MaustsOnToast » England

Poppy’s British Easter Tradition

Emily — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 18:15:20 +0000

When I grew up we didn’t get Easter baskets with toys and random goodies inside. We cut to the chase and just got a whole bunch of chocolate!! No one does Easter eggs like Britain does! And I miss it so much. But thankfully Aunty Han Han (my sister) did her Aunty duty and sent Poppy a Cadbury’s Buttons egg. We held out for a few days until yesterday when we let Poppy devour the whole thing!!! LOL. Well not quite, she had a few mouthfuls and then we put the rest in the fridge for another day. But I did get some photos.

Digging in

Poppy??? Is it yummy?

YESSSSS...its so yummy!!!

Can Daddy have some?

She loves her Daddy

The United Kingdom Explained

Drew — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 15:50:31 +0000

Now that Poppy has begun pronouncing certain words more like Mummy than like Daddy I think it’s time to bust out this video and fill her in on her heritage. Enjoy.

Christmas Reflections

Emily — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 03:11:09 +0000

We had a spectacular time in England while we were there over Christmas. It was an especially busy time as we tried to fit in sightseeing around spending time with family and friends. A couple of days after we arrived England got a lot of snow, so needless to say that slowed us down a bit but by no means did it stop us having a lot of fun. While there we visited Wycliffe UK and saw some of our friends that we met at Wycliffe USA. They too are setting out to be translators and funnily enough the wife is British and the husband is American so we have a lot in common. Also while in England we were able to present our ministry to the church I grew up in. It was such a blessing to feel the support from Epping Forest Community church and a privilege to get the opportunity to stand in front of people who have seen me develop spiritually from such a young age in to adulthood and share with them our passion.

This trip was special for another reason: it was Poppy’s first time to England. She did well taking in to account the harsh time change that she needed to get used to and the hectic schedule she had to adapt to. We wanted to take her to London and take photos of her in front of all the popular tourist sites. It was rather cold and she got tired very quickly but we had a great time taking photos and running around the city.

We weren’t the only ones in my family to be travelling home for Christmas. My two sisters were returning home from being away for some time. My older sister Sally had been travelling around the world for six months and my younger sister Hannah had been doing an internship with a children’s ministry in New York City. My Dad had to make three visits to the airport to pick up his three girls in the space of a week.

Two weeks wasn’t nearly enough time so see everyone and catch up properly but we are hoping to go back for New Year’s Eve 2011 before moving to France in January 2012.

Poppy vs. Algeria

Drew — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 19:29:20 +0000

Poppy’s internal nap alarm went off at exactly 2:20pm today. She wasn’t going to miss England vs. Algeria in the World Cup. She also had all her cheer gear in place when the match started but only after a quick lunch of meat and three veg–the traditional meat and two veg wouldn’t cut it for such an important occasion.

Why isn't the vuvuzela making any noise?

Draping St. George’s cross (thanks to little Jake Waldron!) over the TV stand to create a sort of soccer altar Poppy raised her red vuvuzela high and physically supported her little English footballer as a sign of her inner support for Her Majesty’s footballers battling so far away in South Africa.

Rule, Britannia!

At half time the match was 0-0. Poppy will have to cheer harder!

Britain is Repossessing America

Drew — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 14:47:34 +0000

Ben Witherington, Professor of New Testament at Asbury Seminary in Kentucky, has posted a cute little ditty on his blog outlining a proposed repossession of America by Britain. Read it here.

When pressed for comment, Sir Nigel D concluded, “Quite right and jolly good show. Let’s bring back the British Empire while we’re at it, eh, old boy, what, what?”

I don’t know about the Empire business, but Emily is most certainly my queen.

Green Card Expired

Drew — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Don’t worry. It’s all been taken care of. Emily had to make an appearance in Charlotte today to have biometric testing done. When Emily immigrated in February 2006, her green card was good for two years because she had been admitted on a conditional basis because when she immigrated, we had been married less than two years. Phew! So, two years from the second anniversary of her immigration is the beginning of next month, meaning green card expired. But, don’t freak out. This is normal. We just had to apply to get the conditions removed ($545!) and now, after today’s biometric testing (finger prints + picture), she will be issued a ten (or maybe its fifteen) year green card. Nonetheless, my little resident alien is here to stay.

Poor little Peanut had to drive the 2 1/2 hours to Charlotte today by herself because today was also the first day of the Spring semester at Southeastern. I would have skipped class but my Hebrew professor let us now that we were hitting new stuff pretty hard today. But, after being in class today and worrying about Emily driving to and from Charlotte, I wish I would have just skipped and worried about Hebrew instead of my dearly beloved. She made it though no problem! That’s my girl.

In other news, I’ve added 393 pictures from our Christmas break in England. That’s over 300,000 new words in our photo gallery! New albums include pictures from Christmas, goofing around after a pantomime, Oxford, some other randomness, and our canal boat experience over New Years (there’s also a new, not-so-exciting video from the canal boat on the videos page).

25 December, Tuesday – Christmas Day with Pat

Drew — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 01:00:00 +0000

Braving the cold and traffic of the M25 we made our way to Wales to visit Nigel's sister Pat. Boy, was that a hoot, complete with a intrafamilial talent show:

Nigel - carols and reading The Lion and Albert
Georgina - a dressed-up performance of Maud's Dream
Simon - sleeping
Sally - flute action
Emily & Hannah - reading/singing of What Are We Gonna Get 'er Indoors
Drew - a dramatic reading of Twas the Night Before Christmas

Check out some recordings of the festivities attached to this post, and of course, we hope that you had a very Merry Christmas!

18 December, Tuesday – Santa, Greenwich, BBC Radio 2

Drew — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 00:53:14 +0000

Today was a busy day: Santa, Greenwich and BBC. In the morning yours truly played Santa Claus at a friend’s daycare, asking each child what their name is, whether they’ve been good this year, and what they wanted for Christmas. The girls overwhelmingly wanted Baby Born and it was Transformers for the lads. For the afternoon and evening Nigel, Georgina, Emily and I headed into London, but making a stop in Greenwich first: the home of the prime meridian, 0 degrees longitude. Then for the evening, after rummaging around used book shops (yes, please), we filled four seats of the audience at the BBC Radio 2′s Drill Hall, witnessing the recording of Clive Anderson’s “End of Year Chat Room” to be broadcast on December 27.

17 December, Monday – Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral and Burger King

Drew — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 20:34:32 +0000

Today we've been to Stonehenge and Salisbury down in Wiltshire County, south west England (about a 2 hrs' drive from Theydon Bois). It was absolutely freezing walking around the rocks at Stonehenge. It was such an open and exposed area that you could feel the winds smacking your directly in the face. I regretfully report that while we were walking around the trail around the rocks, I looked to my right to see one youth doing the Souljah Boy Crank Dat dance while a friend filmed. Some things in life you just don't expect to see: someone cranking dat at Stonehenge.

After the self-guided tour there, we ventured into Salisbury which is just some 10 miles south of where Stonehenge lies. In this town is the famous Salisbury Cathedral which is celebrating its 750th anniversary next year. 750! The church was completed in 1257 and has the tallest steeple/spire in all the UK and the second tallest in Europe. Though Stonehenge did not strike us as a "spiritual" place as many pagans claim, Salisbury Cathedral, on the other hand, brought tears to my eyes. This was a connection to the church of the 13th century. They had raised an Ebeneezer for later generations and thanks to those who have perserved the cathedral these 750 years, we can enjoy it today and be connected in a tangible, experential way to the medieval church. That gets me fired up!

Check out the pictures in the gallery of both Stonehenge and Salisbury.

16 December, Sunday – Epping Forest Community Church, Hillsong and Wok in a Box

Drew — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Epping Forest Community Church in the morning for church and then we headed off to Tottenham Court Road to catch the Hillsong London Christmas program. The show at Hillsong could easily rival any show that one would pay for in a proper theater as a proper “production.” Lights, smoke machines, live music, video, huge screens, Santa passing out Lindt chocolates (yes, please) and Simon. Simon helps out at Hillsong and had been down there the whole day when we caught up with him.

After the program, it was off to the Hillsongers’ bar for some mulled wine and good company. We (me, Emily, Sally and Simon) met people we hadn’t seen in a while (shout out to Jay) and made some new friends as well (shout out to our new Austrailian friend Louise should she find our website!). Overall a cheery evening; but things really got awesome when I spotted a little to-go/take away “restaurant” across the street from the bar, called Wok in a Box. Pick two items from the wok, they throw them in a little, typical Chinese to-go box, and you pay £4.50 for a scrumptious meal. Rocked my world. I woke up this morning still thinking about it and made up motions to celebrate. Emily knows the dance now, too. Thanks, Wok in a Box!