Back in St. Andrews

Several of you have asked how my writing is going, and I appreciate the interest! I came here wanting to write about family in the New Testament: Father/Son language for God, Mary as the Mother of God, and Christian Identity as sons and daughters. That remains the outline of my project, and I’ve made good progress. Two chapters on Mary are written (one focusing on the character of God as revealed in her story and one on the identity of humanity in relationship with that God), and by the end of March a third on Hebrews’ view of the family of God will be completed as well. It has been such a joy to have the time to read and write; I have about 50,000 words right now, almost half of a decent book. Even more importantly, the project is quite different (and I hope much better) because of the scholarly engagement here. I’ve presented my work to the Logos Institute (the group sponsoring me), New College at the University of Edinburgh, and a research seminar at St. Mary’s (the divinity school of St. Andrews). I’m attending two classes, one on the Atonement and one on Temple and Sabbath, as well as the weekly Logos lectures. I stayed until 10 pm the other evening vigorously discussing the nature of Biblical Theology! All that to say, different communities offer different perspectives and ask different questions, and because I have the time and headspace to do so, I’ve asked some pretty probing questions as well about my vocation and my own strengths and weaknesses for it. Those deep questions continue, and while I’ve done some writing, I still feel that I have a long way to go. So, prayers for clarity and fortitude and excellence are much appreciated!

New College, Edinburgh.

Watching the waves during the storm

To resume the family story since our return from Belgium. We arrived back in Scotland late on the night of Monday the 26th, and on Tuesday the 27th the “Beast from the East” started to move in: snow, ice, and gusting winds. If our trip had been any later, we might still be in the Brussels airport! People seemed spooked, but as Midwesterners we figured it couldn’t be too bad. We were wrong. We didn’t even venture out of the house for two days, and school was cancelled for four (even over the weekend—Wednesday through Monday)! Truly, it was a sight to see, and many native St. Andrews residents told us they’d never experienced anything like it. Several cozy days inside were really nice actually, but after day three we needed more structure. Subsequently, we had a great day of "homeschooling”; Maxson’s self-crafted curriculum was twenty items long.  The best part was the chance to do some sledding and snowman building, a winter’s activity we’d thought we’d have to forgo this year being so close to the ocean. Speaking of, Lance got some amazing views of the waves as the storm was coming up the coast.

We also enjoyed the waves on "Mothering Sunday," the UK equivalent of Mother's Day which happens in early March rather than May. I chose lunch at a local pub (which happened to have a drink named after Kindred!), zip-lining at the local park, and rock climbing at the beach. As I usually attend Wheaton's graduation on Mother's Day, it really felt like Sabbatical-like to have the whole day to enjoy!

Kate has been busy since our return as well. Inspired by the Comic Book museum, she’s creating her own comics featuring our pets back home, to her brothers' giggling delight. We’ve also had a chance to see the fruit of her hard work in the musical theatre group. They performed this week, along with a dozen other primary and secondary schools in the Lochgelly Theater. Her group from Canongate (of over 30 kids!) stayed right with the beat as they danced their hearts out to “You Can’t Stop the Beat” from Hairspray. She used plenty of it too, in her sweet ‘do for the performance.

She remains good friends with her birthday twin, Izzy, and has formed a friendship with another new girl from America (Hawaii), Isabel. Maxson has been hanging out with Carlo, his bus buddy, and Kindred has now had several play dates with Thomas, a friendship that has captured the hearts of the preschool instructors, so we’ve heard. It means the world to us that our kids are not just surviving, but really connecting with friends we hope will remain penpals and skype buddies for years to come. We too have made good friends, having shared meals recently with a PhD couple who did their previous degrees at OU, a Master’s couple who come from Moody and had babysat members of St. Marks, and our pastor and his family. We've also made "Scottish" friends, through St. Mary's and the Crossfit gym Lance and I have joined. Nothing like 60 over-the-bar burpees to create bonding. We've continued to find St. Andrews a small and friendly world indeed!

Thomas and Kindred

As we look toward the end of Lent and the approach of Easter, Lance has been preparing for several organ gigs. More about those and our Easter holidays, next time!

Our First Adventure to the Continent

In light of the cheap and short trips to Europe, we hoped to see the Continent a few times while we are here. For our first adventure, since every place would offer something intriguing, we opened the airfare map and chose the cheapest ticket. The winner? Brussels, Belgium! We couldn’t think of a better way to start than to see the capital of the EU.

From Edinburgh (a lovely little airport) the flight to Brussels was just a little over an hour.

We arrived on Friday evening to our super cool Bed and Breakfast, the King Leopold II Inn.
Housed in a 1905 five-story house, our apartment included a kitchen and living area on the fifth floor
as well stairs to the attic turned into two bedrooms. The best part? The kids each had skylights over
their beds where they could see constellations as they fell asleep.

On Saturday, we took the very comfortable train to the medieval town of Bruges. It was as all the travel
books had described, a picturesque town with cobbled streets and canals. We first stopped

in the Church of Our Lady, which dates from the 13th-15th centuries. It is the tallest structure in Bruges, and the second tallest brickwork tower in the world. Inside the church is beautiful art, among it a statue of Mary and Jesus made by Michelangelo in 1504.

We then toured the town by canal, and though it was cold, we enjoyed the trip as we listened
to our trilingual guide point out the ancient features of the town. Our lunch offered great views of
the town center, but not quite equal to the views Kate and I discovered from the top of the
Belfort Tower (Yes, that tower if you’ve seen In Bruges, as Lance and I dutifully did the night before
we left). We even saw a parade coming into town, and ran down to catch some candy. While we did this,
the boys stopped in the Basilica of the Holy Blood and then saw some fabulous medieval
art in the Groeningemuseum. A trip to one of the leading chocolate stores and frittes and
waffles for dinner completed our bucket list.

On Sunday and Monday, we focused on Brussels itself. The musical instruments museum
(Maxson made sure he listened to every single musical instrument), the Belgian Chocolate Village,
and the Comic Strip Museum provided hours of learning and fun. We took a bus around the vast city
to see all the sights as we didn’t want to walk to in the cold, and had several more delicious meals.
Mannekin Pis was (no surprise) Kindred’s favorite part of the trip, and we all agreed the waffles next
to him were well worth the wait in the cold.

We returned home to St. Andrews about 1:00 am on Monday, a bit tired, but very thankful that
we had made it before Scotland was hit with a giant snowstorm for which the kids have, so far,
gotten three days of school off. The waves were also 20 feet high during the snowstorm (continuing
into the weekend!). Most of all, we are so grateful for this sweet time of discovery as a family.

We hope you enjoy our pictures and we are open to suggestions and advice for our next trip!