Family Visit

Center of attention 032909 LR While we were dress shopping yesterday we took the opportunity to swing by Jesse & Heidi's place to pay a visit. Josh came over, Heidi whipped up some loaded nachos and we had a regular family reunion. It was great to see them and our little neice, Sophia, who continues to grow like a weed. She's changed a lot since we saw her at Christmas.

You can tell by the picture who is the center of attention around the household. It was great to visit for a few hours and catch up. We brought Jesse and Heidi some of their favorite Walkers shortbread cookies from England (No, we didn't buy them at Target – we got them in London, thank you).

Chapter-a-Day Psalm 116

Wedding dress shopping 02 032909 LR What can I give back to God for the blessings he's poured out on me? I'll lift high the cup of salvation—a toast to God! I'll pray in the name of God; I'll complete what I promised God I'd do, and I'll do it together with his people. Psalm 116:12-14 (MSG)

I took my daughter shopping for a wedding dress yesterday. She looked so beautiful and grown up. It felt strange. But, it was a good kind of strange. Where has the time gone? How did I wake up and find myself so far down the road along life's journey? My baby is getting married. She's a loveable, valuable, capable young woman.

I look back at where I've been. I look around me. This stretch of life's road looks different than I had expected. Don't get me wrong. It's a good place. I've been so blessed. God has been so good through all of the troubles, sorrow, and anguish along the way. "What can I give back to God for the blessings he's poured out on me?"

"I'll complete what I promised God I'll do…"

That includes walking my daughter down the aisle.

Chapter-a-Day Psalm 116

Wedding dress shopping 02 032909 LR What can I give back to God for the blessings he's poured out on me? I'll lift high the cup of salvation—a toast to God! I'll pray in the name of God; I'll complete what I promised God I'd do, and I'll do it together with his people. Psalm 116:12-14 (MSG)

I took my daughter shopping for a wedding dress yesterday. She looked so beautiful and grown up. It felt strange. But, it was a good kind of strange. Where has the time gone? How did I wake up and find myself so far down the road along life's journey? My baby is getting married. She's a loveable, valuable, capable young woman.

I look back at where I've been. I look around me. This stretch of life's road looks different than I had expected. Don't get me wrong. It's a good place. I've been so blessed. God has been so good through all of the troubles, sorrow, and anguish along the way. "What can I give back to God for the blessings he's poured out on me?"

"I'll complete what I promised God I'll do…"

That includes walking my daughter down the aisle.

Tulip Time Production Starts

Dominieswife2006_lr When Wendy and I got back from London this week we started production on Union Street Players Tulip Time play, Letters from Pella. Our community theatre does a one act play for the tourists every other year at Tulip Time. Letters from Pella tells an interesting story about Pella's first immigrants. It uses actual letters between the first residents and their native Holland to reveal some of the conflict, hardship and division the fledgling community faced as they forged a new life for themselves on the Iowa prairie.

This is the fourth Tulip Time production for Wendy and me. We're reprising our roles as Dominie (Dutch for "pastor") H.P. Scholte and his young wife, Mareah. We played the Dominie and Mareah in USP's 2006 production of The Dominie's Wife.

Performances are 4:30 in the afternoon each day of Pella's annual Tulip Time festival. If anyone is coming down for Tulip Time, I hope you'll sneak over to the Community Center and see the show!

Tulip Time Production Starts

Dominieswife2006_lr When Wendy and I got back from London this week we started production on Union Street Players Tulip Time play, Letters from Pella. Our community theatre does a one act play for the tourists every other year at Tulip Time. Letters from Pella tells an interesting story about Pella's first immigrants. It uses actual letters between the first residents and their native Holland to reveal some of the conflict, hardship and division the fledgling community faced as they forged a new life for themselves on the Iowa prairie.

This is the fourth Tulip Time production for Wendy and me. We're reprising our roles as Dominie (Dutch for "pastor") H.P. Scholte and his young wife, Mareah. We played the Dominie and Mareah in USP's 2006 production of The Dominie's Wife.

Performances are 4:30 in the afternoon each day of Pella's annual Tulip Time festival. If anyone is coming down for Tulip Time, I hope you'll sneak over to the Community Center and see the show!

Chapter-a-Day: Psalm 115

Negative...again. He gives childless couples a family, gives them joy as the parents of children. Hallelujah!  Psalm 115:9 (MSG)

For two years, Wendy and I have been praying for a child. For two very long years we've been deperately trying to get pregnant. I'll spare you all the details of what a long journey it's been, but it has been a very long, painful, expensive journey. I'm tired of praying. I'm emotionally exhausted from tears and faith unrewarded. I'm tired of the monthly roller coaster of hope and disappointment. I'm tired of sweeping up the pieces of my wife's broken heart every four weeks and unsuccessfully trying to glue them back together.

For the past three days the psalms have proclaimed promises of children to the childless.

God, I'm tired of trusting. I'm scared of hoping anymore.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and slayer23

Back to Reality

Yesterday was the dreaded day of return to reality. Wendy and I realized that most of our vacations are spent with at least some attention to voice mail and email so that, when we return, the pile is not so huge. Going to England seemed a good time to completely unplug, however. And, it was a great time to forget about everyday life for a while and just "be" in London. It was nice to just experience it and forget about everything else.

Yesterday, we realized why we don't always unplug completely when we take time off. The stack of "to-dos," emails, voicemails, and snail mails appeared as mountains before us. Plus, we had a week's worth of dirty laundry and "stuff" to unpack from London…all the while getting over jet lag.

Yesterday was not a fun day.

Today will be better.

Won't it?

Chapter-a-Day Psalm 113

Embankment Station London 031909 LR God is higher than anything and anyone, outshining everything you can see in the skies. Who can compare with God, our God, so majestically enthroned, Surveying his magnificent heavens and earth? Psalm 113:4-6 (MSG)

It was interesting reading these verses after a week in London and two long flights "across the pond." There was much about London that was different. You had to look the opposite way when crossing the street (they drive on the left hand side). There were very few public trash cans (they employ street sweepers), and there was no place to write in a tip for your server on the credit card slip.

There was much about London, however, that was the same. Some people were extremely polite and courteous. Some people were very rude. There were good times and trying times. There were things that we enjoyed and some things we didn't enjoy. Wendy and I had moments of exhiliration and moments of utter frustration. God is God, enthroned and reigning over all. Whether you live in the United States or the United Kindgom, we are all just your basic boogerheads in need of God and plodding along on this journey through life. 

London Days 6 & 7: The Last Day & the Journey Home

The only thing on our itinerary on Monday was the play England People Very Nice at the Royal National Theatre in the evening. Wendy and I went down the list and thought of the last few things on our “to-see” and “to-do” list. Our final day would be spent doing the last few things on the list.

After a leisurely morning getting up and ready, we hopped the Tube and headed for Harrod’s department store. Harrod’s is one of, if not the most famous department stores in the world. The son of the owner was Princess Di’s boyfriend, the one who was killed in the car accident with her. Just as the Mall of America would be a “must see” on a trip to Minneapolis, Harrod’s is a “must see” when you go to London. It’s four floors and an entire city block. There’s nothing you can’t find at Harrod’s. They don’t just have chocolates, they have an entire room filled with counters representing different chocolatiers from around the word. It was quite and experience just walking through the place and seeing products like jellied ox tongue. We didn’t spend a lot of time at Harrod’s, but we walked through, bought a few souvenirs, and the hopped back on the Tube.

Our next stop was Kensington Royal Gardens, and this stop was for Taylor. She and Clayton are reading some classic novels together and they’ve begun with Peter Pan. There is a famous statue of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, so we went to take some pictures for her. It was at this point that we felt the weather turning for the worse. We’d enjoyed five days with lots of sunshine, but as we made our way into the park the wind was chilly and cold. The statue was a lot of fun and we stopped for a few minutes to watch the swans on the lake, but it was getting cold and we soon headed back to the Tube station. I should mention, at some point, that Wendy had downloaded this really cool application for her iPod Touch which had a map of the London Underground system. You could plot where you were and where you wanted to go and it would calculate the route complete with which trains to catch at which stations and approximately how long it would take. That little program was a lifesaver all week and Wendy was constantly planning our routes.

One of the things we’d wanted to spend more time doing was walking through one of London’s open markets. We’d visited Covent Garden Market on Friday, but we were there in the evening as the vendors were shutting down. As we headed down to the Tube I noticed that we were two stops from Notting Hill, the neighborhood where the movie Notthing Hilltakes place and the site of one of London’s most famous markets on Portobello Road. So, we went two more stops and hiked about a mile up the narrow street of antique dealers, vintage clothiers and one-of-a-kind shops. It was Monday, so most of the vendors weren’t open. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the walk and stopped at a few shops.

We went back to our apartment briefly to drop off our packages and then headed back towards Covent Garden. By this time, I was craving a good American restaurant, and we’d walked past a T.G.I. Friday’s on Bedford Street several times. So, we went there for lunch. It was, indeed, much like any Friday’s here in the states. By the time we left, the rain and started and we knew we were in for some traditional London weather.

The Covent Garden market was also largely shut down on Monday, so we hoofed our way back towards Trafalgar Square. We’d picked up a few trinkets during the week, but thought that this would be our last chance to stop in one of the requisite cheesy tourist shops. As we entered, the rain began to pour. We shopped, and picked up a cheap umbrella for four pounds. Exiting the shop and heading back for our flat, we opened our new umbrella, It took all of about a half block for the wind to turn the cheap umbrella completely inside out and break it. So much for that.

Our final night in London was at the National Theatre. England People Very Nice was a very interesting play that tells the story of four waves of immigrants that have come to London throughout history: the French Heugonots, the Irish, the Jews, and the Bangladeshis. The theme of the play reveals that each group was rejected and harassed upon their arrival, but eventually they became “English” and subsequently harassed the next wave of immigrants for not being English like they were. It was extremely well done and done with a lot of comedy. It was a great way to end our trip.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was sunny once more and we were anxious to get home. We were a little rushed, having not given ourselves as much time to pack and get to the airport as we should have. But, we made it on time and had relatively uneventful flights home. There was one small delay in Chicago that left Grandpa and Grandma Vander Well waiting an extra hour at the airport, but it was so good to be home and to see them there waiting for us. We walked in the back door to be greeted by Taylor about 8:30 p.m. (though to our bodies it was 1:30 a.m.). We grabbed a bite, chatted with Taylor, and headed to bed.

Now we face theunpacking, laundry, stack of mail, full email inbox and backlog of work awaiting us!

Pictures:

  1. Peter Pan statue in Kensington Garden.
  2. Peter Pan statue in Kensington Garden (detail).
  3. Peter Pan statue in Kensington Garden (detail…notice all the characters and animals in the base of the statue).
  4. Peter Pan statue in Kensington Garden (detail).
  5. Swan at Kensington Gardens.
  6. Wendy uses her iPod Touch to map our route on the Tube.
  7. Portabello Road Market, Notting Hill.
  8. Wendy at Lancaster Gate Tube station.
  9. Notting Hill Gate Tube station.
  10. Notting Hill Gate Tube station.
  11. Villiers Street outside Embankment Station. This was the view that greeted us as we headed back to our flat from the Tube station. Two blocks up, two blocks right, one block right. If you look on the left side of the street you can barely see a Starbucks sign. That’s where we met John on Sunday.
  12. Tom at T.G.I. Friday’s on Bedford Street.

Pan statue 01 032309 LR  Pan statue 02 032309 LR  Pan statue 03 032309 LR  Pan statue 04 032309 LR  Swan @ kensington gardens 032309 LR  Wendy checks the tube map app 032309 LR Portabello Road @ notting hill 032309 LR  Wendy at the tube stop 032309 LR  Notting hill gate tube station 032309 LR  Notting hill gate tube station 02 032309 LR  Villiers Street outside Embankment Station 032309 LR  Tom @ TGIFs in London 032309 LR