Coffee with Barretts

She Looked Straight At Me and I Looked Straight Back

2008-07-11T19:32:00.002+01:00

Isla's pretty excited to catch her parents' eyes these days, and once she does, it's hard to look away again!

Non-English Tea

2008-07-08T22:09:00.005+01:00

Ever since Nana's visit, sun tea has been a regular around here. Now you might wonder how one makes sun tea when it's cloudy and rainy in England, but that didn't deter Nana and it doesn't slow Crystal down much either. So out the jar goes in all sorts of weather. It might have even have been hailed on yesterday! Today was an alternative downpour of warm sunshine and cloudy downpours, but it somehow managed to become tea nonetheless.

Of course, the English take their tea hot, with milk. Iced tea is an oddly American (and Southern American at that) delicacy and people around here are happy to leave it all for us.

Ellie seems to have gained a bit of English taste. She took a look at the jar and declared, "I don't like sun tea." Crystal decided to probe. "Why not, Ellie?" Always ready with an explanation, Ellie replied, "Well, I'm not from Texas am I?" Oh my, Ellie — don't tell Papa!

Ellie made us a bit nervous by complaining about her knee hurting for a couple of days and then starting to limp around at playgroup today. Crystal rang the doctor at 10:40am and was given an appointment for 11:45am (socialized medicine is terrible for its long waiting lists, isn't it?). The doctor poked and prodded a little bit, took her temperature, and declared her fine. Ellie, always susceptible to the placebo effect, thinks this doctor is a miracle worker!

When everyone got home safely, I was talking to her about her medical adventure. I pointed out that Mummy is a doctor, too. Observing that Mummmy's poking and prodding didn't have the desired effect, Ellie pointed out, "Yeah...but she's not a very good one". Oh my.

Isla, ever full of smiles, has now discovered the joy of playing with Mummy's and Daddy's hands, not to mention the joy of sucking her thumb!

Crocodiles

2008-07-03T22:28:00.002+01:00

I suppose different strategies are used by parents for different kids. Some probably “win” by means of physical force—you know, picking the child up and taking them out of trouble—. Sometimes I suppose distractions or bribes are the answer. But with Ellie, it usually comes down to a battle of wits. And she can be quite a formidable challenge with her creative argumentation.

Apparently this morning, Crystal caught her putting her feet on the dining room table while sitting in her high-chair (a definite no-no).

“Ellie, please take your feet off the table.”

“Ohhhh....awwight....[thoughtful pause—looks down]....but there are crocodiles down there!”

“Oh really?”

Looks again..... “Yes...blue ones!”

Well, uhhhh, given the alternatives, I guess it’s ok to leave your feet on the table then.

Tummy Time

2008-06-24T13:03:00.001+01:00

Isla doing her "tummy time."

Bath Time

2008-06-06T20:04:00.003+01:00

When Ellie was born, Crystal had a deep-down longing that Ellie would enjoy baths, because Crystal was really looking forward to bathing her. That dream was answered and Ellie from her first try at it has always loved baths.

Isla, on the other hand, isn’t so sure about this bath thing.

From the sounds pouring out of the bathroom, I would have guessed that Crystal had accidentally dropped her in the lobster pot the first time she gave Isla a bath. She’s since grown much more understanding, but you can see here at 6 weeks that she’s still a little apprehensive about the whole thing.

So when my lovely wife, who is not one to chase after the latest gottahavit gadget, told me that she thought a bucket would be the solution, who was I to argue? Of course, not any ol’ bucket, but a special baby bathing bucket.

She does certainly enjoy bath time now, though perhaps still with a little apprehension because she’s learned it is possible to slip down in the bucket and get a mouthful!

Not to be outdone, Ellie decided she needed to bathe in a bucket, too. But, as big sister things go, she gets a standard-issue bucket instead of a super-special baby-bathing bucket. It seems to do the trick...at least until you run out of room for all of your toys!

Of course, sometimes you have to ditch the bucket and return to freestyle-mode for bath time. You’ll thank me someday, Ellie, for modestly cropping this one!

Smiles

2008-06-06T18:39:00.001+01:00

Isla has been flashing gorgeous smiles at us for weeks now. Here's a sample.

She Can Dream

2008-05-21T20:22:00.003+01:00

Ellie adores her daddy and wants to be like him in almost every way. I was recently reminded of just how much as she inspected her petite little feet and legs and said longingly, "One day I will have big feet and loooong hairy legs just like Daddy's." Dream on, El, dream on.

Eating and Sleeping

2008-04-22T14:03:00.003+01:00

We had to say sad goodbyes to Grandma and Grandpa this morning — may they have a safe and uneventful journey back to Raleigh! As Ellie put it, "Grandma and Grandpa are leaving. That makes me really, really sad. But when Nana comes, I'll be happy again!" So come quickly, Nana! We look forward to seeing her tomorrow and hope we can survive on our own for one whole day.

Isla's theory on life seems to be that eating and sleeping are the primary activities one needs to be concerned with. Mostly sleeping. Oh yeah, and eating. And then sleeping. Plus a little pooing, of course. So while one expects a newborn to lose a bit of weight at first and then gain it back by about day 10-14, Isla seems to have managed to gain 13 ounces in the first 7 days. Conserve energy...wake only enough to eat...then go back to sleep. Rules for living.

Of course, if you want to sleep and pretend to eat simultaneously, the thumb comes in very handy.

But here's proof that there are eyes behind those lids. And what a cutie she is.

Introducing Isla Frances Barrett

2008-04-15T20:33:00.003+01:00

It was an amazing experience to bring our younger daughter home to meet Ellie. I think this picture gives you a slight taste of Ellie's excitement as Crystal extracts her from the car seat.

But I suppose I should digress for a moment to give you her name! “Isla Frances Barrett”. Crystal had fallen for the name Isla some months ago and, knowing her husband, thought it wise to introduce me to it well ahead of the decision time. She knows it takes me awhile to adjust to new and different things. It's a Scottish name, derived from the "Isle of Islay", known as "the queen of the Hebrides" — a series of islands off the west coast of Scotland. (You can read about the island on Wikipedia or see a picture there.) You pronounce her name "eye-luh", or just imagine singing the last line of the Gilligan's Island theme song with a but of an "uh" at the end. Don't worry — you'll get the hang of it. We think it's a beautiful name and that it goes well with "Ellie".

Anyway — on with the pictures! Here are a couple of Ellie's first time holding Isla.

Then it was Grandma and Grandpa's turn, though Ellie couldn't be kept away!

And of course, one of the whole (newly enlarged) happy family. (Maybe it's time to replace the picture on the home page of our website, which was taken during our engagement!)

There were a few landmark events on this Isla's second day: first night at home, first overflowingly poopy nappy, first midwife's visit, first non-family visitor, and first time in the bouncy seat (she much prefers human contact).

I thought I'd add this one last shot my dad took on our pre-Isla trip to the London Aquarium of the city skyline across the Thames.

It's a Girl!

2008-04-14T00:00:00.004+01:00

She's arrived and we're thrilled!

Stats:
   Born: April 13, 2008 at 9:25pm BST
   Weight: 7 lbs 6 oz
   Head Circumference: 33.5 cm

I know you're dying for her name, but things have been a bit rushed, so give us a day to make sure we're sure the one we've picked fits her, and we'll let you know.

A little bit of the story while it's still fresh in my mind. The thing you don't want to hear when you phone the hospital to say you think you should come in with contractions lasting for a little bit shy of a minute, spaced 3 minutes apart, and mother-to-be saying she's about at her limit: "Sorry, we're closed" (!!).

They meant their delivery ward was full and said we needed to divert to the backup hospital about 10 miles away. Fortunately, our friend Eric was just a block away and was willing to pop out of the evening church service to come pick us up and drive us to Stevenage. Crystal's key message as we were driving: "No matter what they say, I'm not going back home" (recall with Ellie they told us to go home because "real labor" hadn't yet begun and she was born within an hour).

Fortunately, they welcomed us warmly and our midwife Maria and student midwife Christina were brilliant. They coached us through the toughest bit at the end and Crystal did magnificently.

Our little girl immediately began a feed (she was probably aware of how pro-breastfeeding her mum is!) and wouldn't let up. As the midwives watched me attempt to dress her they probably thought I needed some daddy lessons before being given care of this precious child. I realized I've forgotten the newborn thing a bit -- Ellie responds when I say "push arm #1!" but this one hasn't quite gotten the hang of it. But I managed to get her dressed without any major limb dislocations.

After about an hour or so they moved Crystal from the delivery room to the post-natal ward where she was sharing a large with a few other new mothers. Since it was past visiting hours, I needed to go home. The pediatrician will come for a thorough check on things in the morning (a little more thorough than most because Crystal is on thyroid medication and the baby's levels might need to be checked). Then I'll try to find a lift to the hospital to pick them up and bring her home so Ellie can meet her little sister. I think she'll be excited.

Thank you for all of your love and prayers. God is very kind to us and we are very grateful.

Day Zero: The Waiting Game

2008-04-13T09:36:00.004+01:00

Today's our due date for "li'l sister" to arrive. Crystal's been having lots of contractions for lots of days now. They're pretty regular and strong, but don't go anywhere. We went to the hospital yesterday to monitor the baby for a little while and get Crystal checked over. Everything is good and the midwives confidently predicted that we'd be delivering sometime within the next two weeks or so. Such pinpoint accuracy! We all want detailed predictions, but that just doesn't seem possible when you're in pre-labor.

Just in case, they've scheduled us for an induction on the 25th. Hopefully we won't need that appointment since Grandma and Grandpa are only here until the 22nd!

Ellie's being very patient and is excited about her little sister's arrival. We had a nice snow last week and here's a shot of the snow gruffalo we made together and the gruffalo's child that Ellie added. (Notice the poisonous wart on the end of the gruffalo's nose and the prickles on his back).

Help! Piglet (Me)

2008-03-20T19:27:00.005Z

Ellie is enjoying both reading Pooh stories with Mummy and watching some of the video versions of the stories. In one of her favorites, Piglet is in jeopardy in a flood, so writes a rescue message that reads, "Help! P-P-Piglet (Me)".

Here's Ellie's version:

I promise, all I did was tell her which letter came next. When I said "G", I quickly added that she didn't know how to write it. She replied, "Sure I do — you write a 'C' and then you add a...there!" Who knew? Where'd she learn that? You might notice that her "M" and "E" have quite a bit of enthusiasm behind them — not to mention that "ME" was written twice. (Please pardon the extra "L" — there wasn't an easy way to erase, so we pretended to erase it).

After writing the vital note, the next steps were to roll it up and then put it into a bottle (ok, a jam jar will have to do). I'll save you the throwing the bottle part!

If you'd care to watch the video version, here y'go!

Moving On...Growing Up

2008-03-14T17:24:00.006Z

Here's a montage of things from the past few months to fast-forward you with us to the present.

We had a fantastic Christmas vacation with much of our extended family. Here's a picture from the very end. Grandma and Grandpa managed to hide their goodbye tears, but Ellie was more transparent about not wanting to leave.

A couple of weeks after returning to England, it was time to pack up for the big move from Durham down to Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire. We used a local removal company, which came with lots of northern color. Here are the guys celebrating getting everything into the truck! (Well, nearly everything — we had to leave behind a little bbq and four patio chairs).

Ellie has been enjoying the creative arts for a long time, every since she surprised us with starting to draw cats last Christmas. Here's a Stickle Brick creation. She maintains it's a church, but I seem to recall her calling it a house at the time (note the door and windows).

Crystal has a bit of a reputation for allowing (encouraging?) messy play that would leave lesser mothers trembling in fear. I think by anyone's account this finger-painting session got a little out of hand.

And it didn't stop there.... Ellie wasn't satisfied with anything short of full body painting!

And now, for the past few weeks, Ellie has been attending the local pre-school. We hadn't really planned on this, but it seemed after grand social times with family and friends over Christmas that we weren't able to quite keep her stimulated as much as she liked at home. So we enrolled for a few weeks as a trial to see how it would go. Here she is playing with her "squirrel" group.

Goodbye, Durham!

2008-01-23T21:04:00.000Z

It's been a wonderful 3 1/2 years, but it seems it's time to turn the page on a new chapter. Our things are all loaded on the moving van and tomorrow morning we get in the car and drive to "The South", or to be more precise, to Welwyn Garden City. This will be our new home — at least as much as we call anywhere "home" these days.

I always find moving to be sad — well, not always: there was the move to Dallas to marry Crystal! I teared up a little bit when I moved offices at IBM from one wing to another. But this one's a little easier because I'm still teaching each week in Durham, so I'll be back regularly. People here won't even know I've gone!

But the other side of moving is that there are always new friends to make, new places to explore, and new cultures to discover. It'll be great to do all of this together as a family.

Oh, and do come visit!

Location, Location, Location

2007-12-05T16:43:00.000Z

After much searching, hoping, and praying, we seem to have found our next home. We plan to move from Durham to within striking distance of London in January as my teaching at Westminster Theological Centre increases and my teaching at Durham University decreases.

We really enjoy our lifestyle in Durham — walking to everything we need, relatively slow pace, a garden for Ellie (and her parents), and spaces for wandering around. Such a thing is hardly available in London proper, but head about 20 miles north and such things are quite attainable, and even somewhere in the vicinity of financially viable.

So here's the house we are hoping to make our home in a couple of months. It's in Welwyn Garden City (explore the Google map of the area), a "new town" in Hertfordshire. Unlike most towns in Britain that have an ancient pedigree, Welwyn Garden was designed and built in the 1920s as a model lower-density urban community (our house is much newer). It's beautifully done with public rose gardens running along the main boulevards and a central fountain. The train station, with good access to London, is integrated into the main shopping area in the center of town. We're just 1/4 mile from all of this, so both commuting to London and shopping with two kids in tow should be as painless as such things can possibly be.

There are lots of toddler activities around and good schools, should we be there long enough to need one. There's also a good church within a few blocks, which we visited during our last family time in the area. There's a big park about a mile south of us, with lakes and boats. There's a big wood for exploring about a mile north of us.

Unfortunately, it wasn't possible for us to view the house before paying our administrative fee to pull it off the market and begin the referencing process. But we had a kind friend volunteer to take a look and she gave us the thumbs up. We know the town and neighborhood fairly well, so that was enough for us to commit. Just in case we've misjudged, it's a good thing we're only bound for 6 months!

It's nice to have an idea of what we're moving to, so we won't dwell too much on all we love about Durham and the great friends we'll be leaving behind. Fortunately, I'll still be coming up to Durham regularly for teaching, and having a place to crash within reach of London means we'll probably never run short of visitors!

Here are pictures of the kitchen and back garden. Looking good!

Assuming the estate agent decides we're a good risk, it looks like we might be able to call this "home".

Big Sister

2007-12-05T16:36:00.000Z

Ellie is delighted to announce that she is expecting her little sister on April 13, 2008!

Here are the scans at 9 weeks and 20 weeks -- a striking resemblance to Ellie, wouldn't you say?

"Head and Shoulders"

2007-11-23T14:47:00.000Z

One might think that parents would slowly become immune to their children's overwhelming cuteness. But somehow Ellie keeps ahead of our emotional antibodies with ever-increasing levels of adorableness. When she kicked back in her high chair after dinner last night and started singing, I had to run for the camera. As you'll surmise, this was something like “take 3” of the filming.

Quotable Quotes 1

2007-10-13T14:57:00.000+01:00

Ellie is now entering the "Kids Say the Darndest Things" stage, for example:
"Mummy is short. Ellie is tall like Daddy."

Climbing up on my lap one morning, realizing that we sometimes have trouble understanding what she's saying: "I watch videos! Sounds like 'Cheerios' but I watch videos."

Today, after a particularly vigorous dance of the Hokey Cokey, she was ready for the next event: "Daddy, daddy! Throw me at Mummy!"

Finally, upon being warned to be careful one too many times while climbing on top of a chair, she replied, "Don't worry, Mummy....be alright! Don't worry."

We'll try not to worry!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear

2007-10-13T11:26:00.001+01:00

Ellie loves to read her books, and though she has now progressed from this one to more complex stories like “The Gruffalo”, we thought you might enjoy hearing the classic tale of “Brown Bear, Brown Bear”. We pick up after the first two chapters, which read:

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?
I see a Red Bird looking at me.

Red Bird, Red Bird, what do you see?
I see a Yellow Duck looking at me.

Watch the video for the rest of the exciting story!

More and Less

2007-10-12T19:55:00.000+01:00

As we were eating our traditional Friday evening meal of pizza (Wow, Crystal! Could the pizza ever get to be better than this??), Ellie started reaching for Crystal's plate, tilting it up, and saying, "Mummy has less pizza and Ellie has mooooore pizza. Mummy has mooooore grape juice and Ellie has less grape juice."

What's she doing? After a few minutes of this, it suddenly struck us -- it's a replay of Ernie and Bert! The original can be viewed below.

The New Career

2007-08-11T12:28:00.000+01:00

It is unlikely that I will ever be accused of staying too long in one field of research. From physics and electrical engineering to computer science, human-computer interaction, and a brief foray into workplace anthropology, I now head off into my first paid work in biblical studies!

As many of you know, the job market in academic biblical studies is very tight, with lots of people vying for few positions. I had no idea where my change in direction might lead, especially in the short term after finishing my PhD. But I'm very grateful to have received a couple of fine part-time offers to teach Old Testament, which I've managed (with considerable gracious flexibility on my employers' part) to fit together into something resembling full-time work for the next academic year.

The first is teaching two modules at Durham University that are normally done by my supervisor. The first is an introduction to the Old Testament and the second is intermediate Hebrew with a focus on reading prose texts (primarily Deuteronomy 5-10). It will be a great experience to teach in a top tier British university department. I'm humbled to be entrusted with the responsibility!

The second is an exciting new institution, Westminster Theological Centre in downtown London. Ever since beginning my own theological studies within a church setting, I have been interested in doing and teaching theology within a worshipping faith community, with theological education being offered to all Christians rather than only those who are heading off into formal theological careers. (I could write alot about this, but will spare you for the moment.) This interest was further piqued during my studies at Regent College, which seeks to teach Christians of all walks of life. But few churches have such a vision, so I had slowly reoriented myself toward university or seminary teaching. Then I saw the advertisement for an Old Testament post at WTC and decided it would be worth investigating. As it turns out, they found me to be interesting, too, and offered me the position.

So I'll be teaching Old Testament Introduction, Beginning Hebrew, and probably an Intermediate Hebrew module as well (depending on the level of interest). I'm happy for the overlap with the Durham teaching because preparation for the first year of teaching is difficult!

For those who are interested, I'll give you some links to see how WTC is connected into things. It is aligned with St. Mary's, Bryanston Square, a young and energetic charismatic Anglican church in London, and has links with the diocese of London, Ridley Hall (the Anglican ordination training center in Cambridge), the emergent church, the New Wine Network, and St. Paul's Theological Centre (a similar theological training initiative in London, associated with Holy Trinity Brompton Church, which is well known as the home of the Alpha Course). I particularly like the vision statement of St. Paul's: "Bringing theology back into the heart of the church".

So how, one might ask, are you doing two jobs that are 250 miles apart? Good question. We've managed to concentrate my teaching responsibilities on certain days of the week at both schools. So the plan is to remain living in Durham until somewhere around Christmas and I'll commute down to London to teach on Sundays and Mondays. Then in the new year, we'll relocate down somewhere in the London area (probably well outside of the actual city) and I'll commute up to Durham on Tuesdays. The trains run well so hopefully this will work out with me getting lots of work done during the three hour trip.

Well, that's the quick update. It's been quite a journey these past few years. It's amazing how one day you're a student pursuing a degree and then the next day you are a teacher preparing to help students pursue degrees of their own. But more than degrees, it's about learning as an act of faith, as part of Christian discipleship and serving God. May that be our central focus.

While attending a biblical studies conference in Vienna last month, I was strolling around the awesome central university building's courtyard during a break, looking through the statutes for scholars I had heard of. I was pleased to find this gentleman and the fundamental equation of quantum mechanics that bears his name. I guess you can never quite take the physics out of the physicist, because as excited as I am to be teaching the Bible, looking at this still warms my heart.

Talking on the (Clothes)Line

2007-08-10T19:53:00.000+01:00

There was a strange half-of-a-conversation coming from the back garden. Crystal invited me to listen:

“Hello, Teresa”
   ...

“Just fine”
   ...

“Yes, very nice”
   ...

“No, no, no!”
   ...

“Nice day, no rain, sun coming out”
   ...

“Hi, baby Avi”
   ...

“Mmmm....yes”

   ...

“Ok”

   ...

“Bye bye”

Who knew that a sheet hanging on the clothesline could be such a useful communication device? And I thought Skype was a pretty cool invention!

Swing Self

2007-08-04T19:34:00.000+01:00

As Ellie makes her way through toddler-hood, there seem to be few occasions for marking "firsts". First tooth, first word, first steps, first solid food, and so on are all memorably in the past. It's harder to capture the wonder of "first six word sentence" and things like that. (Feel free to suggest good toddler firsts to keep an eye out for!)

But we had a good first this week after a year of being dependent on Mummy and Daddy to swing — Ellie swung herself for the first time! Here's the video. I dare you not to swing with her. Now if only we could figure out how to teach her the back-and-forth way!

Scenes of Life

2007-07-12T22:07:00.000+01:00

These are busy and momentous days around our house. But with so many things going on, it's been hard to settle on a good theme for it all. So this will be a "bitty" blog, to use a good north-east of England term.

We recently spent a weekend in the lovely west coast village of St. Bees with a couple of other families. Lars and Claire were amazing hosts and seemed completely unfazed by 10 people coming to stay with them! Lars is the local vicar and lives in an amazing house next to the church. Good food, good friends, my first chance to try my hand at playing with a Wii (Crystal punched my lights out in the boxing game!), games, a walk on the beach, and amazing seaside scenery. Just the thing to keep me from worrying about my viva!

Ellie's best friend is Avi, the one year-old daughter of our friends Joel and Teresa. They will be moving back to Canada soon, but before that, they will be living in our neighborhood for a month. So Ellie gets to spend a lot of time playing with Avi.

Ellie enjoys being "a big girl" compared with "baby Avi" (although Ellie also insists on being "baby Ellie" at times). She enjoys helping Avi try new things. Now Ellie, what exactly did you put in Avi's mouth??

Ellie and Avi have lots of adventures together. One morning while Crystal was keeping both girls, they needed to go into town. But what is one to do when there is no double push-chair (aka "stroller")? No problem if you're as creative as Crystal and fun-loving as Ellie!

Avi also enjoys being the big girls sometimes. While we were in St. Bees she did her first serious walking so she decided she could handle pushing Ellie around for a change.

All of this fun has been nice for lightening the mood when the pressure of finishing up my PhD has grown too intense. Crystal took a picture as I set off for the big defense, Bible and thesis in hand. Do I look nervous???

Fortunately, there was nothing to worry about. Crystal likes to point out that my worrying is excessive and that the worrying is worse than the actual thing. I counter that if I didn't worry so much then the worrying might not be the worst part! In any case, I have a very short list of changes that need to be made to the thesis to satisfy my examiners, which is a great outcome.

Ok, I'm running out of stories to go with the pictures, so let's just file these in the "Isn't Ellie the Cutest Thing?" folder.

Finally, we finally captured one of Ellie's favorite games on video. See the big gray ball in the background? How can one resist her charm when she looks at you like this and says, "Bounce big ball!" Click on the video below to see what she means.

Passed!

2007-07-06T23:13:00.000+01:00

Thanks for all of the thoughts, prayers, emails, and encouragement -- it's over with a happy conclusion! I had my viva this afternoon and passed with only the requirement that I make very minimal changes to my thesis. This is basically the best outcome that can happen. (Almost no one gets by with no changes. There's always at least one typo!) They thought I could make the required changes with white-out and a pen with an hour's work, but I somehow think I'll print it out again.

The examination was a good experience. The examiners were friendly but challenging, pressing me on points they didn't agree with, but satisfied with my responses. They said I "viva'ed" well.

We also talked about how my work might be developed into a book. On that front there were many more comments about things they thought could be improved. But for the Ph.D. it was deemed "Plenty Good Enough" (my paraphrase)!

My special thanks, as always, go to Crystal, who has supported me through so many different things. And today was the sacrifice of sharing our fifth wedding anniversary with the biggest exam of my life!