Castle Formal

Last night Nathan and I went to a formal dinner at University College, also known as Castle. It's the college that is housed in the castle. Fitting. 

Anyway, the food critic we had at our house last week invited us to be his guests (Nathan may or may not have invited himself and me), and it was awesome! We ate in the dining hall filled with long tables, wood paneling, carved ceilings, and larger than life portraits of famous people I'd never heard of (I know, ironic). There was a head table with the master and visiting scholars. Think Hogwarts. Amazing. The picture above is actually the dining room at Christ Church Oxford, where the Harry Potter films were actually made, but the castle dining hall looks very similar. Photo credit here.

There are all kinds of crazy unwritten rules, and thankfully we didn't break any. Everyone had to process in and wear an academic gown (we borrowed, phew!) over their fancy dresses or suits. Then, we all sat and stood at the same time. Standing up during dinner is a 10 pound fine. Throwing up on the tables is a 60 pound fine. I didn't take any pictures inside because no one else was, and I didn't want to draw any unnecessary attention to myself... or possibly be fined. :)

We ate our food to the sound of a string quartet. We had bread and butter and carrot soup for the first course; carrots and parsnips, mashed potatoes, pork, and gravy for mains; and pancakes for dessert. Pancake Day = Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras) in England. Yeah. They're that crazy.

Unfortunately, it was dark when we came and went, so we weren't able to take very good pictures outside. Fortunately, we were serenaded by a bagpiper on our way out the huge castle doors, which was really cool. Our friend told us it wasn't a regular occurrence... just special for us I guess!

I'm so excited I got this video to work! I tried to capture some of the ambiance of the place, but it was too dark. So sad!

We took this blurry picture after we got home. We were a little windswept, but we were full and happy and feeling very grateful to experience such a special treat.

Teapigs: Quite Like

My friend Ashley came over yesterday and brought with her some Teapigs. Teapigs is a brand of tea that is really, really tasty. The flavor she shared was called "super fruit," and it was hot pink and awesome!

This picture does a horrible job of showing the zippy pinkness of the tea. It was sooo good! It was even better with some chocolate chip cookies, warm out of the oven. We make them every time she comes over, which is twice now. :)

Ashley's husband, Adam, bought the box for her for Valentine's Day. Under where it says, "super fruit" he wrote, "for a super wife." So sweet! Do you remember what I got for Valentine's Day? :)

What's Going On In Peru

Pioneers Tribal Ministry in Peru from David Larson on Vimeo.


I know it's kind of long, but it's also kind of AWESOME! Our friend Dave Larson is living and working in Peru, and he created this video. Check it out!

Faux Spring Picnic

Today I had a picnic lunch with my fellow California girl, Tara. We spread out our tablecloth on the stone wall near the Durham Student Union boathouse and pretended it was spring. Although the sun was out, it was really chilly, and I'm glad I had on my winter coat and scarf. 

We each contributed something to our meal. I brought peanut butter and banana sandwiches, Crystal Light peach mango green tea (with crushed ice from Subway), and some chocolate chip cookies. Tara brought some fruit and chips. Delish! 

I was talking about something (I can't remember what now) when Tara bit into her chocolate chip cookie. She let out an audible "mmmmm..." and her eyes rolled into the back of her head. It made me laugh a big belly laugh and brought joy to my heart!


Thanks for such a fun time Tara!

Random Videos Worth Sharing

If you saw this on my Facebook profile status, you would know that this guy is going to help us catechize our kidz someday. This song packs a more powerful theological punch than 99.9% of sermons. It's fun to watch his videos with Nathan because he says stuff like, "What?! That's John Owen's The Death of Death in the Death of Christ in 30 seconds! This guy must have read Calvin's Institutes! He's a rapping Puritan!"



This girl is a fabulous poet. All kinds of biblical references and plays on words. I've never been to a poetry slam before, but I was giving her major snaps from my living room. This gave me shivers. You go, girl... 



Youth group Jack passed this on to me, and Nathan and I laughed our heads off multiple times. I'm laughing just typing this. So funny...

Winnie Turned One Month

Guess who just turned one month?

Sorry the picture is so small. She's so cute. Winnie, I love you and can't wait to hold you!

I got a half day sub job today (my first one!). Unfortunately, I have to miss a talk Nathan is giving today, but he said he'll record it for me. Perhaps I can get it posted on the blog for you to listen too as well if you want.  

Thank You Amy

It never ceases to amaze me that people mail us stuff. And by stuff I mean packages. Heavy ones. Expensive ones. It's like $10 a pound to send anything here from the U.S. And people keep doing it! Boxed chicken broth? Saline solution? Glass jars of garlic? Those are really heavy! Even now, it makes me want to cry with gratitude. If Nathan isn't home when a box arrives, I just stare at the postage price and shake my head until he busts out the scissors and we open the loot. And then I want to cry even more when I think about how much sweetness and time and money went into the items inside the box.


I remember sending a box to my friend Kristi in Israel a few years ago, completely naive about how much it would cost. I filled a big box full of magazines, food (there were some girl scout cookies in there, I remember), clothes, and some other random stuff. By the way, magazines are really heavy. It was almost $80. I almost fell over. But I paid it. Because I love her. And because I had a good job and we are cheap except when it comes to 1) feeding lots of people at our house and 2) spoiling our friends overseas.


So my sweet Amy, my little Amy... once just a high schooler in a Bible study group I led fresh out of college, now a middle school Language Arts teacher like I was (and hope to be again soon)... mailed Nathan and me the most incredible care package that cost $75 freaking dollars to send. And the value of what was inside must have been at least that much. Good gracious! It's humbling and awesome to be on the receiving end of that kind of love.

So, the delivery man came to the door at a perfectly reasonable hour of the morning, but, like I said last time, I was still in my robe and pajamas. Thankfully, Nathan was home so we could open it right away. This is his fake excited face. Except he was really excited.

He ripped off the Trader Joe's bag exterior...

and dove straight in. Every gift was sealed in its own Ziploc bag with a fun message on it. Here is a gift just for Nathan - a potato gun. 

He was ripping through the contents of the box really quickly. I kept saying, "Slow down! Slow down! I have to document!" But that only made him go faster.

Mac and cheeeeese! The box I got from Sandy was consumed about 2 hours after it arrived, so hopefully these will last a little longer.

A Vons bag full of taco seasoning and a Christmas card from Kelee. Thanks for contributing to the box of goodies!

We were in shock and awe when we opened these gifts. Signed pictures of us by Brian Regan! Holy cow! Amy got tickets to see him last month, and she thoughtfully printed out the pictures from our sun stare post and had him write us a special message. Nathan was cracking up, as seen in the photos above and below.

Brian Regan is a really awesome comedian that we and Amy and our youth group loves. Check him out! He's actually going to be in Durham tomorrow. Durham, North Carolina that is. Amy, you are so creative with your gift giving! I wish I was one tenth as creative as you are.

These are bag closer thingies. They close bags. Like chip clips. They're awesome. I've already employed two of them. One is on cheese, and the other is on chips. You probably don't care about that.

There was lots, lots, lots more in the box but Nathan was opening things so fast I couldn't take pictures quickly enough: coloring books and SAH-WEET hi-tech crayons like mechanical pencils, invisible ink pens and pads of paper for secret message writing, two kinds of soup mixes, a darling spring canvas purse (I'm sure I'll be busting that out soon), magnets, Crystal Light peach mango green tea mix, and lots of other stuff I can't remember off the top of my head right now. It was like Christmas. Our living room was littered with all of the goodies and all of the Ziploc bags. In short, it was amazing. It was truly amazing.

Amy, you are so, so, so, awesome. I appreciate your kindness more than words can say.

Sometimes I say little things off hand on this blog, like "I couldn't get contact solution because they were out and then the store was closed and then it was ridiculously expensive," or "I haven't seen any straws here," or "Why is there no resealable packaging?" or "I hate to chop garlic," and then a few weeks later a remedy appears in the mail. It's like magic. I seriously don't mean to fish for gifts or anything. I just feel very loved and listened to!

Nathan says I should start saying things like, "I haven't seen big stacks of money in England, and I really miss those. I also wish I could see some low utility bills and rent. I also miss a job." I'm not really sure how that would work, but if you could mail me a teaching job that pays in British pounds, that would be great. I'll pick up the postage.