 people in one day

Jesus the king

Jesus mighty king

Not a drop of sin

Was nailed to the cross like a criminal

Jesus powerful king

Died upon the cross to take our sin away

He did. He did

Jesus the king

Jesus mighty king

Not a drop of sin

Nailed like a criminal

But he didn’t stay dead

He rose from the grave

Yeah Yeah Yeah.

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

We took the opportunity today on Father's Day to celebrate Charles.

He is such a good dad and with the addition of Eliot he has really shone. The reality is that a lot of my time is occupied with feeding Eliot so Charles often finds himself outnumbered with the other three (for example at bedtime - bathing all three, helping to dress or coordinate all three dressing, brushing all their teeth etc).

To celebrate, we greeted Charles this morning with a twelve pack of American Dr. Pepper. He was excited or at least appeared to be. It does taste different than the Dr. Pepper you buy here in England (in fact, we may have a taste test later for our skeptical British friends - many who have already voiced their doubt). We just recently  found a store on line that sells it (thanks to friends tipping us off around Charles's birthday). Perfect timing too - a few months before moving back across the pond!

We then celebrated at night by walking down to our local Pizza Express. We decided that we would all go around the table and say what one thing we appreciated most about Charles/Daddy. I am recording them below so we will remember them in future years:

Jack: How he loves us and tries to take good care of us. (Charles and I chuckled at the tries part)

Addie: She said 'backpack' - we then asked her if she likes it best when she rides in the backpack on Daddy's shoulders and she said yes. This makes most sense since she did ride in the backpack just yesterday when we went on a family walk.

Theo: Cuddling with Daddy.

Erin: How he leads us to be more like Jesus and looks after us so well.

Eliot: Silence as he slept away in his pushchair.

It was touching to see what the kids came up with on their own. Just to paint a realistic picture though it is only right to mention that our lovely dinner was also interrupted with two bathroom trips - and we only have two kids out of nappies so those are pretty poor odds, two spilt drinks, and a cranky server, but all in all it was a great meal.

 We are very blessed. Thank you Charles for all you do.

And a few pictures to remember today (Eliot was starting to get fussy so we didn't keep trying even though the lighting was poor!):

Incoherent?

Theo woke up around 10:30 pm last night crying. Charles went to sort him out. Here is the conversation that followed:

Charles: Theo, what is wrong?
Theo: I didn't get a sticker today at pre-school for good tidying up and they told me I would (ed note: first we had heard of this all day).
Charles: Theo, you just need to go back to sleep. We can give you a sticker tomorrow.

Still more crying from Theo

Charles: Theo, there is no crying in baseball.
Theo (stops crying): Daddy I am not playing baseball.
Charles: That is a good point Theo.

Charles leaves the room. Theo stopped crying, and we didn't hear from him the rest of the night.

Odd - very odd. Conversations like this only happen with our lovely Theo.